REVIEW #238 Vikings Valhalla (S2)

Vikings Valhalla season 2 joins us back up with Harold Sigurdson, Freydis and Leif Erikson as they try to find their way back to one another after the events of the first season. When destiny splits them apart once more, they find themselves with another set of obstacles and adversaries to overcome.

Vikings Valhalla season 2 was a bit of a disappointment for me, instead of improving on the aspects that worked well for the first season, they done the opposite. Everything seemed to have been scaled down; the stakes for the characters, the battles, the central plot…none of it developed, but actually it regressed! They built up this big love story between Harold and Freydis, only to have them go on their separate ways without a solid reason for doing so. They played the contrasting faiths card but even that reasoning just seemed forced and left me with more questions than anything else. You could see they were pushing the difference in aspirations too but because it jumped from being a happy couple to suddenly parting ways in half an episode, that just lost it its credibility. If they had one or two more episodes to explore those differences further it would have worked well. 

The cinematography was still pretty good, I’m a sucker for organic visuals and the scenery did look beautiful. I believe they shot it in the Irish countryside, which looked amazing. The main three actors did well, Leo Suter has the potential to become a really impressive protagonist that could live up to his Vikings predecessors but unfortunately I can’t see the writing allowing him to do so. It was still entertaining at times, there was a few exciting fights but never any larger battles, which was a shame. The best way I could describe season 2 is sort of like a filler episode, you drag yourself through it in the hope of seeing something worthwhile after. Instead it was a filler season but it does set itself up for an interesting season three so that could be a lot better.

Overall (6/10)

Thanks for reading.

Callan