Vikings S3

[Gov Kodos]

Egbert has no friends, methinks, just useful tools something Kwentrith is likely to soon find out. Being the planner her is, he's got to figure Ragnar will learn of the settlement's destruction and likely not to be fooled that it was rogue nobles. He won't want Ragnar getting aid from a grateful Mercia in his eventual return to Wessex. Paris should be fun, the promo looked great.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I think Rollo may be the only sane one left in this series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was more interested in what was going on in England than France. Ecbert was in rare form (and I get the sense that he envies Judith for her intimacy with Athelstan), and Evil Queen Slutbunny was earning her nickname on all fronts.

I'm thinking that things aren't going to go so well for Floki. Ragnar knows, and if anything could drive a wedge between them, it's Athelstan's murder...even Floki's girlfriend was horrified. We've seen how cold-blooded Ragnar can be....If there should come a day when he feels that he doesn't need Floki anymore....

I was surprised that Lagertha went to Paris. Did I miss an exchange last week in which she relented?

 

[Forbin]

I kept waiting for Odo to shape-shift!

We have a firm date for this episode - According to Wiki the attack on Paris happened in March 845 AD, on Easter.

 

[137th Gebirg]

It was foolish for Floki to brag to Helga about Althalstan's murder. I'm sure Ragnar always had his suspicions. Now he has a confession. He's definitely biding his time with Floki, because he does need him to build the siege engines for Paris. Putting him "in charge" of the operation when he clearly demonstrates that he's out of his element tells me that Ragnar is giving him just enough rope to hang himself. Floki is a truly gifted engineer, but a field commander he most certainly is not.

I really do feel his end is close - his murderous zealotry has put him off in the deep end and I think it's simply a matter of "when" and not "if" he will wind up with a dagger in his throat. Kind of a shame - he's always been one of my favorite characters on this show, but in the past season-and-a-half, he's really just been slipping into oblivion.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Putting him "in charge" of the operation when he clearly demonstrates that he's out of his element tells me that Ragnar is giving him just enough rope to hang himself.

Good call, now that you mention it. OTOH, taking Paris seems to be too important to Ragnar for him to jeopardize it as a way of taking out Floki. Perhaps more a matter of making sure that Floki's at the forefront and thus more likely to be taken out by the French...the same thing I was thinking he'd brought Earl Boytoy for.

 

[Greg Cox]

Interesting episode. Seems as though Paris is giving us at least three new characters: the king, the princess, and Odo. And is Ecbert out to seduce his son's wife? Shameless!

All of this was set-up to the attack on Paris, of course. Looking forward to this week's ep.

 

[Beagleman]

And is Ecbert out to seduce his son's wife? Shameless!

I don't think he is interested in her, only her connection to Althalstan. Just like Ragnar he saw an intelectual peer in Althalstan, a peer without any threat to his postion. ...And perhaps they both had the hots for him.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, the vibe I got at first was that he was hitting on her, but it became clear that it was really about Athelstan. I'm now under the strong impression that the king has feelings for Athelstan that he'd dare not acknowledge, and therefore he's channeling them in other ways.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Holy effing crap...are they planning to kill one of the regulars in every episode now...?

(OK, guess he's still alive...he looked pretty dead at first....)

 

[Gov Kodos]

Holy effing crap...are they planning to kill one of the regulars in every episode now...?

(OK, guess he's still alive...he looked pretty dead at first....)

The show is doing a good job of keeping the audience on edge. Gotta love Lagertha. Sure we can sleep together, bit I'm still gonna kill ya.

 

[The Old Mixer]

For a bit there I thought he was losing his woody over that, but evidently not....

 

[Gov Kodos]

For a bit there I thought he was losing his woody over that, but evidently not....

The way Lagertha and Ragnar went at it, how Bjorn and Porun got together, now this, Viking and Klingon foreplay show little difference.

 

[Forbin]

I think the only thing that would make me lose my woody for Lagertha is if she whacked it off with a sword.

 

[Greg Cox]

Hmm. Paris is proving a tough nut to crack. I'm uncertain: was Ragnar deliberately setting Floki up to fail? If so, that was a very costly bit of revenge. Would Ragnar really sacrificing all those warriors just to get back at Floki?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I think maybe Ragnar figured it wouldn't be an easy siege no matter how they went about it, and put Floki out there as the face of the initial phase that he knew was bound to go rough. As Rollo indicated, now they can correct their mistakes.

It was nice to see Floki get a bit of comeuppance at this point. His cowering and ranting inside the burning siege tower was very evocative of...something, but I can't put my finger on it.

And of course, it was all about Athelstan. Hatred can just be a twisted form of love.

 

[Unicron]

Did anyone else think it a bit odd that Bjorn survived the tower? I actually thought at first that was not going to be the case, especially judging from his injuries.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, that was my while-watching reaction a few posts above...I was definitely under the impression that he was supposed to be dead at first, what with him being all limp and full of arrows with his eyes open.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Did anyone else think it a bit odd that Bjorn survived the tower? I actually thought at first that was not going to be the case, especially judging from his injuries.

He survived crossbow bolts to the back and was undoubtedly tossed over the wall then subsequently surviving 9th century surgery. I think Ironside is an apt nickname in spite of his protestations toward the moniker.

 

[The Old Mixer]

At least we got a father/son bonding moment out of it...I like that their relationship isn't as angsty as it has the potential to be.