So, episode 9 out of 13, and you'd think the story would be gaining momentum as we head towards a climax. Yet I still have no real idea what the story is building towards. There's conflict with mudborns, and with Rheda's brother, and tensions within Herot itself (if you consider that Slean/Kela are still a bit morally ambiguous, and the Huscarla seem to be almost as insubordinate as they are useless). But amidst all that tension, who are we rooting for? Beowulf? Not sure how to root for him when he has no identifiable goal, other than some half-baked scheme to fortify Herot. I'm not even sure he gives a damn about anyone in Herot, other than Elvina. He certainly doesn't seem overly bothered about Slean or Rheda.
But that's the other major problem: after a very promising beginning, with Beowulf's return to Herot and the obvious tension with Slean (due to their rivalry in vying for Hrothgar's love), which promised political fireworks, so far there has been very little development of Beowulf's character. That is, until this episode's feeble attempt to give him a backstory, which was entirely predictable and not very emotionally convincing. Worse still, rather than evoking sympathy for him, the death of his wife and son at the hands of escaped slaves just explained the motives of the mudborns. I think that's the most fatal flaw of this series; in order to give a damn about the outcome of the conflict, you need to care about the characters, and quite frankly, I think I have more sympathy for the poor enslaved troll than any of the humans.
I lay the blame for that firmly on the writing, which has been pretty poor all round - the story seems like a random string of events with no cohesion or overall arc, character motivations are either weak or make no sense, and so many things are just plain dumb and unbelievable.
In this episode, Lila punches a Huskarla in the gut and drops him like a stone, despite the fact that a) she punches like my grandma, and b) he's wearing boiled leather armour, which is designed to disperse impact. I've worn leather armour, and it works at this pretty well! If a trained bodyguard can't take such a blow, he needs to be dragged out behind the hall and put out of his misery.
But that's just one example of the stupid, contrived plot devices we're supposed to swallow. Don't even get me started on Rheda's understanding of politics (which is just infantile - no wonder people want to depose her). I wanted to love this show, but I'm really losing patience with it now. If they can't get better writers and figure out what this show actually wants to be, it doesn't deserve a second series.
But that's the other major problem: after a very promising beginning, with Beowulf's return to Herot and the obvious tension with Slean (due to their rivalry in vying for Hrothgar's love), which promised political fireworks, so far there has been very little development of Beowulf's character. That is, until this episode's feeble attempt to give him a backstory, which was entirely predictable and not very emotionally convincing. Worse still, rather than evoking sympathy for him, the death of his wife and son at the hands of escaped slaves just explained the motives of the mudborns. I think that's the most fatal flaw of this series; in order to give a damn about the outcome of the conflict, you need to care about the characters, and quite frankly, I think I have more sympathy for the poor enslaved troll than any of the humans.
I lay the blame for that firmly on the writing, which has been pretty poor all round - the story seems like a random string of events with no cohesion or overall arc, character motivations are either weak or make no sense, and so many things are just plain dumb and unbelievable.
In this episode, Lila punches a Huskarla in the gut and drops him like a stone, despite the fact that a) she punches like my grandma, and b) he's wearing boiled leather armour, which is designed to disperse impact. I've worn leather armour, and it works at this pretty well! If a trained bodyguard can't take such a blow, he needs to be dragged out behind the hall and put out of his misery.
But that's just one example of the stupid, contrived plot devices we're supposed to swallow. Don't even get me started on Rheda's understanding of politics (which is just infantile - no wonder people want to depose her). I wanted to love this show, but I'm really losing patience with it now. If they can't get better writers and figure out what this show actually wants to be, it doesn't deserve a second series.
