Einar and Thorfinn met each other for the first time in Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 in what will likely be a long and fruitful friendship. Let’s see how it went in this review!
Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 Overview
Vinland Saga Season 2 is an action, adventure, and drama that serves as the sequel to its highly acclaimed and fan favourite Vinland Saga Season 1, which aired in 2019. The series is based on an award-winning manga written by Makoto Yukimura. Read the review of the previous episode of the series here!
The show’s second season is being animated by Studio MAPPA, a different studio that the one which did its previous season in Studio WIT. However, most of the personnel behind the series have been retained. Director Shuuhei Yabuta, of Inuyashiki and Attack On Titan fame, is returning to direct the series.
– Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 Review does not contain spoilers –
Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 Review- Change
The sky is bright and sunny, the weather is lovely, and you are working to build a field that might fill your stomach for years on end. Your boss seems like a decent human being, and you have more than most of your kind. The scenario is almost dreamy for a certain kind of person, but there’s a catch- this is the only work you’ll ever be allowed to do. You can’t go anywhere else, and you will be brutally beaten if you try to run away. You are stuck here until you earn your way out. You are a slave. You have no rights.
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This is the reality Thorfinn and Einar have found themselves in and have to overcome. It isn’t immediate torture and death as Thorfinn would have gotten had he remained in the war or if the bandits had executed Einar. Instead, it is the slow realisation of how bad your position in society is, as well as the amount of work you need to do to get yourself out of it. You can see your exit with your bare eyes, but it still seems so far away that you aren’t getting there anytime soon. Again, you are a slave.
This is extremely deliberate storytelling and the kind of story one tells with an endgame in mind. There is a whole new world built just for Einar and Thorfinn’s eventual foray into the real world. The side characters are lively and full of personality and should enhance the watching experience of the show the more we get into this story. Several elements that are going to be crucial in the later stages of the season have already been revealed, and it will be interesting to see how everyone fits into this story.
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However, that isn’t the part of Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 that I was most interested in going in. I wanted to see Thorfinn and what had happened to him over these years, and after the tough situation we saw him for the last time in. The current condition of Thorfinn is heartbreaking; He is skin and bones, looks like he hasn’t had a proper bite to eat or place to sleep in months, and most of all, has lost all hope in life. His eyes, which once used to be filled with anger, vengeance, and innocence before that, are now empty husks that haven’t known hope in years.
This is a fantastic development for a character like him, who almost had zero changes happen to him in the entire first season. This new Thorfinn is broken, yes, but this is also a Thorfinn that can be fixed, whereas the same couldn’t have been said for him way back when. The worldbuilding and character development in this episode were immense, and even though this might not have been the direction you expected for the show to go in, you have to appreciate the amount of thought and care that has gone into making this world.
Verdict
Vinland Saga Season 2 Episode 2 was another step in the right direction and featured some immense worldbuilding and character development. Settle down, folks. We are in for the long haul.
Click here to read the review of the next episode!