No one is safe as the season finale of Vikings approaches. Tread carefully, there are plenty of spoilers below.
It’s a time of war—too bad everyone’s busy hating everyone else. Power struggles between brothers, lovers, and families boiled over during a crucial moment in England and Kattegat. A lot of viewers were bummed that the main battle between the Viking army and King Aelle was cut from last week’s episode, but now we know why the series creators choose to leave one behind in order to explore another battle: Behold, the sons of Ragnar against Prince Aethelwulf. *cue cliffhanger*
I mean, come on though, there’s one episode left this season—they had to keep the hype going for a bit longer. Thankfully, itt appears that Ragnar’s sweet revenge will rain down upon Aethelwulf soon enough. It might come down to a showdown worthy of the season finale. Vikings has always been about presenting a heavy dose of fairly historical-accurate strategy alongside gory battles. For whatever reasons, not every fight/battle/war on TV can be a huge set-piece with dragons, giants, and explosions. So I praise the subtle but complex battles going down on Vikings. (But I’m also very much in favor of more horrific blood eagles, History Channel.)
As seen in our previously posted exclusive clip, a brainstorm sesh between the five brothers quickly turned into the “grunting of little pigs” which Ragnar totally called out before his death. They have so many family dynamics going on: Björn and Ubbe are the obligatory elders of the bunch, though Björn has the leg-up though cause, y’know, he dove naked into an hole in the ice and single-handedly fought a bear earlier this season.
[Slow clap for Björn’s badass moments]
Hvitserk is the sweet, level-headed middle child I need more time with, and he’s also involved in a throuple with Ubbe’s wife, who’s in love with both of them. Cheers! And then there’s Sigurd, who has a lot of growing up to do, but how about dealing with those mother issues first? Oh, and Ivar apparently thinks he’s the solo-avenger and harbinger of Ragnar’s revenge, plus he wants to kill Björn’s mom/Queen with a knife to the eye cause she killed his mom/Queen. Geez, one step at a time, guys… In theory the five should be best bros during this bloody revenge plot with a fully united army supporting them, right? But with all these unresolved issues, will they slowly turn on one another, especially now that Ivar has the major moot point of his ingenuity in this battle?
Backtrack to England, and Finehair continued his creeper quest for his crush, Princess Ellisif, killing her sweet husband in cold blood and leaving the poor Princess with more reasons to despise him. Except, she does a complete 180 and gives herself up to him, only in time to die when Halfdan arrives to save his brother from the throes of yet another “fickle” woman. Not cool, bro…
Several bursts of unrest from the Norsemen that Finehair and Halfdan plotted with put the pressure on Queen Lagertha, testing the limits of her strategies and overall badassery. (Came for the shieldmaiden combat, stayed for the Daenerys vibes.) Torvi—armored with her expert level crossbow skills—and Astrid fought with honor, and succeeded in defending their home… this time. King Harald Finehair and Halfdan have been ousted though! Start planning your new quest for revenge, Lagertha. (P.S. don’t die!)
Now, prepare yourselves, for next week is the last of season four. It’s been a long journey since we started last year, but there’s still more loose ends to get to before the next gen Lothbroks take flight across land and sea. Join us next Wednesday for episode 20, the season four finale, “The Reckoning.”
Images: The History Channel
GIF: VikingsHistory/Tumblr
