If the number in the TV show bothered you, I recommend you not read the books.
Although the books are a bit more realistic than the tv show, they show that not all of Uthred's women are with him because they're swooned by him. Some simply did not have much say in the matter, since he is a nobleman in the highly male-dominated Anglo-Saxon world. The fact that Uthred is thought of as a good man for the simple fact that he does not hit his women should tell you the bar is low.
I'm currently reading the books and one line that has stuck with me since book 1 was during a section where Uhtred is talking about how he has a harpist sing songs about him, naming him "Uhtred the Bold" for example but the one they never sing but should sing is about "Uhtred the Lonely".
I really was thrown off by how they wrote her character later on to just have no ability to see beyond her own pain and suffering. Some of her lines just baffle me with how could she really feel like that.
The lack of aging of Uhtred and his pretty boys (and Aelswiths backward aging) was silly, especially when they did a good job with others.
One thing that really annoyed me were the shots where people are spying or scouting and so obviously spottable. I remember one in the woods where Danes are travelling just a few metres away, or when they're approaching Dunholm (I think) and they're just out in the open where anyone could see them. Tiny issues really but it bugs me each time.
>when they did a good job with others
I felt like they didn't age anyone. Some people will say they aged Alfred, but really they just tried to make him look sick and dying.
They showed with Alfred that they could do it, even though he was sick he still looked decades older. I thought Aethelflaed's aging for season 5 was decent (they made an effort at least).
Honestly, some greying hair would have been enough, as long as it was done better than Aelswith (her grey was terrible in S5 imo). I wish I knew why they didn't do it - it's not like it would have made the actors unattractive (if that was indeed their concern).
Yes, I didn't read the books so I didn't really pay attention to how much time had passed. Then I read somewhere that by season 5 Uhtred should have been in his 70s and I lol'd.
Stiorra going from convincing Sigtryggr that the divide between Saxons and Danes is silly and makes no sense to relentlessly hating Saxons even before his execution
Bridas unhinged hatred towards Uhtred
Uhtred never getting any older looking in the show, in Vikings they made Ragnar Lothbrok look much older in Season 4 so it is entirely possible.
The show has a formula that they stick to ad naseum.
- there is some issue that needs resolved and Uhtred is recruited to solve it
- uhtred in solving the issue puts himself in a sticky situation because of his moral compass/destiny/etc
- uhtred gets out of the sticky situation but with some great loss or indebtedness or the start of a new sticky situation
- rinse and repeat
I don’t even mind the formula. I knew what I was getting every time I tuned in and knew I’d enjoy it. But it does literally do that 2-3 times per season rinsed and repeated.
Even the very final episode, he retakes Bebbenburg and all is well but wait! He will not be United England he will be independent and pisses off Edward (sticky situation)
Seriously. They aged Aethelflaed and Alfred decently, but Uhtred was never given the same treatment. He should’ve had a lot of gray hair by the happenings in season 5. He held baby Edward in his arms, and now Edward has a mostly-grown son ffs.
I won't bring up the whole list of gaps between books and series but those are the things that jar with me the most.
Taking the series on its own, everything is just that little bit rushed and the lack of ageing for the likes of Uhtred is noticeable by the end.
The # of relationships seems extreme because it's cramped into 4 seasons which in reality is over a span of 40-50 years. Because no one aged in the show so it seems like a lot.
Also I felt the book storyline between Stiorra and Sigtryggr was WAY better so not sure why writers felt the need to diverge from that. A little bit of the Witcher syndrome maybe where the writers thought they could make it better? Or maybe they felt the need to bring forward another strong female character to appease the times (I feel like a lot of TV adaptations suffer bc of this notion).
The repetitive plots by season. Each season had somebody important/loved get killed, revenge is on the table, now there’s a battle to stop and invasion and we resolve.
The show was amazing, but the arcs were very similar each season.
I loved it all! BUT I wanted to see them do more with Eadith. She ended up being such a strong person, I think they should have paired her off with Finan.
Brida became a bit much for me as the show went on. Once she becomes a Welsh slave prisoner and comes back from, that I just couldn’t understand where she was coming from with the hatred for Uthred. It felt forced for me in the writing. I don’t understand why she wants to kill him so badly based off him refusing to kill her and some how blaming the death of her child on him?
Can anyone fill me in if I’m missing something? Went through the show twice already and felt the same level of confusion towards her later role. I really enjoy her character when Season 1-3 I would say.
How Stgtryggr comes on the scene like a total badass with cunning and cool headedness being his defining characteristics and then in season 5 he’s somehow doing things out of anger
First, Skade. Something about the character/performance just feels very out of place for the show.
Second, I think the show indulges a bit *too* much into violence and rampant, indiscriminate murderousness with the Danes — especially after the first season or two. For me this eventually negatively impacts Uthred's central conflict, as well as the arcs of pretty much every Dane (or adopted Dane) the audience is meant to feel sympathy toward. By the time Sigtryggr comes along, it almost strains believability that anyone not interested in the mass murder of Saxon civilians for pleasure would be accepted by the Danes in a position of power.
Finally, the Alfred years feel a bit rushed. I understand the meta context of why the first season goes all the way from Alfred's ascension to Edington — the show might not have continued past that point, and there was probably a fear that it wouldn't feel like a complete/satisfying story. But in hindsight, knowing the success of the show and the brilliance of David Dawson's performance, I find myself wishing his reign was drawn out over another season or two.
I did feel like Sigtryggr’s arc was handled poorly, I didn’t like S05 Stiorra, Brida was a rocky character from start to stop, Haesten was mishandled IMO, and I thought Uhtred held too much of the limelight and would have preferred other characters have a chance to shine from time to time.
I can't understand why uthred had accent and Brida didn't other Danes didn't have accent either.so it doesn't make sense for uthred to have one.plus in the first season he didn't have accent so why they decide to throw in some accent is something I don't understand
I came to the thread to see if anyone mentioned Uhtred's accent. I'm ignorant to the history so if its a correct accent it's fine, but he was the only one with it and it did pull me out of the show a few times.
The Norse beliefs regarding the afterlife (as far as we know) are pretty misrepresented in the show, especially regarding Valhalla; though this flaw is honestly for the best in my opinion
One big thing I noticed is that the fight choreography turned to absolute shit in season 5. I can't think of a single fight that didn't look like garbage. Overly stiff and slow movements that made it very clear that they weren't trying to hit each other.
Uhtred stiffly pummeling away at Brida during their final encounter was atrocious to watch and ruined the scene somewhat for me.
The writing is chaotic and motivation for many characters is kind of all over the place.
Lots of minor characters who barely matter with no real motivations or development who suck up airtime.
Uhtred never learns (well at least not until like season 5), does dumb shit almost constantly, and never had any serious consequences even tho he loves to do unhinged shit that would get anyone else killed (basically taking Alfred hostage but actually it's ok??? What??)
The revolving doors of love interests who I do not care about (with the exception of Aethelfled) who constantly die and it's like. Great now I have to watch Uhtred fake cry about this before proceeding to never even think about this chick again ever
Very uneven acting. Alfred is the tits and Aeleswith is also great. Aethelfled is also good. Uhtred's actor wasn't good enough (not entirely his fault as the character is imo kind of poorly written) to keep pace and it made the show really uneven.
I say all this but I still enjoyed the show. It's a really interesting time in history!
E: lol oh yes the lack of aging as everyone else has mentioned. Uhtred basically was a grandpa and bro is running around looking 32 max with some fake grey hairs in there
The Danes being super evil with rarely any other personality and always dying really quick always having one goal conquering Wessex en western Mercia and very few making it through a single season credit to Haesten for surviving since season2 name any other danish or Norse character besides Kjartan Sven sithric Ragnar jr sigtryggr cnut jackdaw daggfinn and Haesten that survived more then one season
This might be an unpopular opinion and didn't effect the quality of the show in any way, but I could not stand the opening song. I couldn't "skip intro" fast enough. It was grating on my ears by season 5.
If you listen to the actual song on YouTube, there's a very beautiful part around the middle+eivor is a legendary singer but I agree that the song was a little annoying, no fault of the singer and the composer.
I mean it's probably the only part that the music is badly used, otherwise every single scene has beautiful music especially towards the end of battle of Ethandun.
If the number in the TV show bothered you, I recommend you not read the books. Although the books are a bit more realistic than the tv show, they show that not all of Uthred's women are with him because they're swooned by him. Some simply did not have much say in the matter, since he is a nobleman in the highly male-dominated Anglo-Saxon world. The fact that Uthred is thought of as a good man for the simple fact that he does not hit his women should tell you the bar is low.
I'm currently reading the books and one line that has stuck with me since book 1 was during a section where Uhtred is talking about how he has a harpist sing songs about him, naming him "Uhtred the Bold" for example but the one they never sing but should sing is about "Uhtred the Lonely".
Uhtred fast travelling across england
He’s running on an nvme. Load times are fast.
Uber
That is weird because it takes alot of time to get the uber driver to the right place
There was no traffic back then and less roads
I always thought of this watching the show, like they be running everywhere and then have a huge battle….their stamina is amazing
Stiorra's entire character in season 5.
How dare you? No one has felt pain like Stiorra felt!!!
Watching her was extremely painful to me, she will never understand.
Agreed
Yeah that shit really stumped me compared to her stance in the prior season.
I really was thrown off by how they wrote her character later on to just have no ability to see beyond her own pain and suffering. Some of her lines just baffle me with how could she really feel like that.
The lack of aging of Uhtred and his pretty boys (and Aelswiths backward aging) was silly, especially when they did a good job with others. One thing that really annoyed me were the shots where people are spying or scouting and so obviously spottable. I remember one in the woods where Danes are travelling just a few metres away, or when they're approaching Dunholm (I think) and they're just out in the open where anyone could see them. Tiny issues really but it bugs me each time.
>when they did a good job with others I felt like they didn't age anyone. Some people will say they aged Alfred, but really they just tried to make him look sick and dying.
They showed with Alfred that they could do it, even though he was sick he still looked decades older. I thought Aethelflaed's aging for season 5 was decent (they made an effort at least).
>that they could do it It's not exactly black magic... just give people some grey hair at least. They didn't even bother to do that most of the time.
They would’ve looked good with some gray in their hair.
Honestly, some greying hair would have been enough, as long as it was done better than Aelswith (her grey was terrible in S5 imo). I wish I knew why they didn't do it - it's not like it would have made the actors unattractive (if that was indeed their concern).
Yes, I didn't read the books so I didn't really pay attention to how much time had passed. Then I read somewhere that by season 5 Uhtred should have been in his 70s and I lol'd.
Skade. And Uthreds costuming. By the last season he looks like a samurai or so.ething
Bloodhair was a pretty stupid character, too. I don't know how he was in the books, but I could have done without that whole storyline.
Yeah, him AND Skade. BOOOOO
Stiorra going from convincing Sigtryggr that the divide between Saxons and Danes is silly and makes no sense to relentlessly hating Saxons even before his execution Bridas unhinged hatred towards Uhtred Uhtred never getting any older looking in the show, in Vikings they made Ragnar Lothbrok look much older in Season 4 so it is entirely possible.
The show has a formula that they stick to ad naseum. - there is some issue that needs resolved and Uhtred is recruited to solve it - uhtred in solving the issue puts himself in a sticky situation because of his moral compass/destiny/etc - uhtred gets out of the sticky situation but with some great loss or indebtedness or the start of a new sticky situation - rinse and repeat I don’t even mind the formula. I knew what I was getting every time I tuned in and knew I’d enjoy it. But it does literally do that 2-3 times per season rinsed and repeated. Even the very final episode, he retakes Bebbenburg and all is well but wait! He will not be United England he will be independent and pisses off Edward (sticky situation)
The ageing is a big one for me. A touch of makeup would've killed thrm？
Seriously. They aged Aethelflaed and Alfred decently, but Uhtred was never given the same treatment. He should’ve had a lot of gray hair by the happenings in season 5. He held baby Edward in his arms, and now Edward has a mostly-grown son ffs.
I won't bring up the whole list of gaps between books and series but those are the things that jar with me the most. Taking the series on its own, everything is just that little bit rushed and the lack of ageing for the likes of Uhtred is noticeable by the end.
The # of relationships seems extreme because it's cramped into 4 seasons which in reality is over a span of 40-50 years. Because no one aged in the show so it seems like a lot. Also I felt the book storyline between Stiorra and Sigtryggr was WAY better so not sure why writers felt the need to diverge from that. A little bit of the Witcher syndrome maybe where the writers thought they could make it better? Or maybe they felt the need to bring forward another strong female character to appease the times (I feel like a lot of TV adaptations suffer bc of this notion).
Some of the writing, performances, and the way they filmed a few scenes were lazy. But I can look past all of it. Love the show.
The repetitive plots by season. Each season had somebody important/loved get killed, revenge is on the table, now there’s a battle to stop and invasion and we resolve. The show was amazing, but the arcs were very similar each season.
I loved it all! BUT I wanted to see them do more with Eadith. She ended up being such a strong person, I think they should have paired her off with Finan.
Yes I was so surprised that he had married someone else. I was really invested in the two of them
I really thought that was where they were heading!
Brida became a bit much for me as the show went on. Once she becomes a Welsh slave prisoner and comes back from, that I just couldn’t understand where she was coming from with the hatred for Uthred. It felt forced for me in the writing. I don’t understand why she wants to kill him so badly based off him refusing to kill her and some how blaming the death of her child on him? Can anyone fill me in if I’m missing something? Went through the show twice already and felt the same level of confusion towards her later role. I really enjoy her character when Season 1-3 I would say.
How Stgtryggr comes on the scene like a total badass with cunning and cool headedness being his defining characteristics and then in season 5 he’s somehow doing things out of anger
First, Skade. Something about the character/performance just feels very out of place for the show. Second, I think the show indulges a bit *too* much into violence and rampant, indiscriminate murderousness with the Danes — especially after the first season or two. For me this eventually negatively impacts Uthred's central conflict, as well as the arcs of pretty much every Dane (or adopted Dane) the audience is meant to feel sympathy toward. By the time Sigtryggr comes along, it almost strains believability that anyone not interested in the mass murder of Saxon civilians for pleasure would be accepted by the Danes in a position of power. Finally, the Alfred years feel a bit rushed. I understand the meta context of why the first season goes all the way from Alfred's ascension to Edington — the show might not have continued past that point, and there was probably a fear that it wouldn't feel like a complete/satisfying story. But in hindsight, knowing the success of the show and the brilliance of David Dawson's performance, I find myself wishing his reign was drawn out over another season or two.
I did feel like Sigtryggr’s arc was handled poorly, I didn’t like S05 Stiorra, Brida was a rocky character from start to stop, Haesten was mishandled IMO, and I thought Uhtred held too much of the limelight and would have preferred other characters have a chance to shine from time to time.
limited aging, bad accents
Hoping you don't mean Uhtred, his accent is perfect
God what I wouldn’t do to have him narrate the audiobooks.
Never it’s all about Johnathan Keeble.
Is this sarcasm or are you being genuine
Sarcasm but I do love his accent
Hahaha lol thank you
Uhtred has a modern day Welsh accent, which I discovered by watching a documentary on the history of Wales.
What documentary? I would like to watch it.
It's called "The Story of Wales", I found it on Curiosity Stream. Super interesting
I can't understand why uthred had accent and Brida didn't other Danes didn't have accent either.so it doesn't make sense for uthred to have one.plus in the first season he didn't have accent so why they decide to throw in some accent is something I don't understand
I came to the thread to see if anyone mentioned Uhtred's accent. I'm ignorant to the history so if its a correct accent it's fine, but he was the only one with it and it did pull me out of the show a few times.
Redemption of certain characters.
Costumes.
Brida
The Norse beliefs regarding the afterlife (as far as we know) are pretty misrepresented in the show, especially regarding Valhalla; though this flaw is honestly for the best in my opinion
Yeah it can be excused because lots of media do it but when you dig into it, they’re way off the mark on the Valhalla bits.
One big thing I noticed is that the fight choreography turned to absolute shit in season 5. I can't think of a single fight that didn't look like garbage. Overly stiff and slow movements that made it very clear that they weren't trying to hit each other. Uhtred stiffly pummeling away at Brida during their final encounter was atrocious to watch and ruined the scene somewhat for me.
That same opening shot of Winchester for the first 4 seasons.
The writing is chaotic and motivation for many characters is kind of all over the place. Lots of minor characters who barely matter with no real motivations or development who suck up airtime. Uhtred never learns (well at least not until like season 5), does dumb shit almost constantly, and never had any serious consequences even tho he loves to do unhinged shit that would get anyone else killed (basically taking Alfred hostage but actually it's ok??? What??) The revolving doors of love interests who I do not care about (with the exception of Aethelfled) who constantly die and it's like. Great now I have to watch Uhtred fake cry about this before proceeding to never even think about this chick again ever Very uneven acting. Alfred is the tits and Aeleswith is also great. Aethelfled is also good. Uhtred's actor wasn't good enough (not entirely his fault as the character is imo kind of poorly written) to keep pace and it made the show really uneven. I say all this but I still enjoyed the show. It's a really interesting time in history! E: lol oh yes the lack of aging as everyone else has mentioned. Uhtred basically was a grandpa and bro is running around looking 32 max with some fake grey hairs in there
too many situations where Uhtred is just fucking stupid in his decision making
The fact that nobody ages. Uhtred's accent isn't great either (hot take, I know).
It's funny, when he talks like Uhtred, wow. When he talks like Alex, yuch! Lol
Emily Cox's casting as Brida = the biggest, multi-season flaw of the show.
Eadith’s accent.
Thyra was distractingly unpleasant to look at
Settle down Tidman!
The Danes being super evil with rarely any other personality and always dying really quick always having one goal conquering Wessex en western Mercia and very few making it through a single season credit to Haesten for surviving since season2 name any other danish or Norse character besides Kjartan Sven sithric Ragnar jr sigtryggr cnut jackdaw daggfinn and Haesten that survived more then one season
Lack of romance and not developing those relationships more. The show is fast paced. I like when shows have a good balance though.
Seasons 4 and 5, and Uhtred’s accent
Season 5 was the best season. I completely disagree with you.
This might be an unpopular opinion and didn't effect the quality of the show in any way, but I could not stand the opening song. I couldn't "skip intro" fast enough. It was grating on my ears by season 5.
If you listen to the actual song on YouTube, there's a very beautiful part around the middle+eivor is a legendary singer but I agree that the song was a little annoying, no fault of the singer and the composer.
I will definitely check that out. I agree that its not the fault of the singer/writer, just the way its used 😊
I mean it's probably the only part that the music is badly used, otherwise every single scene has beautiful music especially towards the end of battle of Ethandun.