S06.E05 The Key

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 01/01/2020

Quote

As Norway's kings and jarls arrive for the election of the king of all Norway, King Olaf is confident of the result, but the election may not run as smoothly as he believes. Lagertha is relieved when Gunnhild arrives with re-enforcements. In Kiev, Ivar and Igor engage in risky subterfuge and Ivar is stunned to encounter a ghost from his past.

 

[Babalooie]

It was quite disturbing to see Hvitserk in the drug den.  Poor guy.  

[Ohwell]

Yeah, it was interesting though to know that there were drug dealers even way back then.

[iMonrey]

Hmm, so Hvitserk is doing shrooms? No wonder he's hallucinating. That's what Ragnar was hooked on too. Which is strange, because hallucinogenic mushrooms aren't addictive nor are they considered soothing in the sense that opiates or alcohol are. 

I do not trust Olaf and I'm not convinced he actually wanted to elect Bjorn as king. There's some kind of subterfuge going on here.

It looks like Harald's face tattoos are fading. That's probably a thing that could happen I guess. 

So what is going on with Princess Katya/Freydis? Are we to believe Ivar never actually killed her, and now she's someone else? Or is he just being haunted by his past like Hvitserk? This is weird.

Edited January 2, 2020 by iMonrey

[mcjen]

Gosh - I really want to be interested in how this show winds down, given how much I liked it during its first 2-3 seasons.  But, each episode, I just feel so bored with it all.  Don't care about Hvitserk; never did.  I'm totally over Bjorn, his blank face and his constant womanizing.  I'm not really even interested in all this intrigue over who becomes the King of All Norway.  I'm trying to care about Lagertha and the women defending their little village, but, wow - it feels like we're just treading the same ground.  (And for all Lagertha's white hair and slow speech, Kathryn Winnick doesn't look a day over 40 to me!)  It's a relief to follow the adventures of a non-psychotic Ivar, but it doesn't inspire much enthusiasm.  Never thought I'd say this, but I'm almost witfully wondering what's going on with Alfred back in England.

I'm sure I'll keep watching, but this can hardly end soon enough for me.  😕

[iMonrey]

Quote

 I'm totally over Bjorn, his blank face and his constant womanizing.

I laughed when Torvi was telling Ingrid she could relate to waiting for Bjorn to come back and Ingrid was all "Oh, it will be different with me." 

 

[LennieBriscoe]

I hate Hvitserk---his name,  his hair,  his red eyes,  his snivelling fear....! What is the point of this character?

Oh,  there's something UP all right amongst the not-Bjorn Earls and Kings! Like "murder and treason and plot"!

As for Ivar: Prince Oleg is messing with his head, re: Fiancee. Moreover,  Ivar hasn't grasped yet the captivity he is in. 

[wlk68]

I was kind of hoping the visit from his dead fiancé would be the thing to inspire Hvitserk to get his shit together. That he would try and get himself sober so he can kill Ivar and avenge her death. 

There is no way that Oleg could possibly know what Ivar's dead wife looked like. And she was definitely dead. This new princess can only be a doppelganger. 

[Ohwell]

I like the slow build they're going with this season: 

• Ivar and Oleg and that crazy creepy kid
• Lagertha and Gunnhild getting ready to defend their turf  
• The "Who Wants to Be King? game show with Olaf, Bjorn, Harald and that other dude who knew Floki
• How Oleg's brother will deal with him now that he's been rescued
• How Ivar deals with Katya/Not Freydis 
• Hvitserk?  Don't care

So basically, I'm looking forward to the shit hitting the fan this last season. 

[thuganomics85]

Ivar/Alex Hogh's reaction to the heads in their "dinner bowls" slayed me.  He was clearly surprised, but instead of scared or disgusted, he was just all "Oh, come on, man!  Is this really necessary?  You've got issues, Oleg!" about it.  I just love how Ivar has almost become the normal person in this storyline.  At least poor Dir got out of there for now, but I have to imagine Oleg at least suspects Ivar was behind his escape.  Not sure what to make of this Katya character, who looks exactly like Freydis.  I wonder if this was always in the cards, or did they really enjoy the actress (Alice Agneson) last season, and wanted to bring her back.  I did love Ivar clearly dodging the whole "What happened to us?" question when he brought up them being married in another life, because, yeah, saying "Well, you betrayed me to my brothers, so I strangled you to death. Our marriage was not a conventional one!" would probably not go over very well.

Ha, I'm all for Torvi being all "You silly, sappy idiot!" to Ingrid, over her pinning over freaking Bjorn and his wandering dick.  Her she is moping around, and he's already making eyes at this Jarl woman.

It's definitely a bit jarring seeing Lagertha so broken down now, but I'm glad Gunnhild and the rest of the shield maidens are there to help with the right and hopefully relight the fire in her.

Hvisterk is now hallucinating a) a burnt Thora, b) The Seer, and c) Ivar in the form of a serpent, it seems.  Yeah, he's not getting better here!

There is definitely something shady going down with this whole vote/election thing.  Next week's previews seem to be hinting that 

Spoiler

Harald might betray Bjorn, but I hope that is a fake out, since I don't want their friendship to end like this!

Also, thanks to my WWE viewing days, any time I see Viking Edge lurking in the corner, I keep waiting for him to suddenly spear someone or smack them with a folding chair!

[iMonrey]

Quote

 that other dude who knew Floki

His name is Kjetill Flatnose. I can't possibly be bothered to remember his first name when his last name is so obvious. Because . . . well, just look at it.

Quote

Hvisterk is now hallucinating a) a burnt Thora, 

IMDB tells me it's the same actress who played her when she was alive. I wondered. It must take hours to get into that makeup.

Quote

I hate Hvitserk---his name,  his hair,  his red eyes,  his snivelling fear....! What is the point of this character?

He had a good storyline when he struggled with whether to go off with Ubbe or stay behind with Ivar and chose the latter, then regretted it. But this thing where he's gone off the deep end over Thora seems like something the writers pulled out of their asses. He knew Thora for like five seconds, I can't believe he'd fall to pieces like this. It's like the writers struggled to come up with something for him to do and just shoved him into this story without doing the leg work of getting him there.

Much as I dislike the story, I must say Marco Ilsø is doing a hell of an acting job.

[Ohwell]

51 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

His name is Kjetill Flatnose. I can't possibly be bothered to remember his first name when his last name is so obvious. Because . . . well, just look at it.

OK, thanks!  I'll just call him Flatnose from now on. 

[Lady Iris]

I'm hoping against hopes that maybe...just maybe...they could bring back Travis Fimmel for a cameo to help Hvitserk out of this mess he's gotten himself into. I'd love to see a vital Ragnar back to give his son a much needed kick in the ass to get his shite together.

I wish the character of Bjorn had a bit more charisma to give us. I dont know if its the actor or the role but I just get blah from from him.

Do you think we'll get any resolution to the Floki storyline?

[LittleIggy]

I just watched this episode on demand because I didn’t know there was a new episode last week. I had to laugh when they showed alpacas in the market in Kiev!

[tennisgurl]

Oh man, the look on Torvis face when Ingrid was all "it will totally be different for Bjorn and me!" That was pure "...sure it will boo. Let me knows how all that goes, as I enjoy my marriage to the least dysfunctional Ragnorson kid." 

Almost as funny as the "come on man, not during dinner!" look on Ivars face when Oleg brought those heads out on platters. I mean, the Vikings can be pretty Extra (lets all parade to the election through these whale bones!" but they dont hold a candle to the elaborate drama of Oleg.

[benteen]

Really good episode.

[nodorothyparker]

Finally getting caught up.  I briefly wondered if Katya is really supposed to be an unwitting doppelganger or if Ivar for some reason is just hallucinating her to conveniently look like the wife he killed after he and his new best friend psychopath have spent a fair bit of time bonding over the wives they killed.  I did love how rather nonplussed he was by the heads in serving bowls, like yeah, sure you'll have that after you doublecross your best friend psychopath.  It seemed fairly obvious Oleg knew what he and little budding psychopath Igor had done, but whoops, the guards all conveniently died before they could confirm it so head soup it is to make sure you both get the message.

It feels increasingly obvious that the big king of kings sweepstakes isn't going to go the way Olaf thinks it will with him getting to play kingmaker to Bjorn, and if so, it's hard to be too upset about it.  Bjorn is so completely half-assing this like he half asses most things that the other participants can hardly be faulted if they end up assuming he doesn't really want it all that badly and maybe someone like squirrelly little Harald is a better bet. Love all the random fighting and headbutting going on in the festivities surrounding all this seemingly for no other reason that hey, we're Vikings.  This is what we do.

I care less than most about the ongoing saga of Bjorn and his wandering dick or any of the domestic pairings of any of these people, but did love Torvi going sure, sure, I 'm sure it will totally be different with you random serving girl who again had to do all the pursuing to get Bjorn to fuck you on the way out the door.  I wish it didn't feel so obvious that things are going to go badly with Lagertha or her village of women because I really enjoyed her just hanging out with Gunnhild or the older shieldmaidens coming to hang out with the younger generation.  

I need Hvitserk's story to go somewhere soon.