A week before the screening of "The Queen's Gambit", I watched the series "Barbarians" with my girlfriend. We liked it, but much less than the one dedicated to chess. Why? I invite you to your short review.
The series tells the story of how the 7-year war between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribes began in the 9th century AD. In the first season, we see how the unification of the tribes took place and the battle in the Teutoborski forest that started the aforementioned war took place. The main characters are Thusnelda (daughter of the camp administrator, the commander's right hand), Folkwin (her chosen one of the heart), and Arminius (the son of a leader who came to Rome as a young boy to raise him in civilized conditions). When the Romans come to the territories of the Germanic peoples, they argue among themselves over minor matters, not seeing the gigantic threat of domination and conquest. Few want to resist them, but they don't stand a chance, so they surrender and collect food and animals for tribute (Roman term for tribute, toll). As a result of several events, the tribes unite and a battle takes place in the Teutoburg Forest.
I do not know the history of this region, and I have no idea what life was like for ordinary people back then, so I do not know if the series is historical or not. While in the case of "Vikings" I have at least fragmentary knowledge, which means I know more or less what the creators' fantasy is and what is true, I have no clue here. From what I read on the Internet, the series is consistent with at least some facts, e.g. the commander of the Germanic tribes (Cheruski, Mars, Chattów, Brukterów) was Arminius, the battle took place because the Romans ventured into their territories. Some of the events are definitely the writers' and showrunner's ideas, but after reading how the actual battle happened, they don't differ that much from what was shown in the series. In the case of "Vikings" it was easier to change the course of some events, speed up or delay this and that, introduce a few new characters or modify them (such as Rolo, who was inspired by the character of Rolf), here it is difficult due to the narrowing of the action time. If there were any fantasies of the creators, they were not as conspicuous as, for example, the too quickly introduced crossbows into general circulation. You should have a big plus for the Latin used by the Romans (which I initially mistook for Italian) and the Old Germanic language used by tribes. The heroes cannot communicate with each other without interpreters. This is obviously obvious, but the creators of some movies or series simplify these issues too much or forget about them after some time.
As for the characters, I liked Folkwin, Arminiusz, Thusnelda, the chief, and a few others, but they are far from the level of characters from "Vikings". They have nothing to do with Ragnar, Lagertha, Rola, King Ekbert, or Ivar the boneless. They are cool, they did not push me away from the series, but they did not encourage me and they lacked the charisma and acting skills mentioned above - they presented an acceptable level. Some of my friends complained about Thusnelda (as well as Internet users, at least some of the opinions I found), that some things came out too easily for her and that she was the only one who was able to motivate German who chickened out from Rome. Personally, I think these words are a bit exaggerated. Why? It's Netflix, so I'm used to the worse things of political correctness, equating women to men instead of using their own strengths, etc. In the case of this series, it does not strike me too much, because as is well known since the Trojan War (and even faster), a man is able to do a lot to win a woman's heart. She does not even have to be her chosen one - women have various skills and lures with which they can pour into men's hearts as much heroism as a charismatic leader like General Patton. A bit of manipulation, a handful of lies, a nice smile, saying a few nice words in the right tone and men can do a lot for a woman.
The biggest flaw of this series, and the only reason why I do not recommend this series, is the main event of this series, i.e. the title battle, which fared terribly poorly. The fights lasted a few days, there were more intense and bloody fights, and here it only lasted a few (several?) Hours. Half an episode, bravo. I understand that the budget was not very high, but you could break the battle with some epic cliff hanger and resume it in the second season. It would be a much more interesting solution, because the continuation would be incomparably more intriguing in such a situation. Well, it would be possible to make a loud opening of the next season, and this was the disappointment of its shortness and the Romans who were massacred too quickly.
Overall, I liked it, I can technically rate it 7/10, but I don't recommend it. Watch "Vikings". Especially the first and second seasons, although this is less (and the third is too much of a fantasy, but at least still holds a high level). They are realistic and allegedly faithful to historical realities. And the Ragnar series is also available on Netflix, so you don't have to search the internet for "alternative sources" in the form of torrents.
