S04.E15: All His Angels

[Evagirl]

It wouldn't bother me if Lagertha died this season as well.  I got kinda put out with her when she was married to that wife beater and she let him whip her up all side her head.  After showing her shield-maiden stuff in the very first episode with those two bums, and how she beat up on Ragnar when she found out he'd had sex with Aslaug...it was just difficult to believe she'd let a man like earl-whatever slap her around.

[Ohwell]

I was sitting on my couch eating chocolate, puffing my chest out and feeling as brave as Ragnar during the torture.  It's like I had taken on his persona--that is, until the snake pit.  Then I lost my shit and got queasy because I haaaaate snakes!  Gah.  That was the worst!

Like everyone else, I'm going to miss Ragnar (and Travis Fimmel), but I'm satisfied with his death.  I love the way the writers have made it so that I've made peace with Ragnar's death, and I'm looking forward to Bjorn and Ivar in particular, unleashing hell.  

[LittleIggy]

15 hours ago, gwhh said:

How poisonous are the snakes in England??

I'm sure they didn't have boa constrictors there back then! That article that someone linked to (thanks) said the only poisonous snake, the adder, wasn't usually lethal, only painful. Ugh. Not good for Ragnar!

Edited December 29, 2016 by LittleIggy

[MrsR]

RIP Loved him, loved him, loved him.  A fitting end. Went out like the Viking King he was. So pleased to see Aelle disappointed.

All the flash backs and Ecbert being there for him really made me verklempt.

Now, bring on the revenge and the pillaging.

PS. England has only one venomous snake, the adder. As in Blackadder.

Their constrictors are small. There were no pythons.

Edited December 29, 2016 by MrsR

[connieinnc]

15 hours ago, Silverglitter said:

I feel like the show is really trying to make Astrid happen what with the weird focal points they keep giving her, like when Ivar arrived back in Kattegat. She wasn't necessary in that scene at all, much less to get a fairly prolonged camera shot.

I know I keep harping on this, probably to the point of annoyance, but jeez, someone in TPTB must have a hard-on for Judith's actress, because she is continually shoe-horned in where she just doesn't need to be.

Did you notice that Judith grew her ear back also?

[LittleIggy]

3 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

  Hide contents

Kathryn Winnick is in Season 5 so Ivar won't be getting revenge for a long time.

:-) 

Who was the guy with one eye and a scarred face?

[Evagirl]

27 minutes ago, connieinnc said:

Did you notice that Judith grew her ear back also?

I noticed the ear!  But I think I only saw the left side and was wondering if that was the ear.  Isn't she and Ecbert a couple?  And isn't she Ecbert's daughter-in-law?

[TaurusRose]

Exceptional episode.  RIP Ragnar.  You will be missed.  

[Ohwell]

16 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

I noticed the ear!  But I think I only saw the left side and was wondering if that was the ear.  Isn't she and Ecbert a couple?  And isn't she Ecbert's daughter-in-law?

I wondered about Ecbert and Judith.  I thought they were a couple, but does Aethelwulf know?  I noticed that he and Judith, his wife, don't seem to have a relationship now.

[Shermie]

Re: the snakes. The ones Aelle had didn't have to be native. They travelled around and could easily have taken some snakes back to England from other parts of the world, just because.

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

Ragnar's Bolder Vikings Strategy Seems Really Painful And Depressing

Because there are a few days left of 2016, of course THIS had to happen.

[AzureOwl]

3 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Kathryn Winnick is in Season 5 so Ivar won't be getting revenge for a long time.

Spoiler

And if this test makeup she twitted a while back is any indication, Lagertha is going to live unto a old age.

Edited December 29, 2016 by AzureOwl

[BitterApple]

Spoiler

Hmm, so it looks like we're in for another big time jump. The Lagertha on the left looks considerably older than the current version in this season.

Dying in a pit of snakes would be my worst nightmare come to life, they're a huge phobia of mine. I read comments on FB from people who were upset that Ragnar died in such a pedestrian manner, but I'm glad the writers stuck close to the history. Now, I wonder, how will Rollo find out? It's not like GoT where they can send a raven. If travel back then took months and even years, I'm guessing Bjorn and Co. won't know about Ragnar until they drop Rollo off at his castle on the way home.

Edited December 30, 2016 by saoirse
Spoiler tag

[ennui]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

:-) 

Who was the guy with one eye and a scarred face?

Others have speculated that it was Odin. (Odin had one eye because he had sacrificed the other to gain wisdom in order to save the World.) I thought it a nice touch that Valhalla is real.

The torture seemed to go on and on, to the point that I began to think about guns, and how much kinder it is to shoot someone. I couldn't watch all of Ragnar's end, but might give it another try.

[Evagirl]

I've been hearing the name "Jonathan Rhys Meyers" but don't have a clue as to who he is.  What character does he play?

[FlowerofCarnage]

1 minute ago, Evagirl said:

I've been hearing the name "Jonathan Rhys Meyers" but don't have a clue as to who he is.  What character does he play?

Spoiler

He will be on season 5 and rumor has that he will play the adult Alfred.

[green]

5 hours ago, Shermie said:

Was this the season finale? 

No, like a poster said above, 5 more episodes.  And Hirst mentioned at the time of his interview about this episode (link in my first post) that he already had around 25 episodes in the can post-Ragnar's death at that point.  So it looks like Season 5 will, at the least, be a 20 episode or more season as well.  So 5 more now and maybe Season 5 starts this spring ... I hope.  I hate long waits between my Viking raiding, damnit!

4 hours ago, wlk68 said:

This is pure speculation but I think Lagertha is next. The previews for next week show Ivar challenging her to a duel and Ragnar made such a point of telling Ivar that people will underestimate him because of his legs, etc.  Don't underestimate Lagertha!   

I don't see her going anytime soon.  Then I read in Hirst's interview that ...

Spoiler

he believes a strong continuity being important to the show and specifically mentioned Lagertha and Floki in that regard.  Also what the other poster put in spoilers as well that the actor playing Lagertha is back in Season 5.

4 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

 and Ragnar's own resemblance to Odin at the end with just the one blue eye looking out of the marred face.

Thanks so much for writing this.  How could I have been so "blind" not to see the one eye Odin thing.  It was so out there I totally missed it.  In the end Ragnar didn't go to Odin; he became Odin as it were.

Like someone else said, the blind man on the wagon wasn't played by The Seer (John Kavanngh).  Kavanngh, an extremely well known and well loved character actor in Ireland, has a deep baritone voice and is probably pushing 90 years old in real life by now.

Edited December 29, 2016 by green

[Evagirl]

4 minutes ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

  Hide contents

He will be on season 5 and rumor has that he will play the adult Alfred.

I found a picture of him on the internet and thought it was adult Ubbe.  I was going to watch the credits for his name.  Since then I've also heard what you heard but I heard he was going to make an appearance at the end of S4.  So we'll see.  

[ghoulina]

51 minutes ago, Shermie said:

Re: the snakes. The ones Aelle had didn't have to be native. They travelled around and could easily have taken some snakes back to England from other parts of the world, just because.

That's what I assumed. He picked them up on a trade of some sort and keeps them on hand for moments such as this. What a scumbag. 

[Evagirl]

Do you think it would be too much of a stretch to bring back the actor who play Althestan to also play his adult son?  Too weird, right?

[green]

4 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

Do you think it would be too much of a stretch to bring back the actor who play Althestan to also play his adult son?  Too weird, right?

The actor has since moved on and played the lead as King Louis the XIV was it in a mini-series already.

[Babalooie]

FLOWEROF CARNAGE, Jonathan Rhys Meyers has been in The Tudors, August Rush, and many other films and television shows.  This should help.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001667/?ref_=nv_sr_1

[Evagirl]

5 minutes ago, Babalooie said:

FLOWEROF CARNAGE, Jonathan Rhys Meyers has been in The Tudors, August Rush, and many other films and television shows.  This should help.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001667/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Thanks Flower!

[LilWharveyGal]

1 hour ago, Shermie said:

Re: the snakes. The ones Aelle had didn't have to be native. They travelled around and could easily have taken some snakes back to England from other parts of the world, just because.

I'm no snake expert - in fact I had to look away from their scenes last night - but I imagine several of those species wouldn't do too well in the English climate.  It took me out of the scene just a bit.

[ghoulina]

1 hour ago, Evagirl said:

Do you think it would be too much of a stretch to bring back the actor who play Althestan to also play his adult son?  Too weird, right?

The casting on this show seems to be very thoughtful and their choices always impress me. I found that the boy they got to play his son reminded me SO much of Althestan. I imagine they'll do an equally great job casting the adult Alfred. 

[Nmissi]

If Ivar is as smart as Ragnar  thinks, he  will wait to exact revenge on Lagertha. Right now, he needs to be amassing the Great Heathen Army and while it's out kicking English arses, someone has to be protecting Kattegat. The person best suited for that is Lagertha, and she  can even frame her argument that Aslaug was broken, weak and dangerous as leader- To protect the legacy of Ragnar, she deposed this weak queen and is preserving the rights of all Ragnar's sons. (After all, she hasn't whacked any of them.)

[Evagirl]

9 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

The casting on this show seems to be very thoughtful and their choices always impress me. I found that the boy they got to play his son reminded me SO much of Althestan. I imagine they'll do an equally great job casting the adult Alfred. 

Rumor has it he's already been cast.  I looked at the guy's picture and it would be a hard sell for me.  However, I think the guy who plays Ubbe would look more like Althestan if his hair was darker.  Althestan had thin lips and so does the kid actor playing his son.  They look remarkably alike.  Even I can see the resemblance - ha!  But the actor I've been hearing about bears little resemblance to the actor who played Althestan of the kid actor who plays his son.  His lips are too full.  But I guess after a few episodes the lack of resemblance wouldn't matter.

3 minutes ago, Nmissi said:

If Ivar is as smart as Ragnar  thinks, he  will wait to exact revenge on Lagertha. Right now, he needs to be amassing the Great Heathen Army and while it's out kicking English arses, someone has to be protecting Kattegat. The person best suited for that is Lagertha, and she  can even frame her argument that Aslaug was broken, weak and dangerous as leader- To protect the legacy of Ragnar, she deposed this weak queen and is preserving the rights of all Ragnar's sons. (After all, she hasn't whacked any of them.)

Agree.  

When the brothers told Ivar about Aslaug, my response would have been, "I thought you stayed behind to protect her."  Just sayin'

[ghoulina]

9 minutes ago, Evagirl said:

When the brothers told Ivar about Aslaug, my response would have been, "I thought you stayed behind to protect her."  Just sayin'

Haha, right? Ubbe and Sigurd come off as a couple of dolts. 

[Evagirl]

7 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

Haha, right? Ubbe and Sigurd come off as a couple of dolts. 

Especially Goldilocks!  At least Ubbe showed some of his father's backbone when he found out about his mother.  He went straight into the loin's den toward Legathea and fought until he was beaten down.  Goldilocks stood there and watched.

[BitterApple]

26 minutes ago, ghoulina said:

Haha, right? Ubbe and Sigurd come off as a couple of dolts. 

It seems like the writers are definitely trying to establish Ivar as Alpha Dog. For all the great genes they inherited, none of the other sons are very Ragnar-ish, if that makes any sense. The one with the awful mullet looks like he should be performing in a Def Leppard cover band.

[Ocean Chick]

Quote

 He went straight into the loin's den

Best.

Typo.

Ever

[Evagirl]

Just now, Ocean Chick said:

Best.

Typo.

Ever

You made me LOL!  Thanks I needed that!

[PatsyandEddie]

5 hours ago, Evagirl said:

It wouldn't bother me if Lagertha died this season as well.  I got kinda put out with her when she was married to that wife beater and she let him whip her up all side her head.  After showing her shield-maiden stuff in the very first episode with those two bums, and how she beat up on Ragnar when she found out he'd had sex with Aslaug...it was just difficult to believe she'd let a man like earl-whatever slap her around.

I would guess she let it happen because of his not so veiled threats against Bjørn. She was protecting her only child until he could strike out on his own. Earl Numbnuts just pushed her too far that last time. 

Still processing last evening's episode. I was completely blown away by.......everything. TF is astounding. 

[Evagirl]

1 minute ago, PatsyandEddie said:

I would guess she let it happen because of his not so veiled threats against Bjørn. She was protecting her only child until he could strike out on his own. Earl Numbnuts just pushed her too far that last time. 

Still processing last evening's episode. I was completely blown away by.......everything. TF is astounding. 

He really is.  And you can really see what a good actor he is if you've seen/heard him in an interview.  He's almost shy.  Words have to be pulled out of him. And  then to see this same person perform on Vikings you'd be amazed that he is the same guy.  

I wish the show had more visibility so it would get more notice from the Emmy folks.  I mean "Game of Thrones" is on a premium (paid) channel and it gets tons of nods every year.

[nodorothyparker]

31 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

It seems like the writers are definitely trying to establish Ivar as Alpha Dog. For all the great genes they inherited, none of the other sons are very Ragnar-ish, if that makes any sense. The one with the awful mullet looks like he should be performing in a Def Leppard cover band.

None of them started out in the same place as Ragnar.  He was a true self made man in that he clawed his way from ambitious farmer first to earldom and then kingship.  Ragnar's boys by Aslaug were born sons of an earl turned king and have so far been mostly content to drink. screw serving girls, play warrior, and maybe tag along with their big brother on one of his raids.  Had Ragnar returned to settle back onto his throne in peace instead of going off and getting himself killed that may not have changed much.  In the sagas, it's Ragnar's death by snake pit that spurs them to get their shit together and become some of the most feared names in the world.  Ivar's a little ahead of the game on that because as Ragnar himself pointed out, without his anger and his mind he'd be nothing.

I mostly accept whatever weird combo of shaving and braiding they want to put out there because who really knows, but yeah, Sigurd's hair is tribute band terrible.

[ihartcoffee]

3 hours ago, green said:

The actor has since moved on and played the lead as King Louis the XIV was it in a mini-series already.

I was watching that and i didn't know anything about it going in.  I told my daughter it was nagging at me that he looked like Athelstan so i googled it and it's him.  

The kid they cast to play his son is perfect.  

Sad to see Ragnar go like that,  but he was so resigned to it.  

[magdalene]

3 hours ago, Evagirl said:

I've been hearing the name "Jonathan Rhys Meyers" but don't have a clue as to who he is.  What character does he play?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was the star of Vikings producer Hirst's prior series "The Tudors", he played Henry VIII.  We don't exactly know who he'll play on Vikings but Hirst said 

Spoiler

it is a non Viking character.  Everybody is assuming he is playing King Alfred the Great, famous for uniting England and defeating the Viking invaders in the end.  Meyers has already filmed over 20 episodes we haven't seen yet.

[ennui]

55 minutes ago, nodorothyparker said:

I mostly accept whatever weird combo of shaving and braiding they want to put out there because who really knows, but yeah, Sigurd's hair is tribute band terrible.

Isn't Astrid going to give him a makeover? 

[LilWharveyGal]

^ Oh geez, talk about the blind leading the blind.  :)

[FlowerofCarnage]

I think they hair department gave Sigurd Neglected-Middle-Child as I like to call him a distinct, yet disastrous-looking hair style to distinguish him for Ubbe and Hvitserk since they all three pretty much much look interchangable. I also think they gave Ubbe Ragnar's season 1 hairstyle since the actor  resembles TF so much. 

[Ohwell]

2 hours ago, BitterApple said:

The one with the awful mullet looks like he should be performing in a Def Leppard cover band.

I'm cracking up. 

[nodorothyparker]

28 minutes ago, ennui said:

Isn't Astrid going to give him a makeover? 

Considering she looks like an airport lounge caliber Pat Benatar impersonator, I'm not sure that's going to help any.

[Evagirl]

I   L-O-V-E  THIS SHOW!!!  So glad HS is doing two 10-episodes/year instead of just one.  Waiting an entire year for a new season is just too doggone long!

[magdalene]

I want the History Channel to do a show about the age of piracy and hire Travis Fimmel to play the lead.

[JayKhan]

What a death for Ragnar, It could only be on Vikings. Ivar to run riot now! 

[insubordination]

Quote

I read comments on FB from people who were upset that Ragnar died in such a pedestrian manner

They have pretty bizarre standards if being dropped from a cage into a writhing snake-pit with no escape is pedestrian. What do they want? Racked, drawn and quartered? Disemboweled? Chopped up by helicopter blades? Death by hedgehog? 

I liked JRMeyers in the Tudors. He was outrageously bold and brash and kinda rock star -  not at all what anyone would expect for King Henry VIII. It worked though 'cos he just acted Kingly. Just like Fimmel worked in what was a daring and original performance.  I had no idea of the Hirst connection.

See Ivar sizing up Aethelwulf? Can't wait!

Is Astrid gonna be collateral?

I don't mind that the show doesn't get awards recognition, thought it's clear they work hard on making a superior show. Those awards make me cringe (just like 'employee of the month' at my last workplace. People actually had to get others to nominate them, and then if they got several nominations, they could put together a portfolio to become 'employee of the year'. You can imagine the wankers that won. I would have been embarrassed to get such an award).

Vikings is a quiet achiever.

I find those awards shows don't know what to do with bold or unusual/character actors or people that could seem original or OTT.  It's like the voters are afraid to judge them as great, in case it's pointed out that they're not and just hammy instead. They usually go with safe/politically correct.

[FlowerofCarnage]

Michael Hirst confirmed in a FB chat that was indeed Odin on the boat.

[Ohwell]

28 minutes ago, insubordination said:

They have pretty bizarre standards if being dropped from a cage into a writhing snake-pit with no escape is pedestrian. What do they want? Racked, drawn and quartered? Disemboweled? Chopped up by helicopter blades? Death by hedgehog? 

I know!  Plus, he got his feet stabbed and burned (ouch!), in addition to being choked and beaten within an inch of his life and then having a cross carved onto his forehead--all before the snakepit.  I might have forgotten some other torture.   

What else did these FB people want? To paraphrase Maximus in Gladiator, "Were they not entertained?!"

[ennui]

And the drop into the snake pit paralyzed him. 

[JennyMominFL]

7 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I'm sure they didn't have boa constrictors there back then! That article that someone linked to (thanks) said the only poisonous snake, the adder, wasn't usually lethal, only painful. Ugh. Not good for Ragnar!

Boas aren't poisonous anyway. But they were knows to bring in animals including snakes, from other places