S06.E04: All the Prisoners

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2019.12.18

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Lagertha leads her village's response to the recent attacks, but despite her efforts the consequences are tragic. Olaf has a bold new plan for the future of Norway as Ivar discusses Oleg's ambitions for Scandinavia.

[patty1h]

This show does not play... 3 kids killed in one episode.

Oh, Hvitserk. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by patty1h

[LittleIggy]

Hali didn’t get killed because he was brave. He got killed because he showed off like a little kid does. Poor Torvi. ☹️ How did that branded guy get such a big posse? Never brand and banish someone unless you maim him first.

Ivar has realized he needs a Plan B.

Poor Hvitserk. Is he schizophrenic (besides substance abusing)? Who is the pretty girl who obviously likes him.

I really like Gunnhild. She is very regal. So is Torvi. Bjorn is an idiot for cheating on both of them. 🙄

[thuganomics85]

Aww, Bjorn being a good friend and letting Harald drink his drink instead, because he knows he needs it more than he does.  What Bjorn might lack in his ability to be a good husband or boyfriend to any woman he is with, he at least makes up for it by being a good BFF to Harald!

But if I'm understanding Olaf correctly, he wants all of Norway to have one king, but instead of nominating himself, he thinks it should be Bjorn?  I have no idea if he is being sincere or he has something else cooking up here.

The raiders attack and while Lagertha and crew managed to fend them off, their still ends up being a body-count, which includes three kids: one of them Bjorn/Torvi's son.  Man, this is going to be brutal once they find out.  Too bad it happened because he was trying to show off and "be brave", but understandable that Lagertha made him feel like his death meant something and use it to drive everyone to prepare for the next attack.

Oh, Hvitserk!  It's too bad he is currently living in a civilization that hasn't really delved into PTSD or developed Alcoholics Anonymous yet, so he's being treated like a nuisance for falling apart.  Shows that while the likes of Ubbe are still way more enlightened than most of their peers, they are still a product of their time.

Looks like Ivar is reaching out to various folks to possibly take out Oleg.  Definitely treading into dangerous territory, but I've learned not to underestimate Ivar the Boneless! 

[Lady Iris]

Man oh man! What an ep! Over way too quickly for me. So much going on. The show really brought it tonight. I'm still processing it all.

Is Gunhild going to be a Seer?

Is Lead Bandit Branded Guy going to get Spread Eagled?

Loved Bjorn handing Harald his drink.

Poor Hali. I knew one of the kids was gonna bite it. Just glad it wasn't both. Kathryn Winnick had me wanting her at my death bedside telling me what awaited me on the other side in Vallhalla and I'm Catholic.

Hvitserk!!?? Such a mess! Can he recover? I hope so. He was my favorite son of Ragnar next to Ubbe. That hallucination where he saw Ivar crawling towards him creeped me out.

Look at Ivar ngaf and moving the chess pieces around. Good luck with all that!

 

 

[magdalene]

Oh, Bjorn. First off, he should have had those outcasts executed instead of casting them out.  He just created a bigger problem and look what it cost him now.  I know he doesn't want to be like Ivar but there is a difference between being the likes of Ivar and being ruthless when needed.

When I see Gunnhild and Torvi interacting I think here are two awesome women who have loved Bjorn and he has betrayed both of them.

[Ohwell]

I forget, but wasn't it Gunnhild or Torvi who persuaded Bjorn not to execute the outcasts? 

[Steph J]

11 hours ago, Lady Iris said:

Is Lead Bandit Branded Guy going to get Spread Eagled?

Blood Eagle.  Spread eagle is... something else.

[tennisgurl]

Well its been awhile since this show showed us dead kids, so here we are. Lagertha manages to chase away the bandits, but lost several people, including her own grandson. I know that Vikings have this sort of "bravery, honor, I want to die in glorious combat, all is fated" culture, but when little kids grab weapons and try to fight bad guys to be a warrior, you can see how that can end badly. Its going to be so heartbreaking when everyone finds out what happens, especially when they realize it was the guy that Bjorn let live. 

Poor Hvitserk, its so unfortunate that he lives in a time and society that doesent really understand PTSD or alcoholism, so everyone just thinks he is being an annoying screw up. Even Ubbe, who is probably as sensitive and enlightened as a Vikings is can be, isnt having any of it, and sees this as his brother throwing away the second chance he gave him. 

Nice seeing some Torvi and Gunnhild hanging out, even if its all going to end in sadness. I like  Gunnhild a lot, she looked so regal in that outfit at the end! Badass and also very beautiful! 

Awww Bjorn giving Harald a drink was really sweet, as was their back pat/wrist clasp bro reunion. Norse bros! So now they're going to have an election to try and decide who will rule everyone, so that should certainly be interesting! Cut to Bjorn going door to door campaigning and giving speeches and saying how certain opponents haven't killed anyone on the battlefield in years and is that the kind of Viking you want leading you...

Looks like Ivar is already making allies and getting ready to make a move against Oleg already. This seems like it could be dangerous, but never underestimate Ivar!

[iMonrey]

Why doesn't Lagertha and the rest of the villagers move back to Kattegat? I thought the reason she wanted to move away and run a little farm somewhere was because she was tired of fighting and wanted to be off on her own. Well, here she is fighting again to defend her little village, and she's much less safe than she would be at Kattegat. 

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one of them Bjorn/Torvi's son.  Man, this is going to be brutal once they find out. 

They? Torvi will be devastated but I doubt Bjorn will care much, he barely acknowledges the existence of his children.

[LilWharveyGal]

12 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Poor Hvitserk, its so unfortunate that he lives in a time and society that doesent really understand PTSD or alcoholism, so everyone just thinks he is being an annoying screw up. Even Ubbe, who is probably as sensitive and enlightened as a Vikings is can be, isnt having any of it, and sees this as his brother throwing away the second chance he gave him. 

Sorry to be a dunce but can someone explain Ubbe's decision to me?  Ubbe suggests sending Hvitserk on a mission and Hvitserk is excited and eager to do a good job.  We next see Hvitserk in a locked wooden structure, presumably to dry out, while his female friend/minder looks on.  He is vomiting and begging to be let out.  The next time we see him, he is back in his usual tent/hut and is taken to see a disappointed Ubbe who says he just blew his chance.

So did he break out and drink again?  Or were his withdrawals just so severe that he was still seriously ill by the time the delegation was leaving?  If it's the latter, I was surprised that Ubbe would be so harsh if Hvitserk was locked up away from alcohol all that time.

[tennisgurl]

1 hour ago, LilWharveyGal said:

Sorry to be a dunce but can someone explain Ubbe's decision to me?  Ubbe suggests sending Hvitserk on a mission and Hvitserk is excited and eager to do a good job. 

So its kind of hard to tell exactly, because most scenes with Hvitserk are pretty surreal and filled with hallucinations due to his deteriorating mental state, but I think that he tried to get clean, then got drunk again and showed up around the main hall, and Ubbe got pissed because he thought that he just went and messed up again out of some kind of selfish hedonism, and not addiction. That was my read anyway. 

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

They? Torvi will be devastated but I doubt Bjorn will care much, he barely acknowledges the existence of his children.

Honestly, I was thinking of Ubbe, not Bjorn, as he seems to be the one who actually spends time with the kids!

[Ohwell]

Weren't Ubbe and Torvi supposed to be watching Bjorn's kids?  Why didn't they just take the kids with them instead of leaving them with Lagertha?  I'm confused.  

[wlk68]

2 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Weren't Ubbe and Torvi supposed to be watching Bjorn's kids?  Why didn't they just take the kids with them instead of leaving them with Lagertha?  I'm confused.  

Bjorn's kids are also Torvi's and I'm guessing everyone involved thought that the kids would be safe enough with their grandmother. They didn't count on the raiders. 

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, wlk68 said:

Bjorn's kids are also Torvi's and I'm guessing everyone involved thought that the kids would be safe enough with their grandmother. They didn't count on the raiders. 

I don't know why, but I keep forgetting that they're also Torvi's kids.  

 

[mcjen]

I may be messing up the timeline here, but when Ubbe and Torvi left the kids with Lagertha, weren't they planning on sailing to Iceland to look for Floki?  But then Bjorn insisted they keep an eye on Kattegut because Hvitserk wasn't capable?  If this is correct, they may have merely been thinking let the kids enjoy a little more time at grandma's farm before bringing them back home to bustling Kattegut (in time for the school year), not counting on them being raided.

[magdalene]

Shouldn't it occur to Bjorn and Harald that this so-called "vote" where all the candidates will be oh so conveniently in one place is the perfect way for crazy ol' Olaf to Red Wedding all his rivals?

[LittleIggy]

8 hours ago, wlk68 said:

Bjorn's kids are also Torvi's and I'm guessing everyone involved thought that the kids would be safe enough with their grandmother. They didn't count on the raiders. 

Why nobody thought that able-bodied men with grudges wouldn’t be a problem is beyond me! 

[Ohwell]

9 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

Why nobody thought that able-bodied men with grudges wouldn’t be a problem is beyond me! 

Exactly!  

[iMonrey]

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I may be messing up the timeline here, but when Ubbe and Torvi left the kids with Lagertha, weren't they planning on sailing to Iceland to look for Floki?  But then Bjorn insisted they keep an eye on Kattegut because Hvitserk wasn't capable? 

Yes so the whole thing seems a bit contrived. Torvi should have taken her kids with her back to Kattegat. They would certainly be much safer there than some remote farming village with no protection. 

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Sorry to be a dunce but can someone explain Ubbe's decision to me?  Ubbe suggests sending Hvitserk on a mission and Hvitserk is excited and eager to do a good job.  We next see Hvitserk in a locked wooden structure, presumably to dry out, while his female friend/minder looks on.  He is vomiting and begging to be let out.  The next time we see him, he is back in his usual tent/hut and is taken to see a disappointed Ubbe who says he just blew his chance.

This sequence of events confused me too. I wonder if there is a scene that was cut. When he was begging that girl to let him out I assumed Ubbe locked him in there to dry out. Next scene, the Silk Road gang is all ready to go and Ubbe asks "Where's Hvitserk?" Well, shouldn't he have known? Had he been let out of the drunk tank by then, sober? 

Edited December 21, 2019 by iMonrey

[nodorothyparker]

So there was a lot of stringy hair in the face throughout this one.

Love Bjorn starting out with a good solid headbutt to open things.  King Olaf is basically playing the bored philosopher kingmaker at this point and you could see Bjorn inwardly eyerolling in the beginning like seriously, why are we doing this?  I'm getting a thinks he's the replacement grand maester Seer vibe from Olaf, but he wasn't wrong that it's tiresome and ridiculous for all these petty kingdoms and earldoms to continue warring incessantly against each other and wasting their numbers and resources when they're much stronger united against the advance of Western European culture and Christendom.  Also loved after one of his particularly long pronouncements of how the gods had revealed all this to him, Bjorn was basically "and do you plan on sharing what the gods had to say about any of this?"  Peter Franzen was doing some great acting in those scenes with just his eyes with Harold sitting there battered and half starved after a long imprisonment and thinking are you seriously shitting me with the whole Lothbrok legacy thing again after all this as to why any of us should give up our claims for Bjorn?

So Olaf basically wants to create Westeros: Vikings Scandinavia edition with all the smaller kingdoms under the rule of one central king.  I'm sure that won't turn out badly at all for anyone.  Or that he's not completely on the up and up with summoning them all to him.

Man, staying for awhile on Grandma's farm in the Dark Ages was a totally different thing than it is now.  It sucks how unnecessary Hali's death was, but kids will do that when you fill their heads with stories of brave warriors and heroism in a culture where those aren't just stories.  The raiders were awfully well stocked and organized for guys who were cast out to live as ghosts with nothing.  I'm glad the show is giving Gunnhild something to do in riding out to investigate because I liked her a lot when she was introduced last season, and frankly Lagertha could use the help.

I'm a little disappointed Oleg went the threatening route so quickly with Ivar.  It feels like he should be a little savvier than that, but then again, Ivar is already actively trying to turn the different factions against him, so maybe being blunt is called for.  You don't often see one guy plotting with another guy in a dog cage with an iron ring through his face after bringing him a bone.

I'm seriously distracted in Hvitserk's story in wondering who the dark-haired woman who's in nearly all scenes watching him with such concern is.  She's obviously supposed to be somebody, but who?  The actor was doing some great physical acting through this, though, especially with Ivar's voiceover and the hallucination of him dragging himself on knifepoint to taunt him.

[Ohwell]

I'm still confused about Bjorn leaving the kids with Ubbe and Torvi.  I thought that he thought they'd all be in Kattegat, and he didn't know they were taking the kids to grandma's.  Right?  

[materialgirl101]

These Viking kids sure do talk formal! Never a "grandma" or Viking equivalent. They call her Lagertha. And when Torvi and Ubbe left them to go to Kattegat, there was no "Mom" or "I will miss you!". Just a stiff formal farewell...

 

Where is the slut, I mean maid that Bjorn banged? We haven't seen her since.

Why did Lagertha have to remind the women of the village that some of them had been shield maids? Wouldn't they have naturally tried to fight the bandits when they came to raid the first time??

I hope nothing happens to Gunhild. She is carrying Bjorn's unborn child and those bandits are going to return for sure.

 

[Lady Iris]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:31 PM, Steph J said:

Blood Eagle.  Spread eagle is... something else.

*FACEPALM* Dear gawd! Lol!!! Umm, yeah that was what I meant, Blood eagle. Thank you. Umm...Erm...thank you.

[Ohwell]

Speaking of spread eagle, I just had a cringeworthy thought:  I can imagine batshit crazy Oleg spread eagleing some poor bastard and cutting his genitals off.  😱 I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that, just for fun.  

[iMonrey]

All I know is that Hvitserk's bloody eyes are grossing me out. Fix him!

[benteen]

Damn, Bjorn has been a TERRIBLE king.  I do blame him for not taking care of Ivar's men when he had the chance.  What they hell did he think they were going to do?  The only thing he is worst at than being a father (he literally forgot about Little Siggy even before she even died) is being a husband.

Interesting stuff with Ivar.

I'm tired of Hvitserk and his meltdown.  He's always been the least interesting and most forgettable brother and that hasn't changed.

I was yelling at Lagertha to put the sword in her grandson's hand before he died.  That's a big thing that we see a lot in The Last Kingdom but Vikings has never been on it.

Edited January 2, 2020 by benteen