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Season 4: “Episode Four”
Hoping to be joined by Edward’s troops, Aethelflaed and Uhtred ally with Welsh in order to face Cnut’s thousand-man army at the Battle of Tettenhall.
Recap
Father Pyrlig sees King Hywel of Wales to deliver Aelswith’s request for help defending Merica. Danes attack Aylesburg but Uhtred sends them away with a ruse involving Cnut’s sons. At King’s Lynn, Eardwulf informs Aethelred of the Dane invasion of Mercia. Edward confronts Aelswith with her plot to form an alliance with Wales. Aethelhelm and Aeflaed plot to improve their position with Edward.
Uhtred and Aethelflaed arrive at Tettenhall field to find Father Pyrlig and the Welsh army waiting for them. Cnut and the Danes arrive and charge, though Brida manages to control her troops more effectively. Battle ensues, and Aethelred and his Mercians arrive to assist Aethelflaed and the hard-pressed Welshmen. Edward also arrives to add his army and the Danes are outmanned.
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Steapa falls, and Cnut seeks out Uhtred to exact his revenge. Brida kills Cnut when she learns of his complicity in Ragnar’s death. Uhtred cannot kill the begging Brida before she is taken prisoner by the Welsh. Edward refuses to reconcile with Aethelflaed, and lord Aethelred takes a serious wound in the battle.
Our Take
“Episode Four” kicks into high gear with Uhtred’s clever ploy to use Cnut’s sons to fool the Danes at Aylesburg, and the story keeps on rolling from there. Plans unravel as the infuriated Aethelred is told of the Dane invasion of Merica. He threatens the ambitious Eardwulf and Eadith while Edward learns that Aelswith tried to form an alliance with Wales without his knowledge.
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The drama unfolds quickly as everything teeters on the brink of chaos: the thousand-man army of the Danes, led by a raging Cnut who believes Uhtred murdered one of his sons, bears down on Aethelflaed (and Uhtred’s) small force of Mercian fyrds at Tettenhall.
We get plenty more of the exploding intimacy between Uhtred and Aethelflaed, which nobody minds. I’m hoping their union survives the storms ahead. The two lovers appear joined at the hip now, their forces allied on the field of battle, but I wonder how long it will be before fate drives them apart again.
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Once again, we see proof of The Last Kingdom’s increased production budget in this episode, specifically at the Battle of Tettenhall, which features lots of horses and extras. It all adds up to an epic, multilayered and extended battle sequence, and I love it.
Aldhelm once again proves himself an interesting character: he’s devoted to Aethelflaed and is unable to end her life when the two of them are surrounded and believe all is lost. Hopefully this relationship develops even further now they they’ve come out the other end of that experience intact.
I’ve noticed that The Last Kingdom has been shooting King Edward through a soft lens much of this season, perhaps trying to highlight the the uncertainty and weakness now besetting his character. The immature Edward is young and poorly advised, and not perceptive or experienced enough to realize who has his best interests at heart. Let’s hope he ends up listening to Uhtred, Aelswith and Aethelflaed.
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The final scrap between Uhtred and Cnut is something we’ve been waiting to see for a while, and it was certainly appropriate that the deceived Brida was the one to deliver the death blow. Yet Uhtred is unable to honor Brida’s request that he kill her and send her to Ragnar in Valhalla before the Saxons take her prisoner (probably to enslave). Aethelred’s apparently severe wounding on the field of battle provides a powerful cliffhanger to end the episode.
The Last Kingdom lands lots of dramatic punches here, lacing victories with failures. It makes for a terrific watch.
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Farewell, Steapa.