Vikings Season 5 and 6

When Ivar and Freydis were saying their “I love you.”s and “I forgive you.”s, all I could think was “No you don’t.”, “No you don’t.” – and that did indeed prove to be the case, as Ivar can BS his way through anything, apparently. He really is full-on deluded. He says this stuff, apparently believes it, but can’t see that the crap he spouts could fertilize all of Kattegat. I also think he has a case of ‘confirmation bias’ – where he’s believed he is a god this whole time, and then something happens that contradicts that and he then reckons that proves he’s a god. There really is no reasoning with him.

And when I think I can’t hate him anymore, he goes and proves that isn’t the case and does some new despicable thing. This episode it was offing poor Freydis and maintaining he loved her the whole time he was strangling her to death.



How exactly does this character have his fans? Are they as deluded as he? There’s nothing ‘awesome’ about him, he’s not ‘complex’ or whatever other things his fans seem to belief he is. He’s just a coward, a hypocrite, a compulsive liar, delusional, bastard who cares only about himself and his own selfish goals.

Freydis showed more spine in this episode by helping Bjorn and the others to get at Ivar than Ivar himself has shown since we met his grown-up self (not that he really acts like a grown-up. He’s a petulant child who throws hissyfits...only his prove more lethal than most).



I totally understand that^ feeling, Freydis.

I’m annoyed that the writing Freydis return to Ivar’s bed. Once she let Bjorn and the others in, she should’ve hightailed it out of there. Still, I give her credit for standing up to Ivar, coming clean with him and telling him off before he took her out. She didn't try to deny it and act cowardly like Ivar would have. Good on her for that...I just wish she'd shown a hint of self-preservation too.

The most aggravating thing about Ivar is his ‘plot armour’. He’s alive for no other reason than Michael Hirst apparently loves writing for him, it seems. He should’ve been dead ages ago, and the way he’s able to get around so easily now with the use of just one crutch (when the camera focused on it as he was walking in to confront Freydis, I totally thought he was going to stab her with the pointy end of it). It’s ridiculous that he managed to get away. And now he’d hiding out (he’s such a wimp. What did he do in the battle other than bark orders and then fire a single arrow at Bjorn? He has no balls/guts, and without his sheep, he’d be nothing at all. Here’s hoping the people of Catgut/Kattegat have grown some brains now that Ivar’s run away and Bjorn is in charge. I’d so been hoping when he gave that speech to them that they’d turn on Ivar or someone would just shove him off the wall. If only Freydis had had a hidden knife to stab Ivar with – then she could’ve gone out being the hero of the episode/season. No such luck, sadly. Sorry to see you go, Freydis. You deserved SO much better than being married to Ivar.



Okay, Ivar rant over. Other thoughts about the episode...

I liked that the battle was not non-linear like the one earlier in this second half of the season. This one had no jumping back and forward through time, it was just moving forward full steam ahead and then eventually reached its conclusion. This battle felt more like the early seasons’ battles, which was good.

I would’ve been fine with Finehair carking it by saving Bjorn...though I think he only did that because he knew if he didn’t, he’d have Gunnhild to deal with – speaking of, I’ve actually grown to quite like her and she’s a vast improvement over most of the new female characters they’ve introduced the last couple of seasons. She actually really does look like she could kick some arse. I was glad she survived.

I was also glad to see the end of that Viking wannabe, Magnus.

That “Buddha” guy did absolutely nothing useful except sit on his arse, speechifying. I was hoping someone would put an arrow in him.

I did not miss Floki/Floki-land ONE BIT this episode - which shows just how pointless his storyline has been.

I liked Bjorn more this episode than I have in a while. He actually had some decent moments. I liked his reunion with Ubbe, Torvi and especially Lagertha (as she presented the Sword of Kings to him). While it was a shame Lagertha had so little screentime this episode (and didn’t even get to kick arse), she managed to still be awesome as she appeared with the sword. It was a nice scene between them.




I totally understood where she was coming from regarding her conversation with Torvi about how ‘life is suffering’.



She’s looking better now than she was, which is also good. And, best of all, she lives to fight another day/be in another season. I’d been fretting over her seemingly inevitable death all season, so I was pleasantly surprised she managed to make it through this one intact (though I am worried about Ivar with that hidden knife).

It was good to hear Ragnar’s voice again and some archive footage of him from an earlier season as Bjorn sat atop that mountain à la Ragnar in the Season 2 final.



That ‘vision’ or whatever it was with him surrounded by all the bodies was a bit worrisome, though. And of course Iva can’t keep a good Seer down. He lives on to be all cryptic for another day.

While I’d love to say I’m going to miss this show over the break, this season hasn’t exactly been the show’s best (it still didn’t reach the level of ‘bad’ that was the druggie Ragnar storyline in the first half of Season 4...though Floki’s storyline in this second half of Season 5 certainly gave that one a run for its money as far as being the most boring storyline in the show ever). At one point I would’ve been very sad to hear that we’d only be getting one more season of the show/that Season 6 would be the last, but by this point I think it’s probably the right time. Here’s hoping the show can find its groove again in its last season (and it has quite an uphill battle too, as not only does it have to get things back on track, but it oftentimes seems to be that shows’ 6th seasons really are their worst...at least that’s been the case with a few shows I’ve watched anyway).

Anyway, I do still like parts of this show and certain characters in it. I just hope that they’re given respect and not unceremoniously killed off/written out next season. Above all, I want Lagertha to get a decent ending. She’s what’s kept me watching even when I’ve grown tired/annoyed with the show. Hopefully Katheryn Winnick’s final episode is worthy of her and her character.