magdalene

I would laugh - these Hollywood people take themselves so seriously (just look at Denzel Washington's face after he lost) - but some poor schmuck is going to lose their job over this embarrassing debacle.

http://deadline.com/2017/02/good-behavior-promoted-joey-kern-regular-the-chi-ntare-mwine-1201913740/ He so deserves this promotion.

What about the countless French children who starved to death because of the cruelty and indifference of the aristocracy? "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" and "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen" - the benefits to the many outweigh the blood shed it took to achieve these basic rights IMO . Shrugs. I like watching shows like "Victoria" and "Downton Abbey for shallow reasons - and they are very pretty to look at - but I am very glad that because of events like the French Revolution European royality like Victoria was a figure head, not an absolute monarch. When push comes to shove I will always root for the maid having to scrub floors and empty chamber pots over a pampered queen. Speaking of maids - it took me until this episode but I am liking Nancy now. And I stopped disliking her admirer. Prior to this episode I was thinking of him less as an admirer than as a black mailer and a Victorian poster boy for sexual harassment.

I am enjoying this show as light entertainment but no, it is not The Crown. It doesn't have the production values or the quality of writing. I found it very ironic to have the subject of slavery touched on in this episode and some of the nobility getting on their moral high horse about it. What a bunch of hypocrites. For a very long time - and certainly still during the Victorian Era - the British upper classes treated their own poor and lower class not much better than slaves. They hanged or transported unfortunate and often starving people for poaching rabbits or stealing a loaf of bread. And don't get me started on how the British behaved in their colonies. It really is unfair that some of this aristocratic British scum avoided the fate the French people dealt their aristocracy.

I am rewatching this series for the first time since its original airing and it amazes me how many little details I had forgotten over the years. Still I remember the big moments very vividly and that has made some episodes rather bitter-sweet on re-watch. Things that are still true for me are how much Locke annoys me - he is so gullible and causes so much destruction and death. Easy to coerce indeed. James Ford and Juliet still are my favorite couple, the chemistry, the total unexpectedness of that pairing. The utter heart break of her death and my ugly crying when they get re-united in the after-life. Speaking of the after-life, I remember there being a big stink in some fandom quarters over the spiritual ending. While it worked for me I know some people who think the ending ruined the show.

Hi, spinxella, I can't find those instagram videos - could you post a link, please? I am sad if Aethelwulf dies so soon.

I really don't want Jack Rackham to die.

He really does, doesn't he? I am ready and primed to root for him and Aethelwulf and co. It's clear Hirst thinks Ivar is the best thing ever and the sun shines out of his derriere. But despite Hogh having charisma I can't root for Ivar, he is just too psycho for my taste. I wish there will be more to do for the saner brothers that are left next season. I still like Ubbe.

The preview I saw said season 5 "coming soon" - so hopefully this year?

Sorry, he isn't Magnus - he is a bishop named Heahmund.

I had to laugh at the wily and crazy as a fox Ecbert screwing over the Vikings even to his end - the agreement he made with them is worth nothing since he was no longer king when he made it. Not so funny was the Vikings destroying all those precious scrolls. Hey, I saw an ad tonight on the History Channel, coming this Fall a series about the Knights Templar - synergy with coming story on Vikings.

http://ew.com/tv/2017/02/01/vikings-finale-death/ Hirst about the fourth season finale. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/vikings-season-4-finale-deaths-970810?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral More Hirst thoughts about the finale and the future of the show. The show to go beyond season 5 into season 6.

And according to history this guy and men like him really existed. They were the precursors of the Knights Templar. He is a full service bishop.

I am not shocked that Ivar did that to Sigurd - this is the same guy who killed an innocent little boy as a boy himself. Poor Sigurd though, he was a bit of a non-entity with bad hair, but still he didn't deserve this. Poor Helga, sadly I expected this outcome. Bye Floki. Ecbert left us the same way he came in - in the bath. Hello, Johnny, bent as usual I see. Personally I am rooting for Aethelwulf, Alfred, Aethelred and the Saxons from now on.

You are right - I read the book as a child and I remembered him as dead for the main narrative. I still think he is going to die in the last episode. Obviously I could be wrong. But I get this feeling from some of the things Toby Stephens has said.

No, at the end of Black Sails. By the events of Treasure Island I always thought Flint has been dead for a while. He is a legend in it. Flints story is very much a tragedy, yes? A revenge tragedy. It seems fitting that he would die in the last episode. And I expect Woodes Rogers to live, though not happily ever after. I expect Max to live and to thrive? Eleanor's fate is a big question mark to me. Rackham, well I know what happened to him historically and I sure don't want to see it on the show at the end. Anne is a question mark for me just like in history. I am sad that Billy seems fated by literature to turn into a bitter old grouch. Silver started out as an opportunist and in Treasure Island is still or again a wily opportunist.

I am assuming Madi is the "African wife" of Long John Silver in Treasure Island, the one he trusts to run his affairs and to liquidate his assets. The one he retires "comfortably" with, thanks to the loot he got away with. I am expecting for Flint to die in the last episode of the show. The real Woodes Rogers certainly led a very interesting life - he saved the guy Robinson Crusoe is based on, first term as Nassau Governor, then debtors prison, sprung from debtors prison, second term as Governor of Nassau.

A lot of shows decline in quality after multiple seasons but not this show! This was a terrific season opener and the whole episode was so well constructed. I was surprised that John and Madi were already lovers. I was really surprised that Woodes Rogers married Eleanor. I read Treasure Island many years ago and Long John Silver was the most interesting and charismatic character in it. You couldn't help but like him despite his villainy.

Yes. I know there are plenty of Vikings viewers who think it's "cool" and "awesome" to see the blood eagling, the human sacrificing, and now the roasting on a spit. I don't think it's cool to see human beings treated that way. I don't like it any better from Lagertha, Ragnar's sons than I did from the likes of Aelle torturing Ragnar. It bothers me actually more when someone like Lagertha does it because - while it may not seem like it from my posts in these current episode threads - I used to love Lagertha very much in the first two seasons and I still root for her over someone like the icky brothers. The roasting over a spit was really done, usually by cruel despots in the Orient to their enemies. And now I associate Lagertha with this sadistic practice. On a history channel programming aside - I notice the History Channel never cuts the sadistic scenes of torture and violence, they only cut "boring" moments that may be important for character perspective and of course they cut the nudity and sex scenes. I find that so telling.

They edit every episode heavily for the American broadcast - for example they edited out Bjorns good bye to his children with Torvi which made him look like a callous jerk. I think the only way you can (legally) see the unedited version is to buy the blue ray dvds or live in Europe.

I am no Alfred the Great expert but wasn't one of his big achievements that he halted the Viking invasion - hence no conquest of Wessex - and united England?

Well, Aethelwulf and army lose and lose big but going by pictures from next season - which you can see in the pictures spoiler thread - plus the Johnny Rhys Meyers character news, Aethelwulf must somehow escape and become king because Johnny Rhys Meyers warrior bishop Heahmund will be Aethelwulfs right hand in the fifth season. Also, Alfred hasn't been recast with an adult actor - he has been recast with a 17 year old teen who looks quite a bit like the Athelstan actor. So there will be a time jump but not a very big one. They have also recast the older son Aethelred to a slightly older version. Historically the succession went something like this: Ecbert to Aethelwulf, and then Aethelred if memory serves, and then finally Alfred who became king when he was like 22 and was a much beloved and respected king to old age. Oh, and Judith is in next season too in some capacity. Heahmund is introduced at the end of the season finale, holding a mass and afterwards having sex with some woman. He may have the final scene? I am not sure because the stuff I saw was the leaked Russian version. Some of this may also be edited for American TV because they always cut the explicit sex and nudity out of the European version of Vikings for American broadcast.

Anybody else intrigued by who JRM is playing? A precursor to the Knights Templar and according to twitter in the fifth season the right hand man to Aethelwulf. It will be good to have somebody on the Saxon side who can maybe out-class and and out-loose cannon Ivar.

I am sad about Helga. I have always liked her and her common sense. Where is that common sense now? Transplanted into Floki...

I can't get over what a terrible father Ecbert is to Aethelwulf - as his last words to his son he has nothing but religious platitudes for him. She is the one character that is always going to be safe. Nothing can really touch her or harm her. That's why all her adversaries are glorified strawmen. She gets to look cool while torturing or sacrificing unimportant characters. And even when an important character like Ivar opposes her one knows they are both protected by the plot and the production. There are no consequences. That's why I am rooting for the underdog characters and usually get my heart broken when they get killed off. Like Kwentrith. And Athelstan. And next episode it may be Aethelwulf's turn.