Several years have passed. Uhtred and his crew are based at Runcorn on the border of Mercia and Northumbria. Under their training Aethelstan has grown up to be a great fighter, a skill which serves him well when three would-be assassins try to kill him. Brida, still bitter, is alive and well and along with her followers is living in Iceland. She and her band are now heading to Britain.
It's been an obvious weakness of the show but until now I was happy to overlook it as everything else about the show was so good. However, it's at ridiculous levels now. Not a single character has aged over the five seasons of the show despite at least thirty years having passed. Uhtred is at least in his mid-50s now, yet is still 20-something physically. Don't even get me started on Aelswith/Eliza Butterworth, who was too young for her character from the start. Was there no budget for make-up artists?
Otherwise, the episode is okay but not great. Admittedly, being the first episode of the season it is still just scene-setting but still feels quite clumsy and flat. Brida is particularly one-dimensional and incredibly irritating.