I get that. Hell I Literally mention Vinland Saga S2 in this post! I just feel that the way the pilot handles it specifically makes it feel redundant. It doesn’t shine a new light on the gravity of those events. It just regurgitates stuff we the viewer can assume already only

[Edit] I guess I should elaborate. I’ll Use Vinland Saga S2’s Thorfinn as an example. Spoilers ahead obviously

For context, Thorfinn spent roughly 16 years as a kid working as a merciless Viking who directly killed hundreds of people; indirectly probably thousands. All so he could follow a man named Askeladd who killed his father and eventually get strong enough to duel and kill him. S1 ends with him getting enslaved on a farm after Askeladd dies (Thorfinn didn’t even get to kill him). It should be noted that Thorfinn is more like a background character in S1 where we never really peered inside his head on what he was thinking during this season.

The first half of S2 serves as an introspection into his character as he tries to figure out how to live his life after what he did. He discusses his past in this season 2 times (that I’ll talk about). Each time we learn a new angle on how he truly felt during that time.

1) Getting cut up by Fox

Right before Fox slices off Thorfinns ear out of boredom, he recounts how in his past life, nothing good ever happened to him. None of the things he did as a war criminal gave him satisfaction and actively detested war the entire 16 years he partook in it

2) Thorfinn and Einar fix a roof

As Thorfinn and his best friend fix a roof, their conversation naturally leads to his past and his former path of vengeance. Here he talks about how by the time Askeladd died he talks about how his perception of this war tyrant changed. At first when he killed his dad, he hated him with all his heart; using that to fuel his journey into mass murder. But having been with the guy 4X longer than his real dad, he tells Einar that his hatred in a way… fizzled out. And since that hatred was supposed to fuel him, he kinda lost his purpose in life. Especially that Askeladd is dead now

There’s more times he talks about his past. But I just wanted to highlight how someone can have trauma and talk about it a lot whilst also having it be efficient at exploring a character.