MovieChat Forums > The Last Kingdom (2015) Discussion > Season 3 was just plain awful... (Spoile...

Season 3 was just plain awful... (Spoilers)

posted 6 years ago by Coleburg83 (684)
5 replies | jump to latest

Not surprising considering they stopped following the books and just made up their own stories for the most part. Probably be an essay if I wrote all the problems I had with it, so I'll just summarize them.

- Felt like it dragged on forever. I was excited that it was 10 episodes instead of 8, but it had so much more filler than previous seasons that led to quick and disappointing endings for all the plots.

- The maudlin interactions between Uhtred and Alfred and Uhtred and Brida. Completely against the spirit of the books.

- Uhtred's maudlin speeches. Just so absurd. Such cringeworthy stuff.

- Uhtred putting a knife to Alfred's throat was so over the top. Never happen.

- Uhtred and Aethelflaed are supposed to have an epic romance in the books. It's reduced in the series to Aethelflaed awkwardly kissing Uhtred like a smitten schoolgirl. They put more time and effort into her relationship with that annoying advisor. And Uhtred and Brida who utterly hates him.

- I've said it before: The actress playing Aethelflaed was completely miscast. She looks and acts nothing like her in the books. She's dull and she's not beautiful or golden-haired. It's so distracting how not like Aethelflaed she looks and acts.

- Skade was a caricature. Her character was interesting for the book she was in, but they changed everything around and she was nothing but some angry little girl. A character more suited for The 100 on the CW.

- Everything concerning Æthelwold and Ragnar. How and why they came up with this plot is beyond me. Completely against the spirit of the books. Pretty much everything concerning Æthelwold has been absurd from the start. He had a lot of support, he wasn't a drunk loser.

- Aethelred is made to be a nobody. They act like he has no authority. Makes him seem like no threat and a bumbling fool. In the books, Aethelflaed is respected by the Mercians, but he has all the money and power. When she tries to raise the nobles of Mercia without him, none support her over him.

- Leofric's aggressive ghost and the idea that Uhtred owes anything to Wessex or Alfred after all he's done and the way they treated him is absurd.

[–] eYeDEF (5050) 6 years ago

Interesting since I haven't read the books.

- The maudlin interactions between Uhtred and Alfred and Uhtred and Brida. Completely against the spirit of the books.

So the Brida in the books 100% hates Uhtred and it's not the love-hate relationship as portrayed in this show?

- Uhtred putting a knife to Alfred's throat was so over the top. Never happen.

Maybe that part was over the top, but I was really glad to see Uhtred wasn't going to stand for Alfred treating him so disrespectfully after all he'd done for him. I would have hated the show if it tried to make us believe Uhtred would be extorted into indentured servitude a 3rd time.

- Uhtred and Aethelflaed are supposed to have an epic romance in the books. It's reduced in the series to Aethelflaed awkwardly kissing Uhtred like a smitten schoolgirl.

There are future seasons for this arc to play out. It wasn't pursued because Uhtred was afraid she'd be cursed by the witch.

That said, I was a little disappointed Uhtred paid so much heed to superstition this season. In past seasons I'd gotten the sense he was more agnostic. But this season seemed to reaffirm he's a heathen with an unshakeable faith in the Norse gods and all that.

- Skade was a caricature. Her character was interesting for the book she was in, but they changed everything around and she was nothing but some angry little girl.

I thought she was miscast. She's hot and all, but the actress that plays her is 21. She just looked too young for me to convincingly believe she'd attained the sorcery and mastery over men as the ultimate femme fatale that she was at her age.

- Aethelred is made to be a nobody.

I don't get the sense he's a 'nobody'. Just a conniving prick with a face that you'd love to see someone smash a brick into. But it's true the show the Mercian troops being more responsive to Aethelflaed rallying them, not him.

[–] Coleburg83 (684) 6 years ago

So the Brida in the books 100% hates Uhtred and it's not the love-hate relationship as portrayed in this show?

- Yes. After the early books, she hates him because of how he helped Wessex defeat the Danes. Brida's character isn't having maudlin conversations with Uhtred in front of a fire and talking about old times. She does something truly horrible to his family at around this point in the books.

I would have hated the show if it tried to make us believe Uhtred would be extorted into indentured servitude a 3rd time.

- And he didn't. But he also didn't put his knife to the King's throat in front of everyone. It made no sense. What happens in the book does.

There are future seasons for this arc to play out

- Their romance mostly plays out in these 2 books. Meaning they will again be changing around things in the next two books to push their relationship if there is a Season 4, which is not certain. Their relationship will seem even more shoehorned.

[–] chefao (405) 6 years ago

This season was great but I had no expectations on how the story should play out since I haven't read the books.

I will agree that Aethelwold makes some questionable decisions that don't seem to make much sense. I think the writers wanted to make him as unlikable as possible to the viewer in order for the viewer to be comfortable with his death. By doing so they seem to have forgotten to make him likable enough to justify the support he got; Alfred's reasoning for blinding him is also nonsensical. By removing his one eye and letting him free, he created someone in his court who can think of nothing but revenge. All the problems on this show come from Aethelwold and the way his story was written imo.

With that said it was still a great show, I disagree with pretty much everything else you say here.

[–] eYeDEF (5050) 6 years ago

"I think the writers wanted to make him as unlikable as possible to the viewer in order for the viewer to be comfortable with his death. By doing so they seem to have forgotten to make him likable enough to justify the support he got"

This was my other minor quibble with the season which I overall enjoyed. Aethelwold was too much of a sniveling weasel to justify why he got the support that he did.

There was also one scene when King Alfred announced to his council that Aethelwold would need to be watched in case he was planning an insurrection. But THEY NEVER WATCHED HIM and he was allowed to continue planning an insurrection like that scene never happened. I thought that was kind of pointless.

[–] chefao (405) 6 years ago

Yea I agree. It would have made sense to blind him completely but then the story would lack an antagonist I guess. Other than that it was a good show.