Well I doubt that any Historian would find this to be 100% accurate. And that is not just the fact that you can hear the main characters mostly talk in english, instead of their native language. But the show makes it clear that it is just when eveyone understands each other that we as viewers also hear them talk in english. Otherwise you'll get different languages thrown at you.
But let's start from the beginning or season 1 here. After all the praise I was hearing over the years, I was a little bit underwhelmed by it to be frank. Don't get me wrong, it already has many of the ingredients that made it a great show (one of them being amazing battle and fight scenes), but it felt like this was a contained world. The scope seemed miniscule. But that is of course a bit harsh. Considering what shows cost and then making a period piece like this, with costumes and ships and all that (not that many in season 1 as I said, but it made sense from a budget point of view ... you never know if this takes off or not). One thing it got right from the start is the main villain it starts off with! You can never go wrong - Garbiel Byrne! Fantastic actor, awesome performance and character.
But with season 2 the show really gets you, if it didn't before. More characters are introduced and you get a deeper feeling for those already in the mix (be it Floki, Lagertha or others who are not Ragnar). And what the show also does: it actually keeps you on your toes when it comes to who survives and who dies. Or how they die if they do. While Season 1 and 2 had somewhat predictable "endings" (or twists you probably saw coming a mile a way), the next seasons got better with it.
And the mentioned battles also got tweaked from time to time, especially after a character named Ivar gets introduced, but you'll see for yourself. There is a lot of mystic power behind this, a lot of believing or not ... and a lot of otherworldly stuff that keeps sort of happening. Morally you disagree with certain things, while the slaughtering was probably not seen as something bad, but just as a side product of looting and taking over land. All is fair in war and love, right? Well again, the show does not pull punches in certain areas, which fragile viewers may find disturbing. There's also a certain amount of nudity and sexual situations, though not nearly as much as I felt Game of Thrones had.
Speaking of the obvious comparisons that may come: especially at the beginning of the show, this felt more like Sons of Anarchy (no pun intended), than GoT. But depending on what you've seen and your perception you may feel different or even compare it with something else entirely.
This is not for the faint of hearted and was able to conclude in a way that may seem sudden to some, but is refreshing and fulfilling to others. No matter if I felt a bit of a slow down at the start of the final season, it picked the pace up again fairly quickly. So in the end, the praise was warranted as the story goes ... or fades ...
But let's start from the beginning or season 1 here. After all the praise I was hearing over the years, I was a little bit underwhelmed by it to be frank. Don't get me wrong, it already has many of the ingredients that made it a great show (one of them being amazing battle and fight scenes), but it felt like this was a contained world. The scope seemed miniscule. But that is of course a bit harsh. Considering what shows cost and then making a period piece like this, with costumes and ships and all that (not that many in season 1 as I said, but it made sense from a budget point of view ... you never know if this takes off or not). One thing it got right from the start is the main villain it starts off with! You can never go wrong - Garbiel Byrne! Fantastic actor, awesome performance and character.
But with season 2 the show really gets you, if it didn't before. More characters are introduced and you get a deeper feeling for those already in the mix (be it Floki, Lagertha or others who are not Ragnar). And what the show also does: it actually keeps you on your toes when it comes to who survives and who dies. Or how they die if they do. While Season 1 and 2 had somewhat predictable "endings" (or twists you probably saw coming a mile a way), the next seasons got better with it.
And the mentioned battles also got tweaked from time to time, especially after a character named Ivar gets introduced, but you'll see for yourself. There is a lot of mystic power behind this, a lot of believing or not ... and a lot of otherworldly stuff that keeps sort of happening. Morally you disagree with certain things, while the slaughtering was probably not seen as something bad, but just as a side product of looting and taking over land. All is fair in war and love, right? Well again, the show does not pull punches in certain areas, which fragile viewers may find disturbing. There's also a certain amount of nudity and sexual situations, though not nearly as much as I felt Game of Thrones had.
Speaking of the obvious comparisons that may come: especially at the beginning of the show, this felt more like Sons of Anarchy (no pun intended), than GoT. But depending on what you've seen and your perception you may feel different or even compare it with something else entirely.
This is not for the faint of hearted and was able to conclude in a way that may seem sudden to some, but is refreshing and fulfilling to others. No matter if I felt a bit of a slow down at the start of the final season, it picked the pace up again fairly quickly. So in the end, the praise was warranted as the story goes ... or fades ...