History Channel's Vikings

[Lejuan]

It was good but I felt that they ended up having more questions than answers. There were several times in this episode where I just went "well what happened with (insert situation /person here)"

What possibly gets left unanswered with Ragnar ending up the way he did?

 

[Scareb]

Its just small pieces such as

Spoiler:

It looks like floki gives rollo and torstein the same mushrooms and yet only torstein is the only one who "dies" and they never talk about rollo dying or anything. Then there's the part where Floki is watching Bjorn and his main squeeze with his sword out. At the battle you see only Bjorn and floki shows up saying he was protecting him and squeeze was nowhere in sight, was he protecting them from attack or was squeeze not who she claimed to be. Then there's the end where all of king horiks Children were slaughtered (minus the slaves I'm assuming they were) and yet they don't show horiks oldest being killed. You'd think for a character like his, they would of shown him killed on screen and if he's not dead, why kill every other kid but him?

 

[Lejuan]

Its just small pieces such as

1. Yes, confusing... dosage must've been pretty precise
2. I just assumed she conveniently drifted into the background.
3. Yeah, not sure why any mercy would be afforded there at all... maybe there's some part he plays in the next season?

 

[RavenEye]

Hmm... I wonder what would happen if GoT and Vikings collided.

 

[Bardoon]

Its just small pieces such as

Spoiler:

It looks like floki gives rollo and torstein the same mushrooms and yet only torstein is the only one who "dies" and they never talk about rollo dying or anything. Then there's the part where Floki is watching Bjorn and his main squeeze with his sword out. At the battle you see only Bjorn and floki shows up saying he was protecting him and squeeze was nowhere in sight, was he protecting them from attack or was squeeze not who she claimed to be. Then there's the end where all of king horiks Children were slaughtered (minus the slaves I'm assuming they were) and yet they don't show horiks oldest being killed. You'd think for a character like his, they would of shown him killed on screen and if he's not dead, why kill every other kid but him?

Spoiler:

I think it was two-fold. The mushrooms could be a unique drug/delicacy that the locals knew about, but a "foreigner" like King Horik didn't. Some mushrooms are known both as poisons AND hallucinogens. Hence, why he gave some to Rollo as well who has been injured (could've helped with the pain). However, the writers of the show also wanted to keep the audience convinced that Floki was a traitor. When he was watching Bjorn, it was intended to fool the audience that Floki might've chosen him to kill him, but was in reality looking after him in case Horik tried to spring another trap earlier than expected.

Horik's oldest son could show up early next season and we could see his fate. It could become a point of contention between Ragnar and Bjorn as you saw Bjorn was pretty dismayed that Ragnar had all of Horik's children killed.

Great season finale, I really like this show. If it was on STARZ! or HBO, it could seriously be a contender to Game of Thrones.

 

[Lejuan]

I love Vikings for its interpretation of actual historical events, but the grand narrative and character arcs that characterise GoT make it a completely different viewing experience for me. If I had to choose between the two it'd be no contest - GoT is a more intriguing, rewarding and demanding show to engage with. As Scareb pointed out, the S2 finale was kinda lazily pieced together - the writer shouldn't be so complicit in a deceit played out by the characters.

But meh - having two olde worlde shows of this calibre is luxury, I love it.

 

[ExMem-LarjaThwei]

Interesting to see that I'm not the only one who views HBO and Starz as the best TV networks out there. I'd say HBO is definitely superior to Starz though. I wouldn't in a million years say this show stands a chance against Game of Thrones or any other HBO show for that matter. It's good, but it's not extraordinary. Imagine all the nude scenes with Lagertha and Siggy we could have had if the show was developed under HBO/Starz.

Why did Floki force the mushrooms in Rollo's mouth like he was trying to poison him? I thought that and several other small incidents in the finale were poorly written/portrayed just to try and make us think Ragnar was going to be betrayed, or to help move the story along.

I don't really care much though, because I thought the finale overall was fantastic. I can just chalk that up to Floki being Floki.

I think this season was much better than the first, and I enjoyed the first.

Spoiler:

I don't know the specifics, but isn't Ragnar supposed to die pretty soon now? Doesn't he get thrown into that pit of snakes? I'm curious to see if the show will continue without him. I hope it does.

 

[Scareb]

Spoiler:

I just found it to be as mentioned, shoddy writing. As viewers, we obviously dont know what the mushrooms are. If I remember how it played out, floki gets the mushrooms, forces rollo to eat them, gives them to torstein who immediately dies and then you see rollo trying to stand and siggy putting the axe down. I was scratching my head when that happened. On top of that, what was the point of the rollo scene at all? If he were to have the same thing happen then why didn't we see siggy run out yelling rollo is dead, you'd think that they would make a big deal about that.

I realize that they wanted to make floki appear as he was turning against ragnar but again I just found it odd that Bjorn returned to the village alone and then floki pops up saying he was protecting him with the gf nowhere in sight. I figured she would have joined in the fight as she does have some skill and wants to prove her worth as a potential shieldmaiden. Or at least shown up at the end in the hall. At least they sent away Helga back to her home to explain why she wasn't there.

Also sadly they didn't do a very good job of showing the conflict between floki and ragnar. It literally went "hey we're friends" to " I don't want ragnar at our wedding". I think they could have done a little better to show them fighting and disagreeing. I also saw flokis non-betrayal a million miles away because of one key scene earlier in the season. When They were in England and Ragnar and horik had words, after horik stormed off, ragnar give a look to floki who took off and went into horiks tent and they never mentioned it again. Beginning of the big trick.

 

[Scareb]

Interesting to see that I'm not the only one who views HBO and Starz as the best TV networks out there. I'd say HBO is definitely superior to Starz though. I wouldn't in a million years say this show stands a chance against Game of Thrones or any other HBO show for that matter. It's good, but it's not extraordinary. Imagine all the nude scenes with Lagertha and Siggy we could have had if the show was developed under HBO/Starz.

Why did Floki force the mushrooms in Rollo's mouth like he was trying to poison him? I thought that and several other small incidents in the finale were poorly written/portrayed just to try and make us think Ragnar was going to be betrayed, or to help move the story along.

I don't really care much though, because I thought the finale overall was fantastic. I can just chalk that up to Floki being Floki.

I think this season was much better than the first, and I enjoyed the first.

Spoiler:

I don't know the specifics, but isn't Ragnar supposed to die pretty soon now? Doesn't he get thrown into that pit of snakes? I'm curious to see if the show will continue without him. I hope it does.

As to your spoiler question

Spoiler:

If I remember correctly, it isn't until ragnars kids are older (enough to set out on their own raids) where he becomes jealous of them and on a raid is captured where upon THAT happens

 

[Eiko82]

I'm now on episode 3 of season 2. Took me a while to get into the series but now, I'm hooked. Very good series.

Can't stand Princess Aslaug. I'll never understand why Ragnor ditched Lagertha for her.

 

[Mr. Green]

I'm now on episode 3 of season 2. Took me a while to get into the series but now, I'm hooked. Very good series.

Can't stand Princess Aslaug. I'll never understand why Ragnor ditched Lagertha for her.

Spoiler:

Lagertha had a still born or couldn't have a child back then so he had to move on

 

[Eiko82]

Why did Floki force the mushrooms in Rollo's mouth like he was trying to poison him? I thought that and several other small incidents in the finale were poorly written/portrayed just to try and make us think Ragnar was going to be betrayed, or to help move the story along.

I agree with this. Some things were poorly written just to make the viewers think Ragnar was going to be betrayed. I wonder when the 'big con' started. It seems that Ragnar and Floki decided to test/betray King Horik after they left England but I'm not sure why. I also find it hard to believe that Siggy was in on it the whole time.

Spoiler:

About the killing of Horik's children, did they kill all of them? Or just the boys? We see a couple of young women surviving but I'm not sure if those were just servants and/or some of Horik's daughters.

 

[Scareb]

I agree with this. Some things were poorly written just to make the viewers think Ragnar was going to be betrayed. I wonder when the 'big con' started. It seems that Ragnar and Floki decided to test/betray King Horik after they left England but I'm not sure why. I also find it hard to believe that Siggy was in on it the whole time.

Spoiler:

About the killing of Horik's children, did they kill all of them? Or just the boys? We see a couple of young women surviving but I'm not sure if those were just servants and/or some of Horik's daughters.

I believe all of the children that were with Horik were his children. It was weird though. They killed all the boys so that horiks lineage couldn't continue but they spared his oldest son therefore making this act pointless.

The season ended months ago so I'm not going to spoiler tag this.

 

[Solidus]

I'm not going to spoiler tag this either, since Season 2 ended last year . In any case, I finally got caught up with the episodes, and I can't help but think how Jarl Borg was such a sympathetic character, who always got screwed over by Horik and Ragnar. He really didn't deserve such a vile death.

I hope Ragnar gets dropped down a peg or two in Season 3, because the power's getting to his head. He has the making of an awful tyrant.

 

[GasparZizou]

Jarl Borg was a ******, he wen't against Ragnar even despite knowing it wasn't his decision to go raiding without him, it was King Horrik's decision, he messed with Ragnar, he got what was coming to him.

Ragnar doesn't strike me as a Tyrant, Solidus, do you know the story behind Ragnar? I did some reading about him and history has definitely some spoilers

 

[Solidus]

Jarl Borg was a ******, he wen't against Ragnar even despite knowing it wasn't his decision to go raiding without him, it was King Horrik's decision, he messed with Ragnar, he got what was coming to him.

Ragnar doesn't strike me as a Tyrant, Solidus, do you know the story behind Ragnar? I did some reading about him and history has definitely some spoilers

I really don't see why Ragnar couldn't have just declined Horik's proposition to raid without Jarl Borg, because it was breaking a sacred pact. Horik needed Ragnar for the raids (it would have been impossible without him), and if Ragnar wanted, he could have used it as leverage to keep their alliance intact. But, he was acting as Horik's lackey for the longest time, and I don't think Borg saw a difference between the two - which is most likely the reason, for why he attacked Kattlegat, in the first place.

The part that really got me though, was when Ragnar invited Jarl Borg into his house as a sign of "good will", but it ended up being a ruse to kill him. He didn't honorably challenge Borg to a duel, or meet him in battle. Instead, he chose to butcher him in the most cowardly and humiliating way possible.

Yeah, Ragnar's family suffered when they were being hunted by Borg, but none of them died. He reclaimed Kattlegat, and regained everything he lost, but he still wanted to appease his lust for blood. And it didn't just end there. Ragnar's men butcher all of Horik's children, except for his only son. He clearly didn't have any empathy when it came to other people's children.

Ragner has some redeeming qualities, but he strikes me as someone who craves fame and power, and won't hesitate to kill anyone whom he sees as a threat. He also doesn't like to share in the glory of their exploits - Floki designs his ships, and Rollo's the most powerful berserker in their army, but they're both conveniently left in the background.

As for the historical accounts, I think all of that pillaging, raping, and killing of the innocent needed some necessary repercussions .

 

[fosing]

i cant complain about Borg's blood eagle fate....WARDRUNA.

 

[fosing]

you folks wonder why women in those regions(netherlands, norway, sweden, etc) are pretty HOT?? them vikings took them pretty ones from the brits and its neighbors....and they left the ugly ones.

 

[GasparZizou]

@Solidus But Horik had the ships and the men necessary for the size of the raiding they had planned, without King Horik, raiding wasn't possible, Horik could've gone raiding someplace else anyway, Jarl Borg didn't go against King Horik because most likely he had no chance, even with Horik gone away, so he went against Ragnar.

Thus Ragnar repaid Jarl with the same coin, Jarl took Kattegat in a cowardly way too.

Yeah, Ragnar's no good guy at all, he's a conqueror, Vikings were ruthless people from what I've read, but taking his context into consideration, he wasn't a bad guy at all either.

 

[GasparZizou]

you folks wonder why women in those regions(netherlands, norway, sweden, etc) are pretty HOT?? them vikings took them pretty ones from the brits and its neighbors....and they left the ugly ones.

Yeah I read that somewhere, they weren't dumb at all

i cant complain about Borg's blood eagle fate....WARDRUNA.

Awesome soundrack, I listen to it everytime I read Thor comics.