Final Instalment of Netflix's "Last Kingdom"

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academics can't commit crime?

Oh look! Here's one of them now!



I like the sentences: Death, Penal Servitude, Imprisonment, and Whipped / Fined.

Well no, I'm not descended from convicts.BTW many of the poor chaps were clapped in irons and bound for "Botany Bay" in the 1800s for stealing a loaf of bread or a couple of apples to feed their families. It's not like they were serial killers

It's not like I said all criminals are serial killers, either. ^

Crime can mean anything from misdemeanours to felonies.
That's why it's so common, for academics and hungry folks alike.

Of course, we are all two unpaid bills of separation from being homeless and pan handling

Anyway. I really loved this show. It seemed pretty accurate, apart from the fact that Uhtred wasn't a real person. Although apparently he was based on an ancestor of the author, Bernard Cornwell.

Most of the main characters were real of course i.e. Alfred and his family, the Vikings, and the majority of events were real. Obviously the battles, the way King Edward met his third wife (I think that is a really cute story), the mysterious life of King Athelstan etc.

I thought Alexander Dreymon did a sterling job of portraying Uhtred, especially his Germanic accent, which is apparently his real accent as he is German. I loved the accents of the English and Scandinavians, how English is kind of midway between German and Scandinavian. Because of course that's where we got most of our language from!

Of course how much I loved this show had nothing to do with how often the guys took their clothes off

Apparently people viewed The Last Kingdom as the inferior cousin of the show Vikings. But in the end, it overtook Vikings as more popular and realistic. Hoorah! And of course the other thing I liked was how some of the characters in TLK were the sons of Ragnar from Vikings but obviously much older.

That's all I was getting at but in a long-winded fashion, sorry for the derail. Although the thread is still in its infancy it would appear no Americans want to comment on TLK.

Yeah, it didn't hold my interest as much as Vikings did.

I must admit I haven't watched Vikings so I can't say.

But I found it fascinating in TLK to watch the birth of England. King Alfred started to unite the kingdoms into one country, his son Edward continued. But it was the mysterious Athelstan who finally achieved it. Also, Alfred wasn't really a warrior, he was more of an academic but surely must have had a lot of charisma to unite everyone. Edward was more of a warrior but it seems Athelstan was a super-warrior. I read that he defeated 5 armies with his 2 or even 1 army!

It was King Alfred who started everyone learning to read and write. He thought literacy was the way forward, which it probably is. He is our only monarch called The Great, so he must have done a lot right.

And there was that freaky episode about a plague they filmed before the Covid pandemic...which ended up being shown during our pandemic! It just made me realise that humans have the same problems every century...Medieval people would be able to empathise with us coping with Covid.

I highly recommend it, as to Vikings historical accuracies there is a lot of artistic licence used probably to create a cohesive narrative and an engaging story arc (i.e it's well written imo). Some of the historical events are often elongated, shortened or completely changed but for pure entertainment value it is spot on.

btw I've never even heard of "Last Kingdom".

I only commented because of the British criminals comment.

If Vikings ever arrives on a free channel, I'll watch it.

I really love Vikings Valhalla though. Series 1 was good. But series 2 was fantastic! The boat journey storyline was riveting.

It's very good. It's basically about how the country of England was formed in the 9th century or whatever. Before then we were all little independent kingdoms fighting each other. Alfred the Great started the process, and his son and grandson continued it until England was united.

What they'd say about the current actions of the British government, I dread to think!

I didn't enjoy Valhalla as much (it was good though) and funnily enough it is supposedly more accurate on its historical facts (apart from some timelines). And if you liked the character Freydís in Valhalla you'll fall in love with Lagertha in Vikings

How funny! We have the exact opposite views

I don't think Valhalla is very accurate. Harald Hardrada and Leif Ericson were different ages and certainly never met. Obviously they make a good buddy movie type pair though. It therefore makes me wonder how inaccurate Vikings itself is

There is another brilliant series you might like on Netflix, called Barbarians. It is in German but you can get English dubbing. It's about how the Roman army was defeated by the Germanic tribes in something like 2AD. There was a German local called Arminius who was brought up by the Romans, but he turned on them, understandably, and marshalled the local tribes to defeat the Roman army.

hahahaha. It is why the Romans never really conquered the German area.

Not opposite views , I did say apart from some timelines, i.e I don't think Leiff & Freydis were even alive when Harald was born?

I struggle with the disconnect (between lips and dialogue) when watching dubbed so never indulge. As I watch TV with my GF mostly, subtitles is also not an option due to her dyslexia and me not wanting to narrate.

Don't forget this thread when you finally watch Vikings so you can come back and call me out