Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

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

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Vikings 5.16: Peace and War

A quieter than usual episode of Vikings tonight - 5.16 - as the major players re-set the table after last week's epic battle. Quieter than usual, that is, until the end.

In real history, Alfred succeed Athelred to the throne, after he died. In Vikings, Athelred dies because his mother poisons him, so her other son, King Alfred, can remain King. It's a nice dramatic touch, and makes sense, given that Judith will do anything to protect her beloved Alfred. After all, he's sick now, and Athelred came close to betraying Alfred before.

Poison is not as boisterous as battle, so I guess this episode of Vikings did remain pretty quiet throughout. But it's certainly building up to another massive battle, as Bjorn joins Harald in his plan to take back Kattegat. Give the look in Harald's eye at the end, though, it's not clear whether the two will make the journey without out some sort of duel which will leave one of them dead.

About the only thoroughly peaceful development takes place in Iceland with Floki and his small band of people. They decide to go help the family which didn't want to join them, disdained what they were trying to do, when Floki and his people learn that the outsiders are very ill. Significantly, they have none of our modern fear of contagion, likely because back then, disease was thought to be caused by evil spirits or displeasure of the gods, not bacteria or viruses. In the sense that this absence of knowledge allows Floki to do something very generous and humane, we could say that ignorance is bliss.

I have no knowledge of what actually happened to Ivar, so I'm looking forward to seeing what happens there in ensuing episodes. Actually, based on what happened to Athelred, knowledge of history doesn't actually tell you what will happen in this docudrama, either. That's just one of its many charms.