Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing 3 Body Problem; Black Doves; Bosch; Citadel; Criminal Minds; Dark Matter; Dexter: Original Sin; Dune: Prophecy; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outlander; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Last of Us, Way Home; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Monday, December 17, 2018

Vikings 5.11: Rollo's Son

Vikings returned for the second half of its fifth season a few weeks ago. The first new episode wasn't really new. It was a nice retrospective of the previous four and a half seasons. The new action starts in 5.11, where we learn that ...

Bjorn is Rollo's son. Or at least, that's what Rollo says. We last saw Rollo at the very end of 5.10 earlier this year. I thought he was showing up, a little late, to turn the tide of the battle agains Ivar, on behalf of Lagertha and Bjorn. I wasn't quite right - but I wasn't completely wrong, either.

Rollo wants to save the two by taking them to France, where Rollo is the King's right-hand man. He's not just the military leader, he's married to the King's daughter, which makes him the second strongest man in the country. And he's all but invincible in battle when he's commanding a big, well-trained force. He beat Ragnar and Bjorn the last time they tried to take Paris. Rollo now tells Bjorn that Rollo is his father. Significantly, no one quite denies this. Indeed, everyone agrees that Rollo and Lagertha slept together around the same time as Lagertha was sleeping with Ragnar, then her husband. Since there was no DNA testing back then, I guess there's no way of confirming or refuting Rollo's claim. Come to think of it, I'm not even 100% sure that DNA could decisively indicate whether Bjorn is Ragar's son or nephew. In any case, Bjorn and Lagertha refuse Rollo's kind offer. They opt instead to go back to England with Bishop Heahmund.

When they reach England, I really enjoyed the folks speaking Old English - which sounds a lot like Yiddish, which is a lot like Middle German. And there's a good story brewing there. Meanwhile, back in Scandinavia, Ivar may be finding the closest we've seen him so far to actually desiring, caring for, feeling something that could last for a woman.

All of which adds up to some powerful smoldering material for the rest of the fifth season. I'll be back here soon with my review of 5.12, and then on a weekly basis for the remainder of Season 5.