‘Vikings’ season 4 episode 17 review: Did Ivar, Ubbe get revenge on Lagertha?
Ragnar may be gone on “Vikings”, but his presence was still very much felt by everyone on the last episode. Will that continue through out the series? We like to think that it will. The story is shifting towards Ragnar’s sons now and we know from history that Ragnar’s sons live on to have even greater adventures then he did. The one storyline we are most interested in right now is Ivar’s revenge. He wants revenge on King Ecbert and Aella for killing his father, but he also wants revenge on Lagertha for killing his mother and now that the Seer told Lagertha that she will die by the hand of one of Ragnar’s sons we are worried.
Ivar, Sigurd and Ubbe are ready to declare war to avenge Ragnar and are even willing to make alliances with other enemy kingdoms to use their armies to make this happen, but Siguard has no interest in killing Lagertha since his relationship with his mother wasn’t great. Ubbe on the other hand agrees with Ivar, but doesn’t agree with the haste he’s pushing on getting the deed done. The biggest problem that they have is not their lack of armies, but that Sigurd and Ivar cannot stop fighting with each other. With these brothers being divided they really aren’t going to be able to get anything done.
Ubbe tells Lagertha of their plan to avenge Ragnar’s death asking her to join them, but she declines – probably because she knows this will end up with her death, but instead she tells him that it’s because she needs to protect Kattegat from people like Harald. Ubbe tries to go about this another way freeing Margaret from slavery in order to have her marry one him and have her on their side… which she accepts.
When the first army shows up to Kattegat, it goes pretty much exactly how we thought it would. The army is working with Ubbe and Ivar to kill Lagertha before heading out to avenge Ragnar. They suppress all of her shieldmadiens locking Lagertha in the throne room – ready to kill her. Bjorn shows up just in time, breaking in and confronting his brothers. He says he knows they want revenge on Lagertha, but right now they need to all bond together to get revenge for their father first and foremost. Luckily for Lagertha, they agree with Bjorn and leave the fight for another day. Knowing they are going over seas again, Ivar goes to Floki to ask him to help him walk so he can battle and he builds Ivar a chariot!
On the other side of the world, Bjorn is sailing home with the booty from his raid, but Harald has his own plans as he plots to take what he wants and that includes Kattegat, so it seems that Bjorn has a bigger battle ahead then he even realizes. When they land in France to drop off Rollo, he gives an offer to any vikings that want to live in France – he will give them land and an opportunity to thrive under his rule, but everyone still feels Rollo is a traitor (which he is) and just can’t trust him. Although Rollo is back home in France with his children (and very angry wife), we feel that his heart is still viking and he is very torn between these two worlds. When Rollo faces Gisla, it’s a pretty ugly situation as she screams and hits him repeatedly in the face (her right hook to his nose made us wince for him!)
With the brothers being so divided on their primary goals we suspect that their revenge plot isn’t going to go that well – especially seeing Ivar and Ubbe failing at killing Lagertha. Where’s the strategic planning??? Also, did anyone see Bjorn and Astrid hooking up! A little weird for us. This was the first real episode without a heavy Ragnar presence, and all of our fears of the show not being as good are gone. We still miss Ragnar, and will miss him every week on the show, but the show will be more then fine. Episode grade: B
In Case You Missed it: We spoke to “Vikings” actor Alex Høgh Andersen about his role as Ivar the Boneless! Check that out at the link here.
What did you think of tonight’s episode of “Vikings”? Leave us a comment in the box below. If you want more scoop on “Vikings” season 4″ as well as what could be coming up next season, then click the link here. (Photo: History)