The Last Kingdom (Season 5 review)
Mar. 15th, 2022 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakAnd thus, it ends. This last season is, I believe, based on three, not two of Cornwell's novels, and found a good stopping point for its adaption of them. This was a show of which I didn't expect much when I marathoned its first season years ago, and which I ended up liking so much that I've been watching and enjoying all its seasons once they were available, while I read only two of the Saxon Chronicles novels they were based on. Cornwell is one of the authors who for me really benefits from adaption in another media, not least because the show's writers are much better with female characters, but also because his narrative voice, even in the two non-Uthred novels of his I've read (one from the Arthurian cycle and one about Agincourt, respectively, is always jarring to me which since some of his stories really are compelling is a shame. Aaanyway: this last season was excellent.
Nitpicks out of the way first: as in the previous seasons, where the late Alfred/David Dawson was the only character allowed to age believably (and where makeup put in some effort to make it clear time passed), they were hardly trying anymore: Uthred and Brida look about ten years older than they were in the first season, not like people who could have teenage grandchildren, ditto Hild (yay for the return of Hild in the finale!), Aelswith looked a bit older but not much (15 years maybe?), and it cracks me up the actress is in fact five months younger than the actress playing her adult daughter, Aethelflaed, and speaking of Aethelflaed, I know both history and the plot of this particular season demanded her death half way through, but looking back, while we did see her as regent and warrior we still overall saw more of her in a romantic capacity, and I wish the screentime for each had been reversed.
Otoh: I so appreciate that the series after the first few seasons radically cut down Cornwell's annoying habit of giving Uthred different love interests all the time. When Eadith showed up and the show that had shipped her with Finan last season made clear Finan had married and acquired offspring in the intervening years between seasons, I dreaded her becoming Uthred's love interest in this last season (which she does in the book), but no! There's the tiniest hint of some future possibility in the finale, but that's it, and otherwise he's first still attached to and then mourning Aethelflaed and with his life long relationship with Brida. (Eadith instead has the majority of her scenes with Aelswith, Aethelflaed or other characters, though there are two very nice friendship scenes with Uthred.)
Which brings me to another thing I dreaded and which the show changed to great narrative advantage. Cornwell has Brida going insane and McEvil off page, returning as a threat, and killed accordingly. One of the few things I wasn't keen on last season was that Peredur tortured Brida for no particular reason than the Doylist one of pushing her into a mindframe where she turns against Uthred for good and crosses the moral event horizon both in the s3 finale. However, within that framing she was still recognizably the same character, and I was half afraid that s5 would go even further in McEvilling her, following Cornwell, which felt like a waste because the show's Brida and her relationship with Uthred had been so much more layered and interesting as to ending the way the books have it do. But no! The show managed to satisfy the plot demand of following the broad outlines of the books - Brida does commit some revolting acts early on which absolutely earn her the undying hatred of Uthred's daughter Stiorra - yet to give Brida a far more complicated and much more emotional complex storyline and ending by following this up by letting Father Pyrdil, even after she has tortured him, connect with her against the odds by addressing the grief and desperation underlying her actions. It's not exactly an almost redemption arc that follows because Brida doesn't want to atone for her acts as such, she wants to reconcile with Uthred, but she does try, and then Pyrdil, after having gained at least some of her trust, makes the vital mistake of lying to her, for understandable reasons from his pov, but it shatters the fragile foundation of a barely established relationship, and Brida is back to seeking a glorious death. (It reminded me a bit of the Gollum-Frodo-Faramir situation in LotR.) Emily Cox is so very, very, good, always, but especially in this final season. And the final scene with her and Uthred is absolutely heartbreaking and pushes all my buttons for people who loved each other, then became enemies - not because of some romantic fallout but for reasons of conviction on both their parts - but still deeply and intensely care for each other, on both sides. It's really rare to find this combination in a man and a woman, fiction wise, and this show did it.
Another woman who was done so much better in the tv series is Aelswith. Considering last season's cliffhanger was Aeldhelm trying to poison her, and considering she doesn't show up in historical documents at this point anymore, I was afraid we'd seen the last of her, though s4 had given her a great arc so it would have been a good farewell. But no! Aelswith survives, as does the grudging respect between her and Uthred established in s4. Here, too, Eliza Butterworth, who plays Aelswith, gets such a lot to do - tragedy and comedy both, from Aelswith's inability to deal with Aethelflaed dying to her pride at having killed yet another temporary kidnapper, from her appalled realisation of what Aeldhelm has done to her fond memories of marital (sex) life with Alfred embarassing her granddaughter (who, in fairness, did ask about sex!). That Aelswith was developed beyond the "humorless Christian fanatic, can't stand Uthred, sole positive shown qualitiy is that she loves her husband and children" s1 sketch into a character getting many of the best lines in s5 and who can unhesitatingly be called heroic with this feeling entirely natural due to development and fleshing out is one of the show's great virtues. (And works because Aelswith still has demonstrably her old flaws - the know-it-all-ness, to begin with, and her refusal to accept that her daughter is dying springs from the same stubborn possessive source that could not see anything good in pagans for three seasons. Also, there's an absolutely marvellous gag in the finale re: Uthred and Aelswith which I'm sure has Alfred chortling in the hereafter, so I shan't spoil it for anyone.
Still on a "thanks, show, for these changes!" note, where the books kill off Uthred's daughter and retain his son-in-law, the show kills off the son-in-law and keeps the daughter. Uthred's increasingly conflicted relationship with Stiorra is ever so much more interesting than yet another father/son variation would have been, too.
The main plotlines - Aeldhelm successfully stirring up another war between Saxons and Danes, Brida's quest for vengeance, the question of who rules Mercia once Aethelflead is dying and finally, the retaking of Bebbanburg are successfully interwoven, and in a way that sums up the political developments of five seasons, if "The Last Kingdom" of the title in s1 was Wessex as the last Saxon kingdom not conquered by the Danes, by s5, "The Last Kingdom" is Northumbria as the last Saxon kingdom not ruled by the House of Wessex. Uthred (and friends) saving the day, as per usual, but also preventing Northumbria from joining the other kingdoms and thus ensuring a united England won't happen in Edward's life time but in Aethelstan's also ends the show on the ambigous "both help and conflict with" note that marked Uthred's relationship with the Wessex royals, which I found narratively satisfying. (Though with Edward it's just not personal and intense the way it was with Alfred.) Uthred deciding to make his friefdom into territory where Saxons and Danes can live in peace together also gives him a personal goal to go out on now that "retaking Bebbanburg" is covered, and ending a story with the hero looking back but also looking forward as he's momentarily at peace was for me an excellent ending, especially for a main character whose belonging to two cultures was a main theme throughout the show.
Nitpicks out of the way first: as in the previous seasons, where the late Alfred/David Dawson was the only character allowed to age believably (and where makeup put in some effort to make it clear time passed), they were hardly trying anymore: Uthred and Brida look about ten years older than they were in the first season, not like people who could have teenage grandchildren, ditto Hild (yay for the return of Hild in the finale!), Aelswith looked a bit older but not much (15 years maybe?), and it cracks me up the actress is in fact five months younger than the actress playing her adult daughter, Aethelflaed, and speaking of Aethelflaed, I know both history and the plot of this particular season demanded her death half way through, but looking back, while we did see her as regent and warrior we still overall saw more of her in a romantic capacity, and I wish the screentime for each had been reversed.
Otoh: I so appreciate that the series after the first few seasons radically cut down Cornwell's annoying habit of giving Uthred different love interests all the time. When Eadith showed up and the show that had shipped her with Finan last season made clear Finan had married and acquired offspring in the intervening years between seasons, I dreaded her becoming Uthred's love interest in this last season (which she does in the book), but no! There's the tiniest hint of some future possibility in the finale, but that's it, and otherwise he's first still attached to and then mourning Aethelflaed and with his life long relationship with Brida. (Eadith instead has the majority of her scenes with Aelswith, Aethelflaed or other characters, though there are two very nice friendship scenes with Uthred.)
Which brings me to another thing I dreaded and which the show changed to great narrative advantage. Cornwell has Brida going insane and McEvil off page, returning as a threat, and killed accordingly. One of the few things I wasn't keen on last season was that Peredur tortured Brida for no particular reason than the Doylist one of pushing her into a mindframe where she turns against Uthred for good and crosses the moral event horizon both in the s3 finale. However, within that framing she was still recognizably the same character, and I was half afraid that s5 would go even further in McEvilling her, following Cornwell, which felt like a waste because the show's Brida and her relationship with Uthred had been so much more layered and interesting as to ending the way the books have it do. But no! The show managed to satisfy the plot demand of following the broad outlines of the books - Brida does commit some revolting acts early on which absolutely earn her the undying hatred of Uthred's daughter Stiorra - yet to give Brida a far more complicated and much more emotional complex storyline and ending by following this up by letting Father Pyrdil, even after she has tortured him, connect with her against the odds by addressing the grief and desperation underlying her actions. It's not exactly an almost redemption arc that follows because Brida doesn't want to atone for her acts as such, she wants to reconcile with Uthred, but she does try, and then Pyrdil, after having gained at least some of her trust, makes the vital mistake of lying to her, for understandable reasons from his pov, but it shatters the fragile foundation of a barely established relationship, and Brida is back to seeking a glorious death. (It reminded me a bit of the Gollum-Frodo-Faramir situation in LotR.) Emily Cox is so very, very, good, always, but especially in this final season. And the final scene with her and Uthred is absolutely heartbreaking and pushes all my buttons for people who loved each other, then became enemies - not because of some romantic fallout but for reasons of conviction on both their parts - but still deeply and intensely care for each other, on both sides. It's really rare to find this combination in a man and a woman, fiction wise, and this show did it.
Another woman who was done so much better in the tv series is Aelswith. Considering last season's cliffhanger was Aeldhelm trying to poison her, and considering she doesn't show up in historical documents at this point anymore, I was afraid we'd seen the last of her, though s4 had given her a great arc so it would have been a good farewell. But no! Aelswith survives, as does the grudging respect between her and Uthred established in s4. Here, too, Eliza Butterworth, who plays Aelswith, gets such a lot to do - tragedy and comedy both, from Aelswith's inability to deal with Aethelflaed dying to her pride at having killed yet another temporary kidnapper, from her appalled realisation of what Aeldhelm has done to her fond memories of marital (sex) life with Alfred embarassing her granddaughter (who, in fairness, did ask about sex!). That Aelswith was developed beyond the "humorless Christian fanatic, can't stand Uthred, sole positive shown qualitiy is that she loves her husband and children" s1 sketch into a character getting many of the best lines in s5 and who can unhesitatingly be called heroic with this feeling entirely natural due to development and fleshing out is one of the show's great virtues. (And works because Aelswith still has demonstrably her old flaws - the know-it-all-ness, to begin with, and her refusal to accept that her daughter is dying springs from the same stubborn possessive source that could not see anything good in pagans for three seasons. Also, there's an absolutely marvellous gag in the finale re: Uthred and Aelswith which I'm sure has Alfred chortling in the hereafter, so I shan't spoil it for anyone.
Still on a "thanks, show, for these changes!" note, where the books kill off Uthred's daughter and retain his son-in-law, the show kills off the son-in-law and keeps the daughter. Uthred's increasingly conflicted relationship with Stiorra is ever so much more interesting than yet another father/son variation would have been, too.
The main plotlines - Aeldhelm successfully stirring up another war between Saxons and Danes, Brida's quest for vengeance, the question of who rules Mercia once Aethelflead is dying and finally, the retaking of Bebbanburg are successfully interwoven, and in a way that sums up the political developments of five seasons, if "The Last Kingdom" of the title in s1 was Wessex as the last Saxon kingdom not conquered by the Danes, by s5, "The Last Kingdom" is Northumbria as the last Saxon kingdom not ruled by the House of Wessex. Uthred (and friends) saving the day, as per usual, but also preventing Northumbria from joining the other kingdoms and thus ensuring a united England won't happen in Edward's life time but in Aethelstan's also ends the show on the ambigous "both help and conflict with" note that marked Uthred's relationship with the Wessex royals, which I found narratively satisfying. (Though with Edward it's just not personal and intense the way it was with Alfred.) Uthred deciding to make his friefdom into territory where Saxons and Danes can live in peace together also gives him a personal goal to go out on now that "retaking Bebbanburg" is covered, and ending a story with the hero looking back but also looking forward as he's momentarily at peace was for me an excellent ending, especially for a main character whose belonging to two cultures was a main theme throughout the show.
