TV: Vikings

[Neutrinos]

Without knowing anything about the actual history, it wouldn't surprise me if Rollo and the new King of England have worked something out

Rollo has the French army fight alongside Ivar's group to help weaken Lagertha's side, only to roll up with the Brits and have them team up with the remaining French soldiers to wipe out Ivar's camp

Just a thought

 

[aufheben]

Last few episodes have been pretty disappointing.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

screenplay 101. Avoid flashbacks if at all possible.

 

[peate]

There's flashbacks and then there's flashbacks. That last episode was all over the place.

Maybe it's time they called it quits.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

There's flashbacks and then there's flashbacks. That last episode was all over the place.

Maybe it's time they called it quits.

Still a good show. Just went a little off base in the last one.

 

[tacogeoff]

Still a good show. Just went a little off base in the last one.

I agree.

While I didn't mind the flashbacks as they were well done.... it was the wrong time for an episode like that. All the dramatics on the battlefield smh, I know its a tv show but I am pretty sure that if a random warrior saw a great Viking leader/warrior with their guard down (on their knees looking at the sky/hugging a dead body etc) they wouldn't hesitate to claim some easy glory/fame.

I also thought one of Ubbe or Hvitserk were going to parish.

 

[Neutrinos]

How do they know who to fight and kill during those battles when everybody dresses the same?

 

[LeafalCrusader]

God who ever wrote all those flashbacks into the finale should be fired. Felt like an episode of Lost on speed.

 

[peate]

How do they know who to fight and kill during those battles when everybody dresses the same?

I had the same question and I think the answer was in the colour of their shields, but I could be wrong. It's confusing for sure by the looks of it.

 

[Neutrinos]

I had the same question and I think the answer was in the colour of their shields, but I could be wrong. It's confusing for sure by the looks of it.

Not everyone is carrying a shield though

And what if you drop yours at some point and are forced to pick up an enemy's shield? Then what? Do your fellow soldiers just start swinging their swords and axes at you?

Shirts vs Skins would be so much simpler

 

[ThePhoenixx]

The armies are very small. Nearly every warrior knows every other warrior. I'm sure there was the odd friendly fire though.

 

[Neutrinos]

The armies are very small. Nearly every warrior knows every other warrior. I'm sure there was the odd friendly fire though.

With adrenaline pumping and blood covering their faces, I can't imagine there wouldn't be heaps of casualties from friendly-fire

And the French soldiers don't know anybody's face on either side

 

[Kurtz]

I agree.

While I didn't mind the flashbacks as they were well done.... it was the wrong time for an episode like that. All the dramatics on the battlefield smh, I know its a tv show but I am pretty sure that if a random warrior saw a great Viking leader/warrior with their guard down (on their knees looking at the sky/hugging a dead body etc) they wouldn't hesitate to claim some easy glory/fame.

I also thought one of Ubbe or Hvitserk were going to parish.

My rationalization for this is that when you're surrounded by dudes swinging swords at you, 100% of your focus is on those dudes. So if you see a warrior on the ground, even if he/she is a few feet away from you, and as such, they don't pose an immediate threat to your life, you don't really get to think about the value of the target, etc...your mind is likely just in basic survival mode at that point, and the most valuable target is the one that's swinging its axe in your direction.

The thing I don't get though, is Ivar's thinking. He has a whole bunch of borrowed French at his disposal, guys to whom he owes no allegiance and whose safety he doesn't care for...and yet he keeps them in reserve/as the mop-up force while he uses his own people as the vanguard. Why not do the opposite? Send the French as the vanguard, and use your own people to mop up whatever's left.

And no explanation for why Rollo would help Ivar in the first place, although I guess we'll probably get it next season.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

My rationalization for this is that when you're surrounded by dudes swinging swords at you, 100% of your focus is on those dudes. So if you see a warrior on the ground, even if he/she is a few feet away from you, and as such, they don't pose an immediate threat to your life, you don't really get to think about the value of the target, etc...your mind is likely just in basic survival mode at that point, and the most valuable target is the one that's swinging its axe in your direction.

The thing I don't get though, is Ivar's thinking. He has a whole bunch of borrowed French at his disposal, guys to whom he owes no allegiance and whose safety he doesn't care for...and yet he keeps them in reserve/as the mop-up force while he uses his own people as the vanguard. Why not do the opposite? Send the French as the vanguard, and use your own people to mop up whatever's left.

And no explanation for why Rollo would help Ivar in the first place, although I guess we'll probably get it next season.

The French guys really pissed me off. Bjorn knew he had them, therefore Lagertha knew Ivar had them. Somehow, it's turned into a big GOTCHA! moment when Ivar leans back and sends them in.

 

[Danko]

Yeah, that last episode was just overproduced/overwritten. The flashbacks destroyed the flow. Wish Rollo would turn face again.

 

[KesselBuiltMyHotrod]

Remember when this show used to put effort into its battles? Now it's just throw a bunch of stuntmen into a field.

 

[Bjorn Le]

With adrenaline pumping and blood covering their faces, I can't imagine there wouldn't be heaps of casualties from friendly-fire

And the French soldiers don't know anybody's face on either side

The Franks weren't running into the middle of a battle, they were running in only against Bjorn's forces.

I think there's too much over analyzing of the battle scenes. Unless they're on a small scale, they're almost impossible to get perfect (pre-industrial battles at least). Last episode was obviously stylized to focus on the characters. Criticizing the cinematography is fine, but they definitely were not going for some hyper realistic battle scene.

 

[Neutrinos]

In trying to understand Rollo's motives, we've made a huge assumption that Hvitserk told him what was really going on

We really don't know what was said between Hvitserk and Rollo, so for all we know, Rollo sent his troops to protect Kattegat against King Herod

 

[dogbazinho]

Remember when this show used to put effort into its battles? Now it's just throw a bunch of stuntmen into a field.

Agree with this. What happened to using some semblance of tactics? What happened to shield walls and flanking? Now we just have a couple hundred Vikings soloing each other. They also figured out the wood people apparently.

And yeah makes no sense not to use the French as meat shields, although that whole situation makes no sense unless Rollo is playing both sides just to kill as many Vikings as he can.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

I doubt the french soldiers would go for being meat shields/fodder.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

I doubt the french soldiers would go for being meat shields/fodder.

They're generally not given a choice in the matter.

 

[peate]

So was that the season finale? Bummer.

 

[Jussi]

So was that the season finale? Bummer.

Mid season finale. They'll air the latter half 10 episodes later, just like last season.

Seems Alfred taking the throne is a huge departure from actual history. From Wikipedia:

In "A Simple Story", Aethelred is portrayed rejecting the throne in favour of his younger brother Alfred. In history, after the death of Aethelwulf three of Alfred's elder brothers ruled, for two, five and six years respectively, all dying before Alfred took the throne in 871. Writing in Forbes Magazine, Erik Kain described the storyline as "just a huge unforced error"

 

[peate]

Mid season finale. Tehy'll air the lattr half 10 episodes later. just like last season.

Riiight. Forgot about that, thanks.

 

[ThePhoenixx]

Two hour premiere Wednesday.