I was watching a show and totally missed the point for months

I kept complaining that the main character in 'Vinland Saga' was too violent, until a friend in Denver pointed out last week that the whole first season is about showing why that path is a dead end. I'd been focused on the action scenes and missed the entire theme of the story changing. Has anyone else had a show where they misunderstood the main idea until someone spelled it out?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanegibson20d ago

Feel the same way about Breaking Bad for a long time. I thought it was just a cool show about a guy making drugs and getting power. Totally missed that it was a slow tragedy about a man's ego destroying everyone around him. What was the specific moment in Vinland Saga that made your friend realize you'd missed the point?

iris87320d ago

Wait, he got to the end of the farm arc and still thought Thorfinn was gonna go get revenge? That's WILD. Like, the whole point of S2 is him breaking down from all the killing and realizing he has nothing. When he's just a broken shell of a person working the fields, and Canute is out there being a king, that's the show screaming "VIOLENCE IS A CYCLE, DUDE." How do you watch that and still think it's a hype revenge story?

vera_lewis8d ago

Remember my buddy who kept saying Thorfinn just needed to "train up" on the farm? He thought the whole season was a boring training arc before the big comeback. I had to pause it when Thorfinn was crying in the field and ask him, "You think this guy is planning his workout routine?" He finally got it when Thorfinn told Canute he had no enemies. My friend just sat there quiet for a minute and then said, "Oh. He's not getting stronger, he's just broken.