thorgrim29
2016-02-22, 04:19 PM
Hey, so Vikings just started airing again. It's become one of my favourite shows, I think season 3 was much better than GoT season 5, and I like having to figure the characters's very alien morality out. I'm sure I'm not the only fan here, so let's discuss.
The first episode was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were some good bits, but it felt like the writers were clearing out a bunch of season 3's plot threads a bit clumsily just to be rid of them. I'm also afraid they might have too many locations, but this show is liberal enough with timeskips that this might just be a temporary thing. Right now we have Kattegat, Edeby and Paris all taking a lot of screentime, and we'll probably follow Bjorn's testosterone trip for an episode or two and check in on the weird things going on in Wessex (seriously Ecbert, what the hell?). Here's what I think:
Auslug now seems to want Ragnar's death. Not sure why, maybe it's because of Ivar, maybe her seething jealousy for Lagerta makes her want personal power to show her up. In any case Ragnar doesn't seem to care about her anymore so I wouldn,t be surprised if this were here last season.
I'm not sure what's going on with Bjorn, he seems unsure if he should be a leader, follow his father, or just strike out on his own to pillage the Mediterranean basin (I liked the scene of his figuring out what a map is). I did like the part where he riled up the crowd and arrested Floki. The survival trip thing is weird, the guy just led 2 battles very well and fought like a beast in many more, what more does he have to prove? And he's completely ignoring his daughter. I know he's sad about Torrun leaving but still, **** move Bjorn.
Ragnar's kids are cute and happy, something horrible is going to happen to them soon... Do we have more sons hanging around now than in the saga?
Ragnar wants to go back to Paris..... why? They barely pulled the last assault off and left with most of the treasury and relics, surely there are softer targets out there. Also is he ignoring the slaughter of his subjects in Wessex because he doesn't want to hear I-told-you-so from everyone or just because he can't focus on many things at once?
Floki is probably not going to die, he need to be there to represent the Norse gods vs Christianity conflict, but I have no idea what's going to happen. Also poor Helga, she seems like a nice woman but she gets a lot of crap.
Is the pretty asian slave going to be important or did they include her just to stop people bitching about there being only white people in Vikings (no idea if there was actually some bitching about that but it seems likely given the Witcher 3 thing). I guess we'll see.
I don't get it. They bribed Rollo with a title and becoming essentially the heir-apparent of France because he had troops and now they kill those troops? Now what? Rollo's a badass but he's still just one guy, and it's not like he's a tactical genius either. What does he have to offer now except not raping his wife (I guess he got all the rape out of his system in season 1). I'm not an expert on the region in that era by any stretch of the imagination, but historically wasn't Normandy used as a staging area for more Norse incursions into Europe and England, leaving France more or less alone after that point? How is that going to happen now, all he has is a bunch of land filled with people he can't talk to (who, BTW, probably also don't speak the same language as the Paris court).
So Kalf appears to be doing all he can to make Lagerta happy, up to and including having a bunch of his supporters killed. But he still has a side-plot going with murderprince to get rid of Ragnar&co, with Lagerta included in that. What gives Kalf?
This brings me to a general point, how many people were there in Denmark at that point? Because they keep killing warriors left and right and still going on raids a few years later. They either fight too much or have a comically large population, not sure which. Of course it helps that armies in that era were ridiculously tiny compared to before and after.
The first episode was a bit of a mixed bag for me. There were some good bits, but it felt like the writers were clearing out a bunch of season 3's plot threads a bit clumsily just to be rid of them. I'm also afraid they might have too many locations, but this show is liberal enough with timeskips that this might just be a temporary thing. Right now we have Kattegat, Edeby and Paris all taking a lot of screentime, and we'll probably follow Bjorn's testosterone trip for an episode or two and check in on the weird things going on in Wessex (seriously Ecbert, what the hell?). Here's what I think:
Auslug now seems to want Ragnar's death. Not sure why, maybe it's because of Ivar, maybe her seething jealousy for Lagerta makes her want personal power to show her up. In any case Ragnar doesn't seem to care about her anymore so I wouldn,t be surprised if this were here last season.
I'm not sure what's going on with Bjorn, he seems unsure if he should be a leader, follow his father, or just strike out on his own to pillage the Mediterranean basin (I liked the scene of his figuring out what a map is). I did like the part where he riled up the crowd and arrested Floki. The survival trip thing is weird, the guy just led 2 battles very well and fought like a beast in many more, what more does he have to prove? And he's completely ignoring his daughter. I know he's sad about Torrun leaving but still, **** move Bjorn.
Ragnar's kids are cute and happy, something horrible is going to happen to them soon... Do we have more sons hanging around now than in the saga?
Ragnar wants to go back to Paris..... why? They barely pulled the last assault off and left with most of the treasury and relics, surely there are softer targets out there. Also is he ignoring the slaughter of his subjects in Wessex because he doesn't want to hear I-told-you-so from everyone or just because he can't focus on many things at once?
Floki is probably not going to die, he need to be there to represent the Norse gods vs Christianity conflict, but I have no idea what's going to happen. Also poor Helga, she seems like a nice woman but she gets a lot of crap.
Is the pretty asian slave going to be important or did they include her just to stop people bitching about there being only white people in Vikings (no idea if there was actually some bitching about that but it seems likely given the Witcher 3 thing). I guess we'll see.
I don't get it. They bribed Rollo with a title and becoming essentially the heir-apparent of France because he had troops and now they kill those troops? Now what? Rollo's a badass but he's still just one guy, and it's not like he's a tactical genius either. What does he have to offer now except not raping his wife (I guess he got all the rape out of his system in season 1). I'm not an expert on the region in that era by any stretch of the imagination, but historically wasn't Normandy used as a staging area for more Norse incursions into Europe and England, leaving France more or less alone after that point? How is that going to happen now, all he has is a bunch of land filled with people he can't talk to (who, BTW, probably also don't speak the same language as the Paris court).
So Kalf appears to be doing all he can to make Lagerta happy, up to and including having a bunch of his supporters killed. But he still has a side-plot going with murderprince to get rid of Ragnar&co, with Lagerta included in that. What gives Kalf?
This brings me to a general point, how many people were there in Denmark at that point? Because they keep killing warriors left and right and still going on raids a few years later. They either fight too much or have a comically large population, not sure which. Of course it helps that armies in that era were ridiculously tiny compared to before and after.