Vikings 04×08 Review: “Portage”

Ragnar continues to surprise us in ways we never thought possible and wins over those that would oppose him.

Lagertha proves her faithfulness in words.

Floki is beginning to cleave to Ragnar again.

Helga looks like she's okay!

Judith shines bright and continues to be a strong female character and adversary.

Creepy Count Odo will no longer be around.

Ragnar surprises us in a rather crazy way.

Bjorn is doubting his father publicly.

Rollo remains an issue in Paris.

Kwenthrith is cray-cray.

Erlender is getting anxious in his want to settle his personal score against Bjorn.

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Acting

B+

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Plot

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Writing

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Character

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Production

B+

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BOTTOM LINE:

Ragnar is set on taking Paris again. Fueled by the now irreversible hatred of his brother, he will do anything to make the city know who has bested them. Feelings of unrest and scattered loyalty remain throughout the viking tribe, no on is safe while they are away from home.

A-

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Red rover, red rover, the vikings come over on last week’s Vikings. Ragnar will stop at nothing to take Paris once more and not even a mountain range will keep him from proving his might.

Casualties ran high in the previous episode of Vikings and King Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) was forced to order his men to retreat. By that order, his son Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) has informed him that he has become weaker, however that order did not remain as he had expected. Though weakened and temporarily set back, Ragnar proves his ingenuity once again in his true fashion of out of the box thought and maybe even wins the loyalty of King Finehair (Peter Franzen) and his brother Halfdan (Jasper Paakkonen). Dealings in Paris remain unstable and the existence of Rollo (Clive Standen) in the midst of the Frankians is an uncertain alliance that will soon be bolstered by the addition of a child. Wessex is expanded by King Ecbert’s (Linus Roache) acceptance of the united kingdom of Mercia, betraying Kwenthrith (Amy Bailey) in the process who is carrying Aethelwulf’s (Moe Dunford) child. There is quite a bit of unrest in every kingdom, including the fragile stability of Kattegat under the loose reign of Queen Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland) while entertaining her visitor, Harbard (Kevin Durand). Not everyone survives this round. Who lives to fight another battle, and who moves on to the afterlife? Let’s talk about it.

If you can’t swim down river, walk.

The high losses suffered by the initial set into Paris were devastating to Ragnar and his men, however, the losses do not necessarily mean defeat for the viking king we all know and love. Despite Bjorn’s obvious disappointment in his father, he finds a way to make due with the means that they have. In a all out crazy move, he decides that if they cannot sail into Paris past the guard towers, they will carry their boats over the cliffs and past them and sail into the port unassaulted. It’s unconventional and a tad bit crazy, but it may pay off in the long end, not only for their assured success but for winning the hearts and loyalty of those that would seek to take Ragnar’s kingdom for themselves from within.

“We are going to lift the boats up the cliff. Then we are going to carry them across the mountains, past the fords, and then simply slide them back into the river, upstream.” – Ragnar

With everyone up in arms over their retreat and the soundness of the plan in general. It was comforting to see Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) slowly regaining his friendship with Ragnar though it is still a cautious and fragile bond. Lagertha (Kathryn Winnick) also remains loyal despite the many wrongs Ragnar has done to her in the past. She does not stand for anyone speaking badly of him in any way and would most likely follow him until the death in whatever plan he cooked up in any of their travels. The risk of doing the unthinkable by hauling their ships up the cliffs and over the mountains into safer parts of the river to reach Paris is something that would never be expected, considering the massive weight of each ship and the time consumed in doing so. Will Ragnar win back the confidence of his people with this ploy or will further cripple them by betting on a mad gambit in order to achieve the goal he refuses to let go of?

Remain useful or be gone.

It is given in strong confidence by Count Odo (Owen Roe) that Rollo is not to be trusted, and the alliance with the once loyal viking would be ill advised. The plots against the Count are still present at the time of his announcement and unbeknownst to him are already in the makings of dealing a high consequence to the nobleman. In an unexpected turn of events, he is executed at the hands of Roland (Huw Parmenter) the brother of his mistress Therese (Karen Hassan) during an illicit meeting while he is helpless in chains. With the Count out of the way, Emperor Charles (Lothaire Bluteau) announces his decision and outcome along with this continued support of Rollo and his daughter Gisla (Morgane Polanski). It also made known that Gisla will soon be welcoming a child from the marriage and the fragile alliance, which surprisingly does not seem to sit well with the Emperor. It makes me wonder if the intended marriage and alliance was only intended for the length of the threat of the vikings invading Paris and only for that length. Something tells me that Rollo may need to watch his back should he fail to defend the city or his usefulness become unneeded.

“Poor Judith, you have killed twice over.” – Kwenthrith

King Ecbert shows his true colors to Kwenthrith when he announces that she is no longer Queen of Mercia. Upon this announcement she lets her true craziness be unleashed and tries to flee Wessex and back to her kingdom in order to re-establish her Queenship despite his announcement. Unsuccessful in this she makes an unorthodox bid for her life by announcing that the father of her child is his son, Aethelwulf. However, this announcement is not as surprising as she had hoped and Ecbert takes the news on the chin, as he does with most children conceived out of wedlock. There is one thing about Ecbert that is endearing, his undying willingness and hobby to shelter the bastards created by unfaithful spouses. The only surprising move was that Kwenthrith then sought the support and aid of Judith (Jennie Jacques) in feeling the kingdom after telling her that she was carrying her husband’s child. Judith is not a stranger to unfaithfulness, having given birth to Alfred by sleeping with Athelstan (George Blagden) so it is little wonder that she presents a kind air to Kwenthrith to her face. When push comes to shove, she protects what she considers to be hers and the means to her continued happiness when she ends up killing the woman point blank with a dagger, child or no, when she manages to sneak into Ecbert’s chamber and threaten his life. Judith is strong and not afraid to defend her world from those that would threaten it. With Kewnthrith gone, what will Aethelwulf do, considering that his mistress is no more and his wife is now more or less the property of his father.

I love you. And you and you and you.

Ever the opportunist and possessor of a wandering heart, Aslaug continues to entertain her seemingly magical wanderer in Ragnar’s absence. What she perceived as being her savior to a lonely now loveless marriage, ends up being a bane and a thorn in her side when she witnesses how Harbard is helping the people of Kattegat. It seems that he love he spreads is not just reserved of the queen herself, but for any woman that is need of conceiving a child or unhappy in their marriage bonds. Aslaug is understandably angry by this, but unrightfully so, as she herself is a married woman and already shunned for taking up with the same man and endangering her children in doing so the first time Ragnar was away. It remains to be seen who this Harbard really is. He professes to hear Aslaug’s call form anywhere and says he strives to live his life as the gods would live. Is he really one of the gods in human form? Or is he only an opportunist, making his rounds over the many lands of the northmen when the timing is right?

“I have broken my life for your sake. I do no know if you are a god. All I longed for was your presence and your caresses.” – Aslaug

Speaking of love and no love lost. The bitter feelings of Erlender (Edvin Endre) still run strong, and the shocking vision of him shooting an arrow into Bjorn’s neck as Torvi (Georgia Hirst) watched on was a shocking display of what he could be capable of in the future. Not only did Bjorn take away his wife, he took away his once way of life by being related to those that bought an end to his father’s life. Though he may deny his involvement in seeking his death, that feud is far from over. No feuds withstanding, Helga (Maude Hirst) has recovered enough to be able to speak to Floki and her wish that he does not die in the newest plan to raid Paris is a sincere one. Less sincere is Ragnar’s relationship with Yidu (Dianne Doane) which seems to have lived up it’s usefulness completely. Whether she was lying about not having any more of the medicine that was her entire bargaining piece in keeping Ragnar around, her quick threat to expose his secrets is no laughing matter. She is quickly dispatched after threatening once to reveal the truth about the fate of those who died in Wessex, that Ragnar still has not revealed have met their fate. Ragnar drowns her quite viciously and in the presence of his two sons without thought of the consequences. I guess it goes to show that you should never threaten to expose the weakness of a viking, especially if you are obligated to them for your very survival.

Conclusion: A risky gambit may lead to greatness.

There is no actual way to predict the outcome of this unconventional bid to take Paris by Ragnar and his men. It is quite obvious that he is set on succeeding in any way possible, maybe this time to prove a point and settle a score with his blackguard of a brother, by doing so. His stubbornness may be his downfall in the end, rather than his ongoing health issues that only seem to dwindle his sanity. However, his unsound mind could have been attributed to the Chinese herbs that Yidu had been supplying him and his dependance on the drugs, could be what has been hindering his judgment. Now that the supply has been depleted, we could be seeing the rise of King Ragnar once more, or we could see him fall staggeringly further down into the depths of his ailment. Whatever may be the case, he has no shortage of men and women who follow him unquestioningly, and those that have lost faith in him are slowly coming back around. As for the battles between kingdoms in Wessex, there is no telling what move will be next for King Ecbert. He has taken down the threat of the crazy queen by taking the kingdom himself. His next move, if anything, would be to head off the threat of the northmen. If he strikes now while Ragnar is away and weakened, there may be a far more different kingdom that Ragnar will return to once he either conquers or fails in Frankia.

As ever, the production and writing of Michael Hirst is intricate and on point in tying in several plots and relationships together in each episode. Each scene played an important point in themes and relationships as far as the plot went. The phrase “Isn’t life strange?” being uttered by Ecbert and later by Emperor Charles, each to the respective announcements of impending births via unorthodox alliances, there is a subtle joining of plots and trains of thought attached to each. Though the outcomes will be decidedly different, or at least at this point, it looks to be different, the evidence of shared thought on the welcoming of new life is a pointed one. Hopefully, there will be victor on the horizon for Ragnar in the cards and maybe some settling of scores that will aid him in taking back his former glory. The stones are adding up against him and if he does not succeed, he may find himself being crushed by the weight of them tumbling around him. Let’s hope each event presents itself in turn and not all at once and we can witness the uprising of Ragnar rather than the piteous fall.

Questions, Comments & Concerns

Ragnar is starting to sound like his old self again.
Holy heck on that vision of Erlender killing Bjorn!
Lagertha remains loyal and faithful to her once husband. Will it remain so if they are not successful in the endeavors to retake Paris?
King Finehair and Halfdan seem to be won over with this new plan.
Floki and Helga are the cutest.
What the heck, Ragnar about Yidu!?! That relationship sure didn’t last long.
RIP Kwenthrith. You won’t really be missed. You were insane.

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About the Author

Theresa Peters

Theresa lives in Alaska where she can be found raising her three wild children, snuggling her seven-toed cat, and trying to convince her husband that he really is part Dwarf a la Tolkien. When she's not busy driving her family insane with her obsession with Mumford & Sons and Thai food, she can be found enjoying the following television shows: The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Doctor Who, The Originals, Outlander, Game of Thrones, and the occasional History Channel special. Her hobbies also include, reading, running, writing, painting, and pretending to be a T-Rex.

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