Vikings “The Vision”

Here’s a thought:  does Ragnar want to die?

And can a show like Vikings survive without him?

See, last time, he tried to hang himself.  It didn’t work.  Now he’s trying to get to England to finally avenge that lost colony.  But he can’t get any takers.  Bjorn will give him three extra ships with barely a second thought, but Ragnar’s oldest son is on his way to see the Mediterranean Sea.  He isn’t going with his father, and truth be told both men are glad for that.  Bjorn really wants to make this trip, and if he either goes with Ragnar to England or Ragnar accompanies him to the Mediterranean, then the father will once again eclipse the son.

The only downside to Bjorn’s plans thus far is he is probably going to have to talk to Rollo for safe passage along the Frankish border.

Bjorn’s departure means there’s a lot of celebrating to do.  Finehair and his brother Halfdan are back.  Lagertha shows up to see her son off and proposes to Aslaug the two share a sacrifice since Aslaug’s son Hvitserk is also going.  Aslaug blows off the idea since she’s the queen to Lagertha’s earl, then does the sacrifice without Lagertha while apparently on her way to a Darth Maul cosplay.

That kinda pisses Lagertha off.  And you know what she does when she’s pissed.  She tends to collect titles, and she’s never quite forgiven Aslaug for stealin’ her man.  Though much like Ragnar looking for revenge against England, why did she wait this long about it?

As for Ragnar, he’s doing things on his own.  No one wants to go on his raid aside from Ivar, so he digs up his treasure and starts bribing people.  Since most of the best men are going with Bjorn, he isn’t exactly getting the cream of the crop either.  He even has a chat with Aslaug for reasons unknown.  He’d been avoiding her up to that point, but he does tell her he’s grateful she never turned their sons against him.  And that brings her to tears.  Almost as much as her prophetic dream of Ivar drowning does.

And we’re getting a little more development for the other boys.  If Ragnar doesn’t make it, the next generation takes over I am assuming.  Well, Hvitserk doesn’t seem like much so far.  Sigurd, the awful brother who even rubs the Harbard thing in his mother’s face, learned from Too Pretty Part II that Ivar can’t perform.  The slave woman seems to be playing the different brothers very well.  Sigurd relates to the other two that Ivar scares the woman.  Ubbe, the considerate brother, says Ivar scares him too.

And why not?  Ivar is a particularly fierce young man, crawling after his taunting brother Sigurd at one point screaming like an animal.

That’s actually why Ivar appreciates his father.  Unlike Aslaug, Ragnar treats him like he’s normal.  Aslaug still babies her youngest son.  No wonder he’s going to England…and no wonder he has what looks like a bad bowl cut.

I’m sure he and his dad didn’t drown in that storm.  That seemed a bit too anticlimactic to kill either of them just yet.