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Vikings - Season 4, Part 2 - Wednesdays on History

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RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Wow.

They're really gonna do it.

Ragnar is going to die next week.

They have a strong supporting cast of old (Lagertha, Bjorn, Floki, Rollo, Eckbert) and new (Astrid, Ubba, Sigurd, and Ivar especially) characters, but it's still an extremely ballsy move to kill the main character of a show with at least 25 episodes left (5 more this season after next week and then 20 next season). Godspeed, Michael Hirst!
 

Chumley

Banned
Holy crap that last episode was amazing, Linus Roache and Fimmel once again showing how far beyond they are from every other actor the show has ever had.

However, Lagertha's arc is an absolute joke. She suddenly hates men, thinks Aslaug "bewitched" Ragnar, and is angry enough at her to murder her in cold blood. None of it makes sense and Winnick doesn't seem to even give a shit about trying to sell it in her performance, just giving the same expression to every single thing that happens. Lame writing, lame acting. I honestly think she was better in Season 1, showed more emotion and range.

Wow.

They're really gonna do it.

Ragnar is going to die next week.

They have a strong supporting cast of old (Lagertha, Bjorn, Floki, Rollo, Eckbert) and new (Astrid, Ubba, Sigurd, and Ivar especially) characters, but it's still an extremely ballsy move to kill the main character of a show with at least 25 episodes left (5 more this season after next week and then 20 next season). Godspeed, Michael Hirst!

So they're planning on continuing for another season after this? I can see it easily wrapping up in a satisfactory way by the end of this season with the sons returning to kill Aelle.
 

Pkaz01

Member
Holy crap that last episode was amazing, Linus Roache and Fimmel once again showing how far beyond they are from every other actor the show has ever had.

However, Lagertha's arc is an absolute joke. She suddenly hates men, thinks Aslaug "bewitched" Ragnar, and is angry enough at her to murder her in cold blood. None of it makes sense and Winnick doesn't seem to even give a shit about trying to sell it in her performance, just giving the same expression to every single thing that happens. Lame writing, lame acting. I honestly think she was better in Season 1, showed more emotion and range.



So they're planning on continuing for another season after this? I can see it easily wrapping up in a satisfactory way by the end of this season with the sons returning to kill Aelle.
I realy think they didnt know what to do with her at this point so they are forcing her to be stupid and unlikable and my guess is that Ivar and Ubbe team up to kill her
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
However, Lagertha's arc is an absolute joke. She suddenly hates men, thinks Aslaug "bewitched" Ragnar, and is angry enough at her to murder her in cold blood. None of it makes sense and Winnick doesn't seem to even give a shit about trying to sell it in her performance, just giving the same expression to every single thing that happens. Lame writing, lame acting. I honestly think she was better in Season 1, showed more emotion and range.
Agreed. Her motivations make zero sense. If she wanted to "take back" her town, why would she wait so many years to do that? Why is she suddenly so angry at Aslaug when she was clearly over the whole thing in the past seasons?

They really had no idea how to write her this season huh. :(
 

CrisKre

Member
I have to say, i love this show.

True, the last kingdom is more nuanced, but vikings has something that makes it superior in my eyes by a wide margin: the characters.

They are much better realized through their casting and and the actors portray them with infinitely more charm and charisma, which in turn makes them more interesting to watch.
 

Chumley

Banned
I have to say, i love this show.

True, the last kingdom is more nuanced, but vikings has something that makes it superior in my eyes by a wide margin: the characters.

They are much better realized through their casting and and the actors portray them with infinitely more charm and charisma, which in turn makes them more interesting to watch.

Vikings is maddeningly lopsided with characters. Some of them are amazingly done like Ragnar and Ecbert, some are terribly done like Lagertha this season and Aslaug for most of the show's run. Bjorn is just boring, Rollo ranges from really irritating to really entertaining.

TLK is pretty consistent across the board and shines in it's tension, plot momentum, and atmosphere. Nobody makes as big an impression as Fimmel does as Ragnar but Uhtred and Alfred have some great moments.
 
Vikings is maddeningly lopsided with characters. Some of them are amazingly done like Ragnar and Ecbert, some are terribly done like Lagertha this season and Aslaug for most of the show's run. Bjorn is just boring, Rollo ranges from really irritating to really entertaining.

TLK is pretty consistent across the board and shines in it's tension, plot momentum, and atmosphere. Nobody makes as big an impression as Fimmel does as Ragnar but Uhtred and Alfred have some great moments.

Frollo is probably the worst offender. He goes from wacky genius misfit to zealot murderer who hates Ragnar in three seasons. Why? Because his bestie is busy trying to learn about other cultures.
 
I couldn't stand The Last Kingdom's dialog for example the reliance on saying "hump" was funny at first but then it just got corny. Uthur isn't all that likeable either and there's a serious lack of charisma on the show.
 
I wont even mind if he dies. He's been a whiny, doped up, battle losing failure for two straight seasons it feels.

I'm ready for Ivar to rule and dominate.
 

Manu

Member
How old is Magnus anyway? He was a kid when Sigurd and Ivar were kids, and he's still a kid when Ragnar's sons are adults.

I love this series but the timeskips make no sense sometimes.
 
Nice gonna miss Ragnar but interested in seeing ivar and the other sons come to power.

Yearh, if IIRC there actually isn't a lot of historic record for Ragnar. I believe all we know is a man named Ragnar led the raid on Lindisfarne, and then 5 brothers who were sons of Ragnar led the Great Heathen Army against England.(A lot of which we know was recorded by Alfred the Great and his priests).
 
Yearh, if IIRC there actually isn't a lot of historic record for Ragnar. I believe all we know is a man named Ragnar led the raid on Lindisfarne, and then 5 brothers who were sons of Ragnar led the Great Heathen Army against England.(A lot of which we know was recorded by Alfred the Great and his priests).
Yea I was just reading about that fascinating stuff. Wish I had a time machine to observe all of this.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
BTW, I just learned that Helga (Floki's wife) and Torvi (Bjorn's wife) are the daughters of the show's creator Michael Hirst!
 
Ivar the Boneless is being positioned to take a big role in the coming episodes! I approve. After all these physically macho viking men it'll be interesting to see how an intellectual cripple navigates power struggles

It's interesting that we're now moving from mytho-history to more firmly -established history now.

edit:
Haha Alfred vs. Ivar in a game of chess. Clever.
 

finowns

Member
I didn't think they would do it. F this show. And the sudden Ragnar/Ecbert romance was nonsense, dude barely likes his own son. And I roll my eyes at the modernity and lala-bullshit that is season 4.

Did I miss a flashback with Ragnar's daughter or do we go on pretending he never had one like Bjorn later did with his?

I think the flashback with him sitting on the shore with sand in his hands was about his daughter, iirc.
 

Chumley

Banned
It doesn't make much sense to continue the show after this. Fimmel carried the entire thing, it's just going to be a disjointed shadow of what it was going forward. The audience doesn't really have an emotional investment in anyone left besides Lagertha and they've already fucked her character up pretty badly this season.
 

Dysun

Member
Very powerful end for Ragnar, loved it.


I disagree with those jumping ship, Ivar seems compelling enough to be moved into the focal role. We still have the old stalwarts in Bjorn/Floki/Rollo/Lagetha for now as well, although I can see Rollo and Lagetha leaving soon enough.
 
I'm already invested in Ivar, definitely not jumping ship. Ragnar was a dead man walking for a while now, I feel like Im already used to him not being around.
 

Chumley

Banned
Very powerful end for Ragnar, loved it.


I disagree with those jumping ship, Ivar seems compelling enough to be moved into the focal role. We still have the old stalwarts in Bjorn/Floki/Rollo/Lagetha for now as well, although I can see Rollo and Lagetha leaving soon enough.

Bjorn sucks, Rollo's plot has nowhere to go, and Floki was only interesting IMO in how he interacted with Ragnar.
 

Pkaz01

Member
Fimmel owned this episode, Ecbert's actor did a great job as well.

I'll keep watching but a lot of the magic will be gone no doubt.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Excellent episode, and a fitting send off to Ragnar. Fimmel will be missed.

Who was the dude with the missing eye?

I was wondering about that too.

And the sudden Ragnar/Ecbert romance was nonsense, dude barely likes his own son.

Sudden? The Ragnar/Ecbert bronemy dynamic has always been there.

I think the flashback with him sitting on the shore with sand in his hands was about his daughter, iirc.

It was. Ragnar also had a vision earlier this season where he saw his daughter, young Bjorn, Athelstan, and Lagertha standing on a beach.

The audience doesn't really have an emotional investment in anyone left besides Lagertha

I mean, you might not have an attachment to anyone other than Lagertha, but that doesn't mean other people don't.
 
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