nowornever

This episode felt rushed and, as some one else said, kind of all over the place. There were too many storylines- Bjorn and Astrid, Harald and Ellisif, the pre-raid sacrifice, the Ubbe/ Hvitsirk/ Margrethe threesome, who gets to be in charge, Aethelwulf and Ecbert, Aelle getting his comeuppance, and Floki/ Helga/ the kidnapped child. Too many balls in the air right now, and I hate it when shows start to develop a story, then just drop it (like Porunn and little Siggy, Aethelwulf and Judith's missing child, etc)

This was a beautiful way of informing the audience that I didn't realize I missed so much until you said it.

This one left me questioning everyone's motivations. Is Lagertha really interested in protecting Kattegat over going on a grudge raid? Why did she go back to Hedeby? Has Ivar really resigned himself to waiting for revenge on her? Ubbe was all over the map with his plans- let's wait to kill her, no, let's do it now. We have friends who are willing to help stage an assassination, but no, never mind, someone needs to watch Kattegat. I, too, have been wondering what happened to Judith and Aethelwolf's child. What was his name? He, Alfred and Magnus are probably close in age, so should have been interacting for for all those years. He would have the bloodline, yet Ecbert seems to be preparing Alfred to be king. What is he playing at, being so nonchalant about Ragnar's sons coming for them? Judith was fascinating this episode. I was surprised that she went to see her family and warn them, but maybe she's trying to secure a safe place for herself when the inevitable attack happens. I'm also hoping that Bjorn's attraction to Astrid/ desertion of Torvi ends up being part of a long con, but I can't see how. That was weird. Lagertha and Ubbe seemed a little weird too, but maybe she was just trying to flatter him. Huh.

My apologies, Captanne. I wasn't referring to Rollo enjoying the rape, just his delight in shedding the Frankish stuffiness and going back out to raid. In that same vein, I struggle with wanting to hold characters (fictional and historical) to the standards of behavior that we use today. I am drawn to many of the characters for different reasons, even though as vikings, I know they're going to raid, rape and kill. I'm waiting to see what happens when Bjorn and Hvitsirk return to Kattegat and discover Lagertha's return to the throne via Aslaug's death. I feel like Sigurd, Ubbe, and Ivar are biding their time and will soon be actively plotting revenge. Upon return, Hvitsirk might have to make a choice if he and Bjorn are still enjoying the big brother/little brother relationship they're having now.

Despite the killing of the viking crew with Ragnar, the adult Ivar doesn't seem as much of a sociopath as the child who split another child's head with an axe and said "who cares" about little Siggy's death. I'm a little bit afraid that I'll start liking him and then Michael Hirst will suddenly make him soullessly violent again. I'm also enjoying watching Bjorn try to live up to Ragnar's legacy. He's developing into a fine leader, but better be watching his back. I really hope they don't drag him into a relationship with the slave woman. As others have said, we've seen that story already. As they advanced on the town, it was obvious that he had mastered Ragnar's swaggering walk too. :-) The brothers seem to have been divided into three factions- Sigurd and Ubbe are sticking together, Ivar is an island unto himself, and Bjorn seems to have the same sort of mentoring relationship with Hvitsirk that Rollo had with him when he was younger. It could create some interesting dynamics when they're all back in Kattegat. And Rollo- how many times will they forgive him for betraying them, then bring him back into the fold? He leads a charmed life. But his unbridled joy at being a viking again was priceless.

Watched again with the family- I just noticed that Torvi saw Erlandur in the shadows when she and Bjorn were having sex, and she put herself between them to keep Erlandur from shooting him. Nice move. Eckbert's shamlessness is epic. It's fun to watch this this character continually outdo himself, and it will be fun to see his undoing (Oh please let us see that happen!). On the flip side of that, Aethelwulf's stoic resignation seemed to lift a little bit when he took Alfred to Rome. He actually seemed proud and almost relaxed. And as for stoicism, Lagertha crying on Ragnar for a moment then sitting up after her miscarriage was hard to watch, but as others have said, it was moving to see that Ragnar and Bjorn stayed with her. It would be fantastic is we could go for more than 6 minutes without a commercial break. I'm sure it's an expensive show to make, but it's driving me nuts.

Erlandur proved that he was too stupid to live. You don't piss off your viking ex-wife, threaten her child, and then hand her a weapon. Duh- pretty much EVERYONE knew what was going to happen, but no one really seemed to care that he was shot, either. Torvi has seemed pretty bland up until this point (not the wild, lawless woman that Bjorn described post-coitus) but she had some serious confidence pointing that arrow into the crowd and firing it at Erlandur. The King Charles/Rolande liason caught me off guard. And Rollo's not getting any, but my guess is that Gisla will give up and sleep with him before her sacred condition is over. Sigurd will have a lot to tell Daddy when they return. And Bjorn, who might have been ready to be a family man now, will no longer have a daughter. That poor child wasn't loved at all in her life. I didn't even recognize her in the water, and for a moment was trying to figure out how Yidu floated all the way back to Kattegat. Anxiously awaiting the big battle...

Will someone refresh my memory? Was Torvi also Jarl Borg's wife before? Was he the father of her son?

I was a little surprised that our brave Earl Ingstad left home to go raiding so soon. In light of Kalf's death, it's unlikely that someone else will usurp her earldom right away, but who did she leave in charge? It looks like most of her shield maidens were with her. Aslaug and the Pied Piper of Kattegat are going to bring ruin upon themselves when the raiding party comes home to find everyone pregnant.

I'm still waiting for Bjorn and Rollo to have another face-off. They've been building up to it for a long time- the "Don't die stupidly" scene (season 2 or 3 maybe?) and them duking it out after Siggy died. It's coming...I can feel it. I like the dynamic that the Rollo storyline brings. Yes, he's betrayed his brother a number of times, but it's been when Ragnar has either been trying to build his own kingdom or looting another. Although Rollo's behaving badly toward his family, those aren't exactly noble quests. And now he's protecting his new family, so I'm not feeling that bad about it. Erlandur, you're toast. I don't know if it will be Bjorn, Lagertha or Torvi, but you are going down. little man.

Between the blood eagle, the stabbing and head-butting, the crucifixion/water torture in the cave, cutting off a man's penis at the moment of death, and now the disemboweling of the Berzerker, our vikings love the overkill. Holy shit, that was brutal. What the vikings lost in Rollo, they've gained back in Bjorn. Ubbe seems to be a great warrior in the making too. I can't wait to see his part in the overthrow of King Fineahair. Someone upthread mentioned that the characters need to age more to show the passage of time. I think they've aged Ragnar well and have done a good job showing the children growing up, but I agree that it's time for some changes in the others. I love all the patient long games here, but will they be able to give all these new characters something to do?

Way too much crammed into one episode, and a lot of it seemed forced. I thought we'd see more blood when Aethelwulf slept with Kwenthrith because you know he would have had to whip himself both before AND after. What was that? When did Humperdink get the hots for the Crazy Queen? When Ecbert sent him to Mercia last season, she threatened his life and almost scared him to death when she propositioned him. Then he thinks he reconciled with Judith. Last episode, he nearly got his ass handed to him trying to save Kwenthrith and Magnus, and now he's ditching his morals and jumping into bed with her? I think they just pushed this character too far. Rollo is many things, but clearly not a scholar. He doesn't seem to have the patience for it. Ragnar saying that Helga had suffered enough had me torn between thinking that her suffering was more of the punishment than the mock crucifixion, or that he finally freed Floki because he couldn't stand the toll it was taking on Helga, as he did seem to be fond of her. I'm not a historian- did vikings have snap traps like that? If so, you'd think they'd have stumbled upon a crossbow before getting to Paris. Laegertha, seriously. Kalf wants you to bear his child while he plots to kill your other one? Quit sleeping with him and kick his ass. He's cute, but not worth it. Is Ragnar mad at Aslaug for her fish shack indiscretion with the Wanderer or because the children nearly died while she did it? I'm thinking the latter, and he's just letting her twist in the wind until she gets cocky enough to try to make a play for the throne. BUT, if you're going to go out and raid and leave someone to rule while you're gone, you can't really be shocked when they don't want to give up the power when you return. Right Laegertha? Judith, this is not going to end well. Poor bear.

That body looked way too big to be the toddler that they showed earlier- could Helga be planning something?

I feel like someone said this before, but I can't help comparing Aethelwulf to The Princess Bride's Humperdink. No one respects him, although he did fight mightily to get to Queen Kwenthrith. He's just "the King's stinking son" whose wife is being set up for execution by his puppetmaster of a father. Fascinating... Our favorite crazy queen can fight like a wolverine, though! Originally, she told Aetherwulf/Humperdink that the baby was Ragnar's, and I suspected that she had acquired him through shady means. I also thought she might try to pass him off as Ecbert's too, just for the sake of convenience, but after watching her fight to protect him, if occurred to me that maybe she really does love him. Unless she's just that desperate (and crazy) to continue the ruse, which is still entirely possible. And I didn't think it was possible to make Rollo "un-hot", but sending him to Count Odo's hairdresser and putting him in frou-frou clothing is a good way to start. Gisla laughing at him was odd. She saw him defeat her father's armies single-handedly- she knows he's dangerous, so why would she poke the bear like that? He didn't rape her on their wedding night, but that hardly makes him civilized. The accomplice of Odo's dungeon partner has been shown a few times. He seems to be Odo's right hand man. This could be fun, although I hope it isn't drawn out too long. This week, I was least interested in what was going on in Kattegat. I don't think Ragnar's going to kill Floki, Aslaug's run for power will come back to bite her, and Bjorn caught a fish. Big whoop.

I thought it was supposed to be puffy from her crying about marrying Rollo, but I'll have to go back and look. I was curious- after he went to sleep, did she just put down the knife and go to sleep next to him? And Rollo...just when I thought he was going to be a decent human being, he went and killed off his own people. Silly me for believing.

The previews for next season show Bjorn going toe-to-toe with a bear. Could he be looking for Porunn, who appeared to have deserted Kattegat and baby Siggy?

I'm not convinced that Ragnar will be angry that Aslaug ordered the execution of the Christian missionary. He stabbed the priest, didn't he? Despite what he said to the ghost of Athlestan, the baptism seems more like part of his plan to invade than anything genuine.

Nitpick- Where do the vikings keep getting horses when they go on raids? They clearly weren't farm horses swiped form the locals- how are they getting them over there? Did they have other boats that brought the big items? The wig on the Christian in Kattegat was really bad, but as a hairstyle, it still seems more plausible than the perfect coifs of Aslaug, Siggy, etc. And speaking of hair, am I the only one who misses Ragnar's braid?

Did I miss something or did Porunn actually send the Widow Borg to have sex with Bjorn? Bjorn was sweet with baby Siggy. I was afraid of the "It's not a boy?" moment, although the Vikings do seem to appreciate women.

The Wanderer is the Viking Rasputin.

Porunn reminds me of Mary Stuart Masterson from "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" back in the late 80's, early 90's.