I'm surprised we don't have a thread for this Netflix series. It's been running for a few years now and they just released Season 5. It's based on England vs. the Vikings during the general period of King Alfred. I won't give anything else away than the basics. It's fictional but runs along the main historical back drop.

I'm currently in the middle of Season 4, and Season 3 was probably one of the very best single seasons of a series I've ever seen. This is an underrated show. I think @purriwinkle in particular would like it a lot.

 

I agree how terrible it is that Uhtred keeps getting the short end of the stick. It's in everything too, his relationships and losing people close to him. The return to Bebbanburg was particularly difficult. He finally gets his uncle in his grasp, and then the son hated his Dad too and put an arrow in him. Uhtred didn't even get his revenge. And, even worse, he lost Father Beocca there, who was such a great character. I had to take a small break in my binge watching after all of that went down. It was much to absorb.

The grittiness and the dealing with consequences of your actions in the show, reminds me of the early seasons of Game of Thrones.

What's impressed me the most about the series so far, are the final two episodes of Season 3. That would be episode 9 with the last full meeting between Uhtred and Alfred. It brought everything full circle and he did get his recognition and pardon. Then you have episode 10 where Edwards sides with Uhtred and he gives his speech about how he both loved and despised Alfred. That moment was well earned. Then we had the battle and Uhtred getting revenge for his brother's murder.

All of that is tough to deliver, and I thought those two episodes were close to perfect.

I think in the end Uhtred is going to have some sort of positive payoff, even if it's just him forging a better future for his children, which seems to be his goal at this point. It's once again more heartbreak though for him since he'll likely never be able to be with Aethelflaed.

 

Almost done with this series. Will finish up Season 5 soon. Season 4 was a bit of a disappointment. Like I said before I thought Season 3 was excellent, but the back half of Season 4 was really grueling as Uhtred continued to take hits. I can see more of what @purriwinkle was saying now that I'm done with that season. Losing Bebbanburg and Beocca was like Handmaids Tale level painful to watch. What really did it for me though was how Uhtred finally got a position that would get him everything he wanted, Lord of Mercia. It would reward him, his family and his followers. Then he gives it up to Aethelflaed because she felt she was best to rule. So once again another sacrifice for people who don't fully appreciate him. That soured me a bit.

Season 5 is better done, even though there is yet more angst and two very villainous characters I want dead, but we'll see how it's wrapped up. I won't give any spoilers on the current season.

 

Season 5 is not the end. They are going to complete the story with a Netflix movie. I'm glad because I don't see how all of this gets wrapped up in the 4 episodes I have left.

He definitely deserves a bit of happiness at the end of the saga.

 

I do that too with shows, put them on the backburner. The new Star Wars universe series I want to watch. I kind of soured on the franchise after the last film trilogy but I want to eventually see the Mandalorian and the new Kenobi series. It won't be until the fall or winter though.

I'd make a few vague comments about the end of Season 5, but I'm afraid anything might come across as spoilerish, so I'll wait until you're done.

 

That was the point I was going to make, that I don't need a movie either. But I felt it would be too much of a spoiler since you'd assume it was a good ending.

I don't know where you really go from here. Uhtred has had enough suffering so who wants to see that again. I mean, I'll watch it, and will enjoy seeing all the characters again but that was the perfect ending for me. The sequence at the end with him having the flashbacks of his life while on the wall at Bebbanburg was perfect.

Hopefully the movie just wraps up Alfred's dream of uniting the kingdom, which will happen under Aethelstan. If Uhtred is just part of that, I think that would be the best way to go.

 

I remember when everything was burning around Uhtred, thinking to myself...if they have it burn down I'll hate this series with a passion. And then they brought the rain. It was perfect in a way because in the past he constantly had bad luck and now everything had finally changed.

Uhtred is like a father to Aethelstan so I think this time around it'll be different and we won't have the same conflict between him and the crown. Uhtred told Edward straight out that the kingdom will one day be united, so he accepts that fact but he just felt that Edward was not the man for it.

My guess would be we'll have a bit of a time jump and it'll open with Edward close to dying. We'll catch up on Uhtred's family. I'm guessing he'll be married to Eadith. There was chemistry between them, and they're a perfect fit for one another. Athelstan will need Uhtred's help and that will probably be the crux of the story and at the end he'll return home.