If you didn’t watch the season premiere of BBC’s new historical drama The Last Kingdom, yes, you missed out. Luckily, with episode 2 set to premiere Saturday, there’s plenty of time to catch up on this epic tale about torn loyalties in a tumultuous time in England’s history.

Like Game of Thrones, this story is based on a set of books — in this case Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Tales — and features all the blood, death, brutal rulers and fur pelts one would expect from this type of gritty show. But that’s about where The Last Kingdom diverts from filling in the Viking Era TV Show Bingo Card and blazes its own trail.