Caleb Anthony

Two episodes in and I’m pleasantly surprised. I was an outspoken skeptic of the show from the time the first trailer dropped, and now I feel like most of my fears were unfounded. It manages to maintain the general feel of the PJ movies while still creating an aesthetic of its own, and 3 out of the 4 plot lines are very engaging. The other, involving an elf named Arondir, has potential but the characters all around lack personality so far. As for the pacing, I think it’s quite good. People need to realize this is based loosely off of the books that spent entire pages describing trees, or fortresses, or even characters. It’s not a Marvel movie with mindless action scene upon mindless action scene. The first two episodes in particular were designed to set the characters up, not to have a ton of action. I have no doubt we’ll see more in the coming episodes but for now, the pacing seems fine to me.

The setting is a good one, with intense battles and some pretty good side characters. With each season, the attention to detail grows better and better, with everything from sets to costumes becoming more historically accurate as the show progresses. My main issue is with the main character, Uhtred, who is a Gary Stu in almost every way. He’s the best warrior in the show, and rarely do we feel that he’s in any real danger. He’s also always right, and is often the only one to bring up the most obvious, logical solutions to the problems of the realm. Still, to the frustration of those watching, nobody’s willing to listen to him, requiring him to save the day with his plan, which he almost always does with relative ease. Everyone also seems to factor him in to every plan they make, as if he’s the center of their whole universe, which he basically is for most of the show. Some characters, who I will not mention because of spoilers, seem to exist solely to hinder Uhtred’s personal schemes. Even before he’s earned any respect, he’s somehow allowed to voice his opinion in councils that only kings and high nobles are welcome in. He’s also able to bed any woman he wants, and this becomes so prevalent that as soon as an attractive woman appears in the show the audience knows he’s going to end up with them at some point. Some amazing side characters are overshadowed by Uhtred’s overly exaggerated importance. Their own, albeit intriguing, plot lines are cut woefully short to pursue Uhtred’s latest romantic entanglement, or to watch him bungle yet another diplomatic meeting with little to no consequences. These side characters are killed off almost carelessly when they no longer serve a purpose to Uhtred’s character growth. Overall, this epic, intriguing show concept is basically ruined by an almost-fanfiction level of writing, and by a main character that overshadows everything else to the detriment of the show.