mcjen

Thank you for this!

https://people.com/tv/below-deck-kate-chastain-departs-after-six-seasons/

Absolutely. I was about to write the very same thing, but I wanted to take the time to go back to the episode to check Kevin's actual words. My read on things has a lot to do with what was actually done (or said) and what the speaker's motivations seemed to be (to me). In the case of Kate relaying the wheelhouse talk where Ashton tried to shift the blame for the failed fishing excursion completely onto Rhylee, I felt like Kate told Rhylee because she thought she (Rhylee) needed to know, in order to protect herself against Ashton. There may possibly have been an element of "Hey, I stuck up for you (so, please, be my ally because I don't seem to have any friends on this boat!)" underlying it, but I do think Kate's main purpose was to warn Rhylee about things Ashton might be saying behind her back. And what she relayed to Rhylee was, in fact, the conversation that transpired in the wheelhouse. OTOH, Kevin overheard Courtney tell Kate exactly what Brian had texted: that he first asked what she was thinking about their relationship long-term, and that when she replied "What do you think?", Brian responded, "We're just having fun, right?" Kevin even reacted to those words with, "Awkward!" But that was fundamentally NOT how he presented the situation to Brian. He started with "What's going on with you and Court?", and when Brian purported not to know what he meant, Kevin headed straight into "She's going around like f---ing saying s--t now. Like you messaged her and said, 'Hey, blah-blah-blah...' I'm just letting you know. She f---ing came here and straightaway told Kate. And now they're just like, talking to each other." At the reunion, Kevin tried to play this off as though he only told Brian because he (Kevin) wanted the two love-birds to work out their problems. I call BS on that. I think Kevin concocted that explanation after he saw how poorly that chat reflected on him when it aired. And, I suspect that it was Kevin's attempt to put this spin on his words that riled Capt. Lee so much. In real time, when Kevin first started talking to Brian, he may initially have just meant to get Brian's side of things, but then he immediately devolved into bru talk, presenting Courtney and Kate as the "bad bitches" and himself as just one bud looking out for a fellow bud. If his purpose had actually been to make sure Courtney and Brian talked to each other and worked it out, he could have said, "Hey, I don't know if this is what you meant, but Courtney thinks you broke up with her by text and she seems pretty upset." But that wasn't what he presented to Brian at all. He was totally being shit-stirrer.

I totally expected Ashton or Andy to bring that up.

You pose an interesting possibility. I myself am not inclined to believe it is really Bjorn.

Ragnar: (over an ale in Valhalla) "Get a load of my boy, Ivah - he's wicked smaht!"

This recap/review on Forbes sums up perfectly how I felt about this mid-season finale: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2020/02/06/vikingsseason-6-midseason-finale-recap-and-review-a-confusing-melodramatic-battle-episode/#24613b536372

Yes, Ivar's affliction seems either be a problem for him or it's barely there at all, depending on whatever Hirst needs at the moment. Didn't Ivar recently tell Prince Igor (or someone) that he is constantly in pain? Yet he almost never seems to be acting "pain". Either people have to carry Ivar, or, wearing what must be the world's most miraculous leg braces, he can walk pretty well. I wish Hirst would pick a lane and stick with it.

Gee - I was worried for all of one second that we might not have another mid-season or season-ending cliffhanger Battle for Kattegat, the Most Desired Crappy Little Fishing Village on the Nordic Coast. Personally, I hope the villagers are so tired of battling invaders that they just hand Bjorn over and welcome the Rus with open arms. And, while I'm on such a snarky jag, could someone remind me of why Bjorn Ironside is supposed to be so famous, aside from being a Son of Ragnar? I recall he went exploring in the Mediterranean but nothing much seems to have come of that. Other characters keep saying things like, "Everyone knows of Bjorn Ironside, and all the battles he has won..." This is where my memory fails me. He's been involved in many battles, but have there been many he has won without the leadership and/or assistance of Ragnar, Lagertha, Rollo, or without an alliance with all or most of his brothers, or without Harald? Have there been many victories where he was the sole and only leader?

I'm no fan of Bjorn's and, basically, agree with your assessment of him as husband/father/person. However, I didn't think his reference to having "lost three things" was meant to include all losses he's ever suffered, but only reflected that these three recent losses have all come at the same time. So I can forgive him not mentioning Ragnar or Siggy. Less forgivable is the fact that he never seemed to care or notice that Siggy died back when it happened! As you indicated.

He was a whackjob...but he was OUR whackjob!

I think that was the place, too. Also haven't rewatched, but I think it may have coincided with the point where Lagertha's body started to burn in the ship. When it cross-cut to Ivar taking particular note of the falling snow, it crossed my mind that it perhaps resembled falling ashes. Maybe? Edited to add: one of the recaps I read made mention of not liking this moment, finding the notion that everyone in the Lothbrok clan "feels" it when someone dies, miles away from them, to a bit much.

I agree. Kate walking off the boat made so much more sense as it was related on the podcast: she felt unsafe, she was astonished that production wasn't stepping in at all (even after Ashton's outburst in the van), and she was not wandering off into the night (she indicated there is a hotel at the end of the dock. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it wasn't the one the production crew stays at.) I also laughed at how Olivia called out that Kate had totally taken the time for "great blow-out" before returning to the yacht. And Kate laughed right along.

Anyone have any ideas on the different "looks" we had of Lagertha as she descended through the water, until she came to rest with Sand Ragnar on the bottom? I only registered two...possibly three...different looks as I watched. Initially she was in flowy white robes, which I took to be what she was dressed in for burial (I have not rewatched to determine if that was actually how she was dressed on the ship, though. It could also be a poetical depiction of funeral robes.) The next "outfit" I noticed definitely had Lagertha dressed in ring mail and (I think) leather, with a some sort of headdress. Finally, I think I registered that she was no longer in her battle gear when she settled next to Ragnar, but I didn't have time to clock what she was wearing. Reading the Forbes recap - https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2020/01/16/vikings-season-6-episode-7-recap-and-review-the-ice-maiden/#795044683adc - they suggest Lagertha "becomes younger" as she descends, and they've captured 4 images. I don't really see Lagertha getting younger, unless production intended the clothing alone to convey that; in the first shot of her in the flowing white robes, her face looks great, quite youthful. Their second shot is the battle attire I caught. Their third shot she appears to be wearing something different, but it's hard to see what exactly, just that it looks like an upscale dress. The final shot, alongside Ragnar, definitely looks different to me, more rustic. So I'm wondering if it's less about Lagertha becoming progressively younger than it is about celebrating different aspects of her life? The flowy robes might be a death shroud (although they also look like a wedding dress to me!), the ring mail reflects her position as head of the Shield Maidens, the elegant dress as Queen of Kattegut (in her own right or as the wife of Ragnar. Could also be her as the wife of Earl Ragnar.) The final rustic clothes could represent her life as a farmer's wife. Still wondering if it's meant to be chronological (or chronologically reverse) or if it's just flashes of differents aspects. Would love to find some place where Hirst comments on this!

I'll have to rewatch later because I kept nodding off during the episode (not Vikings' fault; was just up late!) I couldn't make out what the object was that Ubbe laid on Lagertha's body. Was it identified in some other part of the episode that I slept through? Just finished reading the AV Club's recap of the episode, which ends with this note: One of the items placed on Lagertha’s body appears to be the sunstone Ragnar used to first voyage across the sea to England. If that's what it was, that's kind of a cool recall.