Istg Aelfric is that spider in your room that disappears and just when you forget about it, it pops up somewhere new and brings your anxiety back in full swing.

Honestly, Guthred does my head in with how he’s moving. Yeah, peace is always great but he’s choosing short-term peace and long-term issues over long-lasting peace. He is the Tommen of The Last Kingdom. Really nice but basically a doormat with how much he allows self-interested parties to advise and manipulate him. That move with Erik and Sigefrid was not the right move. I have issues with how he’s running his kingdom (who’s surprised though?).

Firstly, he claims that his kingdom is both Dane and Saxon but everything he does is Christian practice. Yes his advisors are both but he’s adapting Saxon practices in literally everything. He literally says that they’ll achieve their goal for Cumbraland with the power of the Christian god and NO mention of the Viking gods. He might as well say that his kingdom is a Saxon one that welcomes Danes. And I have zero doubt that that is Abbot Eadred’s influence with his own mission to distance Guthred from Uhtred and other non-Christian influences. I absolutely cannot stand characters who force their values on others and can’t comprehend that different people value different things. It’s not as black and white as all Danes being violent and cruel. He lacks nuance which makes him such a good character because it means we have someone to despise more than Aethelwold and Aelswith. Abbot Eadred is up there with Charlotte from H20 with my top most infuriating characters in TV.

My other big issue with the way Guthred’s running the kingdom is the way that he literally trusts EVERYONE. Like no wonder this dude is having issues keeping allies. Anyone could come up and say “we want to join” and he immediately assigns them to the HOUSEHOLD GUARD. That has gotta be reserved for your most trusted soldiers. They’re not out fighting your battles, they’re protecting your livelihood. Thank god that Uhtred and co are apprehensive about them because if not, Uhtred would be an absolute goner sporting the Sven Kjartansson eye patch. But it makes me wonder how are armies formed? Is it like a signup sheet that gets passed around the villages? Is it a draft? One man from each family like in Mulan?

I’ve gotta talk about Gisela because Uhtred is literally like a bird doing a mating call with how cocky he is teaching combat to Clapa, Dunk’s brother-from-another-universe. I do very much appreciate that it’s established she was the one pulling the strings to get her brother freed from slavery. She is smart and politically savvy in her own right which makes her the perfect equal to Uhtred. Literally whatever he lacks, she’s got. She’s level-headed and forward thinking and I cannot express how much I dig her as a love interest. And we’ve got to talk about Guthred’s and Gisela’s relationship. It’s so clear that thanks to Abbot Eadred’s influence, he’s started to see his sister as a pawn rather than his sister. His talk with Uhtred about being rivals was cute and all but would he have actually allowed Gisela to marry Uhtred if he hadn’t turned on him

Another reason I hate Abbot Eadred is the way he treats Gisela. The misogyny is just nauseating. He gets Brother Trew to spy on her to make sure Uhtred doesn’t do anything and when they’re literally just talking in the church, Brother Trew reports back that they “spent time alone together in the church” like everyone knows exactly what conclusion Abbot Eadred jumped to hearing that. On the subject of Brother Trew spying, how is it that he could hear Uhtred and Gisela panting and breathing from outside the tent but apparently, they couldn’t hear Hild speak at a normal level when she caught him spying? I guess it was never mentioned that they didn’t hear it but at the same time, Uhtred and Gisela both act like they thought no one knew afterwards. But back to Abbot Eadred, a moment I really loved because I despised it so much was when they were discussing Uhtred’s loyalties and Gisela, queen that she is, tried explaining to Abbot Eadred that Uhtred acts the way he does because they don’t believe in the Christian god only for the dude to undermine her by implying that she was only defending Uhtred because she had a crush on him. Oh my word that made my blood boil, it was fantastic.

I know I’m talking about Gisela a lot but this episode is basically the only setup we get for their loyalty to each other later and let’s not forget, Uhtred’s arc for season 3, literally being banished by the king, is all because of the love he had for Gisela. She is such a smart and kind character and can absolutely stand on her own two feet and she doesn’t need to be a badass warrior to prove her worth. She can see plots moving at court and she knows that her safety is drifting away and that her brother will eventually use her for an alliance. When Guthred says he wants her at his side during the negotiation, you can literally see the despair in her face because she knows her brother is getting ready to offer her as a bride. It just makes her conversation with Uhtred about not being his gift so much more important because she saw that shit coming from a mile away. And I think it’s actually next episode that we see her giving Sihtric a message to pass on to Hild because, like when her brother was in slavery, she knew the way out and who to go to.

I do find it incredibly ironic that when Beocca is telling Uhtred that Gisela is off limits, he uses Aethelflaed as an example. That did not age well, he just named Uhtred’s two lasting love interests. But speaking of Aethelflaed, I don’t want to sound like a parrot but Millie Brady is totally selling Aethelflaed being a teenager. The way she jumped back shocked when Steapa screamed in her face and the way she spoke when he helped her back up just looked like a teenager. And I just loved the moment when Alfred and Aelswith were watching her like present, proud parents and when Aelswith said Steapa was as much her man as his and Alfred’s response was “should I have him beheaded as a traitor?” and he gives her a little look and she understands that he’s joking and they’re both smiling watching their daughter train, it just felt like such a wholesome moment. Literally the only domestic moment the entire family ever had. I do sometimes wish we had more moments like that that slow the pace down a little bit to let us see the characters happy and just enjoying each other’s company. Is it too obvious that my favourite episode is season 4 episode 6?

I wanna talk about Sihtric because Uhtred’s pretty boys are my favourite part of the entire show and he’s the only one here at the moment. I don’t know if it was Arnas himself or the makeup department or what but Sihtric looks 20 years younger in this season than he does in season 5, which were only filmed 5 years apart. That is absolutely wild. In season 5, he looks like an older, battle-hardened warrior who is scary as heck when he’s not smiling and here, he looks like an innocent little boy. After the fight in the stable and Uhted said to keep one alive and Sihtric looked at him, he looked so scared I immediately felt bad for him. He legit looks 15 like he’s way too young to be in this situation. And I suppose him being pretty young adds to his shift in allegiance after hearing Uhtred give his warriors one min-speech. Seriously, Uhtred told them all “you are far from what I would call warriors but you did well” and Sihtric was already prepping his resume. True, Kjartan was a very low bar but Sihtric really risked his life to prove to Uhtred that he was worthy. And it was really cool to see him take down two armed soldiers with his hands tied the whole time.

Something incredible about that scene that I never realised on my previous rewatches was the symbolism of who Uhtred turned his back on. Everyone knows ‘never turn your back on your enemy’ (won’t lie, I heard Jasper Hale’s voice saying that) and after Uhtred decides to trust Sihtric, Abbot Eadred goes against Uhtred’s command and steps forward and shouts to kill him, Uhtred immediately clocks who his enemy is and he fully turns his back to Sihtric so he can face off with Abbot Eadred. If I was Uhtred, I wouldn’t have trusted Sihtric but I’m so glad he was perceptive enough to see the potential he had to become one of his most trusted warriors and closest friends. I do wonder how Kjartan reacted to the news that Sihtric switched sides. Does he even know? I’m not even sure we get any acknowledgement from him that he’s aware of Sihtric’s existence at all. The closest I think we get is when the heads of his spies were speared outside the Dunholm gate and he asked who was missing. I suppose it just speaks to his character and how he mistreated Sihtric by not seeing him as a son, just as another body to his army.

Hild. Hild is amazing as always and I’m so sad that after this season, she sort of gradually disappears and then shows up again in the last 2 episodes. But now she’s starting her warrior era embracing the brutality of life. I think her need to earn the armour from the dead bodies by taking the first head comes from her Christian faith and the emphasis on suffering. There seems to be this idea from the Saxons in this show about earning things by suffering like grovelling and such, which would tie into why she uses a knife instead of an axe. She doesn’t take it lightly like Halig does and wants to do it the hard way to earn her armour despite the fact that she doesn’t need to. In my opinion, she’s already earned armour ten times over. I do love that afterwards, when Sihtric is trying to get her attention, she only responds when he calls her a warrior. Hild did not go through all she has, knocking sense into Uhtred a hundred times to be called a girl by teenage Sihtric needing a bathroom break. And I think her saying they should be fighting and not talking when it came to Erik and Sigefrid shows us again that she’s not your average nun. She accepts when violence is necessary and knows when things are practical.

Speaking of the brothers, the whole debate about whether to fight them or negotiate is the main conflict of this episode and literally no one thinks negotiating is a good idea. The brothers knew that they were dealing with a pushover king and instead of being demolished like they should’ve been, they got a seat in the king’s hall as allies. I do love that Uhtred continued to speak his mind during negotiations. The brothers had barely sat down and he was talking despite the last thing Guthred had said to him was not to speak. Uhtred does still come across as an arrogant youngster but we’re starting to see that he can back up his big talk almost every time. When they’re discussing how Dunholm couldn’t be taken without a siege and Uhtred was disagreeing, Sigefrid literally says “it appears everyone is wrong but you, Uhtred Ragnarsson.” And yet, in the next few episodes, Uhtred literally takes Dunholm without a siege. Not even Sihtric, who’d lived at Dunholm until maybe a week or so ago, could see the plan Uhtred saw. But back to the alliance, after they’d come to somewhat of an agreement and everyone’s enjoying the drink, Uhtred and Gisela are standing and sitting side by side in silence. Neither of them want this alliance and they’re the only ones there who know it’s wrong and it really feels like they want to look at each other to share in that disappointment but they know they can’t because Guthred and Abbot Eadred don’t approve of their relationship.

Abbot Eadred is really getting on my nerves. I’d love to get inside his head because how can he be all about Christianity and yet pretend to have had a vision of Guthred’s face? I mean, he mistook Uhtred for Guthred last episode and somehow (probably because of Guthred’s naivety), maintains his credibility. Has he deluded himself into thinking he had that vision? Is he just using Christianity to gain power? Does he actually believe in Christianity and is just manufacturing tools to guide people to what he believes is right? That seems like the most plausible explanation but the way he behaves is so snivelly and conniving that he just seems like an outright villain, not a misguided messenger. His belief that Aelfric won’t attack an army simply because they’ve got a saint’s corpse in the backseat is foolish. Uhtred knows his uncle cares more about keeping his power and position than his faith and that look he sent Uhtred’s way when he called Aelfric Lord of Bebbanburg was just so unnecessary. He’s trying way too hard to earn a spot in the Uhtred-hating club (Aelswith is the president). Only high-ranking members would call Uhtred inspiring loyalty in his followers a sin. Even if you’re the most devout Christian, HOW is that a sin? How could Guthred justify selling Uhtred into slavery by saying he inspires loyalty? Guthred, pushover king of the century, only does it because Abbot Eadred told him to.

Abbot Eadred said to Brother Trew that Aelfric was their enemy “solely because he is Uhtred’s enemy and yet, he is Christian,” which is baffling logic for someone supposed to be advising a king who claims his land is for Saxon and Dane. It’s just spelling it out that in Abbot Eadred’s eyes, Cumbraland isn’t for Saxons and Danes, it’s only for Saxons. Abbot Eadred has his own agenda and he’s going to use his influence over the king to achieve it and so far, he’s been pretty successful. Also, he tried to claim that they got Eoferwic without bloodshed because they were carrying the body of St Cuthbert but I don’t know how anyone is buying into his propaganda because Eoferwic had been taken back by the priests before they started marching with the body and before Guthred had even been called king. My boy Roger Mackenzie didn’t muster the whole of the city to fight back only for the credit to be given to a 300 year old corpse.

But I am loving Uhtred’s gang at the moment and Halig’s one-sided beef with Sihtric since his bathroom break turned into a temporary hostage situation. When they were scouting and Hild pretty much called him out for begrudgingly agreeing with Sihtric, I actually laughed aloud. Also, why on earth was Clapa sent to scout? The whole point is staying hidden and he’s the size of two men. Bro’s probably the easiest person to spot in the whole of England. He’s 300 apples tall. Terrible decision-making on Uhtred’s part.

One more thing I cannot get over is how Guthred went into this deep conversation about his experience with slavery and the next morning, sells Uhtred into slavery. He probably didn’t chat with Abbot Eadred until after Uhtred went to bed but for that to be so fresh on his mind and he still decides to give Uhtred up is just the cherry on top telling us Guthred is a terrible king with no spine.

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