The Last Kingdom · Season 1 · Netflix
The Last Kingdom Season 1
The Last Kingdom Season 1 is a WORTH-IT, BollyMeter 7.8/10. 8 episodes on Netflix from 10 October 2015.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
Premiering on BBC Two in October 2015, The Last Kingdom adapted Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories novels with a premise that plays on cultural duality: a Saxon protagonist who is Danish, caught between two worlds during the Viking Age. The 87% Rotten Tomatoes score from 31 reviews points to strong response, especially for the series' beautiful cinematography and action choreography, alongside a grounded, gritty approach to the period. The show positions Uhtred of Bebbanburg as a compelling, morally flexible hero, built to move through the political complexity of Alfred the Great's England. The season also works as a complete origin story, setting up a longer arc to come.
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Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E1Episode 17.9
S01E01 turns identity into a weapon, training Uhtred through coercion so the politics feel personal, not decorative.
The moment: The Viking raid on Bebbanburg announces the series' willingness to be brutal with its hero's world from the opening scenes.
Full review of E1 → - E2Episode 27.3
Episode 2 turns loyalty into a negotiation tool, and the show makes politics feel like another battlefield.
Full review of E2 → - E3Episode 3
S01E03 turns loyalty into a transaction and identity into a verdict, forcing Uhtred to pay with reputation, not just safety.
Full review of E3 → - E4Episode 4
S01E04 turns diplomacy into combat and identity into leverage, tightening the season’s moral world even when a few turns arrive fast.
Full review of E4 → - E5Episode 5
S01E05 turns Uhtred’s identity into a lever others can pull, so every “right” move becomes political collateral.
Full review of E5 → - E6Episode 6
S1E6 turns loyalty into currency and makes the court’s timing as deadly as battlefield steel, tightening Uhtred’s real choices.
Full review of E6 → - E7Episode 7
S1E7 tightens loyalty into legal leverage, turning Uhtred’s identity quest into a trap that politics controls, not fate.
Full review of E7 → - E8Episode 88.0
Episode 8 closes Season 1 by turning leadership and identity into the same violent equation, with mercy always delayed and paid.
The moment: Uhtred's choice at the battle - Saxon or Dane - lands as the emotional payoff the entire first season warranted.
Full review of E8 →