Vikings: Valhalla (V:V) is a pseudo-historical sequel to the pseudo-historical series Vikings. It tells the (heavily fictionalized) story of Viking explorer Leif Erikson.  I did not watch the original Vikings because it looked like it was trying way too hard. Watching V:V tells me that this is probably true, but that I also should have watched it anyway.

This is because somehow V:V tries too hard in a way that isn’t necessarily bad. I didn’t hate it at all, but at the same time it felt weird because of what I can only call schizophrenic production value. 

The quality fluctuates in a jarring way. One scene will be well constructed, but with far too few people in it for what’s happening. Another scene will have good costumes and acting set against a painfully low-quality rear screen projection. One major battle scene is brutal, detailed and feels very real. It involved hundreds of extras, lots of choreography, attention to detail, and some pretty good acting. But then the Vikings confront the captured English nobility in a throne room that looks like an interior set from ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’.  It’s hard to explain this without assuming they spent most of their budget pandering to the target demographic, but there were also plenty of expository scenes that were well done so...I just don’t know.

Despite this the tone never wavers. It’s firmly lodged between ‘too serious for pseudo-historical fantasy’ and ‘very believable’...and I don’t know what to make of that. I found myself weirdly both admiring it and irritated by it. Consequently, the theme for this review is ‘good but not great.’ This phrase describes the acting, the cast, the chemistry, and the plot.

The story is well-structured and easy to follow, but some of it just isn’t good. V:V gives its entire B-plot to Leif Erickson’s fictional sister Freydis.  Her revenge killing of a man who violated her is the plot device the show uses to get Leif involved in a war which makes up the A-plot. The A-plot is well written and very grounded. The B-plot is also well written and grounded...right up until the halfway point when Freydis is sent to the Vikings spiritual capital of Uppsala. There she receives a vision and encounters the main villain of the story. When Freydis reports this back to the noblewoman she works for she is declared to be the chosen one and assigned to a special combat team of ‘shield maidens’ who...wait, what? This was supposed to happen? It was her fate? While you’re considering the ugly logical implications of this ‘fate’ let’s discuss the shield maiden uniforms. Remember the uniforms of the Wakandan female soldiers from Black Panther? Good. That’s what they look like. Let me sarcastically assure you that this doesn’t look at all ridiculous in a show set in the dark ages, nor does it do anything to undermine the credibility of these characters. I’ll also take this opportunity to point out the complete and total absence of slaves in V:V. I understand that this is a medieval fantasy story and not a referendum on social justice, but the Vikings were famous for having slaves. Unfortunately, if you include that in the series then the core characters are no longer ‘good guys’ and it’s real, real hard to enjoy the show. Hard, but not impossible. Watch the HBO series ‘Rome’ to see what I mean.

My other gripe is the inconsistent pacing. In V:V the importance the pacing imparts to certain events sometimes contradicts common sense. An evil Viking nobleman kidnaps the Queen of England’s children to use them as leverage. It has the look and feel of a major plot point. But then they get rescued 10 minutes later, with zero difficulty. It’s not completely pointless because this event sets up much of the drama in the season’s second half, but it is bad for the audience because from that point onward the tempo of the show can no longer be trusted to signal the importance of what’s happening on screen.

Even with all of these gripes I found the overall product solidly put together and I wound up mostly enjoying it.  It’s a solid B+ but it never gets any higher than that. Watch it for a snack between seasons of a series you actually care about.