[Updated with a change of heart]
I tried to like this series when the first season came out but couldn’t. I had been a big fan of the original VIKINGS during the Ragnar, Lagertha, Rollo and Floki seasons. (I lost interest in the seasons about the sons.) But I think my esteem for original set the bar to high to reach and I couldn’t judge it on its own merit. So, I stopped watching it after the first season. When it was announced that Amalia Holm was joining the cast in season 3, I decided to give another kick at the can. I was pleasantly surprised when I rewatched the first season on how good it was. The story telling, the characters, the performances and the beautiful settings. Even though Amalia has a very limited role, I’m so glad I had a reason to revisit this series. They call this a Historical Drama. Yes, the characters names are recorded in history, but what, and how, they did things are entirely a work of fiction. I enjoyed all the times I put the series on pause to look up the real history of the places and the characters. From the first episode to the last, I gave it a 7 (well told) out of 10.

[28 February 2022] This suffers from the same issues that took VIKINGS from a must watch series to a “Meh” - it lost its soul. When the charismatic Ragnar Lothbrok, complex Lagertha and winning Rollo exited VIKINGS, the series degenerated into uninteresting characters doing gory things. In this case, VIKINGS VALHALLA didn’t even find a soul. It doesn’t have a character worth investing in. Leif Ericsson comes off as a moody adolescent. The introduction to Freydis is promising but the role was horrible miscast and the other casting was mediocre (with the exception of Queen Emma who was a bright spot). It was basically beautiful people searching for a character. The “intrigue” was convoluted. The pseudo history was a mess. I guess you know where I’m going here, I give this series a 5 (meh) out of 10. [Historical? Fantasy? Drama]