He may well have an almost complete set of Saint Oswald’s body parts, but as Brida says, he’s only thinking with one of his own.Įnter: Eadith, something Aethelred’s desperate to do. Their reconciliation prior to Alfred’s death was all the more meaningful because of that, and now Young Uhtred can play the part of his father’s faith-antagonist.Ĭut from the same cloth is Aethelred, who’s currently ransacking the villages of East Anglia, having swallowed Haesten’s misinformation about Cnut having left for Ireland. For years, Uhtred and the king of Wessex were two men divided by faith, neither understanding or respecting the other’s religion. Young Uhtred (we definitely needed another Uhtred, it’s frankly too easy to follow all the names on this show) can also step into the gap left by Alfred. It took three seasons for our Pagan hero to reconcile his warring Saxon/Dane selves, and now a kid with the same name as him is beginning the same process right from the start. Making Uhtred’s son a devout Christian lost to his roots is a poetic way to reframe The Last Kingdom’s constant themes of family, faith and identity. Both start with Bebbanburg fighting off marauding invaders, both end with our hero vowing to reclaim the fortress from his usurping uncle, and in between, both see a boy plucked from his faith and thrown in with a band of warrior-strangers. There’s pleasing symmetry between this season four opener and The Last Kingdom’s first ever episode. The Last Kingdom Season 4 Episode 1īack to where it all began. This The Last Kingdom review contains spoilers.