Vikings “Crossings”

So, given there’s a very prominent character missing from the narrative for what is probably the rest of the series, will Vikings be able to recover?  And will there be more dead before we’re finished?

Before I go any further…the implied mass rape that the viking men committed against that harem disturbed me.  It’s not the first rape the show has depicted, and, let’s face it, real vikings did that, but considering the one name character on that raid that seemed to decline that sort of thing was That Asshole Floki, well…

Yeah, it looks like Bjorn and his buddies found a town full of Muslims.  Rollo knows what they are.  And there’s the standard ravaging of defenseless people.  We’ve seen Finehair and his jerk brother slaughter innocent noncombatants before.  Given how Helga seems to be in shock to see it happen, you’d have to wonder if she just had no idea that sort of thing happened.  That she took a (recently orphaned) girl home with her to act as a replacement child makes me think That Asshole Floki is no longer the crazy member of that family unit.

Heck, in this episode, That Asshole Floki comes across as moderately sane, concerned for his soul in ways we haven’t seen before, and doing some relatively good deeds while the others are killing left and right.

Still haven’t gotten a good bead on Hvitserk yet, aside from the fact he’s enjoying raiding and Bjorn has his back.

But all of Ragnar’s sons get a vision of that one-eyed guy telling them their father is dead.  Odin maybe?

Which leads to two very big questions:

1.  Since when did That Asshole Floki care about the religious devotions of others?  We see him prevent a massacre in a mosque because he’s amazed at the Muslims’ piety without any sort of idols.  Did he never see a Christian in sincere prayer?  Sure he did.  Athelstan was doing that just before That Asshole Floki murdered him.  Seeing the resident viking religious fanatic find a new religion acceptable seemed weird.
2. But more importantly, does Lagertha make it out of the season alive?  Ivar challenges her to a duel that she declines, and she has no wish to kill one of Ragnar’s sons.  Eyeless Seer dude says one will kill her.  Ivar is the obvious suspect since he’s making a new sword and dreaming of revenge and he’s the most dangerous brother.  But we see Sigurd sharpening an axe and Ubbe inspecting an arrow.  Having Ivar not be the one who kills Lagertha would be an interesting twist.  Sigurd didn’t care for Aslaug, so he seems unlikely.  Ubbe did, though.  Thing is, Ivar promised to kill her, and making promises like that on Vikings tends to stick.

Hey, wouldn’t it be crazy if Bjorn is the son of Ragnar that kills Lagertha?  Besides, Bjorn locked eyes with that one harem girl, and the Seer also predicted Bjorn would marry a princess once upon a time…