'The Last Kingdom' Season 4 Review: Uhtred's love for Aethelflaed furthers Alfred's dream of a united England
There are two ways to watch 'The Last Kingdom'. Watch it for the pure raw spectacle it is, as a 'Game of Thrones'-type adventures unfolds with Uthred, Saxon raised as a Dane, as the lead protagonist. Or watch it as the fictionalized take on the very real history of ancient Anglican kingdoms before they became England. Option 2 will mean you'll keep scurrying between watching 'The Last Kingdom' and reading up on the fascinating historical figures that star as the lead characters on the show.
Season 4 takes off where Season 3 ended - with King Alfred (David Dawson) dead, his dream of united England now in the hands of his son King Edward (Timothy Innes). Aethelflaed (Millie Brady), Edward's sister, the Lady of Mercia, wanders in his court, trying to protect herself from her husband, Lord Aethelred (Toby Regbo), who tried to have her killed in Season 3. As much if not more of "king" material than Edward, she also tries to steer her brother to do right by Mercia.
For most of the season, we see Edward as a hesitant, indecisive king. At the start of the season, he is too cautious and content to hold on to peace and what land he has rather than attempt to unify the four kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Eoferwic (in the north). His actions are guided by Aethelhelm, his new father-in-law, as he alienates the council of his mother Aelswith and sister Aethelflaed and the monk Pyrlig. Pyrlig takes over from Father Beocca (Ian Hart) after Aelswith, being the usual pain in the a**, gets him banned from court.
Aelswith is paid back in her own coin when she too is sidelined by Edward who acts like a petulant child each time he feels insulted or threatened. He often has to have his hand forced to do the right thing - be it showing up with his army to repel the Danes in Tettenhall or being dissuaded from using his own niece as a bargaining chip to increase his hold over Mercia, to not trusting or supporting his sister to rule Mercia to the ill-advised siege to take back Winchester from Sigtrygrr (Eysteinn Sigurdarson), the new Danish warlord on the scene who teams up with a vengeful Brida (Emily Cox).
But he is also shown to be a loving father, unable to choose between his two sons - one from the wife he loved who Aelswith effectively banished to make a second wealthier marriage for Edward. The son from the second marriage is seen as the heir. However, the little captions that appear in the show to connect the story to the historical and modern names and places, gives us a massive spoiler. It is the son from the first marriage, Athelstan, who will become the first King of united England.
The task of getting Edward in line falls mostly on Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon), who is as big an ally to him as he was to Alfred, while being defiant of his control for all the right reasons. The first two episodes, see Uhtred pursue his long-held ambition of getting back his ancestral birthright, Bebbanburg, from his devious uncle Aelfric. He fails when Wihtgar (Ossian Perret), Aelfric's son, overwhelms his small group of men and kills Aelfric, being held at knife-point by Uhtred as leverage.
Father Beocca also dies protecting young Uhtred, a loss that is so great that Uhtred drops "of Bebbanburg" from his title and his ambitions. It should be noted that had Edward lent him a 100 men at the start, this northern territory would have been under his control, making Alfred's dream closer to fulfillment.
After his failure at Bebbanburg, his attentions are drawn to Aethelflaed with whom he starts an affair. Through the course of Season 4, he stands by her bringing her victories and men when she needs them the most, to protect Mercia - first from Aethelred's ruinous ambitions that see him fall into the trap set by Haeston, Cnut and Brida, and then from Edward himself. He is Lord of Mercia for a few minutes before he gives up the throne to Aethelflaed, knowing that Edward will use him as puppet leader and only Aethelflaed, as Alfred's daughter, can stand up to him.
This season's body count is high. Lord Aethelred dies after the Battle of Tettenhall, which, seriously, is good riddance to bad rubbish. So does Eardwulf (Jamie Blackley) who leads the Danes to Winchester and acts as the new Aethelwold this season.
Aethelhelm also successfully poisons Aelswith while they are imprisoned by Sigtryggr and eliminates a powerful enemy at court who was trying to get Athelstan recognized as heir to the throne, instead of his daughter's son. Cnut is also killed by pregnant Brida after Uhtred reveals his role in Ragnar's death.
Brida is so tired of the betrayals, she tells Uhtred to kill her but he can't and so the Welsh take her. Her brutal imprisonment is so horrifying that her anger turns against Uhtred for not giving her the mercy killing she wished for and she teams up with Sigtrygrr, who is Cnut's cousin from "Irland" aka Ireland to decimate the Welsh territories and take Winchester while Edward tries to bully the leaderless kingdom of Mercia.
This season also sees Uhtred reconnecting with his daughter Stiorra, who is a wild Dane at heart like him, and young Uhtred (Finn Elliot) who is a pious priest. Young Uhtred is at first angry for being kidnapped from his monastery by Uhtred but grows to respect and understand his father. At the end of the season, Stiorra, held hostage by Sigtrygrr in the siege of Winchester, falls in love with him and departs with him to Eoferwic -- the fourth kingdom that Alfred and Aethelflaed give to him in exchange for peace in Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia. Young Uhtred too departs to his monastery but at peace with his father now and with his blessings.
But the saddest part of Season 4 is the complete severing of relations between Brida and Uhtred. Brida has never understood Uhtred's loyalty to the Saxons and now she actively hates him, promising that she and her soon-to-be-born son will hunt him and his own if he doesn't kill her. "He will not betray me like all men have," she snarls, talking about her son. Yet Uhtred cannot kill her and tells her to just leave. So we can expect a showdown between the two in Season 5.
'The Last Kingdom' Season 4 premieres on Netflix on April 26.