Every single episode of The Last Kingdom, ranked worst to best
(20) SEASON 3: “EPISODE SEVEN”
“A message from Uhtred and the machinations of Skade exploit divisions among the Danes. His health failing, Alfred wrestles with Aethelwold’s fate.”
Recap
Uhtred heads north to Ayelsbury where he and Aethelflaed fight off Offa and Aethelwold’s assassins. The captured Offa reveals he is an agent of Aethelwold, and Uhtred sends him back to the Danes with the story that Uhtred is coming for them as a shadow-walker. The nervous Aethelwold returns to Winchester where he is caught and imprisoned by Father Pyrlig.
At Hunstanton, Bloodhair seeks to regain the cunning Skade’s favors. Sihtric sits among the Danes, badmouthing Uhtred as Cnut beds Brida, seeking her love and to gain the warriors loyal to her. Offa arrives with Uhtred’s ghostly message, reigniting the feud between Bloodhair and Haesten. At Winchester, Edward meets his bride Aelflaed for the first time as their parents negotiate the terms of their marriage.
Uhtred , Finan, Osferth and company arrive in Crowland to eat and sleep, knowing the locals will warn the Danes of their approach. In Mercia, Aethelred plans to surround Aethelflaed with his guards while he urges Aldhelm (secretly loyal to Aethelflaed) to win her favor. Bloodhair and Haesten enter the square in a battle to the death. Bloodhair falls, drugged by Skade, who finishes him off.
Surrounded by the Crowland villagers as he expected, Uhtred sets the town afire and strolls out. Believing Uhtred is trapped, Cnut leads his horsemen to engage Uhtred. Alfred places Aethelwold on trial in a Winchester witan and argues with Aelswith over the nature of Aethelwold’s punishment. Cnut and his forces travel to attack Uhtred (whom they believe is still trapped at Crowland), but Uhtred bypasses them and heads to their Hunstanton encampment to free Skade.
Alfred decrees Aethelwold’s punishment to be the blinding of one eye. Sihtric meets with Uhtred and company on the outskirts of the Viking camp, revealing their ploy to have Sihtric feign a quarrel in order to infiltrate the Danes. Uhtred manages to free Skade and escape downriver in a boat.
Our Take
“Episode Seven” is dominated by the trial and punishment of Aethelwold, whose forked tongue fails him as he attempts to obfuscate his treacheries and defend himself at the witan trial in front of Alfred. The argument between Aelswith and Alfred is more interesting than the trial, with the practical Aelswith highlighting the constant threat posed by Aethelwold, especially to Edward, and the need for their traitorous nephew to be executed. The ailing Alfred, conflicted between the need for brutal justice and his Christian sense of pity and forgiveness, is uncertain.
Uhtred and Aethelwold resume their simmering attraction while Edward and Aelflaed become a cute couple upon their very first meeting, but this episode isn’t built for romance. The seer Skade plays a bigger and bigger part in the story as her seductive powers allow her to wrap most Danes around her little finger, including Uhtred (apparently).
The death of Bloodhair continues the fragmentation of the always-fraught Viking leadership, but it also allows Cnut to further consolidate his power; he’s a master manipulator, far more capable than those around him with the exception of Brida, who is perceptive and playing her own game.
“Episode Seven” is a fine installment, driving the narrative forward and offering some great dramatic moments, but it’s less gripping than the other season 3 episodes.
Quote: “So I must take my brother’s son’s life to prove (he isn’t weak), and to step from the Christian path of mercy this close to the end?” (King Alfred, to Aelswith)