Vikings S3

[Ol' Scratch]

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.

Totally.

I used to really like Floki until these last few episodes. He went from devoted but lovable nutjob to full-blown psychopath. I just wish I could figure out what Ragnar's endgame is with him. I know setting him up with failure was obvious part of it, but why here and now during such an important time?

Also, Jarl Prettyboy needs to die. He got to feel up my future wife Lagertha, and that will not stand. It simply won't!

 

[The Old Mixer]

So...wonder where they're going with this "Ragnar dying" thing....Could they possibly kill him off and shift focus to Rollo (who they've gone out their way to show has gotten the attention of the French)?

 

[ITL]

And if he doesn't croak, he's in right trouble for getting a sneaky baptism without telling anyone.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Yeah, that was an awkward moment...."Oh...what are you doing here?"

 

[Gov Kodos]

I wouldn't be surprised if his health went on an upswing thus bringing about a few more conversions. Missionaries were heading north at that time, and not a few Norsemen had baptisms of convenience to help in setting up trading stations in Christian Europe. I expect we may see more iron man tests in the near future.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Ah...good call.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I shouldn't be surprised if Rollo's baptism, one of convenience and and he saw it and mentioned earlier this season talking to Floki, comes up again. Floki's reaction to Ragnar's baptism was predictably pissed off, Lagertha was disconcerted, but Rollo was played with a lot of conflict in his reaction. In that conversation in Mercia with Floki, Rollo talked about the need for alliances, even with Christians, as the way forward for everyone. This stunt of Ragnar's could be just as big a turning point for Rollo as well. He has been determined to stick by Ragnar and make up for past screw ups. They've played up Rollo becoming a wiser man through out this season. That new found wisdom may start coming into play next week.

 

[Greg Cox]

Okay, even by VIKINGS standards, that was a brutal episode. The botched beheading, the red-hot poker test, and the Spiked Rolling Pin of Gory Death . . . yikes!

Pretty obvious that something is going to happen between Rollo and the French princess, who seems strangely fascinated by him . . . .

And, yep, turns out that Ecbert did have designs on Judith after all. That didn't take long, not that Judith has many options at this point.

I'll be curious to see where the finale leaves us on Thursday.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm going to call that Floki gets killed. They've written him in a corner where he can't go back to being Ragnar's buddy, and they've also gone out of their way lately to emphasize him as a representative of the old gods, so it would be symbolically fitting as the Vikings move toward Christianity.

 

[Greg Cox]

Honestly, I'm ready for Floki to die. He was a great character early on--eccentric, unpredictable, entertaining--but he's become kind of a one trick pony, who just keeps harping on about the gods and the danger posed by the Christ-God, to the exclusion of all else. The zealotry was always there, to be sure, but it seems to have subsumed his entire personality and character at this point . . ..

 

[Gov Kodos]

I think I'd have more easily seen Floki's militant zealotry, and even Kattagat's with the killing the missionary, had there been more hint of such missionaries. The Carolingian state had been pushing into Danish territory at this time. The Danes and other Scandinavians had significant trade and contact with the Christian states and numerous baptisms of convenience and some may and likely did take it more seriously than others. The awkward abruptness of this Norse zealotry seems to me because the show has played a British contact centered version of the Vikings and not dealt with the much larger world in which they were traveling from Constantinople to Ireland and beyond. There's fine story telling possibilities sticking to a family story but it's cost is this telescoping timeline of people and events as well as missing out on the very much broader experience of events the Viking world had than is depicted in this show.

 

[Beagleman]

Honestly, I'm ready for Floki to die. He was a great character early on--eccentric, unpredictable, entertaining--but he's become kind of a one trick pony, who just keeps harping on about the gods and the danger posed by the Christ-God, to the exclusion of all else. The zealotry was always there, to be sure, but it seems to have subsumed his entire personality and character at this point . . ..

That's how I feel, there just is nowhere for the character to go at this point. Sad but time to let him go.

 

[The Old Mixer]

To clarify my previous post, it seems to me that they've been deliberating writing him to that end.

 

[The Old Mixer]

So...clever ploy on Ragnar's part. I saw it coming when he died quietly offscreen and everybody started confessing at his coffin. I have to wonder how they organized what followed without cluing everybody in that Ragnar was alive, though.

And I was surprised that Floki was still breathing at the end.

And meet the Duke of Normandy!

All this, plus Fifty Shades of Odo!

 

[Forbin]

Honestly, I did NOT see that coming.

I guess it shows the basic Viking mentality is oriented only toward plunder. He HAD the emperor and the princess under his knife, and he let them go, the plan being only to get the gates open so they could raid the city.

That was a REALLY nice coffin, though. Shame to leave it behind.

 

[Ol' Scratch]

Ragnar knew he couldn't hold Paris, at least being ignorant as he was to the emperor's lack of support from neighboring kingdoms.

I absolutely loved his Trojan Horse gig. I saw it coming a mile away, especially when they emphasized the seer's prophecy earlier, but it was still great. Especially when he stabbed the bishop in the throat just to show how much of a scam the whole thing really was from the start.

 

[Shurik]

Seems like Michael Hirst combined the events of about 80 years into one Sack of Paris, I guess it makes sense if he wants to the series to be about the Viking Age in general. So, Alfred the Great vs the Vikings next year? If it's the case, I'd like the show to go to Ireland, because it suffered from Viking invasions probably even more than Britain.

That scam Ragnar pulled off actually happened, but it was Bjorn Ironside who raided some Italian city this way, thinking it was Rome ("actually happened" in as much as we can trust various Viking stories).

 

[The Old Mixer]

The coffinside confessions put Ragnar and Lagertha in an interesting place. He'd be an idiot not to see how much she cares about him...but she's likely pretty pissed at him now.