Review: Barbarians (2020)

 Series Review: Barbarians (2020)

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 6

Description:

Torn between the mighty empire that raised him and his own tribal people, a Roman officer's conflicted allegiances lead to an epic historical clash.

Barbarians is about the Germanic people, set in AD 9. The tribes are being tormented by the Romans and the Germanic tribes strike back in an epic battle. 

Being a huge Vikings fan, I had been looking forward to the release of Barbarians. I was promised, that it would be even more brutal and just as well-made. To be bold, I didn't enjoy watching the series as much. I couldn't keep my attention to the screen and my mind wandered while watching. The brutality showed itself in the sacrifice of children and heads on spikes, which reminded me of the first season of Game of Thrones. 

What I admire about the series is the use of language. The Romans mostly speak Latin and the barbarians speak German. Most of the cast is German too, adding to the authenticity of the series, which is based on a real battle in the Teutoburger Forest in Germany. 

I also enjoyed the powerful female lead, Thusnelda. The people in the series think he communicates with the gods and she uses that in a magnificent way to unite the tribes and lead them into the ultimate battle. She reminds me of Lagertha, a powerful female in Vikings. The people in Barbarians also worship a variation of the Norse gods, which we got to know in Vikings. I enjoy the similarities, as it gives me something familiar in this series.

The story itself is good and I think it was the language that made me lose interest in watching the series. I did finish it and enjoyed the last episode but I feel like a build-up of 5 episodes to one battle is a bit much and I can hardly remember what happened in the meantime. 

The cast was well-chosen and the costumes/make-up well done. It all looked just as I had imagined the Germanic people and the Romans of that age. The only flaw to the authenticity is the use of stirrups, which weren't invented until hundreds of years later, according to an editor on IMDb. After some research, I concluded the same.

All in all, I have to say that the series is well-made. In my opinion it can't be compared to Vikings just because it falls in the same category and has some bloodshed in it but I can see how others would very much enjoy this show.

I recommend it for casual watching, it is what I did and I feel like I didn't miss anything essential to the story. Casual watching could be difficult if you watch it with subtitles because of the language.

Rating

Barbarians gets a rating of Spanking.

It's not as boring as vanilla but it is closeby.

Thank you for reading!