Welcome to episode five of Vikings season four! Once again please note this recap contains heavy spoilers! You’ve been officially warned! Lots of spoiling to do for this episode, and we haven’t even hit the mid-season mark yet! Thanks for returning, friends!

After the last few Ragnar/Bjorn-centered episodes, it was nice to jump into things from the woodlands of Hedeby. Long live Earl Ingstad! Under Lagertha’s command, a fleet of shield maidens were obviously prepared to protect Lagertha as she worked her way through her scheme. We learned that Erlendur and Kalf are still set on destroying Ragnar and his sons— apparently through their spy, Torvi, who’s Bjorn’s current main lady in Kattagat. And to top things off, Lagertha was revealed to be pregnant with Kalf’s child (there is some potential that this could have been a lie, though). But before Kalf could betray her any further, Lagertha stabbed the guy and claims Hedeby back in her name! That’s right, Erlendur. Cower in fear!

Yidu spoke a bit more about her past in China because—surprise!—she’s royalty, too. Ruled by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty, China was under a golden era during 626 to 649 and Yidu was one of the Emperor’s many daughters. It’s interesting to keep other empires of that era in mind as King Ragnar approaches his Norse destiny. It’s also clear that he’s become addicted to Yidu’s “ancient Chinese medicine.” Whether it’s the drugs or pressure, Ragnar confides in no one but Yidu now. He spoke of his loss of desire and strength for raiding, which is justified—every single time he’s been across the sea, he’s faced extreme loss, and has always returned with a stronger sense of guilt.

Everyone has trust issues on Vikings, but none quite as bad as Ragnar and Floki do at the moment. Although King Ragnar has pardoned Floki and saved him from certain death in a cave, there’s still the issue of Athelstan’s murder. And to add insult to injury, Floki unofficially sided with Finehair and his brother Halfdan, joined by their hatred of Christians. With 20 boats and 600 men, Finehair and his brother Halfdan “The Black” indefinitely set themselves up in Kattegat. Finehair sided with Bjorn’s brimming explorer convictions by promising victory against the Christians in Paris for both of them. Also, how insane was that scene with Ivar?! Floki has himself a true Viking pupil, and his first lesson was apparently murder.

The newest duo of scheming friends, Duke Rollo and Count Odo, have made progress with their plans to destroy any Viking fleet that dares cross into Frankia again. However, Odo’s time might be numbered after Therese’s announced ploy to bring him down with the Emperor’s blessing and her brother’s help. With his distant desires to set up his own court in Northern lands, Rollo has become quite comfortable in his new position of power. He and Gisla are deep in their long overdue honeymoon stage (can you say power couple?). And oh the irony of Rollo mentioning that only a coward would stab a man in his back when it was only a few episodes ago that he did just that to his own people in France.

Oh, and there’s also this morsel of news released today: Vikings has officially been renewed! Skol to season five in 2017! Also, Jonathan Rhys Myers is joining the cast, which could mean something very Irish is in the works…

So let us hear your Vikings comments below. And do return next week for our episode six recap, “What Might Have Been.”

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Image Credit: The History Channel
GIF Credit: VikingsHistory/Tumblr