Spoiler alert: this blog is for those who have watched the sixth episode of The Last Kingdom, showing on BBC2, Thursday nights in the UK; please refrain from posting any spoilers if you’ve seen more of the series. Read Sarah’s recap of episode five here.
‘I will not beg. I will fall to my knees for no man, no king and no Christian god’
Oh, Uhtred. Once again, our brash young Ealdorman demonstrated that he has a tendency to think not with his brain but with another rather more insistent part of his anatomy, choosing to spend the night in a goat pen exchanging quips and other comforts with British shadow queen Iseult, rather than heading straight for Alfred to put his side of the story of the raid into Cornwalum (AKA Cornwall). We’ve definitely been here before, and more than once. In fairness, it’s unlikely that Uhtred and his men could have made it to Winchester faster than the sneaky Asser but still, Uhtred, I ask, like Father Beocca more in sorrow than in anger, will you ever learn?
This episode summed up everything I love and am infuriated by about this programme. It featured a number of wonderful, tense set pieces (most notably the meeting with the truly terrifying Lord of War, Skorpa, and Leofric’s impassioned plea to Alfred at the episode’s end) but, because they are adapting two books in one series, it’s also moving at slightly too cracking a pace.
Uhtred’s meeting with Iseult should have been more powerful than it was (particularly as the shadow queen is played by Charlie Murphy who was brilliant in Love/Hate as Siobhan Delaney and in Happy Valley as kidnap victim Ann Gallagher). Instead, I was left thinking that our hero is rather too swiftly swayed by a nice pair of eyes. In the course of the last three episodes we have seen him go from Brida to Mildrith and now Iseult – in mitigation, a great deal of time has actually passed during these episodes but the problem is that it doesn’t always feel like that and thus important events can feel a little rushed.
‘He would like to be a man of God but, as you have witnessed, he can not let go of his pagan ways’
In addition to Iseult and Skorpa we also met a third potentially important character this week with the introduction of Asser, played by Nicholas Rowe (who, despite a varied career in everything from Da Vinci’s Demons to Doctor Who, will always be Young Sherlock Holmes to me).
The jury is out so far on what to make of this Welsh priest – certainly he was very quick to save his own skin when he realised that Uhtred and Skorpa had joined forces to kill Peredur but I don’t exactly hold that against him given that survival is surely top of most people’s priorities. (Unless they’re crazy Danes dreaming of Valhalla.)
Of more concern, however, was his willingness to besmirch Uhtred when talking of the sacking of the church at Cynwit. Did he genuinely believe that Uhtred was with Skorpa or was he indulging in a bit of truth embroidery? The jury remains out, although I will say that, given most members of the church have been portrayed as venal, grasping and entirely self-serving, my hopes aren’t high.
‘The very day I’m told my home is my own is the day I decide I must leave’
Poor Mildrith was also suffering from a dearth of hope and the lowering of once great expectations. With her marriage apparently beyond salvation, Uhtred’s wife ended the episode heading to the supposed safety of Young Odda and what seems likely to be a depressing future bereft of much real joy. I felt very sorry for Mildrith, essentially a kind-hearted and lonely girl who briefly found pleasure in her pagan husband’s bed, but it should also be noted that this was a pretty realistic storyline. Uhtred and Mildrith had nothing in common beyond a mutual early attraction, and with Uhtred being so obsessed by his destiny and so distrusting of prayers and Mildrith being so keen on religion and doing the right thing, this was never a union likely to work.
It also made a bleak sort of sense that Uhtred, orphaned young and raised by his enemies, would take a pragmatic line on his son, cutting him out of his affections as swiftly as he cut Mildrith loose. This is one of the things I do very much like about this series: it doesn’t soften Uhtred’s edges. His refusal to pay the wergild, essentially punishing Oswald’s family for the sins of their father in addition to alienating his wife from those she grew up with, demonstrated that he can be heartless and is often cruel. He’s obstinate and stubborn and, at times, pretty thick. It’s as easy to root against him as it is for him and that adds an interesting dimension.
Additional notes
- I’m beginning to have my doubts about how effective Odda the Younger’s scheming actually is. Alfred seems unconvinced and the whole gold altar thing smacked of hubris long before Skorpa’s arrival.
- Leofric’s speech at the end was wonderful but has me worried. Please don’t kill Leofric. In my alternative history of this show he’s the real hero, sardonically commenting on the arseling’s various misdeeds.
- Also coming into his own: Aethelwold, who this week announced “I’m an educated man, I just enjoy hiding the fact.” Is that what it is, Aethelwold? Really?
- Forget Ubba, Skorpa of the blood-stained teeth and thousand-yard stare (played brilliantly by Swedish actor Jonas Malmsjö) is definitely the scariest Dane we have met so far. I do hope we see more of him.
- I also enjoyed Paul Ritter’s brief turn as the hapless King Peredur. Curse all Danes, indeed.
- Although I have my doubts about his belief that Iseult’s fortune-telling skills are linked to her virginity. Haven’t we heard that somewhere before?
- Talking of Iseult, it’s early days, but her joke about the goats suggests that she is probably better suited to Uhtred than Mildrith. And who wouldn’t want a powerful British sorceress on their side, even one supposedly too valuable “to hump”.
- I thought that Uhtred was overly trusting to hand the greedy Bishop Alewold the cross and expect him to keep his word about the debts. The bishop seemed rather keener on the church’s worldly goods than on the Word of the Lord.
- So now we have two secret messages: whatever Storri told Brida and whatever Skorpa said to Iseult.
- More costuming delights as the good people of Cornwall were introduced to us as a bunch of tie-dye aficionados with a fondness for wrapping their hair in plaits round their heads. Nice to see surf culture hasn’t changed too much over the years.
Violence count
Several harried Cornish villages, the brutal death of King Peredur and all his men, including one sword thrust accidentally through the chest by Aethelwold, and Skorpa’s gruesome demonstration of how to kill a man by chewing his throat out. The sentencing to death of Uhtred by a thoroughly fed-up Alfred and the prospect next week of a fight to break my heart.
Quote of the week
“I know you can smell the silver. All you Danes have a nose for blood and silver and women.” You know, King Peredur, I find it hard to disagree with that assessment.
So what do you think? Will Uhtred ever learn? Is Asser on the level? What will become of poor Mildrith? And should I begin composing heroic odes about Leofric now or hope for God’s justice next week? As ever, all speculation is welcome below …
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