MovieChat Forums > The Last Kingdom (2015) Discussion > Season 4 really cranked up the gore. Had...

Season 4 really cranked up the gore. Had me rooting for new villain Ivar the Boneless grandson over stupid Saxons


I don't remember kill shots quite like the battle scenes this past season. At least two exploding heads and a face impaling that was pretty memorable.

In my opinion, Sigtryggr turned out to be the best and most sympathetic character of Season 4 while King Edward turned out to be an impetuous dolt. Absolutely no battle acumen whatsoever, had to be repeatedly bailed out by Uhtred, much more stupid than his father.

Meanwhile the heathen Sigtryggr turned out be quite decent. Also Eadith, Æthelred's fallen mistress might have been the best character of the season in my opinion. She's also hot.

Meanwhile Brida has turned into a bloodthirsty savage, which is entirely understandable given what happened to her. Uthred clearly does not believe in the pagan gods any more than he does the christian god or he'd have instantly sent her on her way to Valhalla when he had a chance. I still think it was pretty ruthless of him not to have mercy slain her given how he knew she'd be made a slave.

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Sigtryggr turned out to be a good character, but he was kinda skinny and looked a bit like James Franco was a fan of heavy metal/ Black Sabbath. The overall impression I got was of a simpering pretty boy...at first, anyway. In the last couple episodes I started to dig him as something different. He wasn't the "big bad antagonist" as we've had in the past with this show - like Ubba or Bloodhair - but a whole, new, cunning, sly, intellectual foe who isn't really a villain and doesn't play by the rules everybody else has been (Dane or Saxon) up until now.

Yeah, Edward was mostly a dink. He had moments of cleverness or wit, but he's too spoiled, too indecisive, and too petulant to live up to his father's legacy. Alfred was a BRILLIANT character and I missed him this season.

I was still rooting for the Saxons. Edward's a jerk, but Uthred and Co. still rock. Aethelfled is a great character, too (I liked that she wasn't always perfect and wise every single time, just most of the time). Plus, the mom managed to redeem herself a little bit. Not entirely. Not after what a horrid person she was for the entirety of the previous three seasons. But she showed glimmers of redemption. I also got a lot of satisfaction out of Beorca and Pyulig (not sure how to spell those ones) telling her to her face that her suffering and tribulations in S4 were the results of her stupid actions and spitefulness.

I hate Brida so much. I think she's mean-spirited and has been for ages. I've wanted her to get her comeuppance since season 2, I think...if not season 1. She's just so hateful. I was yelling at the TV for Uthred to stab her at the end there. I think he doesn't kill her (twice this season!) because he still has feelings for her. Not in a real sense - he's not in love with her - but he remembers his childhood friend and lover and he can't see what a monster she's become.

Maybe if we're lucky Fionnon will stick a blade through her next season.

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"James Franco was a fan of heavy metal/ Black Sabbath"

OMG yes! I was trying to place where I'd seen a character like this before. Looked like the archetypal heavy metal rocker I remember seeing a lot of in junior high. Hah!

Yeah I just learned the actress that plays the mom is just 27 years old! I could tell she was probably far younger than the role she was playing given how great her skin looked, but that's pretty impressive playing a character probably 20 years older than her real age.

"I also got a lot of satisfaction out of Beorca and Pyulig (not sure how to spell those ones) telling her to her face that her suffering and tribulations in S4 were the results of her stupid actions and spitefulness."

This was so awesome and it was about effing time.

The ending really sets up an interesting dynamic for future seasons since we know the Danes are not fated to last in ruling Northumbria. Will Uthred be forced to choose from his alliance with the Saxons into waging battle against the Danes? Will he be forced to fight and possibly slay his son-in-law and father of his grandchildren? It seems like this might be what it's coming down to.

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Yeah, a lot of the Danes in this wear eyeshadow (including Uthred), and between that and the popularity of heavy metal in Scandinavia, it was already bubbling around in my brain earlier. It's just easier to ignore when the guys are also jacked and howling in the middle of a melee. They might look like the *cover art* but not the band. This dude's youth made him look like he was in the band.

I'm just finding this out now. 27!? Holy cow, I'd have thought she was in her 40s. She did a brilliant job, then.

Throughout the show, they've managed to keep those shifting alliances always interesting and I'm looking forward to the dynamics between Edward and Aethelfled and how that will move forward. Uthred's disdain for politics is great. It makes life harder for everybody since he doesn't want to play their (the politicians') games (frustrating them) and in return they don't trust or resent Uthred.

I don't know how the books have everything paced out, but I'd really like Season Five to settle what happens with Uthred and Bebbenbur. It's been four seasons of birthright blue-balls, and I'm getting sick of Anglo-Saxon Dark Ages Ross-and-Rachel.

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