The Last Kingdom (TV Series) Episode #1.5 (2015) User Reviews

Just plain sensational.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 19 November 2015]

With the imminent attack from the Vikings, young Odda removes Mildrith and baby Uhtred to safety, the weather is in favour of the Saxons with many Danes victim to foul weather. King Alfred once again shows his tactical skills, he plans to attack Guthrum, leaving Odda to attack Ubba. Odda meets with Ubba, talks fail as no truce is found, he is goaded by Uhtred. Uhtred devises a plan and takes Odda into his confidence, to set fire to Viking ships, cause confusion and attack. Young Odda tries to talk his father into withdrawal, leaving Uhtred to his fate. Uhtred succeeds in setting fire to the vessels, but is spotted and challenged to a fight to the death by Ubba. The vikings are beaten, with Odda severely wounded his son claims the King's praise for the victory, leaving Uhtred incensed with the injustice, he and Aethelwold are humiliated in front of the locals and King. Fuelled with rage Uhtred and Mildrith leave Wessex, but not before talking with Leofric about breaking free of Wessex in order to take wealth.

One of the best things I've watched for a long time, this episode literally left me speechless, it was outstanding from start to finish. I will admit to being devastated that Rune Temte is now out of it, but the duel between Uhtred and Ubba was spellbinding. Dreymon as always was spot on.

I've felt in some of the earlier episodes, David Dawson has been allowed to steal many of the best scenes, but here every single person is given chance to shine, I've mentioned how awesome Rune Temte was, but I thought Adrian Bower was awesome as Leofric, best yet, Simon Kunz and Brian Vernel too, fantastic....Harry McEntire though as Aethelwold, he was just great, some welcome humour to what had been a bleak episode.

I had to watch it twice, it was that good. Brilliant. 10/10

The best episode so far.

[raphaelmarcelino · 8/10 · 27 March 2020]

This episode has almost everything we might want and/or expect from The Last Kingdom: great fights, amazing dialogs and what matters the most, blood in the eyes.

Who doesn't love tits?

[Calicodreamin · 7/10 · 28 September 2021]

Solid episode, especially in the beginning, the action scenes were well coordinated. Uthred's character takes a turn for the dark which is interesting.

like the show but silly episode

[moussahabanbo · 3/10 · 6 April 2022]

The whole plan with burning the boats had the exact opposite consequences, all the enemy men were up, ready, excited, with their swords drawn, while if he didn't set the boats on fire they would have caught them sleeping, drunk, in thei pjs... can't believe the writers missed this.

First 4 episodes were really good. This one turns Uhtred into superman warrior then a mental handicapped

[suchalad-81044 · 6/10 · 6 January 2022]

The episode had some immature writing that irritated me, i'm sure young men will think "television at it's finest". But to me it just felt silly. The bickering between Uhtred and Ubba and then Uhtred single handily attacking and destroying the ships so easily, felt like the writers were forcing Uhtred into this superman role for this episode, just so that he could have this forced hissy fit because he (predictably) wasn't given credit. FORCED DRAMA. I don't like to see it. Every single one of us viewing knows that Uhtred should wait for prayers to be over, so why doesn't he? To bake up drama.

After finishing the episode and seeing it has higher rating than episodes 1-4, i had to leave this here.

Terrible Adaptation

[henry-plantagenet-04 · 2/10 · 28 December 2016]

I am not normally a person who complains about adaptations not being true to their source material. If the changes are done cinematically or in the spirit of the original author; I don't mind. But this episode not only ruins two of the best scenes from the book; it also fundamentally betrays the nature of some of the best characters and the text itself. First off, let me actually start out with the two things that were actually good. I appreciate that the makers turned Mildrith (Amy Wren) into a more developed and likable character; she was kind of bland in the books. The scene with Aethelwold's (Harry McEntire) tit monologue is funny and very faithful to the book. (It's the only scene faithful to the book.) The rest was changed and for the worst. How could they mess up Ubba's (Rune Temte) death in this way? Not only did it lack the simultaneously emotional and hilarious sequence from the book; it also didn't make a lick of sense. Why would Ubba challenge Uthred to duel while the Saxons were advancing on them? Another problem is the actor playing Ubba; in the early episodes he was suitably menacing, but at this point he seems simply goofy. The meltdown with him and Storri the Sorcerer was amusing but for all the wrong reasons. With the exception of the two things I referenced, this episode is terrible. It doesn't work on its own, and it is downright painful considering the brilliance of Bernard Cornwell's books. I think the source of this problem might simply be that the filmmakers have capitalized on the title of the series being "Saxon Tales." But this rendition heavily favors the Saxon perspective and gives them far more screen time. With this imbalance the magic of Cornwell's world is lost, and the characters short-changed into irrelevance. P.S.: Where is Stepa? He should appear just about now.