Artor

If Tarantino and the Cohen brothers ever teamed up this is what you'd get! There's little else one can say about this show other than it was a piece of art. Absolute genius. The writing, the characters, the actors, the different styles, the edit and the music... oh the music! Honestly, for anyone who even remotely liked the first season (and I really did) this took all my expectations, put them in a hot air balloon and sent them up higher than Baumgartner. The problem is that you're eventually going to have to come back to earth... and they did. The only reason I didn't give it a 10... that last episode for me just didn't do it for me and it killed my buzz. Anyway, it's still a master piece! WATCH IT!

It took a lot of persuading for Cornwall to allow another series be adapted from one of his books after ITV took on SHARPE. He believes they never do them justice. After watching the first five episodes I can't help but feel he has once again been let down but this time by the BBC. He had probably hoped that they might hire a show runner like Michael Hirst - but they didn't. It's not even close to "VIKINGS" but to be honest Vikings is slowly crumbling. Although Cornwalls' books aren't necessarily subtle or complex, they are a rollercoaster. They're fun. This isn't, mainly because it lacks the wit, and the empathy or antagonism he Creates for his colourful characters . The script is poor to say the least, there is a vast amount of exposition and constant interjections of "old language" which just sits so badly. Props, costume and cinematography are as unsubtle and unrealistic as the dialogue - Although it has moments of beauty they are far and few between only serving to highlight how simple and unthought out the rest of it has been shot. I'll forgive the fact that in the ten years that uhtred grows into a man, the Vikings have built a mud hut for a farm and haven't been attacked once by their enemies, what I won't forgive is the fact that I simply don't care for any character, mainly because I have no idea what anyone wants, nor have I gotten to know their flaws. This lack of empathy has simply resulted in a lack of interest in a cast of cardboard cut outs. I gave this two stars, one for the attention paid to the shield wall formation and execution of the battle and the other for the kid who acts as young uhtred. With the exception of PEAKY BLINDERS, Why can't British TV get their epic shows right. Even for a viking period drama it still ends up looking and feeling like DOWNTON bloody ABBEY!