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The Last Kingdom 108: “Episode 8”

Netflix’s The Last Kingdom is a medieval drama that’s done a lot to fill the hole left behind by Game of Thrones. Based on author Bernard Cornwell’s The Saxon Stories, the show follows Uhtred son of Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon), a Saxon boy kidnapped as a child by the invading Danes and taught the Viking way. The first season of the show deals with Uhtred struggling to be accepted by the Saxons as he tries to exact revenge on the Vikings who murdered his Danish foster family. Uhtred is too much a pagan for the pious Saxons, and too savage for the the lords and ladies attending the court of King Alfred, the Saxon king. And yet he was born a Saxon. He has a foot planted in two worlds but belongs fully to neither.

However, by the end of season 1, Uhtred decides to rally his forces to fight for the Saxon king against Skorpa (Jonas Malmsjö) and the Danish army. During the season’s climactic battle in “Episode 8,” Skorpa rides behind the Saxon lines and beheads Uhtred’s lover Iseult and then uses the severed head to taunt Uhtred.

Seeing this, Uhtred goes beserk and breaks through the Danish shield wall, killing Skorpa and leaving a gap for the Saxon army to pour through and win the day.

The final battle is action-packed from beginning to end, and epic in scale. The Last Kingdom is soon heading into its fourth season, and this is the perfect time to get into it.