Vinland Saga (Season 1)
Watch Links: Crunchyroll | HIDIVE | Netflix
Synopsis: In a world where vikings rule the seas and Thorfinn must survive in this warrior culture, his journey brings him together into conflict across Europe as he pursues vengeance and the political structure of the world changes around him.
Score: 6.4/10
Vinland Saga appeals to me a decent amount through its historical setting and some pretty solid action, but what I came away from the series most focused on was the cast, and how they evolve from the first half of the season to the second half. We’ve got a pretty slow paced narrative, following Thorfinn and Askeladd as they partake in raiding and pillaging as vikings. It takes a while getting the viewer up to speed and going through the historical happenings of the story. The establishment of the characters, though, is far less compelling than when the series decides to develop them more.
Askeladd is a consistently fantastic character, but the rest of the cast didn't really do anything for me for the first half of this first season. Thorfinn is an insufferable edgy boy. Thorkell wasn't anything special early on, just a muscle-headed brute. Canute was just a shy loser. Thors is a good father figure for Thorfinn, and a good setup character. In general though, there were no real standout elements for the whole first half outside of Askeladd, so I was severely underwhelmed.
The second half of this first season, however, was a lot better. Thorfinn has some good moments, although he is overall still uninteresting to follow as a lead. Thorkell and his crew get some fleshing out, which doesn't make them great, but it ties them in better to the world and makes their motives and personalities more pronounced and understood. Canute has a very sudden moment of growth, which has a shaky foundation in the discussion with the priest and is a bit too much in too little time, but it works fine and makes his character infinitely more interesting. The idea of love through death is kind of dumb, but his disdain for god and desire to make the world into paradise to spite god for making man suffer worked as a worldview and to set up his goals and make him a viable person to follow. I do think his personality and skills changed a bit too suddenly to be realistic, but I didn't mind too much because it made him more interesting to follow. Askeladd still rules, and remains compelling. We get to explore his character more in this 2nd half. Honestly, he is the main character of the first season in my eyes. I did start to grow tired of the politicking towards the end of the season, but it at least felt more intricate and thoughtful than what was going on before.
The themes are also a lot stronger in the second half. I wouldn't say this show is the best with themes, but it does end up constructing some stuff which works quite well through its narrative and motifs. It's also not a complete story quite yet, so it has time to develop its themes. Some were pretty heavily tied to Askeladd though, and I felt were somewhat underexplored, so I do wonder if we'll ever get resolution on some of these.
