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


Veltigar

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I though this was pretty good. The raid was good even if there was some weird elements to it. I actually kinda liked the Floki bits even if I don't really necessary buy the logic of it. But If the time-skip was enough to give Lagertha a different personality then I guess it's not impossible for Floki to mellow out a bit. I liked Hvitserk too, he didn't get that much to do but I think the actor did a pretty good job in selling his mix of excitement, fear and nervousness in his first raid. Especially in the scene where I assume he killed someone for the first time. Helga stealing a child was a but weird and out of the blue though.

On the other hand Bjorn mostly looked bored during the whole thing. And I still don't really get why the insist on painting Harald and Halfdan as more villainous despite just doing what every one else on the raid doing.

Aethelwulf remains the only reasonable and likeable character in Wessex.

I don't really care much about Lagertha anymore after her drastic personality shift, and kinda think that they would just kill her off. But on the other hand I'm not sure that killing off such a major characters this soon after Ragnar is a good idea, plus she is still the most interesting and compelling female character on the show.

I don't like Odin appearing at all. I've always liked it more when the supernatural aspect of the show was less overt. Odin rolling up with the news about Ragnar in four different places was a bit too much for me.

Oh yeah, Torvi sucks.

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Didn't care for half of this episode. Some of it was just so rushed and out of place and took me out of the mood to watch it.

1. All of a sudden Helga wants a child and not just a child but one of that age?

2. Floki, who as far as I have seen in the show, has never even seen a lock on a door, can now pick one in 20 seconds? What the flying fuck was that all about?

3. Floki, the Viking hardcore religious person who believed that anyone who didn't believe in his gods should die, now respects another religion? Again, what the flying fuck about face change of character out of no where was this? Are we supposed to believe that one sentence he said on the boat about being empty is enough to make us believe that he of all people would change his beliefs?

4. Very clear telegraphing of Bjorn getting into relationship with one of the harem girls who was taken. 

 

I liked the Odin stuff, it's not the first time we have seen a god on this show so to me it was ok. Remember that Ivar never saw Ragnar die, so technically there would always have been a possibility.

I liked the Seers' cryptic response to Lagertha about a son of Ragnar killing her. Wouldn't it be fitting if Bjorn did it accidentally?

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This episode really put me off the show. I'm not sure I'm gonna continue this bullshit (and I had more or less liked the previous one with the snake pit).

The idea that Muslims would just continue praying as automats with zero reaction, and just awaiting death, gotta be the most insulting and plain offensive depiction of Islam I've even seen on TV. I was gonna nitpick with the ethnicity casting being again wrong for Moors, but no, that's so irrelevant compared to the mosque scene.

And really, Hirst, Odin? That would be totally ok if I hadn't just read your interviews and your bullshit about Fantasy. But no, that's it, I'm done with the hypocrisy and nonsense.

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I'd say this episode sums up Vikings as a whole just about perfectly. It honestly felt like a smorggasbord of both the great and the awful things about this series. On the one hand this whole episode was superbly atmospheric. We all know this show has great presentation and that was on full display here. I loved the acting, the sets, the music, the costumes and so on. Everything was bloody great on that front.

On the other hand, this episode also exemplified Vikings great weakness and that is that contentwise this show is a raging garbage fire. The writing is just absolutely dreadful. It's a bloody miracle the endproduct is as enjoyable as it is with all that hackwriting going on. 

The whole episode felt really cool, because the atmosphere was right. I got the chills from hearing Ragnar's prophecy at the end, but the way this got integrated in the plot is just so fucking stupid. Now we have actual Gods running out there? What the actual fuck is Hirst even thinking. Profound religious experiences and characters believing that magic is real is fair play, but actually showing the supernatural at work leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Not just because it's extremely stupid, but also because it just contradicts Ragnar's final beliefs and the whole raison d'être of this series. I thought Vikings started out as a show interested in telling the story behind the sagas, but it seems Hirst just decided to once and for all say fuck it and start dicking around with magic. It's bafflingly inconsistent.

Floki and Helga were real shit as well. Their argument came out of nowhere. And why on earth is Floki mesmerised by Islam all of a sudden? It just doesn't jell with the characters really, not one bit. Same goes for crazy Helga kidnapping that girl. Where the fuck did that come from all of a sudden (also way above her abilities as an actor). Halfdan and Finehair are also pretty tiresome, Hirst has to spring through hoops to make them more evil than our protagonists and it ain't pretty. Come to think of it, that whole sequence was shit. Why the fuck did that town not have any guards? How could the Vikings come so close, so easily? Why the fuck does this show pretend like Spain and the Muslims were complete unknown's to the Vikings of the time? Why were there no muslim warriors? Why was a guy carrying around the same kind of snake that killed Ragnar (yups, python time) without fearing its "venom"? And the little bazaar was painfully orientalist ain all the wrong ways.

Lagertha also clearly lost it. Luckily Ivar put some life into some of her scenes. I wonder what he's forging (I guess something to give him the ability to walk?). What scares me the most is her convo with the seer. You know she and Ivar won't have a fight. Knowing Hirst, he'll probably write some weak bullshit like Bjorn accidentally killing his own mother or Magnus somehow proving he's a son of Ragnar by killing her later on. It's all so obvious from how twee the Seer was. If Ivar was going to do her in, he would have said so. He just doesn't mention a name because he wants to keep that plottwist secret I reckon.

5 hours ago, Pliskin said:

And really, Hirst, Odin? That would be totally ok if I hadn't just read your interviews and your bullshit about Fantasy. But no, that's it, I'm done with the hypocrisy and nonsense.

Yeah for a man who's got such a hard on for fantasy, he is awfully busy writing a pretty bad one.

On 6-1-2017 at 0:57 AM, GallowKnight said:

Oh yeah, Torvi sucks.

 

14 hours ago, dbunting said:

4. Very clear telegraphing of Bjorn getting into relationship with one of the harem girls who was taken. 

That's why I'm not immediately put off by the new exotic love interest they so obviously set up this episode :) If anything manages to take screentime away from that poor excuse for an actress I'm all for it :) Time to get Guthrum his rib, it's definitely long overdue.

5 hours ago, Pliskin said:

The idea that Muslims would just continue praying as automats with zero reaction, and just awaiting death, gotta be the most insulting and plain offensive depiction of Islam I've even seen on TV. I was gonna nitpick with the ethnicity casting being again wrong for Moors, but no, that's so irrelevant compared to the mosque scene.

I was more bothered by the bazaar really. I liked the depiction of devotion and mystery in that scene inside the mosque. Outside in the bazaar it was just stereotypes and stupidity. 

On 6-1-2017 at 3:20 AM, Nictarion said:

Astrid is even worse. 

Nothing is worse than Torvi :P Plus, Astrid won't stay long with us I reckon. She's marked for death. I'm pretty sure Ivar won't be the one to eventually undo Lagertha, but I think Astrid will probably fall victim to him. I was kind of surprised he didn't not throw one of those hookthings straight in Astrid's face when Lagertha refused to fight him. That would have been a great set-up for a fight between those two.

On 6-1-2017 at 0:57 AM, GallowKnight said:

Aethelwulf remains the only reasonable and likeable character in Wessex.

And this despite all Hirst's best attempts at ruining the character!

On 5-1-2017 at 7:36 PM, Crazydog7 said:

I know I missed some thing who is the guy with one eye supposed to be?  Odin? 

Kevin Durand

On 5-1-2017 at 6:57 AM, Crazydog7 said:

If floki converts to Islam who is going to kill Athelstan every day in Valhalla? 

77 virgins vs. killing Athelstan every day... Hard to choose the more appealing option :P 

 

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6 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

I was more bothered by the bazaar really. I liked the depiction of devotion and mystery in that scene inside the mosque. Outside in the bazaar it was just stereotypes and stupidity. 

There were acting stupid when the vikings arrived, but before that I thought the souk was depicted nicely.

But the real mystery is how a port would stay without any watch or guards. Awaiting for raiders to come and take the city. And worse, even after they're attacked, no soldier ever appears.

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16 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

There were acting stupid when the vikings arrived, but before that I thought the souk was depicted nicely.

But the real mystery is how a port would stay without any watch or guards. Awaiting for raiders to come and take the city. And worse, even after they're attacked, no soldier ever appears.

That's what bothered me the most. Even if the port was in a relative safe area, there should still be night sentries. Also, I'm not sure about this, but were markets then full even after nightfall? 

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19 hours ago, dbunting said:

Didn't care for half of this episode. Some of it was just so rushed and out of place and took me out of the mood to watch it.

1. All of a sudden Helga wants a child and not just a child but one of that age?

2. Floki, who as far as I have seen in the show, has never even seen a lock on a door, can now pick one in 20 seconds? What the flying fuck was that all about?

3. Floki, the Viking hardcore religious person who believed that anyone who didn't believe in his gods should die, now respects another religion? Again, what the flying fuck about face change of character out of no where was this? Are we supposed to believe that one sentence he said on the boat about being empty is enough to make us believe that he of all people would change his beliefs?

4. Very clear telegraphing of Bjorn getting into relationship with one of the harem girls who was taken. 

 

I liked the Odin stuff, it's not the first time we have seen a god on this show so to me it was ok. Remember that Ivar never saw Ragnar die, so technically there would always have been a possibility.

I liked the Seers' cryptic response to Lagertha about a son of Ragnar killing her. Wouldn't it be fitting if Bjorn did it accidentally?

 

I definitely had trouble believing that Floki, who is culturally conservative and disdains any belief system but his own, would suddenly not only respect but protect the praying Muslims from his comrades?  

I didn't mind Helga suddenly being drawn to the child.  She saw the killing of the child's mother and it might have made her decide that the kid needed her, and she definitely wanted another child.  I don't know how that poor little girl is going to fit into Kattegat, though; she'll never look Viking, as Athelstan did, since she's dark-skinned; and she's used to a warm climate.  

I saw romance brewing between Bjorn and the captive harem girl too.  

I thought the appearance of Odin was fairly well done.  Ever since the show stated (through Aslaug, and others' acceptance of her words) that Aslaug was the daughter of saga-heroes Sigurd and Brunhilde, the door has been open for myth to intrude upon reality.  As long as it's not over-used, it could work; and I thought Odin's arrival to announce Ragnar's death personally to his sons was a nice touch.  (interesting that he didn't tell Rollo, or that Rollo didn't hear, and had his back turned)

 

 

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And the finally they succeeded. Floki went all the way from being among my favorite characters to me not liking him to me wanting to see him dead as soon as possible. Fucking hell. That's not a character development but straight up butchering of a character. Is this because history channel must be tolerant to oppressed muslims?

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I'm strangely okay with Floki's newfound fascination with Islam, if only because it will piss off a lot of racists and that's always a fun activity. Is it exceedingly nonsensical that Floki would be violently opposed to everything Christian only to embrace essentially the same thing in Islam the moment he's exposed to it? Of course it is! But Vikings gonna Vike.

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10 hours ago, Corvinus said:

That's what bothered me the most. Even if the port was in a relative safe area, there should still be night sentries. Also, I'm not sure about this, but were markets then full even after nightfall? 

I think the logical answer is no :) Why would they waste all the candles and torches to keep things lit when they could easily trade during the day? :) 

4 hours ago, Nictarion said:

Where's the general to tell you all how wrong you are? :lol:

I'm interested to hear the defense of some of the shit in this episode. 

Is he the hero this thread needs? Or the one it deserves? :P

5 hours ago, Guess who's back said:

 Is this because history channel must be tolerant to oppressed muslims?

Hirst has a longstanding hatred of Christianity. Propping up Islam (which to be fair was much more enlightened than Christendom in those days) would fit straight up his alley ;) 

 

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28 minutes ago, Veltigar said:
11 hours ago, Corvinus said:

That's what bothered me the most. Even if the port was in a relative safe area, there should still be night sentries. Also, I'm not sure about this, but were markets then full even after nightfall? 

I think the logical answer is no :) Why would they waste all the candles and torches to keep things lit when they could easily trade during the day? :) 

There is definitely one instance when the markets would for sure stay during nightfall: Ramadan. Otherwise, you're probably right.

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12 hours ago, Veltigar said:

On the other hand, this episode also exemplified Vikings great weakness and that is that contentwise this show is a raging garbage fire. The writing is just absolutely dreadful. It's a bloody miracle the endproduct is as enjoyable as it is with all that hackwriting going on.

All of the issues with Vikings can probably be traced back to the writing.

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Traveling but I did love this episode because the ending was FUCKING POWERFUL.

 

if you were not moved by the last five minutes you have no soul.  

 

I stand by Ivar as the most original complex character on TV right now.  He's the best fucking Sith since Darth Maul and actually has people rooting for him to kill fan favorite Lagertha.

 Ratings were actually higher for this episode than for Ragnar's death so Hirst is doing something right.  And all the people who said the were quitting over Ragnar's death were liars.

My only beef with Odin is when he appeared in the previous episode in the longship it needed to be from someone's pov.  That's the first time the show has either goofed or just said "yeah, the gods definitely exist."  All the uses of Odin  in THIS episode were subjective, the sons had visions that others did not see. 

This is a game changer of a season and even people whining about some very subjective details are clearly conceding they're still watching in great detail as they complain ....Which is hilarious to me.  

 

 

 

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By the way, they beheaded a Muslim Imam in a mosque, raped dozens of Muslim women, and killed dozens of Muslims in a bazaar.

 

is the whiny complaint that Floki didn't kill them, or all those Muslims literally needed to be killed inside a Mosque.  The Vikings made the Muslims their bitches, literally and figuratively so I'm not sure where the complaints are beyond wanting to see a higher Muslim body count.

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Spoilers re Jonathan Rhys Meyers character:

 

https://m.reddit.com/r/vikingstv/comments/5mkte0/spoilers_jonathan_rhys_meyers_its_heahmund_season/

 

Thought he was great on the Tudors except those last episodes where he used the gravelly voice and pretended to be old.  Kudos to Travis and Floki for being in their mid 30s and carrying themselves like their old as hell. (The makeup is spot on too) 

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