Also, I'm going to predict that we see Floki return at the end of the mid-season finale - as the Seer. That will be our cliff hanger

 

Also I forgot to mention that the new character they introduced, Erik, who saved Bjorn is the famous Viking Erik the Red. He formed the first settlement in Greenland. So he's going to have a significant role the rest of the way. I wonder if they're going to use him as part of the Viking spinoff series that's coming up after this one concludes.

 

I thought that was the famous Erik! He has an interesting story to tell as well.

 

OMG, I just finished Death and the Serpent, and what a powerful episode!

There were important goings on but first and foremost this was Lagertha’s episode. She was so smart and courageous. The maze of death was phenomenal. I loved her last battle with the head outlaw. Just when you thought he had her, she pulled a victory out of her arse. Not without cost, unfortunately. I thought it was so dramatic the way they worked in Hvitserk as the son of Ragnar who finished her off. Lagertha was classy to the end. Never blaming the young man but telling him this was their destiny, all the while that young performer was singing a ballad to her in the main tent during a feast. Haunting.

That sneaky Harald. Promising things to the various jarls, that he doesn’t intend to deliver on, to get their vote. Then he tries to assassinate the guy that came to rescue him. Not a good way start off your kingship if you ask me. It didn’t take Iceland traitor to figure out he backed the wrong man, how long will it take for the others? At least Bjorn has one person who’s willing to take a chance on him, and so we get a new character rather late in the scheme of things...Erik. Let’s see what the writers do with him.

I’m totally confused about the Ivar/Oleg story line. Did Ivar’s Wife not die? How does Oleg know about what happened in Kattegat if “dead” wife didn’t tell him? Or did Oleg surmise what happened when his new wife told him about her and Ivar’s Conversation in the marketplace? Making Ivar watch their consummation on the table might have been a good FU since Oleg now knows that his bride resembles Ivar’s ex wife. What goes around comes around. Ivar committed his share of cruel actions but it has to drive the wedge between the leaders even deeper.

 

Ivar strangled Freydis. Didn't his brothers then also find the body? I'm not 100% sure on it, but if she wasn't there when they came looking for Ivar I think we would've all discussed that point at the time. I'm pretty sure they found the body.

And if she had survived then why wouldn't she stay in Kattegat? She had no reason to flee after helping Bjorn. Also, if she did leave, it wouldn't make sense that some stranger would suddenly be in a position to marry Oleg. It's not as if she could've beaten Ivar to Russia anyway.

So, they've brought the actress back to play a new role, and to make Ivar think it's his wife. I'm not thrilled with this whole thing. They've played mystical angles in the past with the Seer and prophecy etc. We also had Harbard visiting Kattegat. I see this whole thing similar to that storyline.

 

Bjorn found Freydis laid out on the bed dead.

 

Thanks guys. I thought so but it still threw me for a moment there. Oleg’s new wife must have gone back to him with a, “you’ll never believe what Ivar told me today.......” and he filled in the blanks. Smart dude. Too back he’s also a psychopath. Ivar’s head must be spinning around.

Having a strange man in the form of Harbard come to Kattegat with some mystery about who he is is one thing. I could have done with out the mystical angle of a Freydis doppelgänger however.

 

Yeah I thought so but I just didn't remember the full scene because the focus at that point was on Ivar escaping.

 

The other thing is that he killed her himself. Ivar knows she's dead. Instead of him saying you look like my wife, he was acting like she really WAS his wife, which is bizarre. Sure Ivar is nuts but he hasn't lost complete touch with reality to actually believe a woman he met in Russia is his wife.

 

Makes me wonder how much Ivar believes his own hype though. Does he really believe he is a God? Maybe, if he does, he thinks some miracle has occurred bringing his murdered wife back to him, but it does seem irrational.

Oleg knows he’s no prophet but he seems to be able to read people and he has enough “eyes and ears” reporting back to him that he can stay two steps ahead of his opponents.
Tabletop nookie in front of Ivar was a good way to demonstrate just who’s wife Katia was, and take that Norseman, lol.

 

I think Ivar bought into the whole God thing. Remember that one season where he claimed he couldn't be killed? But he never thought Freydis was a God. They needed to further explain his line of thinking there to make it even semi-believable.

 

S06E07 The Ice Maiden

Oh my, Lagertha’s funeral. It was nice to see her so beloved by many. It was quite the ceremony at that, right down to a sacrificed young woman to accompany her to Valhalla. The only fly in the ointment for me, aside from the fact that I don’t care for human sacrifice, was that Tori volunteered to do it! WTH? I know she loved Lagertha who supported her ever since she came to Kattegat, but really? Leave Ubbe, whose baby she’s carrying and her other little daughter? I’m so glad Gunnhilde shot that idea down. I think maybe she was just overcome with grief.

I really felt bad for Bjorn. His sadness was palpable. Then he promised to avenge his mother’s murder. Yikes! I think Hvitserk would have been better off freezing to death in the forest. This won’t be good.

Back in Kiev, looks like everyone is buddy buddy again...on the surface. I still think Katia (Katya?) is baiting Ivar. Bathe naked in a hot spring? Did anyone else think it strange that Oleg, while giving her her wish, had all his men around her, but no women to attend her? I laughed when that one guard closed his eyes. I thought to myself, good move! If Oleg thought he was looking he’d probably get his eyes snatched out of his head so fast it would make his head spin. Then we find out that Dir is still plotting with Ivar and I guess Igor against Oleg. Tricky business there. We’ll see where that goes since winter precludes them from setting out for Kattegat so palace intrigue will be the order of the day.

Speaking of kings and courts, ole Harald is still reveling in his election success. When Olaf refuses to bend the knee, Harald tells him that he’ll imprison him until he does or dies, whichever comes first. I wonder what’s next on Harald’s agenda.

 

Hvitserk didn't freeze to death in the forest, but now he's going to burn.

The whole human sacrifice took a little bit away from Lagertha's funeral for me. It's what they do, I know, but still as a viewer it turned me off. I didn't get the whole Torvi thing either. It's not even as if Lagertha was her own mother. That was definitely Bjorn's best scene of the season so far.

I'm guessing that after Hvitserk is killed that Ubbe is going to want to leave Kattegat. I don't think he'll have hard feelings toward Bjorn but he's going to want a fresh start. Didn't he want to go journey with Torvi anyway? I think he only stayed because Bjorn was going to be away.

Gunnhilde is good for Bjorn. Hopefully he matures more now that his mother is gone.

I'm looking forward to Oleg's death. They're setting up his demise. I thought it'd come at the midseason finale, but now I'm thinking we might have to wait until the start of the second half.

 

I saw that preview of Hvitserk’s fate too. Bjorn kinda painted himself into a corner by publicly declaring he was going to avenge mom’s death. He can’t really walk it back, even if he was inclined to believe Hvitserk wasn’t in his right mind, without appearing weak to his people.

As for Ingrid, even if Bjorn now rejects her there’s gonna be trouble. I hope she’s not pregnant from their little tryst. She claims that she’s a woman in looooove and it might be Gunnhilde who ends up dealing with her.

I’m looking forward to Oleg’s death too but I can’t believe he’ll go down easily. Guy’s too smart. A lot will depend on how much this Ivar, Katya thing messes with his mind and makes him miss things he normally wouldn’t. He should actually suspect that something would be cooking with Dir now that he’s successfully escaped.

 

Hvitserk wasn't of sound mind but I still think Bjorn would kill him even if his people were kept in the dark about Lagertha's killer. He's too angry and emotional about what happened.

I don't think Oleg will go down easily, but I also don't see him leaving Russia with Ivar. It feels like it's setting up that Ivar will join with Bjorn to defeat Harald. That won't happen if Oleg is still in the picture. They could of course have Harald be defeated by Oleg and then Bjorn defeats them after that, but then we're deprived of Bjorn getting revenge for Harald's betrayal. It'd be anticlimactic. It also feels as if Harald is being set up as the final villain.

 

S06E08 Valhalla Can Wait

I didn’t care much for this episode. That business with Hvitserk was horrendous. Bjorn is NOT leading with his head. Had to make a big thing about punishing Hvitserk by burning him. Then when it looked like he was happy to burn, Bjorn had him cut loose and exiled him. Unfortunately, I think Ubbe might be right in that he won’t make it through the winter out there alone but then again you never know.

Bjorn still shacking up with that skank Ingrid surprised me especially after all the support Gunnhilde gave him. What surprised me even more was that after Gunnhilde caught them red handed in bed, she suggested the sister wife thing! I think I would have high tailed it over to Harold at that point and left the two of them to their own fate. I did like that she turned the knife a little by telling Bjorn his mother had been attacked by the men he set free.

Ubbe and Torvi going off with Iceland maniac was probably not such a good idea but how were they to know. How was that Iceland settlement thriving anyways? I thought there were only two families that joined Floki and one whole family got killed off. Where did all those people come from? Have they been recruiting new people somehow? Had to I guess as well as securing new supplies.

Back in Kiev, for a moment I thought Katya might have been pouring a little poisoned tea for Ivar and maybe she was but he ended up passing on it anyways. Oleg is quite the disciplinarian, lol. Next time my daughter is annoying me I’ll have to remember to break her tablet, grab her by the throat and tell her if she doesn’t stop I’ll cut out her tongue and feed her liver to my dogs!
Lordy. No wonder the kid was crying! I couldn't Believe my eyes when I saw Ivar comforting Igor later.
The raid was brutal. There was only one good warrior in the village but I have to admit he was impressive. What an introduction to the Norsemen. Let’s see how newly crowned Harald will handles the invasion of his country.

 

Harald looked concerned when Olaf told him an invasion was likely coming. He thought he had everything figured out for himself, aside from Bjorn.

I'm glad they didn't burn Hvitserk but that whole scene bothered me too. When Ubbe freed him I thought it was a plan to bring their brother up to the point of being burned and then freeing and exiling him. But then Bjorn went into an almost Ivar style rant about how he didn't want him to be happy to die. Very strange. Bjorn actually should have just given Hvitserk a clean, quick death. He even admitted that his brother wasn't of sound mind. He didn't kill Lagertha on purpose, so what's the point with all the suffering? Even Ubbe recognized that it was Bjorn's right to kill him, but the whole ceremony was crazy.

Maybe Hvitserk will actually end up killing Ivar afterall before the series is over.

From the raiding parties Ivar is going to learn that Harald is king and Bjorn is isolated so, my prediction of the two brothers teaming up has a path now. Ubbe is my favorite of Ragnar's sons and now they have him in the horrible Iceland story with that lunatic. Seems like a waste. I hope Floki shows up in the midseason finale and kills that weirdo so we can be done with his story.

 

It all goes back to Ragnar’s two wives. He wanted more sons as the seer had told him he would, so he gave up on Lagertha, the one woman he truly loved. So while the boys from both women came to have a relationship as “the sons of Ragnar” there was always going to be tensions.

Ivar went rogue pretty fast by killing Sigurd but it never got to the point of punishment because it was done in the heat of anger. Bjorn no doubt thought something to the effect that this is between “them” cause there was some obvious rivalry between the younger sons. There was always going to be a split with Ivar thinking he should be “clan” leader ignoring birth order.

But this thing with the mothers. Lagertha did kill Aslaug....shot in the back no less as she was walking away. Does Bjorn think the younger boys loved their mom less than he did his? As fate would have it, Bjorn returning to Kattegat in the middle of the funeral when emotions were heightened didn’t help matters. Rather than a calm investigation of events, we had this dramarama. IMO, Bjorn should have just said, it’s finished now and thrown Hvitserk into whatever the Viking version of a drunk tank was until he was clean. Damn seer and his visions, lol.

As it stands now, Hvitserk could very well survive long enough to kill Ivar somehow as you predict. I think it’s the only way he’ll get some peace and Ivar, depending on how things play out, may never see it coming.

 

You bring up a great point about Lagertha killing Aslaug, and in the back too. As a viewer I've sided with Lagertha all along and understood what brought her to that point. But then you have to see the side of her sons. It really is horrible when you think about it, how so many people have allowed their emotions to get the better of them and it's led to a long line of tragedy.

Also a big part of that drama that you were talking about was due to Bjorn making it public that Hvitserk killed Lagertha. That really forced his hand to do something severe.

What I see happening is Ivar working with Bjorn to defeat Harald and then everything seeming fine and we have Hvitserk kill Ivar toward the end of the series. It would definitely fit with the pattern of violence and tragedy we've seen for most of the series. And it's not that Ivar hasn't earned his death, but I think it'll still leave the audience with mixed emotions.

I wish we could see the final 10 episodes soon. They wait much too long to bring back the second half of these seasons and with this being the final one I hope there isn't too long of a break inbetween.

 

S06E09 Resurrection

I think this season is starting to get off track somewhat.

Starting in Kattegat where Bjorn takes Ingrid as his second wife. Gunnhilde pushed that one, hoping to keep Bjorn with her as well. Poor woman. Pregnant and in love she probably thought she had no choice but her bravado was belied by the tear that ran down her cheek as Bjorn left their bed to join Ingrid.
What the f*ck happened to him? He witnessed first hand what happened with his parents and the unhappiness that brought about. His first wife, Torvi, the Lapp girl, Gunnhilde and now Ingrid. Where does it end? He did seem to take Gunnhilde’s advice over Ingrid by sending emissaries to Harald for help against the Rus though.

What about that now. Harald is becoming very unlikable as this election has gone to his head. He would rather kill Eric and co. rather than listen to his message from “king” Bjorn. Good thing cooler heads prevailed as Olaf told him he better listen to what they had to say. I love how he has this attitude of “this is not what I signed up for” as trouble seems to intrude on what he envisioned would be a peaceful reign. Oh well, uneasy is the head that wears a crown as Shakespeare wrote.

The Iceland story line is just screwy. First off, I still don’t think that colony should be as prosperous as it appears. Maybe I don’t have the time lines straight in my head but even with new recruits it seems to me they would have had the same struggles that Floki and his group encountered. Be that as it may, they introduced a new character, Odair, who Ubbe is told is a wanderer who has glimpsed a new world, a golden land. He gets Ubbe all enthused and he asks this guy to join his expedition to see if they can find it again.

Then all this shit hits the fan. Torvi starts to deliver her baby who “isn’t in the right position” and may die. Enter Odair who wants to pray for her. Torvi then, miraculously delivers her kid successfully even though no one touched her to try and reposition the child in her womb. So close to death is she that she envisions her dead son beckoning her to him but no complications ensue and they name the little boy Ragnar. Too cute. If that wasn’t strange enough, Ubbe recognizes that Odair was praying in Latin....a Christian prayer! Well, isn’t that special. Ubbe confronts him and he claims he was a priest who came upon a wanderer who was dying (even though we see in a flashback he killed the guy) who told him about this new land. He tells Ubbe his real name is Althestan no less and he even has in his possession Floki’s wedding ring when earlier he claimed he never met the man! Guy’s a liar and he shares some dark secret with Iceland maniac who again earlier told him Ubbe doesn’t have to know everything. Then Torvi produced the cross Ubbe wore when they were in England. She reminds him he had also been baptized a Christian back then. Good Lord. I think she just wants to get the hell out of there so she’s trying to reason that going with Odair/Athelstan will be ok. We’ll see.

Finally, the Rus story line. Ivar has evidently led a scouting party into Norway where, ta da, he runs into an exiled Hvitserk and rescues him! Best buds again, Ivar takes him back to meet Oleg. Hvitserk says he will join them as he has no other place to go. Great. This one may come back to bite Bjorn in the ass as the result of another bad decision on his part. Later, he tells Ivar it was his fate to kill that bitch Lagertha and Ivar doesn’t seem fazed. When Ivar asks him does he notice anything about Katya, he tells his brother he doesn’t see any resemblance to Freydis. Maybe it’s all in Ivar’s mind and she doesn’t look like his dead wife at all except to him! Oleg parades his troops for the Lothbrok brothers to see in a scene straight out of Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers, while declaring they will eliminate pagan Scandinavia. Ivar looked a little taken back as Oleg had been making such a deal of pointing out how much the two had in common.

I know this is long but there was so much to digest. I can hardly imagine what will be included in the mid season finale next week.