Barbaren

Barbarians is an ambitious attempt to tell stories from the most fascinating time of European history. That are never told.

Technically it is one of the best historical dramas out there. Dress, houses, weapons, armor, hairstyles and so on, this show made the best effort ever made to get it right or to make a good interpetation of what little data exist.

Doubleplussuperextra good for the language. The Germans speak German, the Romans speak Latin. Fantastic! Very immersive and very interesting.

What the show fails with is to recreate German society and value systems of the day. Something that would have been extremely difficult and risky to do, it could have turned into a grisly flop insulting everyone. Instead the show makes a compromise between contemporary sensibilities and some guesswork of past societies. I think this is acceptable. And sure, the girl power aspect of the show is a nod to woke culture. However, the Germans of old did tell stories of heroic ladies. And at least we are spared the shieldmaiden platoons of the tv show Vikings. Here we just have the playing up of one extraordinary woman that is mentioned in history.

Casting is also very good. Nothing ruins a show more than bad casting and here they got it right. Tushnelda is especially well casted.

One thing that was a bit disturbing to me is the ages of people in the show, too many old people, too few young people too few children. A tip to any future show is to be inspired by a harsh war torn place in the third world rather than contemporary European or American society whith this aspect. The Germans of 0 AD was a people teeming with youth and life. Not an old dying one.

Overall, very good effort, very enjoyable result. Hoping for more!

There was something captivating about the lead character, Arminius. I didn't know this was based on a real battle, and I wish there was more details now that I do. Don't bother with dubbing, watch the original. They way they switch between Latin and German was very impressive!

The first season was great, with an ending where I wanted to see more of it. Then came the second season and I can see more. I wish I could not. For a good action you only need nice visuals, good moves, weapons, muscles, pretty faces and some semi irritating jokes. On the other hand for a good drama you need tension, and for that you need real actors and proper writers. And in order to have a successful show you need to decide which one do you go for. They went for both without proper actors and writers. So it falls completely flat in the second season. Bloody boring, so much wasted potential, I do not think I am interested in a third season.

I actually liked Barbarians more than I thought I would. I'm a huge fan of this kind of genre so I was going to watch no matter what. While it's not the best it's definitely worth watching. There's an equal amount of drama and violence to keep the story entertaining and at a good pace. The cast all do a good job and give credible performances. The seasons are a little short at only six episodes apiece but I guess that's better than having filler episodes and being bored. I liked season one a little more but season two is still pretty good in its own right. Season two ended on a cliffhanger so I hope it gets renewed for a third season. If you're a fan of this genre then give this try, I think you'll like it.

Can t say that there weren't parts where I was absolutley fascinated by the level of detail given (specifically the fact that the germanic tribes speak german and romans latin!!) + the very historically detailed roman armours add a very nice touch to this niche historical setting.

Sadly around 40% of the story is driven around a "strong ,independent" woman that does whatever she likes with no real consequences and is regarded even by Arminius as the "true leader" several times. Alongside the Romeo and Juliet romance going on between the "woman" and some random dude,it kinda broke the hole immersion for me ,because you can clearly see that actual historians and history fans took part in creating the show; paralleled by a story that brings nothing original or new or interesting or even historically plausible to the show.

The relationship between Arminius and Varus is pretty well written and very well played by both actors, and it s nice to see glimpses of both cultures in what is clearly a limited (and most likely 1 season) budget tv show.

To wrap it up , it s a "could have been master-piece" that will surley fall into obscurity due to it s pandering to the average "Fritz"(since it s german duh) and lack of originality and authenticity.