Northman

What I expected: some viking brutal power fantasy.

What I got: rather historically-accurate interpretation of Hamlet.

Father killed by his brother, mother taken by the same brother, prince returning from exile and all that. Even “poor Yorick” is there.

When I say “historically accurate” I mean that those vikings look a lot like slavs, and not like “vikings from the movies”.

Also, there are a lot of unexpected elements of culture. Like the game they play, some mix of baseball and rugby (I didn’t actually check what it’s called, and don’t really care).

There is also a strange mix of reality and dreams. At one point Hamlet fights an undead warrior, but it’s all in his head.

The most impressive role is Fjolnir, the same uncle. Yes, he’s an asshole. But who wasn’t back then?

Amleth/Hamlet on the other hand is just a vengeful bastard, that enjoys killing people.

The final duel is impressive. No shaking camera or anything like that. Just two men hitting each other with a sword.

The moral is simple: vengeance doesn’t bring joy to anyone.