I generally enjoy this series - it does sometimes get bogged down in rather Mills and Boon romantic subplots, no doubt to appeal to female viewers. That is yawnsome. It slows the series right down, and it loses momentum at those points - hence 4 stars and not 5.
However, the battle scenes are awsome! Really great. I rewound and watched some again. They are so well done it is awsome. They must have had such fun filming this (in Hungary, coz it's cheaper - watch the EXTRA little film on the final DVD).
Not sure it's necessary to pander to 'authentic casting' with Scandinavian actors playing Vikings (after all they look no different to Brits really). However, thank goodness there is no 'colourblind casting' - imagine if 40% of the actors here were BAME as on TV ads or awful woke BBC drama. I for one would not watch it, in that case. Historical drama MUST be authentic re skin colour. The way it is. Film is visual.
One weak point of series like these is that there are so many characters and so many look alike! One has to keep track. The last DVD has an EXTRA with a full recap of series 1 and 2. Useful, that. Hard to keep track of all the characters and changing allegiances at times too.
Very silly to see female warriors fighting and killing men twice their size but woke pandering to metoo pc girl power criteria is standard these days, if utterly tiresome and not authentic - though there were a very small number of manly female Viking warriors (in sensible shoes no doubt lol), but I'd bet anything they were not the eye candy blonde model totty we see here with long perfect blonde hair, perfect teeth, perfect skin, perfect unstained clothes etc. SO one has to bear in mind all that fantasy element. Maybe that is being true to the historical novels, I have no idea.
Anyway, a decent watch - better than any drama on terrestrial TV now, all the woke preachy pc Dr Who drivel which I avoid. Different from VIKINGS but about as violent - though I do not mind appropriate goriness. To leave it out would be pofaced and prissy indeed. Life was very violent back then.
4 stars. I hope they keep it up in series 3.