Vikings VIII: 20 episodes under the sea [SPOILERS]

[Buckwheat]

2 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Having Ragnar going crazy over his death and treating him like he's his best friend would have been a great moment if in fact they'd really established how close they were previously. But there aren't so many scenes of them together, talking, enjoying each others company... well not enough to really give you a sense of the loss.

Do you mean Ekbert? Because the friendship between Athelstan and Ragnar was pretty well established. Athelstan lived in his family for years, they taught a lot from each other, he helped raise his children (Bjorn and Gida) for a time, Ragnar taught Athelstan to fight and took him on his raid, he gave him an armband ... I think this relationship was one of the best developed ones in the show.

[Veltigar]

So, I guess Ludwig would like to be cast as the next Wolverine (or Sabretooth). Because that's what I got from his part of the story. I'm late to the party, so I'll just mimick a lot of what I have seen here. I agree with Redsnow that the season so far has been silly, but at least somewhat entertaining.

It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but as mindless entertainment it has been okay so far. This show can do more though, as Travis Fimmel singlehandedly keeps proving. His storyline was the only one that really impressed me. His convo with Athelstan made sense, the transition from the bear scene to him watching the ravens, the digs at Aslaug and the way the scene where he freed Floki was framed (like he was taking the axe to kill Aslaug).

Björn's storyline was pretty good as well, baring the bear fight, which was stupid. I too didn't like the fact that he attacked the bear and I believe that it would have been more appropriate to work the bear in otherwise. Like, throw him in the fight between Björn and the berserker. Ludwig keeps impressing me. He's not the same type of leader as Ragnar, but he's a decent and capable bloke. 

I also enjoyed Kwentrith and Aethelwulf. Wessex is shit otherwise, but those two are alright for now.

All the rest was quite bad. 

On 4-3-2016 at 0:52 AM, Zorral said:

Why ever in the world had no one ever thought -- not even Rollo thought -- to teach Rollo to speak, read and write?  Nobody serious about ruling a country would be bashing about without even a gdd translator, yanowotahmsayin?

That whole storyline so far has been shit. Things like this really don't surprise me. 

On 5-3-2016 at 1:38 AM, BB-Rhae said:

Welcome to S04E03 of Vikings: 

AAArgh! AAArgh! 

Aaa-aa-aaaa-aa-aaaaaa~

AAAohhh! 

bAAAAAArgh! 

Ahrg! AhAhrgh! AhArgh! 

Argh! Argh!

AAAwhoooo! AAAAAAwhooooo!

hhAAArgh! dhyAAAAAh! dhyAAAAArgh!

AAAAAAAAAAAthelstan. 

whAAAAAhAAAAAhAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Don't forget to join us next week for a brand new episode!  

On 5-3-2016 at 3:11 PM, BB-Rhae said:

Bjorn. The buildup to the bear was weak and even confusing. I really hated that it wasn't the bear that attacked him first, it was Bjorn who moved to kill it. I actually felt sorry for the bear. The fight itself was a complete disappointment. It was way too easy and barely lasted a minute. It must take more than that to kill a bear. Yes, little Bjorn and another glorious ARGH told us that Bjorn was now a man and the stupid teen who lets his pregnant girlfriend fight and gets drunk alone in the freezing cold in the wild while he knows a bear is out there is hopefully forever gone.  Hurray. It was such a disappointment. 

I agree with you almost a 100%, with the exception of drunk Bjorn. It was stupid for him to do, but I don't think it was stupid writing. Getting wasted under those circumstances really felt like something a brash young man would do, so I liked that. 

On 5-3-2016 at 5:27 PM, Crazydog7 said:

Oh history channel we get it everyone is SUPER in love with Athelstan.  Definitely one of those times I sympathize with Foki in all kinds of way.  Not only am I glad Athelstan got killed I wish he could be killed again. 

Damn right, it's so laboured  

On 5-3-2016 at 11:56 PM, Astromech said:

+1  I didn't mind Athelstan so much as a character, but I quickly grew tired of everyone's obsession with him. His final words should have been, "You can't win, Floki. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine".  

I vote for "boy, and you thought my storyline was getting stale while I was still alive"

17 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

As for Lagertha, I don't recall whether it is expressly stated but the implication in season 1 certainly seemed to be that she wouldn't bear a child again. What I don't remember is whether it was portrayed as "never bear a child" or never bear RAGNAR'S child. 

The whole Kalf storyline is stupid. I don't understand why he's out gunning for Bjorn. I believe that Hirst should have spun it in another way. Like, have Kalf go to the seer and have the seer tell him that Lagertha won't bear children again as long as her progeny with Ragnar lives. Bamn and you have a great source of conflict. 

3 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Yeah it doesn't make a great deal of sense, he goes to Wessex and its like he's made of pure gold or something the way everyone is fighting over him or trying to sleep with him. I wouldn't mind it if it was really established on screen what was so special about him.
 

He had a magic cock, that's what I'm thinking.

[dbunting]

4 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

 

He had a magic cock, that's what I'm thinking.

Athelstan = Tormund?

[Veltigar]

I have went ahead and started a new thread  

 

12 minutes ago, dbunting said:

Athelstan = Tormund?

Oh, yes and the bear Bjorn killed was Maege Mormont  

[RhaenysBee]

7 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

 

This show can do more though, as Travis Fimmel singlehandedly keeps proving. 

I agree with you almost a 100%, with the exception of drunk Bjorn. It was stupid for him to do, but I don't think it was stupid writing. Getting wasted under those circumstances really felt like something a brash young man would do, so I liked that.

He is without a doubt the life of the show. His acting, his character, his storyline. Gotta love Ragnar. I am actually a little concerned what will happen to the show once his character is killed off. At this point I don't feel like Alex Ludwig will be able to take the show on his shoulder and make Bjorn Ultimate Viking no.2. We'll see. 

In fact, I'm not saying that was bad writing. That was okay writing, and a stupid thing to do as a person. Of course that's what young people do, stupid things, so the writing is only fair enough. 

Bad writing is Paris and Hedeby. Imo. 

[Veltigar]

5 minutes ago, BB-Rhae said:

He is without a doubt the life of the show. His acting, his character, his storyline. Gotta love Ragnar. I am actually a little concerned what will happen to the show once his character is killed off. At this point I don't feel like Alex Ludwig will be able to take the show on his shoulder and make Bjorn Ultimate Viking no.2. We'll see. 

I think a lot will depend on the actors playing Ragnar's other sons. I have faith in Ludwig, but his character is more limited than Ragnar I think. However, between Ivar, Ubbe, Sigurd, Hvitserk (and possibly halfdane), there is a lot of room for a lot of larger than life characters and interaction like we have never seen before. I think it will be particularly important to cast the right Ivarr, since I believe he'll be the most Ragnaresque of the brothers  

[RhaenysBee]

58 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I think a lot will depend on the actors playing Ragnar's other sons. I have faith in Ludwig, but his character is more limited than Ragnar I think. However, between Ivar, Ubbe, Sigurd, Hvitserk (and possibly halfdane), there is a lot of room for a lot of larger than life characters and interaction like we have never seen before. I think it will be particularly important to cast the right Ivarr, since I believe he'll be the most Ragnaresque of the brothers  

That would be quite a Tywin-Tyrion twist of events. But I do agree that Bjorn is not likely to be Ragnar Reborn, even though my wiki stalking of future events indicates that he is going to lead the raid to avange Ragnar. Either case, that's going to be interesting. The good thing about Vikings is that we will actually live to see what happens. 

[Corvinus85]

23 minutes ago, BB-Rhae said:

That would be quite a Tywin-Tyrion twist of events. But I do agree that Bjorn is not likely to be Ragnar Reborn, even though my wiki stalking of future events indicates that he is going to lead the raid to avange Ragnar. Either case, that's going to be interesting. The good thing about Vikings is that we will actually live to see what happens. 

My wiki stalking revealed that the avenging of Ragnar leads to the Great Heathen Army, which involves all his sons.

Last Kingdom spoiler

In Cornwell's first novel, this term was used when Ubba, Ivarr, Guthrum, and Halfdan were planning to join forces.

[RhaenysBee]

2 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

My wiki stalking revealed that the avenging of Ragnar leads to the Great Heathen Army, which involves all his sons.

Last Kingdom spoiler

 

Hidden Content

 

Yeah, it does involve all his sons, the piece of text I remember said that Bjorn Ironside led Ragnar's sons and their forces to avange daddy. I do trust Michael Hirst's writing skills enough to be certain that it's going to be cool however he decides to translate the actual story (or what we think that is) to screen.

[Astromech]

Historically, Bjorn surpassed his father in many ways. However, in order to see all of these stories come to fruition the show has to be successful. Once we move on from Ragnar, his children have to have not only compelling stories, which historically they do, but also charismatic actors portraying them. It's hard to imagine Vikings without Ragnar, or Travis Fimmel actually.

[HexMachina]

1 hour ago, Astromech said:

Historically, Bjorn surpassed his father in many ways. However, in order to see all of these stories come to fruition the show has to be successful. Once we move on from Ragnar, his children have to have not only compelling stories, which historically they do, but also charismatic actors portraying them. It's hard to imagine Vikings without Ragnar, or Travis Fimmel actually.

I actually think they are doing a good job on that front. Bjorn, Ubbe and Ivar are all develping very nicely as characters. 

[GallowKnight]

Since it is 20 episodes I'm going to assume that there is a possibility that we will get a significant time-jump and that  older versions of Ubbe and the gang will pop up this season.

[Astromech]

40 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I actually think they are doing a good job on that front. Bjorn, Ubbe and Ivar are all develping very nicely as characters. 

I agree. I just hope Hirst doesn't make them too Gary Stu-ish. I understood why Hirst wanted to make Ubbe and Hvitserk, especially Ubbe, seem competent or having authority with Floki's pursuit and capture, but it came across as a bit unbelievable to me. A pet peeve of mine is trying to show a character's competence and failing to do so because a writer is only showing the incompetence of other characters. It oftentimes comes across as selective brilliance or stupidity. Many writers do this. That scene with the Floki's pursuit came across in such a way to me. Not completely, but enough cause an eye roll. YMMV.

[Zorral]

8 hours ago, Channel4s-JonSnow said:

Yeah it doesn't make a great deal of sense, he goes to Wessex and its like he's made of pure gold or something the way everyone is fighting over him or trying to sleep with him. I wouldn't mind it if it was really established on screen what was so special about him.

Having Ragnar going crazy over his death and treating him like he's his best friend would have been a great moment if in fact they'd really established how close they were previously. But there aren't so many scenes of them together, talking, enjoying each others company... well not enough to really give you a sense of the loss. 

 

It may be this is the way the writers are projecting the historical fact of Christianity's ultimate triumph even in the most adamant of the pagan north.  Like Christ being crucified, his death did not kill him, but brought resurrection and the life -- at least of Christianity.  In death is life, etc. etc. etc.

The pagan north did succumb to Christianity -- at least at the direction of its rulers -- though later than the south, still it did succumb.  This is part of the history and the tales and sagas.  As in Beowulf, where we see all pagan ideals and beliefs side-by-side with appeals to the Christ and so on.

If that is what the writers are doing, this works.

But perhaps I'm writing this for them, which they never wrote or intended to.

 

 

[Jack Bauer 24]

3 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I actually think they are doing a good job on that front. Bjorn, Ubbe and Ivar are all develping very nicely as characters. 

They've barely been featured besides Ubbe. Considering the screen time they will have to eventually command in the future it is impossible to say how it will pan out. On top of that they have to be recast with good actors.

[red snow]

12 hours ago, Astromech said:

Historically, Bjorn surpassed his father in many ways. However, in order to see all of these stories come to fruition the show has to be successful. Once we move on from Ragnar, his children have to have not only compelling stories, which historically they do, but also charismatic actors portraying them. It's hard to imagine Vikings without Ragnar, or Travis Fimmel actually.

Bjorn also had the advantage of being legitmately real too while his dad was a bit more mythical.

My concern is that Hirst bailed on Tudors once he was done with Henry which still pisses me off as TV/film always skip over the monarch between Henry and Elizabeth which always sounds far more dramatic and interesting. I fear he will do the same here and that when Ragnar goes, the show goes

[Zorral]

Last night's episode was very good.  Plots swirl, plots thicken.  But things make sense that didn't make sense before.  Communication -- it works!  See Rollo talk and now we learn the whys and wherefores.  Still, the lack of sexual imagination possessed by television and movies writers:  here we went yet again -- rip the clothes, throw all the things off the pantry / larder / kitchen table - when clearly there's a very fine bed just up those stairs down which Giseal just descended -- let the howling commence, which of course can be heard from in the great nobles' dining hall in that huge drafty castle.

Floki -- of course, it makes sense, that now the outsider of outsider, he becomes Seer when the old one goes.

Great fight between Bjorn and the berserker -- though I didn't really quite get the fish hook tactic, how the fish hook got there -- felt a couple of beats went missing -- something to do with the bear trap from last week?

Do we need the King Harald complication?  Was he really a suitor in the past for Aslaug? I don't remember back that far, especially as I disliked her from the moment she appeared.

Lots of exposure of The Sons, but still nothing doing with Lagertha, though Bjorn taking away Erlander's wife and leaving behind the son, might have some playout.  Surely though he and his mother caught up with matters and she'd figure out in the time of a lightning strike who sent the berserke, yes?

The Wessex scene with Judith's father was the weakest, though the acid trip -- again a psychedelic interlude -- with the Chinese slave and Ragnar gives it run for that title.

Splendid scenes of Viking culture, and quite appreciated the contrasts of Yule and Christmas observances in the three different courts. Solstice -- so important up in the far North.

 

 

[Veltigar]

Wrong thread Zorral  Everyone's here now  

 

16 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Last night's episode was very good.  Plots swirl, plots thicken.  But things make sense that didn't make sense before.  Communication -- it works!  See Rollo talk and now we learn the whys and wherefores.  Still, the lack of sexual imagination possessed by television and movies writers:  here we went yet again -- rip the clothes, throw all the things off the pantry / larder / kitchen table - when clearly there's a very fine bed just up those stairs down which Giseal just descended -- let the howling commence, which of course can be heard from in the great nobles' dining hall in that huge drafty castle.

Floki -- of course, it makes sense, that now the outsider of outsider, he becomes Seer when the old one goes.

Great fight between Bjorn and the berserker -- though I didn't really quite get the fish hook tactic, how the fish hook got there -- felt a couple of beats went missing -- something to do with the bear trap from last week?

Do we need the King Harald complication?  Was he really a suitor in the past for Aslaug? I don't remember back that far, especially as I disliked her from the moment she appeared.

Lots of exposure of The Sons, but still nothing doing with Lagertha, though Bjorn taking away Erlander's wife and leaving behind the son, might have some playout.  Surely though he and his mother caught up with matters and she'd figure out in the time of a lightning strike who sent the berserke, yes?

The Wessex scene with Judith's father was the weakest, though the acid trip -- again a psychedelic interlude -- with the Chinese slave and Ragnar gives it run for that title.

Splendid scenes of Viking culture, and quite appreciated the contrasts of Yule and Christmas observances in the three different courts. Solstice -- so important up in the far North.

 

 

 

[Jen'ari]

25 minutes ago, Zorral said:

 

Floki -- of course, it makes sense, that now the outsider of outsider, he becomes Seer when the old one goes.

 

 

 

Sorry about that, but being Kategats seer really was only a weekend gig, I needed to get back to overseeing the construction of the Death Star.

[Zorral]

20 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Wrong thread Zorral  Everyone's here now  

 

 

Since it went up way before 20 screens in this one, it didn't seem serious -- just a way not to highjack this one with the silly you felt compelled to share.

So I kept posting here until there's a new one up that actually discusses the show.