WiC Binges: The Last Kingdom season 3

THE LAST KINGDOM: SEASON 3, “EPISODE TWO”

“Falling afoul of Alfred, Uhtred flees north to his brother, Ragnar. His eye on the throne, Aethelwold begins assembling an alliance to strike Wessex.”

“Episode Two” opens quietly, with Uhtred exhuming Gisela’s body from her earthen grave so she can be burned on a funeral pyre as her Danish heritage demands. It’s an agonizing act of love, and it’s telling that Hild and Finan are the close friends who accompany him — long ago, it would have been Halig and Leofric.

He may be back to his old drinking and whoring ways, but Aethelwold is cunning, and his potential for treachery is flourishing in the shaky power void opening as Alfred gets closer to death. Witnessing Uhtred’s violation of holy ground, Aethelwold tries to drive a wedge between him and Alfred. However, the vicious baiting of Uhtred by Brother Godwin (working for Aethelwold) at Alfred’s witan feels forced, especially when Uhtred’s “slap” kills him. But the scene serves its purpose, so let’s move on.

Uhtred has terminated a monk for a second time (remember the scummy Abbot Eadred?) and Alfred, as usual, takes advantage of his mistakes, trying to force him to swear his sword to the young Edward, which basically means a lifetime oath. With everything going wrong, Uhtred believes Skade is “the power behind my misfortune.”

Instead of relenting and committing to Edward, Uhtred whips out his dagger and takes Alfred hostage in the middle of his Winchester court! What? The corridor scene between Alfred and Uhtred is an explosion of long pent-up rage. As a result, Uhtred has just made enemies out of Alfred, Beocca, Steapa and the entire kingdom of Wessex, and he’s wounded to boot. Yep, he’d better ride fast to Ragnar and the Danes at Dunholm.

With Skade staking her claim to him, Uhtred rides north with Finan, Osferth and Sihtric in tow. Aethelwold hires a few willing mercenaries and rides to Aegelsburg to conspire with the equally despicable and despondent Aethelred. He then travels to meet with Bloodhair and Haesten, who are in league together. Athelwold’s plans to lead the united Viking armies is ambitious. Bloodhair’s character is proving to be a kind of wild-Ubba/thoughtful-Guthrum mix, and that makes him very dangerous.

Aethelred decides to murder Aethelfaed and her daughter. Uhtred’s wound festers and he blames Skade, of course. Enter Ragnar the Younger and Brida; we knew they wouldn’t be missing for long. Plus, we meet Ragnar’s warlord cousin, Cnut. At Dunholm, Brida cares for Uhtred and keeps Skade imprisoned and away from him. Recovered, Uhtred announces, “I am a Dane for life.” Anyone willing to take bets on that?

The Ragnarsson family reunions are always happy, and Uhtred’s meal with Ragnar and Brida is one of the warmest scenes in the episode. But it makes a subtle turn to the dark side when the prospect of a Danish attack on Winchester arises, unsettling both Uhtred and Finan. Uhtred and Brida’s intimate moment together at the end of the episode is typical The Last Kingdom-style bittersweet.

Despite the big, exciting twists, “Episode Two” feels a bit ham-handed and forced in places, as with Brother Godwin’s verbal assault on the newly bereaved Uhtred and Uhtred’s brazen kidnapping of King Alfred. It’s a lot for the show to handle, with everything changing so fast and so many characters changing sides, but they get it done.

Random impressions

• The unearthing of Gisela from her Christian grave and moving her to the pagan funeral pyre is a perfect metaphor for Uhtred’s move from the Saxon world to the Viking one.
• Edward and Alfred are depending on Haesten to drive the defeated Bloodhair out of Wessex? These royals are way too trusting in light of how suspicious they are of everybody else.
• Aelswith is really being an ungrateful crumb at the witan by hammering on Uhtred for desecrating “holy ground” by retrieving his dead wife, considering her two children are alive only because he helped save them.
• Left alone after Uhtred’s betrayal and escape, King Alfred weeps. David Dawson may be the absolute best part of this show.
• When he ran from Winchester after assaulting Alfred, did Uhtred just leave all his kids and Hild behind?
• Uhtred’s hallucinations of Leofric are REALLY COOL.
• Though she’s in the episode only briefly at the end, Brida dominates, capping the hour by telling Uhtred his new destiny: to undo the past by killing Alfred.

Our Take: “Episode Two” reorients a lot of major storylines and feels a bit overloaded, but it keeps the pace going and sets up the chess pieces for the rest of the season. Grade: B.

Quote: “I wish to ride alongside you (Uhtred) … I wish to ride alongside you as your woman. You have what you’ve always craved: your freedom. Embrace it and embrace me. Did I not say you would be in need of a woman?” (Skade)