Ivar crushing the other kid's skull with the ax was out of no fucking where. My reaction was literally .

floki's reaction was so...proud.

I can't stand to look at Ragnar's wife. I can see that to somebody she might be beautiful, but she makes me uncomfortable.

The plot keeps getting more and more convoluted and interesting. So who takes out Finehair? Ragnar, Bjorn, or Floki?

Ragnar's showing his mileage and Bjorn is becoming more and more the younger Ragnar. King Aelle's snake pit may not be too many episodes down the road.

Ragnar's lovemaking skills have improved markedly. He certainly gave his new mistress a bath to remember, and cutting her hair let her know that he prefers her as the Emperor's daughter rather than as a slave.

It was obvious something was up when Lagertha told Kalf she was pregnant. She's killed twice to secure her claim to her holdings, and did it in such a way that there should be no doubt screwing with her greatly shortens one's life expectancy.

Ivar is on his way to fulfilling his destiny at a very early age.

Queen Kwinthrith is going to make things interesting in Wessex. King Eckbert is going to have his hands -- and bed -- full.

 
No one takes out Finehair.  He goes on to become the first king of Norway.  


 

Why did the emperor smile when they walked out?

i get the impression that he was more or less aware of it, and is pleased to get confirmation.  i'm also wondering if his weakness in that scene was feigned--he may be trying to lure the count into the open.

All of the other viking kids


Used to laugh and call him names


They never let poor Ivar


Join in any reindeer games..........so he brained one with an axe!
 

that was the impression that I got



 

 
I think they are phasing Ragnar out.  He was the whole show at first, and if they want to cover history and keep the show going they need to kill him.  If they kept him all large and in charge, then just offed him, they may lose (Arfcom loose) viewers.  They need to develop new leaders and get people more invested in the new ones and less and less in Ragnar.  

 
She did it after he declared that he killed Ragnar's "pet Christian" indicating that she sides with him and against Ragnar on that issue.  Basically reinforcing her speech when she turned Ivar over to Loki for Viking faith indoctrination.  

Little bit of history and knowing the lore......


"Loki is perhaps best known for his malevolent role in The Death of Baldur.

For these and many more crimes against them, the gods eventually forge a chain from the entrails of another seldom-mentioned son of Loki’s and tie him down to three rocks inside a cave. A venomous serpent sits above him, dripping poison onto him. Loki’s apparently very faithful and loving wife, Sigyn, sits at his side with a bowl to catch the venom. But when the bowl becomes full, of course, she has to leave her husband’s side to pour it out. When this happens, the drops of venom that fall onto him cause him to writhe in agony, and these convulsions create earthquakes. And in this state he lies until breaking free at Ragnarok."

 
you're a bit late, it was pointed out pages back

So it's pretty much obvious that Floki really is Loki the god right? I mean the scene with the Seer and all.

I don't think Charlemagne's grandson is the bitch he portrays himself to be either. I think he avoided running into the battle with Count Odo not because he was a coward but because he was concerned about a little friendly fire. I mean it was obvious the Count wanted his daughter to marry desperately, he was maneuvering himself closer to the Throne every chance he got. Now he's fucked. Because Rollo, Duke Rollo rather. Obviously, a great strategist, and without question a far superior warrior. And his loyalty to the Emperor is without question. He loves his daughter, and he's extremely grateful for the giant chunk of land and castle he's been given. And all he has to do is kick his brother's ass, which is what he's wanted his entire life. As the Seer said "if you knew what the future held for you, you would be dancing naked on the beach."

But I'm also troubled by Ragnar and his melancholy behavior. I think a part of him died with Athlestan, and the failures at Paris didn't help. Sure they eventually got in and got a few chests of gold to leave, but he didn't really conquer it...not the way a descendant of Odin should've done. I also don't really believe his baptism and conversion was only for the sake of the funeral scam either, I think he misses his friend that much. I can't remember all the details and I'm not going to look them because I want to be surprised but I'm betting that he takes his ships and army to England first instead of confronting Rollo in Paris. In England the Wessex king who's a master manipulator will convince him that Aella was behind the butchering of his people on his land up thee. And then I'm betting the Wessex king betrays him once more and helps Aella capture him. I believe this is where all of this "I feel old" and "I can't decide whether I want to kill everybody here, or just myself" talk is coming from. Ragnar is a shell at this point. He's never even said a word to his wife for giving his child to the man who murdered his friend. He seemed completely unconcerned with Bjorn coming back from the winter in the wilderness or not. When they were having the party below with "King" Finehair and the slave says something like "I bet they are missing you down there and he goes "No, they're not".

I believe he's lost and ready for the pit. Ivar and the other one will have to grow up pretty quick, but Bjorn is ready obviously. I'd say next season England will get a heaping helping of "The Great Heathen Army" and Athelstan's bastard Alfred and his fake dad who's getting cucked by his own father will be meeting them on the field. Blood will be spilled by the gallon.

Best I remember Rollo sits the whole thing out while sipping French wine, banging his hot wife, producing heirs to the French throne and occasionally dealing death to other Vikings that dare threaten his Kingdom. It's kinda funny that the younger brother who was never going to amount to anything but a great fighter, spend half his like watching his older brother become Jarl and then King, ends up with the best lot of any of them.

That's from what I remember anyway, the show may change all that anyway.

he has a second wife?  i thought it was just the princess.

If Floki is Loki then I expect that he becomes the reason Ragnar gets thrown into Aella's snake pit.  

 

In the Norse legends, Loki is a troublemaker and loose cannon.

This is encouraging...


SOURCE

Why did they skip the slaughter of the French camp?  They went from sneaking up to stacking bodies.  Is this a kinder, gentler Vikings?  

I did like the look on the Count's mistress' face when she took that swig of wine.  It was like "how long do I have to put up with this shit?"

So wtf, the button crack chin queen still breastfeeding feeds Ivar? About the Count's mistress, wtf is up with the bdsm? Now Odin is back?

In truth, I watch this show out of boredom. I lack the connection to Ragnar ever since he betrayed Lagertha, I lack empathy to Rollo for his betrayals of almost constant nature...

It's GOT with worse dialogue, no nudity, worse writing and scenery...

At least GOT had Tyrion...

This season fucking sucks....a bunch of boring horse shit, Ragnar tripping and a whole lot of nothing.

 
It's definitely been slow.

Did you forget all the exciting stuff that's happened?  I mean, painting Bibles, learning to speak French . . . oh wait.

 

It's not that bad, not as good as the first couple seasons were, but definitely not as bad as D&D butchery of Gurm's work. I can only imagine what next season has in store for it (because I won't be watching it).

We see Duke Rollo looking kinda sad knowing that he's supposed to be on those ships. We see angry Vikings heading upriver into Rollo's trap. We'll soon see Rollo and his giant axe splitting some Norse heads, hopefully that little weasel of King's son who got bitched by Bjorn. They'll lose because of Rollo's preparations and knowing their weaknesses, but also because of Ragnar's lack of focus. He's strung out on whatever that Chinese chick is giving him. I thought Opium at first, but that wouldn't cause hallucinations so who knows what he's eating.

After their defeat, if Finehair and the King's kid are still alive they'll have to be dealt with. The only "leaders" left will have to be Ragnar and Lagertha and she'll convince him to come out of his stupor to find out what happened to her settlement. Wessex King loves her so he'll make sure she's spared somehow but Ragnar will be delivered to Aella somehow. As I said earlier, he's ready. He's a shell of the Ragnar that he once was, he lost his best friend, his other best friend is the one who killed him, his brother betrayed him (again), his wife that he left his wife for doesn't love him, and he doesn't love her, he's done. He's accomplished some amazing things and his sons and his brother will accomplishment many more. His descendants will eventually rule England and France and other Kingdoms all over Europe and Scandinavia. What more legacy can a man ask for? A man who never even wanted to be Jarl. Remember he was once just a simple farmer/fisherman/Viking who had the idea of raiding west instead of East. So his days are numbered and I don't think he even cares.

I can't fault Rollo for what he's about to do. He's lived his life in his brother's shadow. He's just as smart, just as good a leader, and perhaps even a better warrior and strategist. But under Ragnar he would've never had a chance to be anything. Who wouldn't take a chunk of France full of peasants to tax, a fancy and powerful title, a big castle, and hot wife (yes siren she is) who happens to be the Emperor's only child (so you son will be heir to the throne).....just to defend Paris. It was Ragnar's choice to attack Paris again. He could've went back to England, he could've went east to Rus, he could've went anywhere else. He's forcing Rollo's hand and I don't fault Rollo for doing his duty.

What I think will be interesting until we get to the snake pit is the struggle between Rollo and Odo. Odo has the support of the army, but army's also follow strength and they're about to see some shit when Rollo rips off those fancy silk robes and starts swinging that ax. So that will be pretty cool.

i agree with pretty much everything else, but i can't go along with you here.  he's a great axe-man, but (based on what we've seen) he's not as intelligent, his judgment is questionable, he's ridiculously easy to manipulate, and he's a brawler rather than a tactician.  he's the kind of guy you point at the enemy and say "go smash".  if it can be done, he'll get it done.  but he's atrocious at ambiguous situations, can't deal with complexity, and never looks beyond the immediate.  long story short, he's a great guy to have on your team as long as you can keep his vanity placated.

had ragnar not gotten him to england and paris, he'd still be sitting around kattegat daydreaming about all the things he could do if only the gods made it happen for him.

Now that he is out of the shadow of his brother, I think he will show what he is capable of.............

Ragnors sons are getting ready to fuck some shit up.

i think it'll be a combination of being out of ragnar's shadow, and the influence of his wife.  she's an ideal match for him.

I agree.............she is a wildcat, and that plays right into Rollo's nature. And it shows............I would love to see Rollo cleave Floki's skull with an ax.

She is. She'll be his new "Ragnar" who can point him at his/her/France's enemies and say "go smash"...but he'll also still get to be the big man at the end of the day because this is the 700/800s AD Europe and you know he doesn't have to worry about her stealing his thunder.  I see your point about Rollo but I thought he really showed himself during the "Night of Long Borjs". When Jarl Borg thought he had his puppet and Rollo met him in his tent and said "You should've remembered, I said I always looked for revenge first". And snatches him up. Also he was reliable when the King was trying to find someone's ear to piss in. I don't think his judgements or loyalty are really questionable. He briefly pondered Jarl Borgs offer very early in the show because what little brother wouldn't? But in the end he did what was right and he's been Ragnar's pit bull ever since. Even if he hates the position.

It's no crime for a younger brother to feel shamed by the exploits of his older brother and wish to surpass them. It happens every day. I mean think about it, while Ragnar was dining and scheming with the King of Norway (at the time) Rollo was stuck in his little hut bedding the old wife of the old Jarl that Ragnar killed...all while knowing that she's sleeping with said King behind his back. It also shows a lot of character when she was loading her gems and property and about to flee after Ragnar killed her husband and Rollo basically took her as a wife so she wouldn't have to leave the village into the wilds.

No, Rollo has been a punching bag, the butt of f-Loki's "Christian" jokes (he's a seer, remember), and lived in Ragnar's shadow long enough. We'll see what king of leader of men and how well he rules soon enough but I think if I was living in a village that was owned by either King Ragnar or Duke Rollo...I'd choose Rollo. They're both prone to brooding but Ragnar has taken it to a whole new drug-induced level this time. As I said in the previous post, his mind has broken permanently and he's ready for the pit. Imagine how bad it'll be once he's defeated by his own brother. How other Vikings will look at the great King Ragnar? He'll be ready to dive in the pit head first.

All we need is for Ivar to age about 14-15 years between seasons and we're going to see some shit. Probably some of the largest and bloodiest land battles fought at the time outside of China.

I really need to read the entire thread before replying.

Anyone else catch Einar Selvik, from the band Wardruna, as the singer on the docks in this weeks episode. If you like the music form the show, he and Wardruna are worth a youtube search.

that's a good point.  i had forgotten that.

i've always liked rollo, and always rooted for him to find the right path, but he has disappointed me again and again.  i think it comes down to family, and this is my mother's influence.  we're norwegian on my dad's side, and the way his people always talked, there is a cultural thing with norwegians that deemphasizes close family bonds.  everyone goes off and does their own thing, rather than maintaining close or clannish relationships.  as a result, family members can come into conflict, and that's accepted as just a normal part of life.  mom's side is bohemian czech, and they have an extreme emphasis on blood ties--betrayal of family is about the worst sin you could commit.  

so our immediate family is very independent, but pretty much has an "us against the world" attitude even when we haven't seen each other for years.  i guess that's why seeing rollo take a stand against ragnar (instead of just going off and doing his own thing) bothers me so much.

I can see that. And I'm not even close to Scandi, Polish and Welsh here. Pretty much means we're clannish alcoholics.

But look at it like this. We're two teenage brothers in the Bay Area. You both like to tinker with code and write an app or two. The older brother Ragnar comes up with Facebook, all of a sudden he's a billionaire superstar. You being his only brother expect him to pull you along for the ride, instead he puts you in charge of security. You have a desk out front and supervise a couple college kids with fake badges, you make shit money.

Well, a rival from Twitter comes along. Says he sees your brother's talents in you and how Ragnar is wasting them by having you check IDs entering the building every day. He says he's got a great plan for a new start-up and he's going to put you in charge of it. Of course you're going to ponder such an opportunity but in the end you not only don't accept the job you lead him on long enough to get the details of the new app to pass along to your brother and he makes another billion. You get a pat on the back and maybe a new Glock, but you're still sitting at your desk checking IDs.

Now, your brother wants to diversify into the Operating System business and makes a move on Microsoft. It goes marginally well, he basically breaks even with version 1.0. Now, the CEO of Microsoft calls you in for a meeting and says look again your talents are wasted. I'm offering you a Vice President position paying a million a year, a giant corner office on the top floor, 3 secretaries, 1 of whom is a former playboy playmate who's only job is to service you in your private bathroom. All you have to do is keep your brother from damaging our business.

Now, Ragnar could be happy with the billion dollar company he has, he could move on to other things, but he still wants his operating system and he doesn't want to compete with Apple, he wants to take customers from Microsoft.

Knowing all of that...who's really at fault here? Ragnar knows there are rich kingdoms elsewhere he could conquer and pillage, he hasn't even seen southern England yet, there are powerful kingdoms to rape in Russia and rivers to take him close to Constantinople (which would be biting off more than he could chew, but still). He's choosing to attack the one place his brother has sworn to defend. No, I must take Rollo's side here.

My speculation is that Ragnar's demise is rapidly approaching. The vision of the village he saw along the shoreline involving the splash from an oar on his boot appearing as blood, then blood spilling from a bucket on a stand indicated his demise. The gates of Valhalla closing to him in the opening of this season's first episode, and the galloping white horse (Jesus Christ) and Athelstan indicated he would wind up in Heaven. The beconing of his deceased daughter and a younger Lagertha and Bjorn means he would find peace there. Habard's telling Queen Aslaug that she would soon be "free" also gives me the impression that his days are numbered.

He and his raiders will probably get their asses handed to them in the attempted raid on Paris.

i think that's a pretty good analogy--we just see it slightly different ways (which isn't a bad thing).  to me, it seems more like ragnar and rollo were both going after microsoft, and rollo accepted a specific responsibility in their company's anti-microsoft campaign.  unbeknownst to ragnar, rollo realizes that he can make more bling by jumping ship, so he does.  he terminates all the staff who had loyal to him, destroys the assets, then gives all the company's trade secrets to microsoft.

what gets me is that the only way he could do this was by betraying ragnar and the rest of the staff.  it would have been one thing had he quit the company, walked into microsoft HR, and said "you need to hire me because i'm a badass".  but he didn't--he used loyalty and betrayal as his tools to get ahead.  without ragnar's trust, he wouldn't have been able to get what he wanted.  see where i'm coming from?  it's like poisoning someone instead of fighting them face to face.


if you think about it, it's more than a little bit like eleanor betraying vane to get control of nassau.

Rollo is playing the Parisians.

Very possible. I've always thought that his French baptism and conversion wasn't just "part of the plan". I think he really misses his friend and doesn't feel the connection he had with people like f-Loki and the others anymore. This coming ass-kicking will only re-enforce that when everyone blames him for it (I'm betting). Notice how he feels "closer" to the Chinese girl and before that to the English priest and spends/spent more time with them then he did with the others. It like he said in a couple episodes ago while there was the wild Viking party going on with the drinking and dancing and wrestling and the Chinese girl says "I'll bet they are missing you down there" and he says "No, they're not". Then he kinda rolls over, looks to the heavens and says something like "I feel old".

Maybe it's being the "King"...you know "heavy is the head" and all but to me it just seems like he doesn't feel at home in Kattegat or even Norway anymore. He doesn't seem concerned whether Bjorn came back from the winter in the woods, remember him telling the other kids "maybe we'll see him, maybe we won't". He doesn't love his wife, his wife doesn't love him. He doesn't trust his friends, mainly because one butchered another one. His brother "betrayed" him. But he knew that he would, probably the reason he left him there. You could tell Bjorn was shocked but Ragnar was more mad at Bjorn than Rollo he says "and you are surprised?!" as if he's an idiot for not realizing it long ago. He's depressed, he's self-medicating with hallucinogens, he's done. I don't think his heart is in this battle. I don't think it'll be much of a battle at all.

I hope he has one more scheme left in him where he sends King Greasyhair and the girly son of King Whatshisname up the river first while he flanks them from the land. After they are butchered he says ok now we sail for England. But that's probably wishful thinking.

It's strange you mention that (I disagree of course) but I was thinking about saying it's like Chuck and Jimmy, always keeping his brother down and only happy when he's in the mail room....his mail room.

This.



Odo is planning a coup to kill the King, and Rollo discovers it, but not in time to save the King,

but offs Odo and his supporters, becoming King in the process, with the help of his wife,

and Ragnar and his merry band.



Lagertha has another miscarriage, as a result of one of the battles, and Ragnar continues

to turn into a junkie, because of the drugs the Chinese Princess is feeding him.



Does Alfred and his pilgrimage bump into Ragnar's bunch as they journey across Francia?



Lagertha, Bjorn's babe, Floki's wife, Rollo's wife, the English queen and Alfred's mom, just keep getting hotter and hotter....







We need the Euro version here, with all the extra skin.



 

 
You take that back!

i don't understand that reference.  i don't watch many shows.

She looks like a man to me

eleanor is an unmitigated cunt and rollo isn't, but both of them repeatedly betrayed those closest to them for completely selfish motives.  i would have said 'friends', but neither of them have any friends--just people they're willing to kill in order to get what they want.  i like rollo, but the closest thing he has to a friend is bjorn.  other than bjorn and possibly lagertha, there is no one rollo wouldn't kill if it meant he'd become famous.

But there was a bear...a BEAR...all black and brown and covered with hair!

He clawed at Bjorn, with a pointless flair.

The bear, the bear...it wasn't fair.

Black Sails.



A similar type series about Pirates of the Caribbean, Nassau, Blackbeard, etc.



On the Starz channel IIRC. a pretty good show, on the whole.



Hot wimmenz, lots of nudity, well, not lots, but some.





 

i was the one who brought up the black sails parallel.  i know nothing about a show with a mail room.  unless mail room is a metaphor, and diesel is talking about vane and flint.

i would have been a lot happier had ragnar/rollo turned out a lot more like vane/rackham.  rackham had legitimate grievances and plenty of room for insecurity, but sucked it up and truly became vane's brother.  rollo is more like eleanor or hornigold, except he's a badass with a sense of humor (so we like him a lot better).

I love the show and have been watching it since season 1 and the first two season were awesome.

It just won't be the same without Ragnar.

Wait, did Ragnar die? I stopped watching after episode 2.

the historical ragnar died in a snakepit.  the show seems to walk the line between history and myth, and we've seen the snakepit.  

so while it hasn't happened yet, it appears inevitable.

20 EPISODES THIS SEASON - PLENTY OF TIME FOR THE BLOOD TO REALLY SPILL

This show can do well without Ragnar, look at all those beautiful viking ships in the cove, every boat and crews story could fill plenty of episodes with tales of high adventure.