Vikings 4.20: Ends and Starts

A good end to a good not great second part of the fourth season of Vikings, with pieces well in place for the next.

The most surprising development was Ivar killing Sigurd - more than surprising, shocking, actually, and not because we didn't know that Ivar had the temper to do that.  But killing a brother is something we haven't previously seen on Vikings, including, especially, Ragnar and Rollo, and it;s bound to shake up everything.   Will Bjorn still sail south?  How will the other brothers come to terms with this?  Anything is possible next season, which is good for the series.  That was the best part of the season finale.

Ecbert's conning the Vikings was ok, but it was both too little and too much.   I wouldn't have minded seeing Ecbert somehow survive, or, if not, see his attempt to fool the Vikings dramatically fail.  I guess this is supposed to symbolize why the Vikings actually didn't permanently take over any part of England in our real history, so in Ecbert's end we have the narrative constrained by real history once again.

Helga's death was sad but predictable - there was no other reason that she would have accompanied Floki on this expedition with her captive child.   Floki's response was also to be expected.  But it was good seeing him walk off in the mist.   Perhaps we'll see him again.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers' character was good to see and promises to be compelling.  And it's only appropriate that someone who did so well in Michael Hirst's earlier great series, The Tudors, comes back on Hirst's currently excellent Vikings.  But I would have liked to see a little more development and build-up of Meyers' lusty warrior-priest, rather than just dropping him in unconnected at the end.

He will be a good, radically different successor to Ecbert, not as king, but as adversary of Ragnar's sons, and I'm looking forward to more.


See also Vikings 4.1: I'll Still Take Paris ... Vikings 4.2: Sacred Texts ...Vikings 4.4: Speaking the Language ... Vikings 4.5: Knives ... Vikings 4.8: Ships Up Cliff ... Vikings 4.10: "God Bless Paris" ... Vikings 4.11: Ragnar's Sons ... Vikings 4.12: Two Expeditions ... Vikings 4.13: Family ... Vikings 4.14: Penultimate Ragnar? ... Vikings 4.15: Close of an Era ... Vikings 1.16: Musselman ... Vikings 1.17: Ivar's Wheels ... Vikings 1.18: The Beginning of Revenge ... Vikings 4.19: On the Verge of History

And see also Vikings 3.1. Fighting and Farming ... Vikings 3.2: Leonard Nimoy ...Vikings 3.3: We'll Always Have Paris ... Vikings 3.4: They Call Me the Wanderer ... Vikings 3.5: Massacre ... Vikings 3.6: Athelstan and Floki ...Vikings 3.7: At the Gates ... Vikings 3.8: Battle for Paris ... Vikings 3.9: The Conquered ... Vikings Season 3 Finale: Normandy

And see also Vikings 2.1-2: Upping the Ante of Conquest ... Vikings 2.4: Wise King ... Vikings 2.5: Caught in the Middle ... Vikings 2.6: The Guardians ...Vikings 2.7: Volatile Mix ... Vikings 2.8: Great Post-Apocalyptic Narrative ... Vikings Season 2 Finale: Satisfying, Surprising, Superb

And see also Vikings ... Vikings 1.2: Lindisfarne ... Vikings 1.3: The Priest ... Vikings 1.4:  Twist and Testudo ... Vikings 1.5: Freud and Family ... Vikings 1.7: Religion and Battle ... Vikings 1.8: Sacrifice
... Vikings Season 1 Finale: Below the Ash

 
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