Vikings: Valhalla Review

Vikings: Valhalla is gritty, bloody and has some epic fight scenes. This is a follow on from the original Vikings that is on Amazon Prime Video. This new instalment is based 100 years after the finale of Vikings, and there are a lot of call backs to the characters and events that happened.

The Vikings are looking to get revenge after King Aethelred orders the slaughtering of the Vikings that settled in England. News spreads across the ocean by Harald Sigurdsson, who manages to escape on the night of the attacks. We follow three main characters throughout the season, the characters we follow are Harald Sigurdsson, Freydis Eiriksdottir and Leif Eriksson. Freydis and Leif have come from Greenland to Kattegat to get revenge on someone for raping Freydis. The person who raped her, gave her a scar with a cross on her back. As we see throughout, a lot of the Vikings have converted to Christianity. Which causes a divide between the Christians and the pagan Vikings. This causes a civil war between the Vikings and overall effects the events that happen throughout the series when getting revenge on England. As we see very early on in the series we get mentions of Harald who dreams of becoming the King of Norway after his brother. We also see Harald fall for Freydis and looks up to her brother Leif. It's a interesting dynamic between Harald and Leif, because as the season progresses they start to respect each other and they become like brothers. Prince Edmund takes over from his father King Aethelred after he dies. Edmund is still only a boy and has not matured mentally, to deal with the severity of his situation.

What I liked about this series is that it feels and looks just like the original Vikings, and I loved the original. The characters are well developed and they mature through there hardships as the season goes on. There is a lot going on, with the Vikings getting there revenge, and the divide between them because of the gods they believe in. There is a lot of different directions they can go, and I'm very excited for the next season. Netflix has already greenlighted three seasons, so they must be very confident that it will be a success. The setting in Kattegat is exactly the same as the original Vikings, and it feels like we never left. I have not been this impressed with a new show since the original Vikings on Prime Video.

There's not much that I did not like, but there were one or two things that bugged me. I think there was too much calling back to the original Vikings series, which did not sit right with me. I don't know why, but as the series went on it became it's own thing. Another little thing that I noticed was the story was not as gripping as I thought it was going to be. The story lacks in some parts, but it makes up for this with it's stunning visuals and epic fight scenes.

Verdict - 9/10

If you love epic fight scenes, gore and sex, than you will definitely love Vikings: Valhalla. Even though it lacks story wise, it makes up for it with the awesome battle scenes. I would recommend this to anyone who loved the original Vikings series on Amazon Prime Video, because it feels like the continuation we needed to get our Vikings fix.