Vikings Season 5 and 6

When Ubbe asked Kjetill (Dwight from Haven) whether Floki’s settlement was a success, my immediate thought was, “Uh...that would be a resounding NO.”, then when he replied with “In the early days, Ubbe, it was a great struggle for all of us.” All I could think was, “It was a great struggle for us, the viewers, to make it through that storyline also.” (here’s hoping Kjetill pays for all that he did).

Of course Ivar likes creepy puppets and his new best friend gets all weepy over them. No matter how hard the show tries to convince us that Ivar isn’t ‘that bad’ - by either having him perform lame magic tricks for his new best friend’s nephew or by attempting to show his new best friend’s ‘worse’ than him (hello, chains through faces!) - I’m still not going to ever forgive him for all the crap he’s done. The show (and his scary fans) can try to paint Ivar as some sort of ‘anti-hero’, but I’m not buying what they’re attempting to sell.

I also don’t care about Hvitserk and his crazypants behavior (though the actor is doing a fine job portraying it). I didn’t need to see visions of extra crispy Thora either.

Ubbe, I think, will actually be better than Bjorn while he ‘holds the fort’ until his brother gets back.

Torvi didn’t get much to do, but what she *did* get was pretty good. She got to tell off Ubbe for wanting to leave her behind/out of the fight. I remember when Lagertha did that back in the early days with Ragnar – and you could tell how proud she was to see Torvi stand up to Ubbe.



Torvi also got to look like some scary-arse priestess.



I felt sorry for the goat, though. Poor goats on this show never fare well. It’s one of my least favourite aspects of the series.

Meanwhile, Bjorn can’t keep it in his pants (he’s definitely his father’s son). How could he cheat on Gunnhild (who is AWESOME)? She could break that Ingrid chick like a twig. It’s clear Bjorn didn’t respect Gunnhild, when he was asking everyone’s opinion, but they all left and Gunnhild was right there...yet he didn’t ask HER opinion. She’s too good for you, Bjorn! Well, I guess he ‘paid’ for that, in a way, by walking (well...swimming) into that ambush.



There was a nice contrast of imagery between that^ fiery water and the horses emerging from the snow-covered trees earlier on.



And, of course, Lagertha’s ‘retirement’ didn’t last every long, but that’s what makes her a hero - when people are in need of help, she will always step up.



Though it’s clear that something bad is going to go down with her taking care of her grandkids just as those guys Bjorn exiled in the first episode of the season are plotting revenge. I just hope Lagertha survives and gets to kick their arses.