The fifth and final season of The Last Kingdom is upon us. For years, this series has quietly been one of the best historical sagas out there, telling the tale of Uhtred of Bebbanburg as he fights to regain control of his home, enters the service of a Christian king (and later the son of that Christian king), falls in love, battles his former best friend, and tries to fulfill his destiny.
Barring the upcoming movie Seven Kings Must Die, this is the last time we’ll be hanging out with Uhtred and the gang. Do they get a worthy sendoff? Let’s walk through each and every episode of the new season and decide.
Episode 1
We pick up a few years after the end of season 4, as Brida (Emily Cox) gathers together her new followers to lead them in a creepy Viking ritual that involves her daughter by Cnut picking a dude out of the crowd at random. And then the random guy willingly jumps into a flaming fissure in the earth, thus signifying that it’s time to invade (what will one day become) England and expunge those nasty Christians.
It’s an eerie scene that basically paints Brida as a charismatic cult leader, complete with an army of face-painted drones. After years of serving this or that Vikings lord — Ragnar, Cnut, etc — Brida is finally in charge of her own flock; she should make an intimidating final boss for Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon).
And it’s great for viewers because this promises the kind of intensely personal conflict you can only have between characters who know each other very well, and who we know well. That said, I hope they don’t lose too much of Brida’s character to her newfound fanaticism. At least in this episode, she’s painted more as a force of nature than a person. For instance, there’s an unsettling scene later where Uhtred’s own son Oswald staggers into a festival wearing a long smock with a splotch of running red at the crotch; all he can say is “Brida.” She’s going around castrating Uhtred’s kids; that’s hardcore.
And Brida continues her I’m-the-Joker-of-medieval-England routine when she and her followers trick their way into the mixed religious community where Sigtryggr (Eysteinn Sigurðarson) and Stiorra (Ruby Hartley) rule and immediately start hacking at people. Let it not be said that the premiere episode doesn’t start right in on the action: Uhtred’s daughter is already in mortal danger by the end of it.
That said, most of the episode is dedicated to the kind of catch up you’d expect from a season premiere. Uhtred has kept to his word and has been raising King Edward’s son Aethelstan (now played by Harry Gilby) in the hopes that he’ll become kingly material one day. And the kid does seem a decent sort; he’s an affable teenager who fits in with the soldiers at Uhtred’s home base of Rumcofa and who’s been taught to fight well enough that he single-handedly defeats three assassins sent by the vile Aethelhelm (Adrian Schiller), who is still working to make sure that his grandson by King Edward (Timothy Innes) takes the thrones over Aethelstan.
Uhtred is impressed — maybe even disbelieving — that Aethelstan took on those dudes alone. He’s having one of those TV-ready parental crisis where he’s done a good job raising Aethelstan but is having problems seeing him as an adult, which by the standards of this accursed time period he is. On another TV show Uhtred’s wife would advise him that it’s time to let the boy spread his wings and fly, but because Uhtred is still holding a candle for the unavailable Aethelflaed (Mille Brady), that job falls to Finan (Mark Rowley).
Speaking of Finan, he’s gone and gotten himself hitched, as has Sihtric (Arnas Fedaravicius). The only member of Uhtred’s old crew not married is Osferth (Ewan Mitchell), who it’s implied is…spreading VD around the town? Okay, sure. Apart from that bit, checking in with these guys is another nice way to show how much time has passed.
Even more of the old crew gets back together when Eadith (Stefanie Martini) rolls into town ahead of Aethelflaed, who’s coming for that festival I mentioned above, the one that Brida ruins by castrating Uhtred’s son. There’s an intriguing romantic comedy bit between Eadith and Uhtred where she accidentally stumbles upon him naked in bed, and then they laugh awkwardly for a minute before he leaves and she watches him go and just what is going on here? Are they setting up a romance?
At the same time, Uhtred advises Finan to be wary of Eadith, since they’ve been apart for years now and her loyalties could have changed. I thought Eadith was a good addition to the cast last season, so if this means we see more of her, I’m all for it.
So all in all, this episode does its job well, although that last shot of Uhtred screaming Brida’s name into the dark on the edge of a dock is a little anticlimactic. She’s not there, dude.
The Last Bullet Points
- The biggest disappointment of the episode is that after Aethelhelm’s attempt to poison her at the end of season 4, Aelswith (Eliza Butterworth) is just…fine. Not that I wanted Aelswith to die, but I felt jerked around that they would set up that cliffhanger and do nothing with it. Aelswith is living with Aethelflaed now, making overbearing mother noises.
- Things between King Edward and his wife Aelflaed (Amelia Clarkson) are very bad; he’s cheating on her and she’s fully in on her dad’s plans to assassinate Aethelstan. At least her son Aelfweard (Ewan Horrocks), the one she and Aethelhelm want on the throne over Aethelstan, seems alright.
- We also catch up with Aethelflaed’s daughter Aelfwynn (Phia Saban), now a teenager and flirting a bit too much for her mother’s liking. (Oh my god, I forgot how many “ae” names there are on this show.)
- Stiorra has a deaf maid named Hela. They talk in ye olde sign language. A cool detail.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B-
– Dan
Episode 2
I’ve always liked that The Last Kingdom doesn’t waste time. There are 10 episodes in this season and each one is pushing an hour long, and that’s with no commercials. When I see that, part of me fears that the show will drag things out, but I never feel like I reach the end of a Last Kingdom episode with nothing having happened.
That said, “Episode 2” takes us right to the edge of a big something. Brida has taken over Sigtryggr’s settlement at Eoforwic but has failed to capture Stiorra, who hides in some tunnels underneath the main square where she still has a clear view of the torture Brida is putting her ladies in waiting through, thanks to a handy curb drain. After forcing the women to remain on their knees for two days straight, Brida again drafts her creepy kid wander through the crowd and pick out human sacrifices, and this time they’re not willing.
That gets Stiorra to come out of hiding, shouting “I’m coming for you, Brida!” in a wonderfully dramatic way. But we cut out right before we get the confrontation. It sure does make you want to keep binging, I’ll give it that.
Naturally, Uhtred is mobilizing the team to save Stiorra, although he isn’t able to count on much help, which is another common theme on this show: honestly, the number of times Uhtred has had to go it alone is pretty staggering.
That said, the show always comes up with a good reason why he doesn’t have allies. This time he asks Aethelflaed to lend him soldiers, but she can’t because of something she cannot tell him: she’s dying of cancer, and she knows that means there will be trouble in Mercia before too long. She’ll need all of her soldiers to keep the peace and help the succession go smoothly, which is no guarantee considering her daughter Aelfwynn is a bit of a wild child who has no interest in ruling. And Aethelflaed can’t tell Uhtred this because then he might get distracted from the need to rescue his daughter. It’s a painful dilemma and I felt for Aethelflaed. I didn’t care that it was the 300th time the show had contrived a predicament like this.
Uhtred and co meet up with Sigtryggr on their way to Eoforwic and hatch a plan to infiltrate the town. I honestly forget how Sigtryggr comes to be wandering the wilds after Brida humiliates him and cuts his hair (“the Christians have a story about it,” she jokes), but it’s cool to see him angry and determined when he’s usually so calm and collected.
Again, the episode ends before we really get to the fireworks: just as Stiorra confronts Brida, Sigtryggr leads Uhtred and friends into town through some kind of back entrance. This is a solid episode that does what it needs to do, but what it needs to do is set up a more exciting hour to come.
The Last Bullet Points
- Once again, Aelswith kind of seems like an unneeded appendage here. She learns that her daughter is dying and gets upset, which is sympathetic, but her presence feels perfunctory.
- In Winchester, Edward is making like his dad and taking a variety of mistresses. His latest, Eadgifu (Sonya Cassidy), might become more than just a fling, despite Aethelhelm’s attempts to bribe her out of town.
- Last week we met Benedict (Patrick Robinson), a priest on loan from Aethelflaed to Uhtred. He seems like a decent guy, but Aethelhelm is using his debts to turn him into an informant about everything going on in Uhtred’s camp.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B-
– Dan
Episode 3
We pick up exactly where we left off at the end of Episode 2, with Stiorra confronting Brida in Eoforwic, making the very bold decision to challenge the Vikings warrior woman to a fight. That goes about as well as expected, but it does buy Uhtred, Sigtryggr and the rest time to infiltrate the community and give Stiorra some backup, setting off a battle that takes up the first chunk of the episode.
What we have here is the climax of the last episode here at the start of this one, which doesn’t quite sit right with me: I dunno, maybe I’m just programmed to expect the most dramatic moment in a story to come at the end; I feel unmoored when the huge battle scene starts the proceedings.
Perhaps for that reason, this skirmish doesn’t have quite the punch I was hoping for. Uhtred and Brida reunite on the battlefield, but it doesn’t have the drama a moment like this deserves. Instead we get some hacky dialog about Brida castrating Uhtred’s son. “It’s not like the little priest was using his cock.” Great, thank you, very edgy.
The turning point comes when Brida’s creepy daughter climbs a roof to get above the fray, and then has to decide whether to accept Uhtred’s help in getting down or leaping off the roof into her mother’s waiting arms. At Brida’s urging she chooses the latter and dies. And it’s…unintentionally funny? Maybe I’m just a monster, but I wasn’t feeling the tragic weight I think the episode wanted me to feel here.
In the end, Brida gets away and every character save her daughter is left standing. I dunno, the resolution of this conflict left me feeling a bit cold, but things do improve once the episode slows down and starts focusing on Aethelflaed’s worsening condition. I was particularly moved by the scene where Finan tells Uhtred what’s going on and Alexander Dreymon starts putting together his Emmy reel. “I thought we had more time,” he whispers. Oof, that got to me.
I was also moved by the scene where Aethelflaed, who’s literally on her deathbed, tries to prepare the rebellious Aelfwynn for her ascension to the Mercian throne. We haven’t known this grown-up Aelfwynn for very long, but it’s still stirring to see a daughter blink back tears and try to live up to her dying mother’s expectations.
Although of course, there are plenty of people who would prefer Aelfwynn not succeed her mother; Aethelhelm immediately starts scheming to put his grandson Aelfweard in charge of Mercia, which I’m sure will stir up plenty of conflict in the episodes to come. The Last Kingdom has always been good at knocking over dominoes even as it sets up new ones.
Finally, we have Sigtryggr, who’s going through an identity crisis after Brida ransacked his home. On one level, I was having trouble understanding why is was so mad at the Christians for “poisoning” his people. Sure, it seems like Edward and Aethelflaed didn’t send him aid, but it was the pagan Brida who wrecked the place.
But on the other hand, I know he’s having an irrational reaction, which deepens his character. I like Sigtryggr. I like that he has a mix of brutality and tenderness, and an intelligence behind the eyes that makes it believable why Stiorra would want to be with him. I hope he comes out the other side of this with his spirit intact.
The episode ends with Sigtryggr and Stiorra putting Sigtryggr’s brother on trial for betraying them to Brida. And it’s not a normal trial with evidence and a judge and stuff; this is a weird Viking trial where he pull a brand out of a pot of boiling water and take nine steps with it in hand, which will prove his guilt or innocence according to the old stupid ways. Seems like a low stakes place for a cliffhanger.
The Last Bullet Points
- This episode deepens the relationship between Edward and Eadgifu, who Edward is coming to trust far more than his wife. Even though she’s conspiring against him, I do kind of feel bad for Aelflaed, who on some level seems to want to be a good wife to Edward but is pushed away by him. The show is careful not to whitewash Edward’s character; he’s a flawed man who can do good things.
- Uhtred, on the other hand, is pretty much a paragon. Even after Brida mutilated his one child and beat the crap out of another, he’s still willing to try and help her daughter. I dunno, I guess I could stand to see Uhtred act a little less heroic sometimes.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B-
– Dan
Episode 4
This episode is really all about the ending, so let’s start there. Edward. Dude. You just killed a bunch of local nobles to prevent them from electing your own niece as the new ruler of Mercia. Instead, Edward puts himself on the throne, reasoning that his father Alfred would have wanted one king ruling as many kingdoms as possible to achieve his dream of a united England.
Would Alfred have stepped over his own daughter to see it happen? Honestly, probably. But Edward will piss off a bunch of people with this move. The families of those noblemen, for one. Aethelhelm is royally pissed since he wanted his grandson Aelfweard on the throne. I can’t imagine Aelswith will be too pleased with her son for spitting on her daughter’s wishes…or maybe she’ll agree that it’s what Alfred would have wanted?
Aethelstan is mad at Edward too, although that’s party because he was nearly killed himself when Edward’s assassins took out the noblemen. “It is good to see you, Aethelstan,” isn’t really a good enough apology from Edward, and I don’t blame Aethelstan for deciding to stay with Uhtred over his dad.
As for Uhtred, he’s philosophical about it. “It is no way to become a king, Uhtred,” Aethelstan says. “I think it might be the only way,” Uhtred replies. Oh Uhtred, you’ve seen too much.
Anyway, this was an intense way to end a fairly sleepy episode. It underlines the uselessness of applying terms like “heroes” and “villains” to these characters…well, at least to the good ones. Is Edward a despotic tyrant, or is he right when he says, “Better the blood of the few than the blood of the many.” Discuss amongst yourselves.
It makes me want to know more about Edward’s internal life and his contradictions, which we may get now that Eadgifu is becoming his partner, much to the sadness of his wife Aelflaed, who I do feel for; the girl just wants to make her tapestry, why do you gotta be a dick to her, Edward? Once again, the show is swimming in some choppy waters here and doing a decent job of it.
Elsewhere, we spend a fair amount of time with Uhtred and Aethelflaed as they connect one last time before her death. It’s pretty heartbreaking. “I have dreamed of us,” Uhtred says. Oof. “You are carrying so much pain,” says Aethelflaed. Aaagh. Nothing hits you in the melodramatic feels like a doomed love affair.
Finally, we catch up with Brida, who’s on the run and has taken the priest Pyrlig (Cavan Clerkin) hostage. I’ve thought Brida was a bit too distant and unknowable so far this season, but “Episode 4” finally humanizes her as she and Pyrlig bond over the death of her daughter. The more sides we see of Brida, the better, whether her story ends in a bloody confrontation with Uhtred or more quietly.
The Last Bullet Points
- I have two words for Sigtryggr’s brother as he attempts to take nine steps with that burning brand in hand: Walk. Faster.
- Aethelflaed bringing the gallows humor: “I do not wish to lie still. There will be time enough for that.”
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B
– Dan
Episode 5
Plans go awry and tensions ratchet up in the fifth episode of The Last Kingdom season 5.
Let’s start by pouring one out for Aelflaed, who joins a group of pilgrims on their way to a holy site when they are waylaid by brigands sent by her own father. Of course, Aelflaed doesn’t know they’re sent by her dad and Aethelhelm didn’t know his daughter was traveling with this lot. His intention was to kill a bunch of holy folk and frame the Danes for it. That part works, more or less, but he ends up accidentally killing his own daughter in the process.
We wait the entire episode for Aethelhelm to discover what he’s done, and it’s worth it. As loathsome a man as he is, I almost felt something for him as he stumbled through camp overcome by the Shakespearian weight of what he’d done. Actor Adrian Schiller does some terrific work as Aethelhelm comes to the edge of suicide but brings himself back from the brink, full of cold fury. He’s more dangerous than ever now. Chills.
It’s a good ending to a good episode, although my head couldn’t help but spin a bit at how fast things progressed. Maybe I’m just trained to think of deaths as a big deal, so Aelflaed’s happening in the blink of an eye felt odd to me. Poor girl; even the producers give her no respect.
Edward also feels guilty about treating Aelflaed like trash and takes his anger out on Eadgifu, who bears it with compassion, dignity and Lady MacBeth-like advice. “Be a good king, not a good man.” She’s kind of emerged fully formed as a perfect partner; it’s hard to sympathize with.
But Edward will have bigger problems soon. Aethelhelm’s scheming worked; Edward thinks that Danes sent by Sigtryggr killed his wife, so he is obliged to respond with steel. And Sigtryggr, still stinging from Brida’s attack, has decided to embrace his Dane-hood and become more hostile to Christians, so a fight with Edward suits him just fine.
The only one who knows what really happened is Uhtred; thanks to Haesten (Jeppe Beck Laursen), of all people, he’s able to interview a witness to Aelflaed’s murder and has pieced together that Aethelhelm is behind everything. Averting war may mean him reaching Edward and Sigtryggr in time and telling them the truth. (Side note: it’s great to have Haesten and his smug one-liners back.)
And Uhtred will soon have even more reason to be wroth with Aethelhelm, since in another scheme Aethelhelm convinces a bunch of Christians to attack Uhtred’s home in a brutal battle scene. Really, this is as disturbing a scene as anything the show has given to us. There’s a particularly awful moment where we fixate on the face of Oswalt, sweet Oswalt — who’s still recovering from being castrated by Brida, I might add — as he watches atrocities be committed offscreen; I wager it’s far more effective than if we’d seen the atrocities ourselves.
But of course, the real heartbreaker comes when Osferth dies on the field of battle. Y’know, Osferth never had that big a presence on the show, but actor Ewan Mitchell is so affecting during his death scene (“Don’t let me die, Finan.”) that it moved me anyway. And I appreciated that the show gave this sequence room to breathe, as they didn’t do with Aelflaed.
It just got real. More real than usual, even.
The Last Bullet Points
- Aldhelm (James Northcote), gets a nice moment at the top of the episode where he turns in his resignation to Edward like a boss; obviously Aldhelm, ever loyal to Aethelflaed, isn’t going to work for the man who murdered his sister’s noblemen to put himself on the throne. But he’s later convinced to stay on in the job. Ah well, you got to be a badass for a second there, Aldhelm. Honestly, I think that would have been good way for his character to exit the story.
- Before the attack, Uhtred and Oswalt have a conversation where Oswalt, even as he recovers from castration, tries to comfort his father about Aethelflaed’s death. Uhtred doesn’t value this kid nearly enough.
- There’s a subplot where Aelswith conspires to marry off Aelfwynn to some dude she was flirting with in Rumcofa, the logic being that if she’s married to a nobody no one will see her as a threat to the Mercian throne and try to have her killed…and then there’s a bit where Aelswith and Aelfwynn are in bed and Aelswith is telling her how much fun it was to have sex with her grandpa. Kay.
- Aethelstan providing some snappy counsel: “Be wiser.”
- Brida is having Pyrlig take her to Uhtred. That should go fine.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B+
– Dan
Episode 6
The Last Kingdom reaches a climax in “Episode 6,” where the armies of Edward and Sigtryggr clash despite Uhtred’s best attempts to convince both men that Aethelhelm is the one actually responsible for Aelflaed’s death and the slaughter at Rumcofa.
I was getting a strong whiff of contrivance off much of this episode. Uhtred reaches Edward and tells him about Aethelhelm’s plot and Edward pretty much immediately believes him, despite their rocky history. Later, Stiorra buys Uhtred’s story even faster despite talking a big game of spilling Saxon blood. As trustworthy as Uhtred is, when leaders set their mind to slaughter I’d think it would take more convincing than this to turn them away from it.
And Uhtred’s attempts don’t work anyway, since he can’t find Sigtryggr before the Danish warlord leads his army into Aethelhelm’s camp in the dead of night and starts killing men while they sleep in an effectively creep sequence. I also liked the tense bit where they creep across a frozen lake to catch Aethelhelm’s men unawares. And that pays off later when Sigtryggr starts losing the battle and some of his men flee back across the ice, only now, in the bright light of day, the sheet is thinner and some of them fall straight through. It’s pretty horrific all around.
Once the battle is over, we have a situation where both Sigtryggr and Edward finally know that Aethelhelm is really behind all the trouble, but because Sigtryggr attacked Saxons and then lost the battle, Edward is obliged to punish him. He tries to take the middle way out by offering to spare Sigtryggr’s life if he gets baptized, but Sigtryggr refuses. That means execution, and the deed is done by none other than Uhtred himself — in front of his daughter and Sigtryggr’s wife — in a well-acting, tear-jerking sequence.
All of this is suitably dramatic, but it all happened a bit too quickly and conveniently for me. There are a couple other bubbles of contrivance, like when someone tries to kill Aethelstan yet again and he yet again turns the tables on him; kid is a Terminator. Elsewhere, Brida and Pyrlig stumble across a dying soldier from the battle who gives them exactly the bit of misinformation Brida needs to be convinced that Pyrlig is leading her into a trap. She guts him, which upsets me. Fight, Pyrlig, fight!
The battle itself is fun, although a bit chaotic, and some of the blood spurts look a little fake to me. And of course they are fake, added in afterwards with CGI, but I could tell, is the point.
It sounds like I’m down on the episode, although I swear I more or less enjoyed it. The Last Kingdom lives by the sword and dies by the sword; its rapid pace and adherence to the source material gives it a consistency a lot of shows lack, but sometimes it feels like it’s so focused on delivering on the plot that it doesn’t stop to consider what that plots means.
Oh, and Aethelhelm escapes the battle, by the way, the little weasel. His new plan is to regroup in the kingdom of Scotia and convince the king there to stand against Edward’s growing influence. Wihtgar, the knob who currently occupies Bebbanburg, is already there. Hopefully we’ll see Uhtred slash the shit-eating grin off his face before the season is over.
The Last Bullet Points
- “Countless” Danes were killed at Rumcofa. Osferth fought in “countless” battles. Danes will live at Eoforwic in peace for “countless” generations. We can count all those things. I’m calling for a moratorium on that word.
- “And you have utterly failed me, as you did my mother,” Aelfwynn tells Aelswith. Ouch. And then Aelfwynn flees her room after Aelswith grounds her; she’s making all the classic teenager moves. In any case, Aethelhelm is now hoping to kidnap Aelfwynn and gifting her to the king of Scotia in order to buy his way into his good graces.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B
– Dan
Episode 7
Every time I think that the final season of The Last Kingdom can’t get heavier emotionally, it proves it can still break more hearts. There was a strong sense of the show mirroring past events in this episode, most obviously in the final showdown between Uhtred and Brida, which is set amidst the ruins of their adoptive father Ragnar’s burned longhall where the two first met in the series premiere. I don’t always love when The Last Kingdom has flashbacks, but in this scene it worked really well. The fact that Uhtred and Brida reconciled in the end, after everything they’ve been through and done to one another, was beautiful.
But of course, we all know by now that anything good in Uhtred’s life is fleeting. I gasped out loud when Stiorra gave Brida the Ygritte treatment. It was heartbreaking, and the acting from everyone involved was exceptional. It’s tough because on the one hand you feel bad for Uhtred and Brida…but on the other, you really can’t begrudge Stiorra’s choice either. Brida killed tons of people she knew and lived alongside at Eoforwic. As has been the case often this season, there’s no right answer to be had.
Another place I felt the show mirroring its past was when Stiorra turned down Edward’s offer to rule Eoforwic in his stead. Something about that scene and Stiorra’s unwillingness to bend the knee reminded me of Uhtred and Alfred’s early days. It was another shocker moment, and gave us more glimpses of Edward being pushed ever closer to darkness. He’s been an extremely gray character this season, and I have a feeling it’s going to get worse.
Though it wasn’t all bad for Edward; he also found out his mistress Eadgifu is pregnant. Rather than send her away, he decides to marry her. Of course, current heir Aelfweard is none too happy about this, seeing it both as dishonoring his recently murdered mother and destabilizing his own claim to the throne of Wessex. He and his unfortunate bowl cut convince Father Benedict to help him leave Eoforwic, so he can seek shelter with his grandfather Aethelhelm.
And we can’t forget Aelswith’s triumphant moment. After being captured by Aethelhelm’s men, Aelswith, Aelfwynn and Eadith know that time is running short. Unbeknownst to them, Aelfwynn is being spirited up to Scotland to be married off to the king there, part of a shady deal that Aethelhelm is brewing. But Aelswith is used to being threatened, as she demonstrates by taking out a knife and showing that she has clearly never had to actually use it.
Nonetheless, the scene where Aethelhelm’s errand boy is strangling Eadith and Aelswith comes to her rescue was an absolute stand-out. Aelswith almost leaving Eadith to her death was tense, and leads to the elation that Aelswith shows after saving her. I loved this scene.
But just in case any of us forgot that this is The Last Kingdom and good things aren’t allowed, the situation quickly reverses when the other henchman slings Aelfwynn over his horse and escapes.
The Last Bullet Points
- “Tonight all love is buried,” Stiorra says over Sygtryggr’s corpse. What a line. The show is hitting some serious poetic beats as it nears its conclusion and I’m all for it.
- The shot of the mass grave mound from the previous episode’s battle was brief but soberingly powerful.
- Aethelhelm laughing in Wihtgar’s face might have been one of my favorite moments for him all season. Because yeah, anyone who’s ever met Uhtred would know that guy wouldn’t stand a chance against him in a fair fight. I like that the show has started setting up Wihtgar and Bebbanburg for a potential series finale showdown.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: A-
– Daniel
Episode 8
The endgame for The Last Kingdom comes into sharper relief in “Episode 8.” When this season started, I didn’t really expect Aethelhelm to become the big bad, but here we are. The fact that he is now pinning his daughter’s death on Edward is pretty despicable, especially because he tries to convince her son Aelfweard of it. With Aelfwynn arriving at Bebbanburg this episode as well, all the pieces are in place for Aethelhelm’s plan to unseat Edward.
Not all is rosy for him though. There’s clear and enjoyable tension between Aethelhelm and Wihtgar. The Scottish king Constantin (Rod Hallett )makes it clear to his followers that he’s only planning to stay loyal to Aethelhelm as long as it’s necessary. But the biggest thorn in Aethelhelm’s side this week is a reversal by Father Benedict, the priest who previously betrayed Rumcofa to Aethelhelm’s spy. Unnerved by the web of lies that Aethelhelm is spinning around his grandson and allies, Benedict returns to Eoforwic to warn King Edward about the coming storm. Benedict has had a long arc this season, going from a self-serving priest who gambled himself into obscurity to being willing to put his own life in danger in order to do what he believes is right. It’s the kind of arc that The Last Kingdom has always done well.
The central thread of this episode revolves around the various allies at Eoforwic deciding that the time is right to attack Bebbanburg. Uhtred is grieving Brida, and wishing he had some kind of home or birthright to offer his daughter Stiorra, who has decided she’ll go live in the wild with her Danish followers. He’s disillusioned about the situation, wishing he could rebuild Rumcofa and basically wind back the clock to focus more on his family and less on the dead king Alfred’s ambitions. When the news comes that Aethelhelm is holed up in Bebbanburg, he hesitates to push to take the fortress.
This is a huge moment for Uhtred that shows just how far he’s come. He was always pushing to attack Bebbanburg, but the last time he did it ended up getting Father Beocca killed. There’s been a bit of a feeling this season of characters getting pushed from A to B in order to serve the plot; a lot has happened very quickly, almost without time for us to really process things. But Episode 8 pushed back on that by giving Uhtred space to process his doubts about going back to Bebbanburg. His conversation with Father Pyrlig is another standout.
It all leads to a climactic debate in the throne room at Eoforwic. Edward has been especially callous this season, and he goes further now as he lays out a plan to basically sacrifice half of Northumbria and his niece Aelfwynn for the sake of securing peace. Uhtred lays out a plan to push back the Scots before they’re ready, leaving Bebbanburg without allies and ripe for siege, but Edward refuses. Then we get the feel-good moment of the episode where literally everybody in the room takes Uhtred’s side on the matter. Even Aelswith, who has so often been at odds with Uhtred, voices her support. The last blow is Aethelstan, Edward’s own son and Uhtred’s ward, who claims that it would not be virtuous to abandon the people of Northumbria. He too backs Uhtred’s plan.
Edward reacts about how you’d expect. He nods to his guards, who all draw their swords and try to take Uhtred and his companions captive. But with Aldhelm saying that the Mercian guard would storm the town if Edward went through with this, and Uhtred reiterating that the attack was going to happen with or without Edward’s support, it’s not looking likely that his refusal will be anything more than bluster.
The episode ends with a cliffhanger; we don’t get to see Edward’s decision. Given how fragile his pride has been the season, even if he does decide to help out, it’s doubtful it will be a happy arrangement.
The Last Bullet Points
- Eliza Butterworth continues to be a total scene stealer as Aelswith. The scene where she describes how she “slaughtered” a man by stabbing him through the neck made me laugh out loud. And she didn’t even wear gloves!
- Edward continues to be seriously gray. From the ineffective boy king he started as to where he is now, he’s really come a long way…but I don’t know if he’s ended up where anyone wants him to be.
- Aelfweard had a pretty good episode as well, showing that despite his trust in his grandfather he actually doesn’t want war with his father, nor does he want his cousin to be married off. I’m curious to see how that develops, since Aelfwynn is making her captivity and unhappiness known.
- Speaking of Aelfwynn, I can’t help but wonder if she and the Scottish king might actually be a good match, personality wise.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: B
– Daniel
Episode 9
The endgame for The Last Kingdom kicks off in this episode. This feels like part one of a two-parter, and I’m totally fine with it. It begins with the resolution of the tense stand-off in Eoforwic. As Edward clings to the idea that he must be obeyed no matter how shortsighted his orders, his mother Aelswith and Eagdifu present a unified front that finally convinces him to join the battle for Bebbanburg. Eliza Butterworth absolutely nails whenever she’s given meaty material to sink her teeth into, and her appeal to Edward — not as an advisor, but as a mother who can recognize that her son is afraid — is perfect.
Once the armies are on the move, things get complicated fast. The joint Saxon army led by Edward, Uhtred and Aldhelm camps out just five miles south of Bebbanburg, but underestimates the savvy of the Scottish king Constantin, who slipped into the fortress ahead of them by arriving on a single small boat. It’s been interesting that Constantin has been aligned with loathsome characters like Aethelhelm and Wihtgar, because he doesn’t seem so bad. That’s driven home this episode when he tells Aelfwynn that he really doesn’t want to marry her, and that theirs will be a marriage of convenience that will go unconsumated. I had a feeling that the two were going to get along. Aelfwynn tells him that this was the first moment someone had just been honest with her in a while. It’s really nice and makes me root a bit for them despite the situation.
Of course, Uhtred and company don’t know that Constantin’s actually not awful or that Aelfwynn is now feeling warmer about the idea of marrying him. Knowing that the Scottish army is closing in and time is short, Uhtred launches a daring stealth mission into Bebbanburg in order to get Aelfwynn out of the fortress before the army besieges it. And in order to pull it off, he needs a little help from his friends.
One thing that always helps make a final season of a show feel more climactic is when we get callbacks and reappearances by older characters, and The Last Kingdom delivers on that front in “Episode 9.” Uhtred takes his trusted brothers-in-arms Finan and Sihtric with him for the mission, as well as enlisting help from Father Pyrlig and Haeston, who he happens to find at a nearby monastery. Hild, the priestess who formerly fought in Uhtred’s band, is there as well. The reunion gives one more moment to allow Uhtred some doubt before the plan is set in motion. And despite his insistence that Hild stay behind, we see the knowing glance she shoots at Haeston. It’s the end of the show, of course she’s going to get involved.
As for the mission itself, there are a lot of highlights: Uhtred, Sihtric and Finan’s perilous climb up the rocky abutment behind Bebbanburg; Haeston’s tense conversation with Aethelhelm about the siege of Winchester last season and his subsequent death at the hands of King Constantin; everyone doing their best Assassin’s Creed impression to sneak around the inside of the fortress without alerting Wihtgar’s guards; Finan and Sihtric getting captured…So many things go pear-shaped on the mission and it ratchets the tension way up.
Knowing that the Scottish army is coming, Edward brings his own forces to bear on Bebbanburg while Uhtred and the rest of the gang are still inside, putting all their lives in danger. This season has had a few rushed moments, but considering that this is the penultimate episode it never felt like things were being contrived or moved prematurely. (Except for Edward’s army, stick to the plan, man.) “Episode 9” felt like it was set-up for the pivotal moment of the show’s final season, and it took the time to do it right.
The Last Bullet Points
- It’s a serious point in The Last Kingdom’s favor that while many of our major players are still alive, the deaths that have happened this season have felt really impactful. Haeston is a character who has survived when so many others haven’t, sneaking his way into our hearts and becoming a really likable character, even if he is a scoundrel. He gets not one, but two chances to show he has a heart of gold in the end by trying to save Aelfwynn and then refusing to out Uhtred. Sad to see him go, but it’s the end of the show. He had a good run.
- Aelswith and Eadith going to enlist the aid of Stiorra and her Danish followers was a really interesting development. The show is bringing all its hanging plot threads together for the finale, and I’m all for it.
- Despite how many heavy events are happening, the show also keeps its sense of humor. Uhtred had some fun moments this episode, like pranking Haeston in the monastery and telling Sihtric and Finan not to flirt with the nuns.
- Relatedly, it felt like this penultimate episode really brought a lot of the elements that have made the show successful throughout its run into the mix. The light humor, the missions with Uhtred and his loyal companions, politicking, family drama, armies maneuvering. This final stretch is classic The Last Kingdom, and it isn’t missing a beat.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: A-
– Daniel
Episode 10
We’ve arrived at the final episode of The Last Kingdom. What a ride this show has been, and the final episode delivered in just about every way.
The entirety of The Last Kingdom finale centers around the battle for Bebbanburg and the subsequent negotiations. The battle itself is a brutal affair that goes through many different phases as various factions gain the upper hand or lose ground. First the Saxon army attacks the gates of Bebbanburg before the Scottish king routs them with a devious ploy that makes them believe the fortress is being abandoned, only to then trap the Saxons against a cliffside when Scottish reinforcements arrive. The battle itself is bloody and lots of characters have close calls, though none of our main players die during the melee despite a fakeout with Aldhelm. The Last Kingdom has always done battles fairly well, and its final one may be its best. The only place it jarred me a bit was with some of the effects work. The cliffside battle is stunning to look at, but when soldiers fell off the cliff the effects didn’t quite hold up.
But on the emotional front, the whole proceeding was exceptionally well done. Sihtric and Finan escape their captors, Aelfwynn is whisked to safety by Hild, and the secret gets out that Uhtred is in the fortress. Afterwards, the three brothers-in-arms catch sight of Stiorra and her Danes in the nearby woodland. The speech Uhtred gives to convince the Danes to join the fight was a tearjerker that called back to the huge journey that his character has gone on. He promises them peace as a Saxon; he swears it to them as a Dane. Uhtred’s struggle to honor both sides of himself has always been at the core of this show, and the finale really brought that home.
With the Danes’ help, the Scottish are forced to retreat. The victory that Edward nearly foiled with his impulsive rush on the fortress is secured…but we’re not quite in the clear yet. Uhtred runs into Bebbanburg to defeat his cousin Wihtgar and reclaim his ancestral home. Of course Wihtgar doesn’t play fair, making Uhtred fight his men before trying to sneak up on him in the dark. Ultimately, Uhtred overcomes his cousin and throws him off the balcony to his death.
But upon walking outside, he discovers that Bebbanburg has caught fire. I had a legitimate moment of fear that the show would have a harsh ending by having Uhtred’s ancestral home burn down just as he was about to reclaim it. Aethelstan begs him to flee, but Uhtred insists it is his destiny to die in Bebbanburg. And the gods hear. A heavy thunderstorm begins, quenching the flames, and the scene fades to black with Uhtred crying on his knees.
On most shows, that kind of divine intervention would feel like a cop out…but The Last Kingdom has always hit on the conflict between Christian and pagan beliefs. It makes you feel like the gods, or God, are watching over the characters in their own way. After the journey Uhtred has been on, believing that a thunderstorm would begin on an otherwise cloudless day to save his home doesn’t feel like a stretch, but a beautiful affirmation of everything he’s gone through to get to that moment.
The post-battle wrap-up covers a lot of ground, but the major point is that Uhtred made a deal with King Constantin not to swear fealty to Edward, and instead will hold Northumbria as a neutral land between England and Scotland. Edward takes this as a betrayal, but Uhtred explains that Wessex will still be Northumbria’s sovereign…but the kingdoms will not completely join quite yet. He says that Edward is not the man to unite peoples on account of all he’s done to sow dissent between Saxon and Dane. It’s such a perfect callout, because that is what he’s done; we’ve been uncomfortably watching it happen all season. And as it turns out, it has big consequences for him.
The series ends with Uhtred staring at the ocean from the ramparts of Bebbanburg, reminiscing about all that has happened on his journey. As with the flashbacks during Brida’s death scene, the flashes to various stages of Uhtred’s life work well so here. It’s an emotional sendoff for a series that has been solid every step of the way. Even if the follow-up movie Seven Kings Must Die wasn’t in the works, The Last Kingdom could end here and it would be satisfying. Uhtred and his family have reclaimed their home, which was taken from him in the series premiere. Yet in this moment of peace, it’s clear that schemes are still being hatched by Edward and Constantin both. There is peace for now in Bebbanburg…but how long will it last?
The Last Bullet Points
- Aethelhelm finally had his moment of reckoning this episode, and it was much better than I’d hoped. Instead of being dragged before Edward, he’s forced by Aethelstan to admit that he was responsible for the death of his daughter Aelflaed to her son. Despite all the dissent that Aethelhelm has sown over the course of the show, Aethelstan and Aelfweard trust each other enough to face this moment together. Aelfweard could have turned on his half brother. Instead, Aelfweard leaves his grandfather in disgust, and Aethelhelm kills himself. It’s a fitting end for the worst character of the season.
- And in the fallout, we find out that Aelfweard is now a prisoner living in comfort at Bebbanburg for the foreseeable future.
- Alexander Dreymon’s acting really sold this episode. Everyone brought their A game, but Uhtred got the big payoff. Kudos to Dreymon for an amazing run.
- It was both sad and powerful to see Hild forced to fight again in order to save Aelfwynn. And the soldiers all running by immediately after while HIld is praying for forgiveness is yet another example of The Last Kingdom’s subtle plays on faith.
- Speaking of Hild, her final scene is walking toward Bebbanburg with a young man named Osbert. You might recall this was Uhtred’s name back when he still had an older brother, before he took on the ancestral name of his forebears. Hild and Uhtred talked very briefly about a boy being at the monastery during the last episode, so it seems likely that this is Uhtred’s third child from his marriage with Gisela, who fans noticed mysteriously vanished after season 3. The whole family’s getting back together!
- Aelfwynn ends up with her lover Cynlaef. A happy ending for Aelfwynn!
- Aelswith gets one more moment to shine as she requests a room with a “sea view” for her stay at Bebbanburg. Gave me one last chuckle before the show’s ending.
- Eadith decides she may stay in Bebbanburg for a while. She and Uhtred have been making eyes at each other this season, so here’s hoping for a happy ending for them as well. Maybe we’ll find out if they end up having a romance in Seven Kings Must Die.
The Last Kingdom Episode Grade: A
– Daniel
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