Vikings XI: Aelle's Anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun [SPOILERS]

[Nictarion]

52 minutes ago, Astromech said:

Haha, the Hirst/Rhys Meyers reunion already has a sex scene! LOL. I am kind of intrigued by his character, though. 

Damn, it must suck to be Alfred's brother. I foresee that kid having problems

Yeah, poor Helga. Sometimes adoption works, sometimes it doesn't. However, I did like the burial scene with Floki laying out Helga's belongings. One of the aspects I still like about the show is Hirst throwing in little tidbits from history, the sagas and archaeology. I didn't like Floki's exit, though, aside from the boat metaphor. I hope he's not done yet.

The battle was ok, but why break a shield wall to charge cavalry?

Ecbert was laughable most of this episode except for signing over East Anglia when he no longer has the right to do so. So he still has shades of his old self in there somewhere. He tells Ragnar's sons he speaks some of their language and then proceeds to speak it better than them I hope he realized St. Peter won't allow him to  pass through the Pearly Gates after committing suicide. Meh, he can just burn in hell with Judith.

I'm betting the last thing Sigurd saw before dying was Harbard :) That final feast was pretty terrible. Each kid had to tell us what they would be doing next season. Well, except for Sigurd. Not sure who posted it earlier, but Alexander Ludwig really seems to be trying to do his best Fimmel imitation.

 

Yep, and it's not working either. He just doesn't have the same swagger as Fimmel. Few do.

[GallowKnight]

I actually liked that. It is certainly one of the better episodes of 4b and of season 4 in general. Naturally it still had quite a few faults.

The battle was pretty cool and we got plenty of badass stuff there. The Ragnarsons carried themselves well well and Athelwulf got some really good bits. But, the Vikings had the Saxons boxed in and they had a perfectly fine shieldwall. Why the fuck would they charge?

I couldn't bring myself to care the least about Ecbert. He started off as a great character and a formidable antagonist but has been completely awful since season 3, so it was more of a relief to finally be rid of him. Linus Roache always did his best, but the material was entirely undeserving of him. The bit about granting East-Anglia was clever though and a glimpse of his old self, I'll give them that. And I quite liked that the bishop elected to stay, that felt oddly appropriate.

I called Helga's death last week so I wasn't very surprised there. I'm actuality a bit disappointed that Tanaruz died too though, I would have liked for her to live and possibly escape. Another instance off the show hating daughters I suppose. The wrong Hirst dies and even if Helga was never that amazing of a character she was still one of the more compelling female characters, so now we're basically left with shit on that front. And it made no sense for Helga and Tanaruz to be in that building or that close to the main army.

Floki was great and Gustaf Skarsgård acted the shit out of that funeral scene. With Fimmel gone he is the best actor on the show and I am curious to see where they go with Floki now. Probably Iceland.

The word combination of Blood and Eagle has now been completely destroyed. At least I don't think anyone said The Great Heathen Army this episode.

I don't think Bjorn has changed facial expression once this half-season.

Halfdan the Black took an important step towards gaining some well needed depth, which I quite liked. Harald's look when he said he wanted to go with Bjorn was killer.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was fucking ridiculous.

I really hated that they killed Sigurd. He wasn't the greatest of the brothers but I really didn't think that was a good move. Would it hurt to actually follow the sagas the show is based on. Sigurd is supposed to become king of Denmark, marry Judith's sister and to sire quite a powerful lineage, but we're obviously not getting that. If you're going to kill one of the brothers, why not killed Hvitserk, who has not done anything of note at all and that is probably the least important of the Ragnarson's if we're going by the sagas. Fuck Michael Hirst.

Vikings isn't very good anymore, which is something I just have to accept. But, despite this I will still be there when season 5 start. If nothing else because I still hope that it might get as good as it once was. But I'm not holding my breath. Torvi Sucks!

[dbunting]

16 hours ago, GallowKnight said:

I actually liked that. It is certainly one of the better episodes of 4b and of season 4 in general. Naturally it still had quite a few faults.

The battle was pretty cool and we got plenty of badass stuff there. The Ragnarsons carried themselves well well and Athelwulf got some really good bits. But, the Vikings had the Saxons boxed in and they had a perfectly fine shieldwall. Why the fuck would they charge?

I couldn't bring myself to care the least about Ecbert. He started off as a great character and a formidable antagonist but has been completely awful since season 3, so it was more of a relief to finally be rid of him. Linus Roache always did his best, but the material was entirely undeserving of him. The bit about granting East-Anglia was clever though and a glimpse of his old self, I'll give them that. And I quite liked that the bishop elected to stay, that felt oddly appropriate.

I called Helga's death last week so I wasn't very surprised there. I'm actuality a bit disappointed that Tanaruz died too though, I would have liked for her to live and possibly escape. Another instance off the show hating daughters I suppose. The wrong Hirst dies and even if Helga was never that amazing of a character she was still one of the more compelling female characters, so now we're basically left with shit on that front. And it made no sense for Helga and Tanaruz to be in that building or that close to the main army.

Floki was great and Gustaf Skarsgård acted the shit out of that funeral scene. With Fimmel gone he is the best actor on the show and I am curious to see where they go with Floki now. Probably Iceland.

The word combination of Blood and Eagle has now been completely destroyed. At least I don't think anyone said The Great Heathen Army this episode.

I don't think Bjorn has changed facial expression once this half-season.

Halfdan the Black took an important step towards gaining some well needed depth, which I quite liked. Harald's look when he said he wanted to go with Bjorn was killer.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers was fucking ridiculous.

I really hated that they killed Sigurd. He wasn't the greatest of the brothers but I really didn't think that was a good move. Would it hurt to actually follow the sagas the show is based on. Sigurd is supposed to become king of Denmark, marry Judith's sister and to sire quite a powerful lineage, but we're obviously not getting that. If you're going to kill one of the brothers, why not killed Hvitserk, who has not done anything of note at all and that is probably the least important of the Ragnarson's if we're going by the sagas. Fuck Michael Hirst.

Vikings isn't very good anymore, which is something I just have to accept. But, despite this I will still be there when season 5 start. If nothing else because I still hope that it might get as good as it once was. But I'm not holding my breath. Torvi Sucks!

The battle was ok but the way The Battle of the Bastards charge scene was filmed makes this one seem lame. Also, this is two weeks in a row where there was a clear spot where they sped up the footage to make the action look better. Running through the woods last week on fast forward and then this week it was in an over view shot.

Ecbert had the potential to be a great character but it seems like they just didn't know what to do with him.

Bjorn and his imitating Ragnar is getting old, can't pull it off. As to his facial expressions I blame botox!

I think Halfdan now realizes that Harald will not be King of all the Vikings since his woman didn't even wait for him and she is now dead too. Harald lost the hold he had over Halfdan.

Sigurd has been telegraphed all 4b as getting killed by Ivar. I can't count how many times Ivar looked at him with bad intentions.

 

I am ok with the season, wasn't the best but it got better toward the end. Floki heading off on his own, Bjorn heading to the Mediterranean, Ivar sacking England and the Alfred flash forward at the end...Assuming S5 starts off about 5 years after this one ended, with Alfred at that age.

[Spockydog]

6 minutes ago, dbunting said:

...and the Alfred flash forward at the end..

What are you referring to here? All I saw at the end was the introduction of some ridiculous bishop.

 

[GallowKnight]

40 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

What are you referring to here? All I saw at the end was the introduction of some ridiculous bishop.

 

Yeah, that wasn't Alfred. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is playing another character.

And there's a trailer for season 5.

 

[dbunting]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

What are you referring to here? All I saw at the end was the introduction of some ridiculous bishop.

 

Oh hell I am sorry, I "assumed" it was him since Ecbert made such a point to talk about his future, and Vikings has a history of flashing forward at the end of the season

[Zorral]

So . . .  Lagertha still isn't dead yet . . . .

[Astromech]

I want the old Lagertha back, but I still love her. However, looks like Torvi did survive

I have tempered hopes for Rhys Meyers' character, but Alfred's chosen one status will annoy me.

Good to see Floki will still be around, remains to be seen where exactly he's sailing to.

[Veltigar]

You know, I think I might be done. Or at the very least I'm now actively thinking about quitting. This season really imploded towards the end. The beginning wasn't great either, but at least Fimmel made it all worth our while. Ragnar's death was good and after that it turned to shit. This whole episode, despite the amount of money they probably spent to make it, was atrocious. It wasn't as bad as last week, but that's about all the praise I can give it.

The only good thing about it were the Floki scenes. The whole Tanarus plot made absolutely no sense at all, but at least Floki got a neat burial scene out of it. Also liked his little moment with the scroll. I firmly believe that this series needs more of those little moments. I'm very glad one Hirst daughter has finally been shuttled of screen, just sad that it's the wrong one. 

The battle made no sense strategically. The editing was way to chopped and the action just wasn't up to par with the show's better fights with Ragnar and Aethelwulf (the time he saved Kwentrith). The decision to kill of Sigurd is baffling. I thought he started this project out of a great love for history and the sagas, but clearly Hirst doesn't give a shit. I was also surprised to hear that there are only two kingdoms in this reality... Apparently Ecbert was king of everything, including East-Anglia which is bullocks.

Ecbert's plan was another thing that just didn't mesh together. To everyone fawning over his "clever" ploy to sign over East-Anglia, it's just completely ridiculous to think that these characters in universe would give a shit about a piece of paper. They can't even write in his language for cyring out loud. The Ragnarsson's are literally invading Eccie's kingdom and winning, why would they agree to the deal they were proposed? They already have Northumbria (or Mercia I have forgotten the name of Aelle's kingdom in universe) and they are seemingly well under way in wrestling the far greater riches of Wessex away from the Saxons... In reality, all the Vikings would have leapt at the opportunity to follow Ivar on his raid. They need to feed themselves anyway, so they had to keep moving, so why wouldn't they first suck the country dry and defeat the major forces of resistance before coming over to settle? Not to mention that they should have easily discovered the fact that Ecbert wasn't king anymore (you know the lack of crown and retinue should have made that clear straight away) straight way. And even if they weren't able to check it, no Viking would put stock in the word of a man bereft of followers. They clearly abandoned him, which shows that he did not command their loyalty and his signature has de facto no power anyway.

The less said about bisshop Heahmund Rhys-myers the better. He can be a good actor, I liked his performance in Match Point, but the anti-christian bias (I'm not even kidding, eventhough it sounds so damn Trumpian) of intellectual feighterweight Michael Hirst was on strong display again and there is no actor who can make that dead horse come to live again. What a tired and cliched way to introduce a new main character. Further proof (as if that was needed) of Hirst's very poor taste. 

I could probably rage on more, about the stupidity behind ignoring Alfred's older brother. Or the fact that Eccie heared Lagertha's voice because they boned that one time. The terrible acting from Ludwig. Halfdan decision, completely out of leftfield, to follow Bjorn... Nonsensical that's the only word for it. 

EDIT: Since East-Anglia isn't a seperate kingdom, I guess Sint-Edmund doesn't exist in universe either. A shame really. TLK had such a great scene with him in it. 

 

[Corvinus85]

4 hours ago, Veltigar said:

You know, I think I might be done. Or at the very least I'm now actively thinking about quitting. This season really imploded towards the end. The beginning wasn't great either, but at least Fimmel made it all worth our while. Ragnar's death was good and after that it turned to shit. This whole episode, despite the amount of money they probably spent to make it, was atrocious. It wasn't as bad as last week, but that's about all the praise I can give it.

I'm at the same level. With TLK season 2 to come later this year, I might be satisfied with one Viking show per year.  + History Channel is releasing another show in the fall about the Knights Templar. I'll give that a try, and if it's good, I'll be sufficiently entertained on the history side of TV shows.

And on East Anglia, I was at least happy that it got a name drop, never mind the whole BS with Ecbert. 

[HexMachina]

I liked Ragnar's death episode, but I'll definitely stop there. It's a nice close on the series for me.

@Veltigar and @Corvinus, speaking of TLK I keep seeing videos which advertise it as returning in Spring. (Usually in the context of "Watch season 1 today before it returns in Spring)

[RhaenysBee]

Wow that was underwhelming. 

The battle was amazing, Helga's burial was beautiful, Ivar is amazing and Floki totally grew on me.  

However. The Lagertha storyline makes absolutely no sense and the only thing it's built upon is Katherine Winnick looking good in fight scenes. She has no dialogue, she has no agenda, she has no thoughts or feelings. All she has is hairstyles, fight scenes and looking dimly into nothing scenes. She was reduced to a Torvi level character. 

This bastard person they roasted. Where did he come from? Why? The guy had two minutes of screen time before he miraculously acquired a giant army and attacked Kattegat for reasons unbeknownst to the audience. Then it turns out that he was hired by that other guy who had two minutes screen time and is already dead too. 

Do we all still remember Jarl Borg (or even the Karl persona) who was an actually enemy with screentime, agenda, valid resources and motives and a name we could remember? Oh the good old days. 

The moor girl storyline was a mess. After ten-odd years Helga suddenly realizes that she has a seriousl empty nest syndrome and takes this girl who seems to be the same age as her daughter would be. Alright. Floki hates this whole idea. Fair enough. Then the girl disappears and it turns out that she hates Helga more than Floki because... she fusses too much? Then she kills Helga and herself. I mean okay. But Helga didn't kill her family, Helga didn't kill her people. Helga was just annoying and obsessive... 

Hvitserk and Ubbe still don't bother to have a story. And Hirst sort of forgot about the blond slave along the way too. Sigurd was destenied to die. One can't live with a haircut like that. And there are way too many ragnarsons. If Hvitserk dies too, there might be room for Ubbe to have an actual story. 

Bjorn became very boring because he's the Negative Nancy of the brothers and for some reason he is always grim. I think Alex's Travis imitation passes (it got better over the years) and it's not completely stupid to have Bjorn (the son who spent the most time with Ragnar) becoming a bit like Ragnar. The trouble is that the new Alex outacts him in every scene. Ivar is a lot more vibrant and driven and smart and thus more likable even if he is a sociopath. If they intend to keep Alexander Ludwig in the loop (who became kinda hot to be honest) Bjorn and Ivar need to develop some sort of bromance because Bjorn is just a cold arse right now. Ivar is brilliant though and I love his relationship with Floki. 

What happened to Aella's wife and younger daughter? 

You know my problem with this whole season was the fact that there was only one storyline that drove the plot forward. Ragnar's death and avenging it. Everything else was bullshit that served no purpose. Script writing meetings must be like: Let's bring back Katherine Winnick and Clive Standen! Okay, so say Lagertha takes Kattegat and stays there and then... I don't know, let's have someone attack her! Great, and Rollo... well let's say his wife lets him have the weekend off so he can raid a little before he goes back home. Okay cool, at least she can yell at him some more! Hvitserk and Ubbe? That's a no brainer, they should fall for a slave girl, that always worked before. Ah yeah right and then we can drop her halfway through the season too! Yeah, great. Are we done then? absolutely, let's go have lunch. Wait, I have an idea! Yeah? Let's bring Jonathan Rhys meyers in! Why? Because he's great at having sex on camera and we need a new priest. You are a genius, my friend, lunch is on me. 

the result of this quality writing is that I can't tell if I'm watching the right episode or not. Did I miss one? I'm pretty sure I missed one. Let's check on IMDb. Hmm.. no, it seems like I didn't miss one. Okay then. Wait. Have I seen this before? I must have! No... this is the new one. Oh well. 

And the worst of all: I'm no longer motivated to watch it. I have to tell myself to catch up on Vikings. I have to convince myself to open the laptop and catch up on Vikings instead of watching some random Netflix. 

Season 5 expectations: 

i never thought I would say this but Lagertha needs to die. She doesn't do anything and she is as unrealistic and one dimensional as it gets. 

Ivar and Bjorn bromance needs to happen asap, especially if Floki will steps out of game (which he sort of should because he should be closing to 60). And if Bjorn goes back to Kattegat next season he needs to have a dialogue with his fucking son. God! 

Harald and Halfdan need a story. A conflict, a purpose, a bromance with other characters, anything. 

And for god's sake age the women and don't dress Lagertha in a pink cloak because it makes her look like Professor Umbridge. 

 

[Corvinus85]

So apparently Wardruna had released a new album a few months ago. I thought I heard some new music in the last group of episodes.

Someone posted the entire album on youtube. Enjoy. 

[PetyrPunkinhead]

On 2/4/2017 at 5:19 PM, Veltigar said:

You know, I think I might be done. Or at the very least I'm now actively thinking about quitting...

 

Ditto. I'll see how I feel when S5 rolls around though. Mostly I'd watch to follow Lagertha and Bjorn's characters. This new warrior bishop guy could be interesting, too. 

[the hound of sansa]

This year I have already stopped watching 3 of my regulars shows (Vampire Diaries, Suits, Walking Dead)because i could not take any more of their stupidity.
So it won't be a leap to stop this one too. But even though they ruined Lagertha somehow, I like Ivar, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, so there is still hope. Especially in the english front. And perhaps in Constantinople.

Do we know if Floki and Rollo will appear again? It seemed more open-ended with Floki. He is roaming somewhere, and someone may chance by him. But Rollo, it was silly the first time he left his Kingdom to pillage a market, i doubt he can do it again.

[generalzod]

Rather than debate all the curmudgeons on this thread about a series I really enjoy (and enjoyed the hell out of the last episode of the season)... I will just say this-- what would you all do without Michael Hirst?   You're like WWE fans bitterly complaining about Vince McMahon being out of touch and yet you keep right on watching, complaining, and second guessing (oh, I know some of you "claim" to have quit but I have my doubts.)  So clearly Hirst is doing something right, obviously he's giving you enough to stick around episode after episode and then grouse about it.

The only thing that annoyed me in 4B was Bjorn having sex with Astrid and the ham handed intercutting between their sex and the human sacrifice.  It was  a douchey thing for Bjorn to do to his mom, seemed out of character, but if you're going to go there, at least play out the storyline.  Whatever he was going for there didn't land (for me, anyway). 

Floki's burial of Helga left me in tears.  Ragnar's death was GREAT FUCKING TELEVISION, and somehow Hirst made me like Aethelwulf. 

And I still think for that 10 week run Ivar was the most interesting character on TV.   

I say, bring on the Viking slaying Bishop played by Henry VIII...as well as the whining about historical accuracy (which went out the window when Hirst made Ragnar and Rollo brothers and decided to compress 200 years into two generations).  Even without Travis Fimmel, Vikings is still  MILES more compelling and watchable than the snooze THE LAST KINGDOM.  SHIELD WALL!!! 

[-Ghost-]

I knew that the US broadcast cut out sex scenes and stuff like that, but up until recently I had no idea they cut out stuff that is actually kind of important. Unless I completely missed something, the only reason I know Torvi is still alive is because of the season 5 trailer. Apparently there was a whole scene that they cut from the episode where they made it seem like she died. Wtf? Now I seriously wonder what else I have missed because of whoever edits this show in the US and decides what to cut.

 

 The show has definitely lost something for me. It took me longer than usual to get through the last few episodes this season. Usually I would watch the day after the episode aired, but with these, I didn't have any real urgency.

 

I'm glad Sigurd is dead. He was useless. I still dont care about Hvitserk. I've almost completely lost interest in Lagertha and what shes doing. Floki, Bjorn, Ivar, and Ubbe are the reason I watch now. There are noticeable bits of Ragnar in Ivar, Ubbe, and Bjorn. I'm also interested to see what happens with Finehairs plan.

 

 I know a lot of people are down on JRM, but I'm actually excited to have him. I think he will be a good addition to the show.

[generalzod]

I say this having been burned by awesome looking trailers lately and shows that haven't delivered...but the warrior bishop looks like an intense badass Heathen slayer in that trailer as he cuts down Vikings and says "we are the wrath of God."

 

Despite the drama on this thread, kudos to Hirst for sticking to his guns and telling the Great Heathen Army story.  There was no mass exodus of fans from this series after Ragnar died .  As you point out, Ivar, Ubbe, and Bjorn are engaging.

 

Had no idea that internationally they get extra scenes... is it for nudity or censorship or just to cut it down to an exact running time?  What's your sense? 

[-Ghost-]

49 minutes ago, generalzod said:

I say this having been burned by awesome looking trailers lately and shows that haven't delivered...but the warrior bishop looks like an intense badass Heathen slayer in that trailer as he cuts down Vikings and says "we are the wrath of God."

 

Despite the drama on this thread, kudos to Hirst for sticking to his guns and telling the Great Heathen Army story.  There was no mass exodus of fans from this series after Ragnar died .  As you point out, Ivar, Ubbe, and Bjorn are engaging.

 

Had no idea that internationally they get extra scenes... is it for nudity or censorship or just to cut it down to an exact running time?  What's your sense? 

I agree about JRM. Even with his very brief scene it has me excited to see more of him. He and Hirst have a solid relationship and I think Hirst will be able to bring the best out of him.

I had always heard about the extra international scenes, but mainly read that it was due to nudity, such as a Lagertha and Astrid sex scene that I believe was cut from the US version. I just recently read that in the very same episode that shows Torvi on the ground with arrows in her back has an additional scene with Lagertha, Astrid, and Torvi talking after the battle. I don't understand why they would cut that from the US version. A lot of people thought she was dead only to see her perfectly fine in the season 5 preview.

[Mark Antony]

4 hours ago, generalzod said:

Even without Travis Fimmel, Vikings is still MILES more compelling and watchable than the snooze THE LAST KINGDOM.  SHIELD WALL!!! 

 sikeeeee