S06.E12: All Change

[nodorothyparker]

Streaming 2020.12.30

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Oleg isolates Ivar when the Rus army returns to Kiev. Dir confirms that he's mustering a force to overthrow Oleg. Ubbe continues the search for the Golden Land.

Episodes of the final half season will be streaming on Amazon Prime.

[thuganomics85]

Man, Oleg really is taking being a sore loser to a whole other level!  As usual, it's always fun how Oleg and his actions somehow making freaking Ivar of all people go "Dude, what is wrong with you?" during all of his reaction shots.

This episode was all about the table setting, politics, and alliance shifting, I see.  Kattagat is looking for a new leader and Erik seems to be pitting Gunnhild and Ingrid against one another, which makes me curious, because I don't see why he feels like Ingrid should have a shot at it.  Was this all just an elaborate way to convince Gunnhild to sleep with him?  Either way, Gunnhild seems like the obvious choice, but I can see some being swayed over Ingrid apparently carrying Bjorn's child.

Meanwhile in Iceland, Ubbe and Torvi (welcome back!) are getting ready for their journey, but it looks like Ubbe is pitting Kjetill and Othere against one another, because he needs to find out who to trust?  Kind of confused by all of that.

Finally, Prince Dir makes his return and informs Ivar that he is almost ready to make his move against Oleg.  But Katia/Oleg's wife finds out, thanks to cosplaying as Freydis, sleeping with Ivar, and getting that info out of him.  I guess we'll see if she is sincere with wanting to overthrow Oleg as well.

Oh, Hvitserk is now addicted to poppy thanks to Oleg.  I swear, Hvitserk is a walking, talking example of why they really could have used a rehab center back in those days.

Forgot to mention it in the last episode, but I noticed that they have changed the song in the opening credits to some kind of remix of Fever Ray's "If I Have a Heart", instead of the normal version.  I wonder how that came about? 

[LittleIggy]

Ivar the Boneless spilled the beans to Katia after getting a boner! Idiot!

[Ravenya003]

Freydis betrayed Ivar, which makes me think that Katia is genuine about wanting to overthrow Oleg. Otherwise, why just repeat the same storyline? On that note, are we ever going to get an explanation as to why the two women are identical? Maybe they just liked the actress and wanted to keep her around, or maybe it's some kind of spell (would they go that deep into the supernatural?) Perhaps it's just in Ivar's mind as he pointed out the resemblance to Hvitserk and he didn't notice anything. 

Whatever the case, I have serious hat/coat envy when it comes to Katia. 

Poor Prince Igor is having such a bad childhood - it's hard to believe that Ivar is the sane parent in that household. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out: in a fairy tale Igor would become a great king for having seen the cruelty of Oleg; in the real world he would just be too traumatized and fucked up to be anything but a basket case. This close to the finish line, perhaps he'll get a happy ending.

Erik the Red: I know he's an important historical figure, but I don't find him that compelling. I like that he advocates for Gunnhild as queen, but there are clearly some mercenary motivations in there, and you could SEE the wheels in his head start turning on discovering Ingrid is pregnant.

An interesting parallel in the way Erik and Ubbe are seemingly pitting two other contenders to the throne/power against one another. It's a pity the Ingrid/Gunnhild solidarity didn't last long, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. In a better world, Gunnhild would take the throne and promise to make Ingrid's child her heir in exchange for loyalty. I suppose it could still happen if Erik is found untrustworthy, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

[iMonrey]

Oh, Ivar! When it comes down to it he's just as dumb as any other man. Spilling the beans like that to "Freydis." Idiot. Oh, Hvitserk! Please don't become a drug addict again. We spent an entire season watching him being all strung out and I don't need any more of that. His weird red eyes creeped the hell out of me.