King & Conqueror Recap (Episodes 1-8) And Review

James Norton’s King Harold and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau’s Duke William lock horns in BBC’s latest historical epic, based on the Battle of Hastings. The story of Duke William from Normandy invading England and beating King Harold is known to many, but the way King & Conqueror presents this story is really something. In this article, we’re going to go through what we see in the show before capping things off with how we felt about it.

Spoilers Ahead

Meet the King and the Conqueror

King & Conqueror opens with the Battle of Hastings, the English and Norman armies at each other’s throats, and our two main characters screaming each other’s names. We’re then taken back to years ago, when both Harold and William are nowhere near even being in contention for the English throne. Harold’s father, the Earl of Wessex, Godwinson, is anticipating the coronation of his son-in-law, Edward, as the King of England. Two other earldoms, Mercia and Northumbria, are also in support of Edward becoming the king. But Harold suspects something is going on under their nose, and he turns out to be right. Mercia (and Northumbria too) is hatching a plan with Edward’s mother, Emma, to undermine Wessex and blame the Earl for not being able to control the region anymore. Emma has even promised Morcar that Wessex, eventually, will be his. Godwinson’s plan of continuing his bloodline through the heir of the king (his daughter Gunhild is set to be the queen, so) is also not going to be fulfilled, as Edward has no plans of copulating with his wife.

Meanwhile, at Normandy, William receives an invitation to join his cousin Edward (yes, the king-to-be) for the coronation ceremony. He decides to go while his wife, Matilda of Flanders, stays back to look for one of Duke’s prisoners, Guy of Brionne, who has recently escaped. When Matilda finds Guy, he ends up confessing the darkest possible truth—that he killed Duke Robert, William’s father. Guy was only the trigger, though; it was French King Henry who pulled it.

William and Harold meet right after the Duke reaches England and gets attacked by rogue bandits. Harold is the one who saves him actually; talk about the irony! Upon finding out the main reason his cousin and aunt invited him was actually their desire to ally with Normandy to strengthen themselves in the political dynamics of Europe, William gets disheartened and decides to leave after the coronation. A whole lot of drama happens during the ceremony, as Edward and Emma’s secret comes out, following which Earl Godwin and his volatile elder son, Sweyn, react in an unruly manner, displeasing the already crowned king (read his mother). By the time William returns to Normandy, Henry has annihilated most of the people there and ordered the Duke’s death. This happened only because Guy started talking, though. Having not many options, William goes to hide in Flanders with his wife and his newborn son. Henry can’t harm him there thanks to his brother, and Matilda’s father, Baldwin, is the ruler of that region and, more importantly, has a deal with the king that prevents any trouble on that land. Back in Wessex, Harold and his family get summoned by Edward and Emma. This offers them a glimmer of hope that the trouble between the king and the earldom is going to get sorted out, but Godwin is sent into exile instead for the chaos caused by him. It appears that Emma has a deep-rooted grudge against this family, because Godwin murdered her elder son, Aethel, to make sure Edward got the throne. Aethel was clearly better suited to be king compared to his puppet of a brother. Anyway, Earl Godwin chooses to take refuge in Flanders, meaning Harold and William are meeting again soon. On their way to the beach, the Mercian army attacks their entourage and kidnap Harold’s wife, Edith. A distraught Harold has to choose between leaving for France to save his two other children or attempting to rescue Edith—he ends up with the former.

The King and the Conqueror, turning the tide

Right after reaching Flanders, Harold plans a rescue mission for Edith. Thanks to his younger brother, Tostig, he gets a boat from Baldwin. Sweyn also decides to accompany Harold and lead the mission. Earl Godwin is skeptical, but realizing how important Edith is to Harold and their family, he agrees. Tostig, meanwhile, courts Baldwin’s niece, Judith, and with everyone’s approval, a wedding is fixed between the two. Harold, Sweyn, and the rescue team return to England, but thanks to Sweyn’s blunder, they get caught by the Mercians. However, Harold manages to talk their way out of the situation by convincing Earl Morcar (of Mercia) to leave Emma and join them instead. Morcar is already mad at Emma for not giving him control of the Earldom of Wessex, so it doesn’t take much for Harold to get him on board. With Mercia on their side, Harold manages to get Northumbria, the other earldom as well. King Edward has no choice but to bow down to the three earldoms together. Harold decides to keep him on the throne, but as his puppet. He also orders Edward to impregnate his sister. Edith is also rescued, and the Godwins can finally return to Wessex. Tostig and Judith’s wedding takes place, where Harold announces his younger brother as the next Earl of Northumbria. This angers Sweyn so much; he was already frustrated about losing the Earldom of Wessex to a brother, and now he’s losing another earldom to another brother of his own. That’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re the elder brother, with no real power, and your brothers are rulers of earldoms. As one would expect, Sweyn fails to contain himself and drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Seeing his brother has become the loose cannon, Harold has no choice but to send him on a pilgrimage. Much later, we see Sweyn plotting against his own brother and getting murdered by Harold’s trusted aide, Thomas.

All while Harold is busy fixing things at his end, William also does the same. His first order of business is drawing Henry out and effectively killing him. That ensures the safety of his newborn son, named after his dead father, Robert. With Henry gone, William is able to take back control of Normandy. Unbeknownst to him, his father-in-law, Baldwin, is actually hatching a plan to become King of France and also control Normandy. By the end though, Baldwin doesn’t prove to be as smart as he thinks he is.

The Conflict

Even though you know how things are going to go down by the end, courtesy of history, up until the halfway mark, it doesn’t at all seem like these two would end up fighting each other. Thanks to both being in Flanders at the same time, they meet again, and the more you see them, the more you realize they’re very much alike as individuals. Harold never really dreamt of being the King of England, but when Edward names William as his successor (if anything happens to him), he doesn’t take it well. What makes it more serious is Earl Godwin making Harold promise that he would ascend to the throne on his deathbed.

On the other hand, William has no plans to go to England and run the country, but when he gets to know that Edward himself has named him his successor, he starts considering it. I believe William still probably would have let it go had Harold himself not gone to Normandy in order to convince him to not drop out of the race. Instead, he proposes that he should take the throne, while William, the Duke of Normandy, becomes his close second and runs the two countries together. But William refuses to get on board with that. His idea is slightly different; it’s him on the throne, running England with his close friend, the Earl of Wessex, Harold. This is the point you realize that, because these two men are so similar, neither of them is going to back down from what they’ve planned. It’s like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, if you think about it. Also, while both Harold and William seem to take their respective wives—Edith and Matilda—very seriously, in this matter they let their egos get the better of them. In any case, the only solution would need one of these men to swallow their pride and give in to the other, which is practically impossible. Hence, the moment William publicly announces himself as the future king of England and Harold as his right hand, he basically sanctions a war.

The Final Showdown 

William and Harold both go through many ordeals before their much-anticipated battle for the throne of England. When Edward dies, Harold hurriedly spreads the news that the king chose him as the true successor right before his death. That, of course, is a lie—Harold only does this to dampen William’s claim. That can’t stop William from raising an army and travelling to England. Not that he has it easy, as he has to deal with many political intricacies in his own land. Getting a fleet from the Baron of Brittany proves to be the most difficult of all of them, and William only manages to acquire it because his trusted aide, Ferix, takes care of the Baron by sacrificing himself. William also hands over control of Normandy to Matilda, who has to fight a battle of wits with her own father, Baldwin.

Meanwhile, Harold suffers tragedy after tragedy. A pregnant Judith dies, unable to survive the cold of Northumbria, and it pretty much kills the spirit of Tostig. The youngest Godwinson suffers a tragic death in the battle between Harold and Norwegian King Hardrada while trying to save his brother. If that’s not enough, Harold has to marry Morcar’s sister, Margaret, in order to get the help of the Mercian army. The irony is that the army doesn’t do him any good in the all-important battle of Hastings, as Morcar chooses not to meddle even after reaching the location. Harold dies in the battle, but not at the hands of William. The Duke of Normandy goes on to become the first Norman king of England. He does let Edith and Harold’s family leave the country in peace, though. I have discussedthe ending of the show in detail here. 

Final Thoughts

First, the good. What I really liked is how the show unabashedly plays it to the gallery by making everything so dramatic from start to finish. That makes the show very entertaining and extremely bingeable, which is the primary demand of an audience from any content. What helps is that the direction is very focused, the editing is crisp, and the cinematography is glorious—especially the battle choreography, which is done so well. Then we have the performances, from Norton to Coster-Waldau to Clemence Poesy, who plays Matilda, to Emily Beecham, who plays Edith—every single one of these is scene-stealing. Beecham, in particular, deserves rounds of applause for how she has played Edith. 

Now, the bad. While I enjoyed watching King & Conqueror so much, I could also see a severe lack of originality at play. Sure, the creative choice here was playing safe, and it paid off, but that also prevents the show from becoming something truly memorable, like Shogun. The reason I’m mentioning last year’s smash hit epic set in Japan is how original and innovative that show managed to be, despite being from the historical genre. The bar is set too high now, and King & Conqueror, while being a genuinely enjoyable and very well-made show, is not quite there. 

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