I was super excited when I saw that the third season of Vikings has started, as usual the story continued from where season 2 stopped. Ragnar Lothbrok the legendary warrior, he pulled off an amazingly brilliant role this time around. This season was filled with so much suspense and bloodshed. King Ecbert of Wessex is one hell of a brilliant, cunny King. He met his perfect match – the ever wise King Ragnar. I enjoyed this season so much because so far it is the most suspense filled, action filled and adrenaline filled season yet. From the way the north men reached an agreement with King Ecbert to the way they helped him and Princess Kwenthrith conquer Mercia, it was a brilliant performance all the way.
Floki , floki floki – hehehe the warrior, the creative craft man and the weirdo. Floki pulled off his usual delusional role so well this season and he even went above the norm. He took his hate for Athelstan to another level this season, believing that he has been chosen by Odin to do what needs to be done – he murdered Athelstan as a sacrifice to appease the gods. Even thou Athelstan was expecting to get killed, after he refound his faith by having an encounter with God – he renounced the gods of the people of Kattigat, he threw away the arm ring that Ragnar gave him. For me I think Athelstan has had enough of the fun, he has been to both sides of civilization and enjoyed the benefits that comes with it. He even got to shag, yes he shagged the wife of King Ecbert’s son.
Rollo, Rollo, Rollo – the great warrior and brother of Ragnar Lothbrok in this season he became calmer, cooler headed than the previous seasons. He became quite, observant and supportive of his brother the King. The plans of the gods for him came to pass, at least some part of their plans did. Although he lost Siggy, who died as a result of Ragnar’s wife carelessness or let me say she died as a result of the Queen Aslaug’s need to shag….lol. Well, she left her kids with Gigi to go thank Harbard – the man that she, Siggy, and Helga have been seeing in their dream. Harbard is a stranger/wanderer who came into Kattigat while Ragnar was away and he has this power to make Ragnar’s last baby stop crying by just whispering to him…amazing right? Anyways Siggy died while trying to rescue Ragnar’s boys that sneaked out in pursuit of their mother, on their way, they tried to cross over a frozen river which then gave way and they drowned. Surprisingly, it’s this same Harbad guy who came to pull out the children but left Siggy to drown and die.
The battle of Paris….my oh my, this is so far the bloodiest battle that the north men has ever fought since they began their yearly raid of other peoples country. It was Athelstan that told Ragnar about Paris and it got his attention and curiosity. Out of Ragnar’s usual hunger and desire to learn and discover new places, he decide to raid Paris come winter. He went to seek the opinion of the gods and he was told “Only the dead can conquer Paris”. I must confess that even I didn’t understand what they meant until the last two episodes. Jeez, it was a bloody battle. The north men suffered a great deal of loss, they lost quite a lot of men as the defense system of Paris was impenetrable for them. Everyone including Ragnar, Rollo, Floki, Lagertha and Bjon was injured. Despite the fact that Paris offered them several thousand of gold to leave in peace, Ragnar refused to leave even after collecting their money. He requested to be baptized as a Christian and given a Christian burial – saying that he is a dying man that would want to go heaven so he can see his friend Athelstan. All his kinsmen were shocked that he made such request, no one understood why he asked for such a thing, they accused him of betraying their gods and even plotted to kill him.
The last episode reveals the details of Ragnar’s plan, which he kept as a secret from everyone except his first son Bjon. He faked his death with the help of his son, so that his corpse would be taken into Paris for the Christian burial at the cathedral. Before his corpse was taken into Paris, Rollo, Lagertha and Floki all spoke their mind to his presumed dead body. As you would expect the weirdo Floki went all out and spilled that he was the one that killed Athelstan. The King of Paris, his daughter and General Count Odo were all fooled by Ragnar, even I was fooled. They taught he was truly dead and therefore harmless so they willing opened their gate to the men who were carrying his corpse in a coffin that was made by Floki. To my greatest surprise people, Ragnar rose from the dead oh, the moment the priest started sprinkling holy water on him.
Let me try to explain my excitement when I was watching this episode, it was around 1a.m, I jumped up and ran round the house screaming YES! YES!! YES!!! I dialed Benny’s phone, no response I texted him instantly. As in that moment was intense, holy gwakamolly, damn it was super adrenaline filled, the creativity, and the suspense. That for me was a perfect climax for a sizzling and thrilling season. The way Ragnar stabbed the priest in front of the King and all his people was EPIC! He even used the princess has a shield to get away, although he didn’t harm her. Rollo was eventually left behind to stay as the rest of the crew returned to Kattigat. Rollo who has been eyeing the princess eventually got his wish, the King of Paris offered him his daughters hand in marriage, lands in the North of Paris and also the title of a Duke.
Final verdict, this season is the best season so far and I give kudos to the production team that are behind the scene for giving us this spectacular show. Season 4 promises to be even more exciting. If you haven’t watched Vikings yet please I beg you to go watch it. In my opinion I think that Vikings has now successfully placed itself in the same ranks as Game of Thrones – if you take away the civilization and insane politicking that goes on in Game of Thrones.
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