There’s absolutely no sense to be made of Britannia season 2, episode 4, or of the show in general, if we’re being honest. A lot is going on at all times, entirely too much, if you ask me, but as surprising as it might seem, none of what’s going on is actually at all interesting.
I get what they’re trying to do – I just finished a binge-watch of 12 Monkeys, a show that threw everything and the kitchen sink at viewers seemingly every episode, but one that did it so masterfully, and with characters we’d grown to love so much, that all stakes were raised, because we cared about everything that was going on.
Britannia is the exact opposite of that.
For once, they seem to have decided, halfway through season 2, that Veran is their best and most interesting character. Except their best and most interesting characters were always the women the show has sacrificed to give more screen time to boring men. I don’t care about Veran, and I certainly don’t care about Aulus. I also don’t care about Divis, except when he’s around Cait, who I presume I could care about, if the show remembered she was around and important for long enough to make me.
But, from the beginning, the show has been unable to really decide what story they’re trying to tell.
This, one might say, has worked for other shows, but in reality, it hasn’t. We always had someone – or at least a family – to root for in Game of Thrones, we weren’t floundering around trying to figure out who we should care about. We also always had Daenerys, and though that didn’t work out the way we want to, part of the problem we had with that show at the end was that we felt the characters we were rooting for were treated badly.
Yes, they threw some twists at us. And yes, they killed the character we assumed to be the hero not once, or twice. But they never left us without someone to root for.
Which is pretty much where I am with Britannia. I watch because I have to, and I pay attention because if I’m watching, I might as well, but I don’t spend too long trying to understand the intricacies of what the show is trying to tell me – if they even exist – because, in truth, I’m just bored by pretty much everything the show is trying to throw at me.
Even Hela. Even the supernatural stuff. No, wait, especially the supernatural stuff. It makes no sense, and there are no stakes to it because I don’t care what happens to anyone. They’ve already killed all the characters I marginally cared about!
Boring, boring, boring. I might have to waste my time on this show, because hey, that’s my lot in life, but you don’t have to. Just check me out complaining about it every week and save yourself! I promise, you’ll be happier for it.
Agree? Disagree? Share with us in the comments below!
Britannia airs Sundays at 9/8c on Epix.
