Eclectic Pop

It has been a huge year for television on both streaming and broadcast platforms. The quantity of quality has made for a fun 2018. Netflix’s “The Last Kingdom” pleasantly returned for a breakout third season. While over on Lifetime, Penn Badgley riveted on the outstanding and criminally underrated thriller “You.”

It is a great time to be a fan of costume dramas. There are new ones currently airing and older ones available for new audiences to enjoy, thanks to Netflix and Amazon Prime.

What makes a costume drama exceptional? Gorgeous costumes, grand romance, and powerful performances are just a few of the attributes that go into making you grateful for having watched one. In no particular order, this is Part 1 of a list filled with 10 outstanding costume dramas. You can read Part II by clicking here.

“The Last Kingdom” Season 2 recently bowed on Netflix, after its initial run on BBC Two. For fans of the medieval series the wait has been arduous. “The Last Kingdom” Season 1 premiered in October 2015.

Covering the return of the Netflix/BBC series on the Inquisitr meant highlighting Season 1, and teasing and reviewing Season 2. So without further ado, let’s dig into what I have been writing about “The Last Kingdom.”

The Blacklist signed off on the fall portion of its third season’s 2015 run with an episode that took several unexpected detours, the most significant being Red’s abduction at the hands of a gang of highway bandits who attempted to barter him for a hefty payoff. Not seeing the mechanics of how on earth Red was taken by a band of hooligans as inept as the ones depicted, made the storyline difficult to buy into.

Plus, who would’ve expected that after 8 episodes spent with Liz and Red on the run evading federal authorities, their undoing would be a caravan of crazies? It’s unclear if it was the jarring nature of their introduction or just the set up to begin with, that made the plot twist hard to accept.

"The Last Kingdom" is BBC America’s answer to “Vikings” and “Game of Thrones”, an ambitious action-adventure series based on Bernard Cornwell’s extensive tome of novels. The series reached its fifth episode last week and it was a strong installment, fraught with tense showdowns and testy loyalties. The show is zooming through at a steady and progressive pace, whilst maintaining a sense of intense suspense; a sort of dance on knife’s edge.