‘Vikings’ season 4 episode 19 review: Did Ivar’s plan bring victory to Ragnar’s sons?
There is only one episode left of “Vikings” season 4 after tonight, but there is still much story to tell. Ragnar’s sons have gotten their revenge on king Aella giving him death by blood eagle and hanging him high over the pit Ragnar died in for all to see. Is this the same fate that awaits king Ecbert or will he pull himself together to fight off Ragnar’s sons? With the brother’s being so divided we were surprised at how they were able to come together and defeat Aella so swiftly, but Ecbert has had more time to prepare and with his son Aethelwulf ready to prove his worth we may see the sons of Ragnar facing a foe much bigger then them and their enormous army.
Kattegat: Things are tense in Kattegat right now with all the new people coming there to trade, but there are also people coming there to look for weaknesses in their defenses. Needless to say, Lagertha has her hands full, especially when their defenses are breached and her people start getting killed. Lagertha realizes quickly that the wall breach is a diversion from what’s really going on behind her, which is an army coming in the back door and burning down her town. She is able to get a handle on it and stop them, but not before taking a prisoner to find out exactly what’s going on. After torturing her prisoner, Lagertha finds out that King Harald is behind the attack. Unfortunately, it looks like we lost one of our favorite character’s tonight in the attack on Kattegat – Bjorn’s wife Torvi. We saw her body laying among the dead and as much as we are hoping for some crazy miracle next week where it turns out that Torvi is only just “mostly dead” and Lagertha some how saves her, we are not hopeful.
Wessex: Ecbert and Aethelwulf have gotten a sense of how big the viking army is that’s coming for them and with Aethelwulf in charge he’s working to raise more men to fight for them. Ecbert commands Judith to go back to Aethelwulf to support him saying his mind can’t be muddled, but after everything that has happened, is this kind of support really going to do anything? What isn’t muddled is Aethelwulf’s love for his children – all of his children, including Alfred who is really Athelstan’s son. The moment that they shared tonight talking openly about who Alfred’s biological father is, but how much he loves Aethelwulf as his father was a moment that we have been wanting to see for a long time. We have seen Aethelwulf put up with so much from his father and his wife, but the one thing he has never wavered on is how important fatherhood is to him and what his sons mean.
Ragnar’s sons: The fighting between the brothers is getting quite bad as Ivar wants to lead their army and Bjorn wants no part of that. Ivar deeply believes in what Ragnar told him – that he is going to be the son to carry on his name in a bigger and grander way then any of the others and because of that he wants his moment in the sun right now. Ivar tells Bjorn that attacking Ecbert’s army in the same way they always do is going to be a mistake since the other side is expecting it, so they should go and check out the battlefield and see if there is a way to get the jump on them. We didn’t expect Bjorn to agree, but he was at least willing to go and take a look – which is probably a good idea since Aethelwulf has raised a pretty massive army. After checking out the battlefield, it turns out that Ivar was right and they are able to get the jump on Aethelwulf by changing up their tactics. When Aethelwulf figures out what Ivar is up to, they decide to go after the viking ships, not realizing that Ivar has lead them right into a trap. They won that battle, but we have to wait until next week to find out if they are going to win this war.
One of our favorite things about “Vikings” is how well they put together their battle sequences – there is really no other show on television right now that does this as well as this show. We’ve seen some grand battles on shows like “Game of Thrones” but the way “Vikings” choreographs these battles (and so many of them in just one season) puts this show at the top of their game. There are many reasons that we keep saying that “Vikings” is the best show on television right now and the battle sequences are just one. Episode grade: A-
In case you missed our exclusive interview with Alex Hogh Andersen (Ivar the Boneless), you can check that out at the link here.
What do you want to see happen on the “Vikings” season 4 finale? Do you think that Ragnar’s sons will be victorious? Leave us a comment in the box below and share your thoughts. If you want more scoop on “Vikings” and what may be coming up for season 5 then head on over to the link here. (Photo: History)