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.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Vikings 5.19-20: Few Endings and Many Beginnings

I decided to review the final two episodes of this great season of Vikings together, since they're more of a piece than any other two episodes this season. I liked these two episodes a lot, since, even though they were the season finales, there were few if any really important endings. That's good. It will be fun to see so many of our favorite and hated characters again.

Over in Iceland, it looks like Floki may be gone, though even that crushing scene was far from definitive. Knowing Floki, we might yet see him crawl back to the surface and life. We know, at any rate, that Iceland will continue.

In England, Judith is gone. So is Ivar's wife, killed by Ivar after she gives Bjorn the secret passageway to Kattegat. And in the battle to take that walled town, so is Ragnar's English son.

And that's it. Ivar survived, even though his rule did not. The two kings - Olaf and Harald - both amply survived, and creds to Harald for saving Bjorn's life, even though they came to blows last week. This bodes well for their future cooperation. Hvitserk and Ubbe not so much, since Ubbe still holds Hvitserk's joining Ivar against him. Ubbe is a hero even though he didn't fight in the battle for Kattegat. His one-on-one duel with the Dane last week made the permanent Norse settlement in England possible.

And then there's Lagertha. She came back, strengthened Ubbe in England, and now she can support Bjorn in Kattegat. Even Ragnar himself was on hand - as a ghost or in Bjorn's imagination - to provide sage counsel to his son.

But Ivar's escape means all's by no means well for the surviving sons of Ragnar. Where will Ivar go? I'm thinking ... maybe England? To try to raise a Viking army to retake Kattegat? We'll find out next season, said to be returning soon, and I'll be back with more reviews.