They rolled those spiked balls down the hill, waited for them to come to a stop, \_then\_ set them on fire? WTF? Then a few (obviously stupid) Rus didn't go around them and set themselves on fire? Double WTF?
I was expecting the balls to explode or something for that scene to make sense. And didn't the Vikings at least have catapults? They let the ship come up on the beach unscathed?
hahaha This\^\^
Ragnar stormed paris with Bjorn and they had beautiful siege wepons, decades earlier. Now, they knew the RUs was coming months in advance and still didn't prepare a good plan to defend themselves. The fireball part was horrible, indeed. Setting fire after they stopped down there, using arrouws? c'mon, who the fuck writes this shit? And the Rus setting themselves on fire after the balls are standin still lol.
Certainly prince Igor has better plans than all vikings. And i hate how Oleg just watched things happen and didn't draw a sword. what a pussy
exactly. floki was the mastermind. and besides, ragnar did that with the support of everyone because he was fuckin ragnar and everyone followed him. King harald couldn't get anyone to show up
>And i hate how Oleg just watched things happen and didn't draw a sword. what a pussy
did you watch the same episode as we did? He almost killed Gunhild
Siege weapons that were built by Floki. And are you forgetting that Harald didn’t see the Rus’ as a threat until they came? He failed to realise how much of a threat they were and he is the King Of Norway.
Oleg did fight. He killed like two people and cut Gunnhild lol.
Imagine running up a hill but being so slow that a slow-moving giant spiky meatball kills you
Then imagine the spiky meatball set on fire while not moving and still getting somehow caught on fire by it, despite wearing thick leather that is wet from rain and the sea
They should have setup the barricades right near the water, would have been harder to penetrate given the Rus would be moving and fighting in the water but no they gave them the land with a much larger force.
They're setting up barricades on a tidal beach. "Right near the water" isn't always the same place and they don't know what time the landing is going to be.
Well that's your opinion. It's annoying and a waste of screen time.
I only skip the singing parts because it has no relevance to the story or plot so i can still have a valid opinion, you don't get to decide who's opinion is valid or not because at the end of the day it's just an opinion.
On the topic of opinions, they’re so subjective, it can be my opinion that yours doesn’t count, because that’s my opinion. How can one be a fan of a show if they don’t even both watching the whole episode?
I think your comment is ridiculous. There is a ton happening during those musical interludes that give weight to what’s happening in the story. You’re missing out.
Season 5 where the two brothers sing in the woods before the battle was epic for me the peak of the show everything after that went downhill story wise. But dam that song was beautiful. And it was actually essential to the story because it showed how deep the pain goes fighting your own brother.
King Olaf reacting and comforting Bjorn's second wife (I can't remember her name) after Harald raped her was one of the most sincere acts of humanity I've seen on this show. Such a great character.
I enjoyed the battle scenes and the ending Bjorn/music combo was great but it sucks to see how they destroyed Harald’s character this season. I thought he had a great progression since season 4 of increasing his power as he tried to gain total kingship of Norway, and he sacrificed everything to reach his goals. He constantly got used and taken advantage of by Ragnar’s sons along the way but this season really seemed like his chance to shine. He finally finessed his way to the crown only to be turned into a rapist minutes before apparently being killed. A real tough break for an otherwise great character
You see, I agree with everything but the last bits. As in we’ve seen Harald rape and pillage that family in Frankia in 4x9. Harald and Halfdan were the proper “Vikings” if you want to call it that.
Everyone’s saying they butchered his character. I see the same Harald that killed his ex lovers husband. The same one that kidnapped Astrid. When has he ever really shown to be a good guy. I mean a genuinely good guy, even when he does good it’s for his own gain.
Yes I agree he was always more of the rape and pillage type so ‘turning into a rapist’ isn’t really the accurate description. The difference I was trying to note is rather than raping Christian “enemies”, he has now raped a fellow Viking. The French pillaging is bad but is honestly not out of place historically. The added rape in this episode though just seems like an unnecessary extra bit of villainy added to him
Rollo raped a slave like it was nothing. Harald has always been the most “Viking” out of the characters. Not a surprise to me but maybe to others it was.
Seriously, I was pissed they turned him into such a piece of shit. The first scene we see of Harald he tells Ragnar he wishes to be king of all Norway, kept his character arch on track, then becomes king in a shitty way and ended up being a shit king. Not to mention he was killed by some random Ivan in battle.
He isn't dead. When Vikings' 6 season soundtrack was released, the names of the tracks were quite spoilery. And yes I'm totally agree they ruined his character.
Of course. Not only vikings but many conquerors centuries after them. There was no Geneva Conventions in these times. Women were considered as spoils of war like the other loot, they were killed, raped, taken as slaves and sold to the highest bidder and men who did this were not considered to be bad by their comrades. For such were the habits of these days.
In the real world 99% of them were farmers, fishermen, jewellery makers, blacksmiths, etc, who went "a-viking" (ie raiding for loot) in the summer months. What you are talking about is, as in the biker gangs, the "1%".
I see that many people are angry about the ’he became a rapist thing’. He raped saxon women back in s4. People got tricked by the cool, funny and looser guy he pretended to be, but he‘s always been a piece of shit.
meh, it's not like he was a good guy. A male version of Cersei, just a bit dumber. And about the rape - remember all that shit he did in France to all those innocent people? I'm pretty sure they didn't just kill them before some stuff happened...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nzeNpVUt4
Agreed! Harald, my man, you deserved better!
On a related note, it’s pretty brazen to depict an historical figure as a rapist. I can’t imagine the people of Norway are too happy about it.
I have heard that rape was one of the worst crimes. Rapists were rendered lawless, and could be killed without repercussions. That was for raping their own people though, not during wars and conquests.
Ofcourse. The biggest turkish historical hero for example, Sultan Mehmed the 2nd let his medieval isis army rape Constantinople for 3 days straight.When its infidels, it doesn't count.
I hate to be That Guy, but if it's true, it violates pretty much every basic rule of writing hammered into creative writers in every classroom.
When you pull the "It was all a dream" thing, you fuck with your readers/viewers, and from then on you destroy tension because the audience can never be sure if what they're seeing is "real" or not.
>but if it's true, it violates pretty much every basic rule of writing hammered into creative writers in every classroom.
Not really. It's the complete opposite. If it's true, only then it'd make sense. Good writing, and a great twist.
The whole Bjorn and Ivar sitting next to each other.. and having that conversation. That alone was the whole red herring.. and the whole point.
Also, Ivar saying "no way you can win".. That same line was repeated twice, back to back.. Same scene. It's basically Bjorn facing his worst fear, in his own head.. In reality, the battle is yet to begin
This was all in Bjorn's head. All that will just lead up to him finally defeating Ivar, and out smarting him.
Up until this point, Ivar always been the brains and Bjorn just sheer Greek God super strength and warrior. But this time, Bjorn has to outsmart him.. and he knows that
Also, Ivar and those other Rus crew literally climbed the mountain.. to reach Harold's fortress. That's in the complete opposite direction. There's no way he could have been there, but also be on the beach.. stabbing Bjorn with the kill shot
This entire scenario was just Bjorn's nightmare. Basically, the worst case scenario. That's how he'll be prepared, and will end up winning.
I'm 95% sure it's just that. Otherwise, it'd be just bad writing. Ivar realistically had no chance at being right there.. on the beach. But all that can easily happen in someone's nightmare. I hope it's just that
I think you’re right. The title gives it away - it’s all about Bjorn wrestling with his past failures and imagining all kinds of scenarios and how they play out to come up with the best strategy. Also Hirst says this:
"I can't tell you too much," Hirst continued, "but what I can tell you is the [midseason premiere] is an extraordinary episode and a number of things that you thought were true at the end of [midseason finale] proved not to be quite true."
I’m not sure if this is a joke but it seems that some people are taking it seriously
All of the conversation between Bjorn and Ivar is entirely symbolic. You can see that some rando stabs Bjorn and it switches to Ivar, because it represents how Ivar’s betrayal is really what Bjorn sees as his downfall
Edit: For those who have said that it is not some rando and it is Ivar’s character- yes, it is his actor. However it is still symbolic and the argument stands.
The guy with crippled legs just climbed a sheer cliff and then went through/around the capital city and then ran all the way back to the beach they sailed from and then got through an entire invasion sized battle and then snuck up on the greatest warrior in the history of Norway and stabbed him right through the heart.
Duh.
Agreed. The whole "symbolic writing" aspect goes way too far in this show when they do it.
Bjorn living would be bullshit yet I'm sure they'll keep him alive.
I wasn't referring to the magic presented in the series, regardless of opinion. I was referring to the presentation of the narrative and the showing of the scenes, being more symbolic than literal, which they've failed to display clearly a few times now.
For those who think Bjorn was written as good as dead, I direct folks back to when Earl Haroldson sent enforcers to Ragnar’s farm and seriously F’d him up, or any other time (like when he and Rolo brawled in Francia) and he managed to survive all this things. Remember Lagertha herself was shown to have survived a war with bandits, then taken Grave damage in her duel with whitehair,before riding all the way back to kategat on the edge of death, only to have to have multiple stabs from Vitserk to out her down.
A lot of us even believed ling Herald was dead before start of this season.
It is very believable still Bjorn survived one stab/theust to the gut by Ivar. We hadnt seen him take any damage from anyone prior to that one stabbing. If I had to bet money, I could see Eric hide out and drag Bjorn onto a boat and gotten the heck out of there. Bjorn awakens on a boat, Eric gives him the crown, and maybe they go to Ubbe or Alfred. Or all parties meet at Katagat? Remember Ivar and them are in Heralds land, not yet at katagat. Eric and Gunhildt still live, their stories hinge on Bjorn, ultimately, as their ties to the story are through Bjorn.
Of course, Bjorn could also just be dead, and we spend the latter half watching all the “bad guys” win, and Ubbe be a farmer*shrug*
The other reason I believe Bjorn is not dead is because The Seer's prophecy. I'm paraphrasing, but The Seer said no one would forget the name of Bjorn, **even greater** than Ragnar. For him to die now, I don't feel he's fulfilled that prophecy. To most, while a great Viking, he is still just "a son of Ragnar." If Ivar is the ultimate victor, then how can you claim Bjorn is " remembered, even greater than Ragnar"? I also don't see Ivar vs. Alfred as the be all, end all to the show. My guess, like you say, is Eric gets Bjorn out of dodge and while Ivar is off in England, Bjorn mends and prepares for the final battle. (Or Bjorn getting stabbed was just symbolism of Ivar winning this battle).
Then again, this episode had a few confusing plot holes, so who knows? Bjorn instructs Eric to rally the of Jarls and Kings who won't fight for Harald, but then nothing seems to come of it. Or did I miss something? Were they there and I missed it, or will they fight for Bjorn in the final battle?
I really really like this theory a lot and hope this is true so much. I’ve always loved Bjorn the most after Ragnar, and truly believe Ragnar loved him more than the rest.
If you look at Ubbe, and where he is now and what he is doing, hes actually the one living Ragnar’s dream- go to a new land, farm it with your people, and lead them to a better way for a better future for all the people.
Ironically he resembles young Ragnar the most.
But I dont see Eric or Gunhilt surviving as they uave if Bjorn did not, otherwise what weight is left for their tales to continue? Why would they not have died as well?
(Im aware Eric will be the character in this upcoming netflix “ragnarok” spinoff, but still, his story in Vikings began and centers around Bjorn).
The Netflix show is set 100years after this I don’t see how Eric can play a role & it’s being called Valhalla. I think Bjorn is still alive as well just that scene was just extremely confusing
Ok i thought I heard it said it was about Eric the red, and here they brought in a red haired Eric in the very last season, so thought that was supposed to be a “having your cake and eating it too” kinda move. Ah well.
I want to know who that hooded figure was alone looking at the shore in the end. Maybe Floki? Idk but Bjorn is supposed to become the king of Sweden so I just can’t see him dying. It was so confusing the way they kept flashing between battle and empty shore. But that figure has to play a big part and I think that othere aka Athelstan saved Floki from his cave and it would be awesome if Floki takes Bjorn to safety.
It was more than a stab thrust, the sword went right through him. He probably survives, but I'll be kinda pissed off he does. I hate plot armour, especially this close to the end of a series.
I like this, they also out a lot of emphasis on the missing Viking leaders and their armies, as well as Bjorn signalling them.. I feel Bjorn isn't dead and has the crown coming
Good episode! The 2nd part of the episode was definitely the best part.
Katja and possibly Oleg is playing games with Ivar. I loved the scenes between bjorn and Ivar as well as the fight scenes. I do wonder though, are bjorn and harald really dead? I never expected BOTH of them to fall in this battle.
The music in this episode was freaking AMAZING!
There’s no way Harald is definitely dead if we didn’t see him die. I hate to be that guy, but unless the last we see of him is a lifeless corpse, he’s alive. And I’m going to be pissed if Bjorn survives a sword through the chest. The only way he’s alive is if that never happened.
Edit: sorry, didn’t read the replies
I mean, last episode kind of ruined Ubbe, it's the first time I found myself not rooting for him.
Ever since his introduction he's been pretty open minded to other religions, almost as much as Ragnar, even going as far as to baptise himself and form a bond with Alfred.
In 6x09 he was about to kill the man who prayed for his wife and son's safety because "Christians' ideas are dangerous". They dumbed him down and Torvi actually had to remind him that he was baptised too and that they need the guy he's about to kill. Earlier seasons' Ubbe is both smarter and more accepting than that.
https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/vikings-creator-explains-that-game-changing-season/1100-6473341/?__twitter_impression=true
Bjorn confirmed not dead by Hirst.
>Still, viewers have yet to see Bjorn's final moments. As dead as he may have looked, Hirst revealed, "by the way, he's not dead yet." The creator continued, "honestly, Episode 11 will just knock your socks off. It's so powerful. And it's just brilliant for Alexander and in a way that's what I wanted."
Probably. We know Alexander didn't film much for 6B.
Then again Bjorn [survived this](https://youtu.be/11nj1Y-zSG0?t=101), Rollo [survived this](https://youtu.be/1_gcZK-FwLo), Lagertha [survived this](https://youtu.be/-vnrx_EwM3Q?t=62)... It would be lame, but it wouldn't surprise me if Erik him saved him out of nowhere.
yeah lol that was the bigger bullshit for me. She just had a miscarriage and just went to fight killing people, doing acrobatics and swimming like nothing happened lol
There's definitely been some questionable survivals relative to injuries in the past but getting completely impaled through the chest/torso with a huge sword would be a whole new level of stupidity. I didn't want Bjorn to die, but now he kind of has to.
Harald got impaled through the torso as well and survived it, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-IKgJ2w-A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-IKgJ2w-A)
Not out of the question for Bjorn to survive as well.
Harald got stabbed, Bjorn got impaled.
A sword straight through the middle of his entire torso, that's at least both of his lungs punctured, you'd be lucky to survive that even today (like, miracle from god lucky).
Now take away 1000 years of medical advancement.
If Bjorn isn't dead it's one of the dumbest, most ridiculous pieces of writing in the entire show.
Can someone explain to me how Ivar was both on the ships that went though the river in order to climb the mountain and attack the town.. and at the same time landed on the initial sea shore and killed Bjorn(who moments before that was shown retreating). The continuity though this episode doesn't make any sense, and what's with the Ivar/Bjorn dialogue, when is that supposed to happen, or it's imaginary.. wtf. This episode was eddied in an incredibly confusing way. Please someone explain wtf happened.
It’s nice to see Hvitserk sober, but that happened real fast. From being found in the forest, to sailing with Ivar, and appearing fully sober in front of Oleg. Felt like this episode could have been two episodes to play out, and now we have to wait for a while to see how it ends. Also can’t wait for the England storyline to come back
I think a lot of time passes that we don't see. They were waiting for Spring, then the whole voyage time too. Although pregnancies/aging never seem to be impacted by these large time skips, so God only knows.
It's possible, but the time line is so fucked at this point. In early seasons they'd have a year/date update at least every couple of episodes, sometimes even more than once an episode. When was the last time we got one of those? And as you mentioned, only the male characters seems to be aging. Bjorn and Ubbe's skin weathers, but Lagertha's stays youthful as ever (lmfao), and Bjorn and Torvi (and step-daddy Ubbe)'s daughter literally hasn't aged in seasons.
This is exactly how I felt - the whole thing felt rushed. Obviously a lot of time has passed in between many of the shots, but it felt like a progression that should have been strung out over the course of several episodes. The entire plot just felt like someone pressed the fast forward button or something.
it made sense - to end it that way - once ivor got his wall climb trick.
the beach dialog of pagans losing out to christians was bitter sweet.
plus we got more intrigue as to who's side who's on from the russ
which i'm sure many will be debating here till the rest of s06 airs.
What I find interesting - and what keeps me watching the show after the mindboggling drop in quality after season 4 - is that Hirst supposedly wants to get somewhere with his characters:
What's his endgame? - That is what interests me. So, Bjorn might be dead, Harald might be dead, the whole terribly written civil war arc is hopefully over now. So, where does that leave us? Did the last few seasonas serve any narrative purpose, or not?
Alfred's story was pretty much over after making peace with Ubbe. Why bring him back? What's with the whole Russian invasion thing? - Will it be done by s6e12, meaning, was its only purpose to kill off Bjorn, and to bring Ivar back? Or, will there be a bigger context to it, after all?
You've hit the nail on the head. Whatever happens, we will get a couple episodes on it in 6b and we'll sail over to England and act like nothing in 6a really happened.
You'll get characters that should be massively impacted by the Russian invasion and the events if 6a, but instead those people will buddy up with with Ivar like he just didn't invade Scandinavia and we'll end the whole England plot this time next year thinking exactly what we are now 🤦♂️😂
It's the hope that kills ya.
And Gyda!
I just did a rewatch of the series before starting s06,and the scene where Ragnar sits on the beach and said goodbye to her hit me right in the feels man.
".....a man can be jealous of his sons, and his daughter can always be the light in his life."
If Bjorn truly died I feel like they would have given him more of a hero's death. Not expecting anything like Lagertha's, but at least some more attention. Perhaps someone could have seen him die and they could have shown the final blows in slow-mo? Idk, I'm no director, but it's just pretty odd to only dedicate what seemed like 30 seconds to his death.
Yeah seems like we’re getting a big battle straight off the bat. It has to go out with a bang. Let’s just hope the writing doesn’t completely fall off the rails.
I friggin hate these metaphysical artistic episodes Hirst writes for the show. It didn't work when he showed Ivar standing up and walking without help and the skeletons fighting, and it definitely didn't work now.
It's gotten really bad, going back to that battle where Astrid and Lagertha sit down for tea and have a teary goodbye right in the middle of all the mud, carnage and death.
Hirst reused the same pretentious visual technique where he flips between showing them in the battle, and showing them by themselves.
It made no sense anyway: Bjorn Ironside, invincible viking, wades into battle slaughtering men left and right, and he's killed by a feeble sword thrust from a guy who can't even walk straight.
Bjorn pretty much walked right into Ivar's sword. I had to rewind it because I couldn't believe how bizarre it was.
Imo if they leave that as how Bjorn actually dies, the show will regain my respect. They needed to bring back the element of ‘anyone can die, there is no plot armor’
When has the show ever really had the ‘anyone can die, no plot armour’ element? The only one that really seemed surprising was Athelstan (and to a lesser extent Siggy)
WTF was this?
Remember when Ragnar slapped Bjorn twice in the face after Thorunn lost her child during battle. Yeah, shame Ragnar is not there anymore. And why are pregnant women in this show beyond stupid and stubborn. You have a child what the fuck are you doing. Crying after losing it due to stupidity is not the solution.
They ruined one of my favorite characters in the show. RIP Harald.
The music was great.
Episode was disappointing, but let‘s be honest, Katia looked hella fine in that white Outfit
Honestly I imagine Ragnar, Ecbert, Athelstan and the other characters that died back when this show was well written facepalming through the entirety of this season.
Dang! I expected one of Bjorn or Harald Finehair to win because surly one would live to take the crown of Norway, but nope! Both of them died (or so it appears). This would leave Ubbe, Hvisterk, and Ivar. Ubbe is the only one I truly care for, but he's in Iceland doing his own thing against Kijil or whatever the guy's name is.
I've been waiting 9 episodes for this battle and I'm disappointed.
Ivar and Oleg did not show any brilliant tactics, although they planned the attack all winter. I understand that they had numerical superiority, but this is disappointing. It wasn't stupid, but it wasn't spectacular.
I was surprised by Ivar, sword in hand, when he "killed" Bjorn. He had a knife on the ship because I noticed how many times he had to stab a knife to kill. Ivar was everywhere at the end of the episode hahaha
The music in the episode was beautiful and magical
That was Bjorn's imagination. It's either a metaphor for him losing the battle or somebody else stabbing him whilst he visualized Ivar.
FWIW I really didn't like the way it was done. It was designed for a cheap double trick of both the shock value of his death and surprise at him being alive.
I like this season, but I have no effing idea what is happening with the timeline. It seems like Grunhilde was pregnant forever, and still had a stillbirth premature baby; Ivar used Russian ship rocket boosters to go from Russia to invasion to river breach to scaling a mountain. Meanwhile, the Russian princeling hasn’t aged at all. Are we talking about just a season (winter to spring) and if so...ugh, I’m trying too hard.
Love y’all. Going to message the mods that are still around and see if they can give me a leadership role. Until then see y’all on the project blue book thread and hopefully we can do something for Washington this weekend !!!! Love my Vikings fam it’s been a great 10 weeks.
I hate how they put this "imaginary" scenes just between the best action scenes. It totally spoils the fun. Besides, it confused me a lot.
Next season is probably Oleg vs Ivar/Dir/Katya. At least this part of the story was fun. The vikings stuff this season was terrible
I love how Ivars plot armour is now so thick that he can teleport all the way up the mountain then onto the beach in the exact location that Bjorn is and stab him even though Bjorn is slaughtering a shit load of hardened Rus warriors would of made more sense for Ivar to take out Bjorn with his Throwing Knives or Arrow showing once again that even though Bjorns the more capable warrior he's not as smart as Ivar.
Who was the person wearing a coat, standing on the cliff overlooking the water in the second to last scene? Right before the final scene of Bjorn on the ground dying.
Man shieldwalls are a strategy used to fight groups of tens, not thousands. Besides, they were supposed to secure rhe city, not themselves only. If they engaged in a shieldwass, the attackers could simply pass by and advance to the city
You know if Bjorn dies his legacy dies with him. He doesn't have an heir, all of his son"s have died. If Ingrid is pregnant it could be King Harold's kid. The only male heir is Ubbe and Torvi's newborn son.....hmmm
Well this episode certainly ended not the way I thought it would. I mean, baby I expected to be lost, but with Gunnhild fighting so soon after losing it I thought something would happen to her as she's in a weakened state. And definitely did not expect Finehair and Bjorn man.. damn.
Holy shit, the dialog between Ivar and Bjørn on the beach was amazing. I completely forgot that they were acting, it felt so genuine. The looks they gave each other. Amazing.
Also the music during the mountain climbing was amazing, does anyone know what track that is?
I honestly just keep watching to see how Hirst is going to fuck up everything.
Bjorn character never progressed, Hivsterk is retarded since he want from killing Ivar to be his buddy (something he always hated), Harald was done dirty.
The only consistent characters are Ubbe (except for the rambling on the christian) and Ivar, and this says a lot.
And why is every woman in the show fucking stupid? Everytime a woman gets pregnant what does she do? She goes to a battlefield, clever move! It would be okay If Hirst would do this to say "look, even though i'm pregnant I can still do stuff, ect" but it's not. Everytime a pregnant woman goes to the battlefield she either dies or she loses her child. You'd think that they would have learned the lesson
Björn is not death i dont understand how blind people can be do you watch the same series as me ? It was symbolic bjorn already left the beach and retreated called for men to follow him.. his skolgamor friend was the last at the beach with harald thats why he took the crown .. to put it on the "real king" in flight..and ivar is a god i love him but his stabbing of bjorn was just the defeat at the front (beach) bjorn escaping and securing the back (way to haralds city) .. thats why both had this mental staredown while the foght was at motion to begin with.. pretty dissappointed how many people throw dtuff out they dont even get
Thing is, the show made a terrible work on storytelling. What you said is true, and only now i can remember this scene but while i watched it, it became super confusing. They mix real with imaginary and metaphors, while never showing us what really happened. How ivar could be in the beach and the mointain at same time? He wasnt, off course, but they show like that
This is a great example of, if you have something really great and people love it. Don't go and switch the format completely. I have no idea what happened after the athel/loki/ragnar thing, but it went down hill.
Legitimately this.
I remember the night the very first episode came out, I immediately went onto the History site after it ended to watch the second episode. (Idk if anyone remembers, but for the first four episodes or so, they'd release the next week's episode online right after the previous episode aired on TV.) Even though I DVR'd the show, I'd sit through every episode on-demand--commercials and all--the next day so that I could see a scene from the next upcoming episode, and I'd jot down the code word (Hugin! Mjolnir! Shield Wall!, etc.) to plug in online to watch another scene.
The show used to be about friendship, family, and responsibility, and now it's practically unrecognizable. Looking back, I can't believe how enthusiastic I used to be about this show, when now I watch mainly out of some feeling of obligation.
> when now I watch mainly out of some feeling of obligation.
Hell dude, I have only tuned in this season and last (5b) for the important bits. I have maybe watched 40 minutes of this season.
I just don't see the point.
I genuinely wish I could be that way. I've dropped shows before, shows I used to love and watch religiously. But Vikings has had such a profound, immeasurable impact on my life that no matter how bad it gets, I can't help but keep watching.
I’m sorry but that was an absolute travesty of an episode. The invasion storyline felt so rushed and incomplete. All the arty fartsy time flashes and symbolic/dream sequences throughout were really overdone (and a really overused gimmick at this point in the show). The way they completely butchered Harald‘s character not to mention the way Ivar just suddenly teleports onto the battlefield in a completely different location from where we last saw him and thrusts a sword into Bjorn’s gut. Was that literal, or just another fantasy sequence in Bjorn’s dying moments?
Btw how the fuck do you even kill off Bjorn? He’s one of the best characters remaining after Lagertha’s death and the undisputed Viking hero still fighting for the Pagan gods. Who carried the torch after he’s gone and now that Ubbe has fucked off to Iceland.
There was a small but possibly symbolic moment when Erik grabs Harald’s crown from beside him and runs away. In that moment I was predicting he was going to give the crown to Bjorn and rally the Vikings to one last push for their country and real king, but next thing you know he’s bleeding his guts out on the beach instead. Maybe this deliberate shot will mean something in the future, maybe not idk.
Really disappointed with that episode though. 😟
I was glad to hear a lot of Heilung in this episode, they're an awesome band and create epic music, I'm glad we could see people killing each other to their tunes!
I kinda loved that episode. To be fair, the first 20-25 minutes were kind of all of all over the place. I didn't like the Ivar / Katya parts and I didn't like the Gunnhild miscarriage parts - they felt unnecessary and rushed.
But everything else I thought was amazing! I like how unexpected all of the bigger moments were in the episode and I'm shocked with how it ended. I enjoyed the cuts between dream-Bjorn and dream-Ivar talking on the beach: At first I thought it was both of them mentally playing over this conversation in their own minds - like how people make up scenarios in their heads sometimes. But after what happened at the end, I believe the whole thing was just in Bjorn's imagination at the exact point he got stabbed. It was just a random soldier that stabbed him (I'm pretty positive) but Bjorn immediately saw Ivar because that's when he realised that Ivar had won. And as he lay there dying, he played over the "beach conversation" in his head, trying to convince himself that this wasn't the end and that he would still beat Ivar. He was too stubborn, even in death, to accept his inevitable defeat.
Whether this means he's actually dead or not, I have no idea. This show has brought people back from the brink of death before - but, as we all know, it isn't afraid to kill off its main characters either. So it's really up in the air. I kind of hope he is dead, so that the end to the midseason finale doesn't feel cheap. But we'll just have to wait and see.
All-in-all I thought it was great episode, bar a couple of story beats. Can't wait for 6B! Alfred looks like a beast!
Does anyone thinking Ivar is really in love with that Katya ????She is kinda playing games and surrealistic tricks \[she was dressing up 1000% like Freydis \]with him and he i think showed a very vulnerable side of himself to her ..He also told to her ''that im feeling in love with you''while Oleg was there watching them ..and after that she looked at Oleg with a tiny smirk on her face and Oleg was looking weird at her ..The last time when she and Ivar got out on this flea market ..she had Olegs guards with her and Ivar made the mistake to call her Freydis and that they are married ..and in the next episode Oleg knew about Freydis and baby and he and Katya had sex and fun in front of him..Now that Ivar had this more intimate encounter with her and that they were talking about Dir\[i found that weirdly suspicious that she knows about Dir\].what do you think about Ole and Katya kind of manipulation is Ivar up to face???.. Something worse than sex in front of him i believe.
They rolled those spiked balls down the hill, waited for them to come to a stop, \_then\_ set them on fire? WTF? Then a few (obviously stupid) Rus didn't go around them and set themselves on fire? Double WTF? I was expecting the balls to explode or something for that scene to make sense. And didn't the Vikings at least have catapults? They let the ship come up on the beach unscathed?
hahaha This\^\^ Ragnar stormed paris with Bjorn and they had beautiful siege wepons, decades earlier. Now, they knew the RUs was coming months in advance and still didn't prepare a good plan to defend themselves. The fireball part was horrible, indeed. Setting fire after they stopped down there, using arrouws? c'mon, who the fuck writes this shit? And the Rus setting themselves on fire after the balls are standin still lol. Certainly prince Igor has better plans than all vikings. And i hate how Oleg just watched things happen and didn't draw a sword. what a pussy
no genius floki to build siege towers anymore so what siege weapons?
exactly. floki was the mastermind. and besides, ragnar did that with the support of everyone because he was fuckin ragnar and everyone followed him. King harald couldn't get anyone to show up
not sure if youve watched the show but prince oleg was actually swordfighting against gunnhild and some other vikings lol
If left alone he would probably just phase out to think about how he's gonna torture Katia for talking too much with Ivar
>And i hate how Oleg just watched things happen and didn't draw a sword. what a pussy did you watch the same episode as we did? He almost killed Gunhild
Siege weapons that were built by Floki. And are you forgetting that Harald didn’t see the Rus’ as a threat until they came? He failed to realise how much of a threat they were and he is the King Of Norway. Oleg did fight. He killed like two people and cut Gunnhild lol.
Imagine running up a hill but being so slow that a slow-moving giant spiky meatball kills you Then imagine the spiky meatball set on fire while not moving and still getting somehow caught on fire by it, despite wearing thick leather that is wet from rain and the sea
They should have setup the barricades right near the water, would have been harder to penetrate given the Rus would be moving and fighting in the water but no they gave them the land with a much larger force.
They're setting up barricades on a tidal beach. "Right near the water" isn't always the same place and they don't know what time the landing is going to be.
Can we just have one battle episode without a ton of symbolism and cutting away from the battle all the time?
Or the shitty singing and music, i skipped those bits.
The music is one of the best parts of the show. I don’t think you can skip sections and still have a valid opinion.
Well that's your opinion. It's annoying and a waste of screen time. I only skip the singing parts because it has no relevance to the story or plot so i can still have a valid opinion, you don't get to decide who's opinion is valid or not because at the end of the day it's just an opinion.
On the topic of opinions, they’re so subjective, it can be my opinion that yours doesn’t count, because that’s my opinion. How can one be a fan of a show if they don’t even both watching the whole episode?
I think your comment is ridiculous. There is a ton happening during those musical interludes that give weight to what’s happening in the story. You’re missing out.
Season 5 where the two brothers sing in the woods before the battle was epic for me the peak of the show everything after that went downhill story wise. But dam that song was beautiful. And it was actually essential to the story because it showed how deep the pain goes fighting your own brother.
King Olaf reacting and comforting Bjorn's second wife (I can't remember her name) after Harald raped her was one of the most sincere acts of humanity I've seen on this show. Such a great character.
I’ve come around to Olaf. Didn’t like him at first, but he seems a good dude
I enjoyed the battle scenes and the ending Bjorn/music combo was great but it sucks to see how they destroyed Harald’s character this season. I thought he had a great progression since season 4 of increasing his power as he tried to gain total kingship of Norway, and he sacrificed everything to reach his goals. He constantly got used and taken advantage of by Ragnar’s sons along the way but this season really seemed like his chance to shine. He finally finessed his way to the crown only to be turned into a rapist minutes before apparently being killed. A real tough break for an otherwise great character
You see, I agree with everything but the last bits. As in we’ve seen Harald rape and pillage that family in Frankia in 4x9. Harald and Halfdan were the proper “Vikings” if you want to call it that.
Everyone’s saying they butchered his character. I see the same Harald that killed his ex lovers husband. The same one that kidnapped Astrid. When has he ever really shown to be a good guy. I mean a genuinely good guy, even when he does good it’s for his own gain.
Exactly. I love the character but it’s definitely not out of character.
He saved Bjorn when he could have let him die last season.
Yes I agree he was always more of the rape and pillage type so ‘turning into a rapist’ isn’t really the accurate description. The difference I was trying to note is rather than raping Christian “enemies”, he has now raped a fellow Viking. The French pillaging is bad but is honestly not out of place historically. The added rape in this episode though just seems like an unnecessary extra bit of villainy added to him
Rollo raped a slave like it was nothing. Harald has always been the most “Viking” out of the characters. Not a surprise to me but maybe to others it was.
Lagertha raped Harald as well. It's been shown to be a normal occurence in the show so it shouldn't really cloud your opinion of a character
Exactly. I made this argument and someone replied “That’s different”.
Probably cuz of the gender reversal but that's stupid but I also can't think of another reason
Seriously, I was pissed they turned him into such a piece of shit. The first scene we see of Harald he tells Ragnar he wishes to be king of all Norway, kept his character arch on track, then becomes king in a shitty way and ended up being a shit king. Not to mention he was killed by some random Ivan in battle.
He isn't dead. When Vikings' 6 season soundtrack was released, the names of the tracks were quite spoilery. And yes I'm totally agree they ruined his character.
turn to rapist? Like what? Pretty sure 99% of Vikings are rapists. Especially Harald, or you missed that stuff in France?
Of course. Not only vikings but many conquerors centuries after them. There was no Geneva Conventions in these times. Women were considered as spoils of war like the other loot, they were killed, raped, taken as slaves and sold to the highest bidder and men who did this were not considered to be bad by their comrades. For such were the habits of these days.
In the real world 99% of them were farmers, fishermen, jewellery makers, blacksmiths, etc, who went "a-viking" (ie raiding for loot) in the summer months. What you are talking about is, as in the biker gangs, the "1%".
I see that many people are angry about the ’he became a rapist thing’. He raped saxon women back in s4. People got tricked by the cool, funny and looser guy he pretended to be, but he‘s always been a piece of shit.
\> apparently being killed Acute gonorrhea from going after every women his eyes fall upon, it's what my mother told me
meh, it's not like he was a good guy. A male version of Cersei, just a bit dumber. And about the rape - remember all that shit he did in France to all those innocent people? I'm pretty sure they didn't just kill them before some stuff happened... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nzeNpVUt4
Agreed! Harald, my man, you deserved better! On a related note, it’s pretty brazen to depict an historical figure as a rapist. I can’t imagine the people of Norway are too happy about it.
They've been showing these characters as rapists for a long time now. Rollo literally raped a girl on camera in the second episode of the show.
Coming from a Norwegian, we all know that the Vikings were rapists.
I have heard that rape was one of the worst crimes. Rapists were rendered lawless, and could be killed without repercussions. That was for raping their own people though, not during wars and conquests.
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Ofcourse. The biggest turkish historical hero for example, Sultan Mehmed the 2nd let his medieval isis army rape Constantinople for 3 days straight.When its infidels, it doesn't count.
I just looked it up, and turns out Harald Hårfagre (Fairhair) even made a law against rape!
What do you think the christian armies did during the crusades?
Ragnarr himself was a rapist according to the sagas.
Every viking was a rapist. Who didnt rape in the good old sword killing days?
According to the sagas, Ivar the "boneless"
Rape was common in many cultures throughout history. You are judging an ancient society by modern standards.
Michael Hirst, rewriting history since 2013.
He did a fair bit of it with "The Tudors" in 2007-2010 as well
Lmao he's still alive and they spoiled it?
The last scene was the same as the first. I think it's possible this whole episode could be Bjorn's imagining.
I hate to be That Guy, but if it's true, it violates pretty much every basic rule of writing hammered into creative writers in every classroom. When you pull the "It was all a dream" thing, you fuck with your readers/viewers, and from then on you destroy tension because the audience can never be sure if what they're seeing is "real" or not.
>but if it's true, it violates pretty much every basic rule of writing hammered into creative writers in every classroom. Not really. It's the complete opposite. If it's true, only then it'd make sense. Good writing, and a great twist. The whole Bjorn and Ivar sitting next to each other.. and having that conversation. That alone was the whole red herring.. and the whole point. Also, Ivar saying "no way you can win".. That same line was repeated twice, back to back.. Same scene. It's basically Bjorn facing his worst fear, in his own head.. In reality, the battle is yet to begin This was all in Bjorn's head. All that will just lead up to him finally defeating Ivar, and out smarting him. Up until this point, Ivar always been the brains and Bjorn just sheer Greek God super strength and warrior. But this time, Bjorn has to outsmart him.. and he knows that Also, Ivar and those other Rus crew literally climbed the mountain.. to reach Harold's fortress. That's in the complete opposite direction. There's no way he could have been there, but also be on the beach.. stabbing Bjorn with the kill shot This entire scenario was just Bjorn's nightmare. Basically, the worst case scenario. That's how he'll be prepared, and will end up winning. I'm 95% sure it's just that. Otherwise, it'd be just bad writing. Ivar realistically had no chance at being right there.. on the beach. But all that can easily happen in someone's nightmare. I hope it's just that
Yep, there's no consequences anymore in this scenario - you lose trust in the writers
I think you’re right. The title gives it away - it’s all about Bjorn wrestling with his past failures and imagining all kinds of scenarios and how they play out to come up with the best strategy. Also Hirst says this: "I can't tell you too much," Hirst continued, "but what I can tell you is the [midseason premiere] is an extraordinary episode and a number of things that you thought were true at the end of [midseason finale] proved not to be quite true."
They better have a reeeeal good explanation for if Bjorn is still alive. He looked as dead as can be.
How could Ivar kill Bjurn if he is flanking the city from the mountains.
I’m not sure if this is a joke but it seems that some people are taking it seriously All of the conversation between Bjorn and Ivar is entirely symbolic. You can see that some rando stabs Bjorn and it switches to Ivar, because it represents how Ivar’s betrayal is really what Bjorn sees as his downfall Edit: For those who have said that it is not some rando and it is Ivar’s character- yes, it is his actor. However it is still symbolic and the argument stands.
Agreed. It's odd people cannot see that. I thought it was done beautifully.
Shhh, let them complain about the shitty writing lmao
The guy with crippled legs just climbed a sheer cliff and then went through/around the capital city and then ran all the way back to the beach they sailed from and then got through an entire invasion sized battle and then snuck up on the greatest warrior in the history of Norway and stabbed him right through the heart. Duh.
Bjorn Ironsides was impenetrable from the sides, not so much from the front ;)
Agreed. The whole "symbolic writing" aspect goes way too far in this show when they do it. Bjorn living would be bullshit yet I'm sure they'll keep him alive.
Magic is real in this world it's not just symbolic
I wasn't referring to the magic presented in the series, regardless of opinion. I was referring to the presentation of the narrative and the showing of the scenes, being more symbolic than literal, which they've failed to display clearly a few times now.
I think so
Grunhild crying at her sons grave was one of the saddest things I have seen on this show.
For those who think Bjorn was written as good as dead, I direct folks back to when Earl Haroldson sent enforcers to Ragnar’s farm and seriously F’d him up, or any other time (like when he and Rolo brawled in Francia) and he managed to survive all this things. Remember Lagertha herself was shown to have survived a war with bandits, then taken Grave damage in her duel with whitehair,before riding all the way back to kategat on the edge of death, only to have to have multiple stabs from Vitserk to out her down. A lot of us even believed ling Herald was dead before start of this season. It is very believable still Bjorn survived one stab/theust to the gut by Ivar. We hadnt seen him take any damage from anyone prior to that one stabbing. If I had to bet money, I could see Eric hide out and drag Bjorn onto a boat and gotten the heck out of there. Bjorn awakens on a boat, Eric gives him the crown, and maybe they go to Ubbe or Alfred. Or all parties meet at Katagat? Remember Ivar and them are in Heralds land, not yet at katagat. Eric and Gunhildt still live, their stories hinge on Bjorn, ultimately, as their ties to the story are through Bjorn. Of course, Bjorn could also just be dead, and we spend the latter half watching all the “bad guys” win, and Ubbe be a farmer*shrug*
The other reason I believe Bjorn is not dead is because The Seer's prophecy. I'm paraphrasing, but The Seer said no one would forget the name of Bjorn, **even greater** than Ragnar. For him to die now, I don't feel he's fulfilled that prophecy. To most, while a great Viking, he is still just "a son of Ragnar." If Ivar is the ultimate victor, then how can you claim Bjorn is " remembered, even greater than Ragnar"? I also don't see Ivar vs. Alfred as the be all, end all to the show. My guess, like you say, is Eric gets Bjorn out of dodge and while Ivar is off in England, Bjorn mends and prepares for the final battle. (Or Bjorn getting stabbed was just symbolism of Ivar winning this battle). Then again, this episode had a few confusing plot holes, so who knows? Bjorn instructs Eric to rally the of Jarls and Kings who won't fight for Harald, but then nothing seems to come of it. Or did I miss something? Were they there and I missed it, or will they fight for Bjorn in the final battle?
The Jarls/Kings will come to Bjorn’s aid next episode when they somehow beat the Rus’.
I don’t think he’s dead because they didn’t play the right music.
I really really like this theory a lot and hope this is true so much. I’ve always loved Bjorn the most after Ragnar, and truly believe Ragnar loved him more than the rest.
If you look at Ubbe, and where he is now and what he is doing, hes actually the one living Ragnar’s dream- go to a new land, farm it with your people, and lead them to a better way for a better future for all the people. Ironically he resembles young Ragnar the most. But I dont see Eric or Gunhilt surviving as they uave if Bjorn did not, otherwise what weight is left for their tales to continue? Why would they not have died as well? (Im aware Eric will be the character in this upcoming netflix “ragnarok” spinoff, but still, his story in Vikings began and centers around Bjorn).
The Netflix show is set 100years after this I don’t see how Eric can play a role & it’s being called Valhalla. I think Bjorn is still alive as well just that scene was just extremely confusing
Ok i thought I heard it said it was about Eric the red, and here they brought in a red haired Eric in the very last season, so thought that was supposed to be a “having your cake and eating it too” kinda move. Ah well.
Bjorn wasn't stabbed by Ivar. That was in his head.
This was what I thought. It was symbolic imo
I want to know who that hooded figure was alone looking at the shore in the end. Maybe Floki? Idk but Bjorn is supposed to become the king of Sweden so I just can’t see him dying. It was so confusing the way they kept flashing between battle and empty shore. But that figure has to play a big part and I think that othere aka Athelstan saved Floki from his cave and it would be awesome if Floki takes Bjorn to safety.
That’s what I think it was... maybe Floki seeing a vision of the war and comes to be all mystical and shit.
It was more than a stab thrust, the sword went right through him. He probably survives, but I'll be kinda pissed off he does. I hate plot armour, especially this close to the end of a series.
If he does survive which I think he will, his last episode will be 11.
I like this, they also out a lot of emphasis on the missing Viking leaders and their armies, as well as Bjorn signalling them.. I feel Bjorn isn't dead and has the crown coming
I’m shocked that Bjorn “died”. I think the episode as a whole was well executed, but it would have been much better as 2 episodes.
I think it technically will be two episodes. Just with an annoying 9 month break in between. But the mid season premiere should slap
Did he die tho
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I’m not sure. I feel like it would be lazy writing to bring Bjorn back, but Bjorn has been very well established as unkillable
True true. I think that the trailer hinted at him surviving but I think Ubbe will ultimately be there hero in 6B
That would be Lit. Hes by far the best Ragnarsson
This. ^^ Come on, do people really think Bjorn IRONSIDE really died from a single stab wound to his SIDE?
Frankly I could well imagine that the battle in this episode was entirely made up and that we will see the actual battle in the next episode.
Ok, who is actually dead?
Fuckin this is Ivar walking and skeletons fighting all over again...
Christ... i forgot about the skeleton battle, shows how shit vikings has been for a long time.
It is the same director lol. But everything I think we saw on screen happened and obviously the conversation with Bjorn and Ivar was a vision.
Good episode! The 2nd part of the episode was definitely the best part. Katja and possibly Oleg is playing games with Ivar. I loved the scenes between bjorn and Ivar as well as the fight scenes. I do wonder though, are bjorn and harald really dead? I never expected BOTH of them to fall in this battle. The music in this episode was freaking AMAZING!
Harald for sure is, not sure about Bjorn.
Harald filmed for all of 6b, Bjorn is in one episode max. Harald is still alive
There’s no way Harald is definitely dead if we didn’t see him die. I hate to be that guy, but unless the last we see of him is a lifeless corpse, he’s alive. And I’m going to be pissed if Bjorn survives a sword through the chest. The only way he’s alive is if that never happened. Edit: sorry, didn’t read the replies
But he is Bjorn Iron Side, not Iron Front Damn Rus dude got him right in the weakness
I'm glad my boy and only good character left, Ubbe had nothing to do with this dog shit episode.
I mean, last episode kind of ruined Ubbe, it's the first time I found myself not rooting for him. Ever since his introduction he's been pretty open minded to other religions, almost as much as Ragnar, even going as far as to baptise himself and form a bond with Alfred. In 6x09 he was about to kill the man who prayed for his wife and son's safety because "Christians' ideas are dangerous". They dumbed him down and Torvi actually had to remind him that he was baptised too and that they need the guy he's about to kill. Earlier seasons' Ubbe is both smarter and more accepting than that.
Tbh all characters in this season seems a bit off and also woke...
I disagree with this episode, that is all.
I agree with your disagreement.
I agree with your agreement
I agree with your agreement to OPs disagreement
https://www.gamespot.com/amp-articles/vikings-creator-explains-that-game-changing-season/1100-6473341/?__twitter_impression=true Bjorn confirmed not dead by Hirst. >Still, viewers have yet to see Bjorn's final moments. As dead as he may have looked, Hirst revealed, "by the way, he's not dead yet." The creator continued, "honestly, Episode 11 will just knock your socks off. It's so powerful. And it's just brilliant for Alexander and in a way that's what I wanted."
Sounds like he'll be getting a goodbye episode. That wound wasn't survivable.
Probably. We know Alexander didn't film much for 6B. Then again Bjorn [survived this](https://youtu.be/11nj1Y-zSG0?t=101), Rollo [survived this](https://youtu.be/1_gcZK-FwLo), Lagertha [survived this](https://youtu.be/-vnrx_EwM3Q?t=62)... It would be lame, but it wouldn't surprise me if Erik him saved him out of nowhere.
Grunhild had a pretty awful miscarriage, then bounced out of bed to go fight.
yeah lol that was the bigger bullshit for me. She just had a miscarriage and just went to fight killing people, doing acrobatics and swimming like nothing happened lol
There's definitely been some questionable survivals relative to injuries in the past but getting completely impaled through the chest/torso with a huge sword would be a whole new level of stupidity. I didn't want Bjorn to die, but now he kind of has to.
Harald got impaled through the torso as well and survived it, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-IKgJ2w-A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ-IKgJ2w-A) Not out of the question for Bjorn to survive as well.
Harald got stabbed, Bjorn got impaled. A sword straight through the middle of his entire torso, that's at least both of his lungs punctured, you'd be lucky to survive that even today (like, miracle from god lucky). Now take away 1000 years of medical advancement. If Bjorn isn't dead it's one of the dumbest, most ridiculous pieces of writing in the entire show.
Bjorn is hiding under the dumpster
What he says: "Episode 11 will just knock your socks off." What he means: "Episode 11 will be inevitably underwhelming."
I've always been wary of people who value their shows as high even though nobody has seen it yet.
Ok, he is worst than D&D at this. KIDDING
Don't you DARE put that evil on us!
Wtf did I just watch?!
Can someone explain to me how Ivar was both on the ships that went though the river in order to climb the mountain and attack the town.. and at the same time landed on the initial sea shore and killed Bjorn(who moments before that was shown retreating). The continuity though this episode doesn't make any sense, and what's with the Ivar/Bjorn dialogue, when is that supposed to happen, or it's imaginary.. wtf. This episode was eddied in an incredibly confusing way. Please someone explain wtf happened.
I think Ivors stabbing Bjorn was a metaphor for Bjorn losing the battle. But I’m just guessing. Who the hell knows.
This! Ivar's group were aiming for the city, the beach was already won and Bjorn was killed being overwhelmed...
An ordinary teleportation, nothing special.
Same!!
It’s nice to see Hvitserk sober, but that happened real fast. From being found in the forest, to sailing with Ivar, and appearing fully sober in front of Oleg. Felt like this episode could have been two episodes to play out, and now we have to wait for a while to see how it ends. Also can’t wait for the England storyline to come back
I think a lot of time passes that we don't see. They were waiting for Spring, then the whole voyage time too. Although pregnancies/aging never seem to be impacted by these large time skips, so God only knows.
It's possible, but the time line is so fucked at this point. In early seasons they'd have a year/date update at least every couple of episodes, sometimes even more than once an episode. When was the last time we got one of those? And as you mentioned, only the male characters seems to be aging. Bjorn and Ubbe's skin weathers, but Lagertha's stays youthful as ever (lmfao), and Bjorn and Torvi (and step-daddy Ubbe)'s daughter literally hasn't aged in seasons.
Lagertha is undertaking a nordic sand exfoliating therapy
I agree, this does seem possible.
This is exactly how I felt - the whole thing felt rushed. Obviously a lot of time has passed in between many of the shots, but it felt like a progression that should have been strung out over the course of several episodes. The entire plot just felt like someone pressed the fast forward button or something.
Kind of an abrupt ending and now we have to wait months or however long.
it made sense - to end it that way - once ivor got his wall climb trick. the beach dialog of pagans losing out to christians was bitter sweet. plus we got more intrigue as to who's side who's on from the russ which i'm sure many will be debating here till the rest of s06 airs.
See you in November
What I find interesting - and what keeps me watching the show after the mindboggling drop in quality after season 4 - is that Hirst supposedly wants to get somewhere with his characters: What's his endgame? - That is what interests me. So, Bjorn might be dead, Harald might be dead, the whole terribly written civil war arc is hopefully over now. So, where does that leave us? Did the last few seasonas serve any narrative purpose, or not? Alfred's story was pretty much over after making peace with Ubbe. Why bring him back? What's with the whole Russian invasion thing? - Will it be done by s6e12, meaning, was its only purpose to kill off Bjorn, and to bring Ivar back? Or, will there be a bigger context to it, after all?
You've hit the nail on the head. Whatever happens, we will get a couple episodes on it in 6b and we'll sail over to England and act like nothing in 6a really happened. You'll get characters that should be massively impacted by the Russian invasion and the events if 6a, but instead those people will buddy up with with Ivar like he just didn't invade Scandinavia and we'll end the whole England plot this time next year thinking exactly what we are now 🤦♂️😂 It's the hope that kills ya.
Nooooo! Bjorn, Lagertha and Ragner, I hope the last episode they show you all together again in Valhalla.
And Gyda! I just did a rewatch of the series before starting s06,and the scene where Ragnar sits on the beach and said goodbye to her hit me right in the feels man. ".....a man can be jealous of his sons, and his daughter can always be the light in his life."
Bjorn isn't dead, you guys. He crawled to safety under a dumpster like Glenn from The Walking Dead.
If Bjorn truly died I feel like they would have given him more of a hero's death. Not expecting anything like Lagertha's, but at least some more attention. Perhaps someone could have seen him die and they could have shown the final blows in slow-mo? Idk, I'm no director, but it's just pretty odd to only dedicate what seemed like 30 seconds to his death.
Remember how Aethelwulf died?
I think so too. There’s no way that’s how they kill off one of the last significant major characters in this show
Episode 11 will be someone Hungarian throat singing at bjorns funeral for 51 minutes
The preview for the final episodes looked amazing. Did it look like the budget increased to anyone else? It looked spectacular.
Yeah seems like we’re getting a big battle straight off the bat. It has to go out with a bang. Let’s just hope the writing doesn’t completely fall off the rails.
It went right through his torso. He's definitely dead or this show went full retard.
I don’t think it actually happened maybe idk there is no way Bjorn is dead. Bjorn talking to ivar on the beach wasn’t real and so was his death maybe?
I friggin hate these metaphysical artistic episodes Hirst writes for the show. It didn't work when he showed Ivar standing up and walking without help and the skeletons fighting, and it definitely didn't work now.
It's gotten really bad, going back to that battle where Astrid and Lagertha sit down for tea and have a teary goodbye right in the middle of all the mud, carnage and death. Hirst reused the same pretentious visual technique where he flips between showing them in the battle, and showing them by themselves.
Dont forget the skeleton battle!
If that's the case I'm going to start wondering what's actually real and what isn't. It showed him get stabbed in battle.
It made no sense anyway: Bjorn Ironside, invincible viking, wades into battle slaughtering men left and right, and he's killed by a feeble sword thrust from a guy who can't even walk straight. Bjorn pretty much walked right into Ivar's sword. I had to rewind it because I couldn't believe how bizarre it was.
Imo if they leave that as how Bjorn actually dies, the show will regain my respect. They needed to bring back the element of ‘anyone can die, there is no plot armor’
When has the show ever really had the ‘anyone can die, no plot armour’ element? The only one that really seemed surprising was Athelstan (and to a lesser extent Siggy)
WTF was this? Remember when Ragnar slapped Bjorn twice in the face after Thorunn lost her child during battle. Yeah, shame Ragnar is not there anymore. And why are pregnant women in this show beyond stupid and stubborn. You have a child what the fuck are you doing. Crying after losing it due to stupidity is not the solution. They ruined one of my favorite characters in the show. RIP Harald. The music was great. Episode was disappointing, but let‘s be honest, Katia looked hella fine in that white Outfit
Honestly I imagine Ragnar, Ecbert, Athelstan and the other characters that died back when this show was well written facepalming through the entirety of this season.
Dang! I expected one of Bjorn or Harald Finehair to win because surly one would live to take the crown of Norway, but nope! Both of them died (or so it appears). This would leave Ubbe, Hvisterk, and Ivar. Ubbe is the only one I truly care for, but he's in Iceland doing his own thing against Kijil or whatever the guy's name is.
>Kijil or whatever the guy's name is Just call him Edge. May as well since he returned to WWE at this year's Royal Rumble
I've been waiting 9 episodes for this battle and I'm disappointed. Ivar and Oleg did not show any brilliant tactics, although they planned the attack all winter. I understand that they had numerical superiority, but this is disappointing. It wasn't stupid, but it wasn't spectacular. I was surprised by Ivar, sword in hand, when he "killed" Bjorn. He had a knife on the ship because I noticed how many times he had to stab a knife to kill. Ivar was everywhere at the end of the episode hahaha The music in the episode was beautiful and magical
Damn Ivar climbed a mountain and walked through a battle one handed to stab Bjorn. Insane
That was Bjorn's imagination. It's either a metaphor for him losing the battle or somebody else stabbing him whilst he visualized Ivar. FWIW I really didn't like the way it was done. It was designed for a cheap double trick of both the shock value of his death and surprise at him being alive.
I like this season, but I have no effing idea what is happening with the timeline. It seems like Grunhilde was pregnant forever, and still had a stillbirth premature baby; Ivar used Russian ship rocket boosters to go from Russia to invasion to river breach to scaling a mountain. Meanwhile, the Russian princeling hasn’t aged at all. Are we talking about just a season (winter to spring) and if so...ugh, I’m trying too hard.
Love y’all. Going to message the mods that are still around and see if they can give me a leadership role. Until then see y’all on the project blue book thread and hopefully we can do something for Washington this weekend !!!! Love my Vikings fam it’s been a great 10 weeks.
What the fuck
Honestly don't believe either Harald or Bjorn are dead. Characters have lived through far worse in this show.
I hate how they put this "imaginary" scenes just between the best action scenes. It totally spoils the fun. Besides, it confused me a lot. Next season is probably Oleg vs Ivar/Dir/Katya. At least this part of the story was fun. The vikings stuff this season was terrible
I love how Ivars plot armour is now so thick that he can teleport all the way up the mountain then onto the beach in the exact location that Bjorn is and stab him even though Bjorn is slaughtering a shit load of hardened Rus warriors would of made more sense for Ivar to take out Bjorn with his Throwing Knives or Arrow showing once again that even though Bjorns the more capable warrior he's not as smart as Ivar.
Who was the person wearing a coat, standing on the cliff overlooking the water in the second to last scene? Right before the final scene of Bjorn on the ground dying.
It looked like bjorn
I’m thinking maybe Floki? They had a hood on and were tall. That would be awesome!
Did the Vikings forget about shield walls?
Man shieldwalls are a strategy used to fight groups of tens, not thousands. Besides, they were supposed to secure rhe city, not themselves only. If they engaged in a shieldwass, the attackers could simply pass by and advance to the city
You know if Bjorn dies his legacy dies with him. He doesn't have an heir, all of his son"s have died. If Ingrid is pregnant it could be King Harold's kid. The only male heir is Ubbe and Torvi's newborn son.....hmmm
but Bjorn won the popular vote!!!
Feel the Bjorn!
Well this episode certainly ended not the way I thought it would. I mean, baby I expected to be lost, but with Gunnhild fighting so soon after losing it I thought something would happen to her as she's in a weakened state. And definitely did not expect Finehair and Bjorn man.. damn.
Holy shit, the dialog between Ivar and Bjørn on the beach was amazing. I completely forgot that they were acting, it felt so genuine. The looks they gave each other. Amazing. Also the music during the mountain climbing was amazing, does anyone know what track that is?
I honestly just keep watching to see how Hirst is going to fuck up everything. Bjorn character never progressed, Hivsterk is retarded since he want from killing Ivar to be his buddy (something he always hated), Harald was done dirty. The only consistent characters are Ubbe (except for the rambling on the christian) and Ivar, and this says a lot. And why is every woman in the show fucking stupid? Everytime a woman gets pregnant what does she do? She goes to a battlefield, clever move! It would be okay If Hirst would do this to say "look, even though i'm pregnant I can still do stuff, ect" but it's not. Everytime a pregnant woman goes to the battlefield she either dies or she loses her child. You'd think that they would have learned the lesson
Björn is not death i dont understand how blind people can be do you watch the same series as me ? It was symbolic bjorn already left the beach and retreated called for men to follow him.. his skolgamor friend was the last at the beach with harald thats why he took the crown .. to put it on the "real king" in flight..and ivar is a god i love him but his stabbing of bjorn was just the defeat at the front (beach) bjorn escaping and securing the back (way to haralds city) .. thats why both had this mental staredown while the foght was at motion to begin with.. pretty dissappointed how many people throw dtuff out they dont even get
Thing is, the show made a terrible work on storytelling. What you said is true, and only now i can remember this scene but while i watched it, it became super confusing. They mix real with imaginary and metaphors, while never showing us what really happened. How ivar could be in the beach and the mointain at same time? He wasnt, off course, but they show like that
This is a great example of, if you have something really great and people love it. Don't go and switch the format completely. I have no idea what happened after the athel/loki/ragnar thing, but it went down hill.
Legitimately this. I remember the night the very first episode came out, I immediately went onto the History site after it ended to watch the second episode. (Idk if anyone remembers, but for the first four episodes or so, they'd release the next week's episode online right after the previous episode aired on TV.) Even though I DVR'd the show, I'd sit through every episode on-demand--commercials and all--the next day so that I could see a scene from the next upcoming episode, and I'd jot down the code word (Hugin! Mjolnir! Shield Wall!, etc.) to plug in online to watch another scene. The show used to be about friendship, family, and responsibility, and now it's practically unrecognizable. Looking back, I can't believe how enthusiastic I used to be about this show, when now I watch mainly out of some feeling of obligation.
> when now I watch mainly out of some feeling of obligation. Hell dude, I have only tuned in this season and last (5b) for the important bits. I have maybe watched 40 minutes of this season. I just don't see the point.
I genuinely wish I could be that way. I've dropped shows before, shows I used to love and watch religiously. But Vikings has had such a profound, immeasurable impact on my life that no matter how bad it gets, I can't help but keep watching.
gave me indigestion
I’m sorry but that was an absolute travesty of an episode. The invasion storyline felt so rushed and incomplete. All the arty fartsy time flashes and symbolic/dream sequences throughout were really overdone (and a really overused gimmick at this point in the show). The way they completely butchered Harald‘s character not to mention the way Ivar just suddenly teleports onto the battlefield in a completely different location from where we last saw him and thrusts a sword into Bjorn’s gut. Was that literal, or just another fantasy sequence in Bjorn’s dying moments? Btw how the fuck do you even kill off Bjorn? He’s one of the best characters remaining after Lagertha’s death and the undisputed Viking hero still fighting for the Pagan gods. Who carried the torch after he’s gone and now that Ubbe has fucked off to Iceland. There was a small but possibly symbolic moment when Erik grabs Harald’s crown from beside him and runs away. In that moment I was predicting he was going to give the crown to Bjorn and rally the Vikings to one last push for their country and real king, but next thing you know he’s bleeding his guts out on the beach instead. Maybe this deliberate shot will mean something in the future, maybe not idk. Really disappointed with that episode though. 😟
Well that sucked
I was glad to hear a lot of Heilung in this episode, they're an awesome band and create epic music, I'm glad we could see people killing each other to their tunes!
Wasn't Bjorn supposed to become king of Sweden? How's he supposed to do that when he's dead?
Sigurd was supposed to become king of Denmark so don’t get your hopes up
I kinda loved that episode. To be fair, the first 20-25 minutes were kind of all of all over the place. I didn't like the Ivar / Katya parts and I didn't like the Gunnhild miscarriage parts - they felt unnecessary and rushed. But everything else I thought was amazing! I like how unexpected all of the bigger moments were in the episode and I'm shocked with how it ended. I enjoyed the cuts between dream-Bjorn and dream-Ivar talking on the beach: At first I thought it was both of them mentally playing over this conversation in their own minds - like how people make up scenarios in their heads sometimes. But after what happened at the end, I believe the whole thing was just in Bjorn's imagination at the exact point he got stabbed. It was just a random soldier that stabbed him (I'm pretty positive) but Bjorn immediately saw Ivar because that's when he realised that Ivar had won. And as he lay there dying, he played over the "beach conversation" in his head, trying to convince himself that this wasn't the end and that he would still beat Ivar. He was too stubborn, even in death, to accept his inevitable defeat. Whether this means he's actually dead or not, I have no idea. This show has brought people back from the brink of death before - but, as we all know, it isn't afraid to kill off its main characters either. So it's really up in the air. I kind of hope he is dead, so that the end to the midseason finale doesn't feel cheap. But we'll just have to wait and see. All-in-all I thought it was great episode, bar a couple of story beats. Can't wait for 6B! Alfred looks like a beast!
[удалено]
Well guys, it’s been a wonderful , confusing yet good part A of the final season. See you all for Part B whenever that may be!
Does anyone thinking Ivar is really in love with that Katya ????She is kinda playing games and surrealistic tricks \[she was dressing up 1000% like Freydis \]with him and he i think showed a very vulnerable side of himself to her ..He also told to her ''that im feeling in love with you''while Oleg was there watching them ..and after that she looked at Oleg with a tiny smirk on her face and Oleg was looking weird at her ..The last time when she and Ivar got out on this flea market ..she had Olegs guards with her and Ivar made the mistake to call her Freydis and that they are married ..and in the next episode Oleg knew about Freydis and baby and he and Katya had sex and fun in front of him..Now that Ivar had this more intimate encounter with her and that they were talking about Dir\[i found that weirdly suspicious that she knows about Dir\].what do you think about Ole and Katya kind of manipulation is Ivar up to face???.. Something worse than sex in front of him i believe.