Vikings - History Channel Original Series

Season finale is next week. This last episode was intense. Their dedication and devotion to their religion is mind numbing. The way they portrayed the sacrifices, especially the human sacrifices at the end was less disturbing than I thought it would be. Even though the religious act of human sacrifice would be seen as barbaric and inhuman in todays standards, it was presented as something they all believed needed to be done. I thought the christian priest guy (looks up name, ah its: Athelstan) was going to be killed.. but he would only be sacrificed if he volunteered. Such an odd culture. They'll do sanctioned raids and kill any one in their paths, but only sacrifice one of their own religion that wishes it upon themselves. And during the human sacrifice, only Athelstan watched in what looked like a mixture of sadness with a hint of horror and disgust.

Athelstan's story is pretty interesting, It looks like he is abandoning Christianity, but having a hard time fully giving it up. He is knowledgeable about the Viking's pagan religion, and someone buys into it. But just when he was about to give up Christ he is thrown a curve ball with the sacrifice. It will be interesting to see how his relationship with Ragnar changes over this. Plus I wonder if Ragnar is questioning his marriage with Lagertha since he hasn't been able to bore him with more sons. He asked Odin not only to give him more sons but WHO will give him more sons.  

There's obviously been a bit of a time-skip, right? I mean, Athelstan has a new hairdo and goatee.

There's obviously been a bit of a time-skip, right? I mean, Athelstan has a new hairdo and goatee.

The show does a time skip almost every episode. They don't acknowledge a time skip, but time has definitely passed. Like in the last episode, Athelstan grabbed his bible and realized he hasn't looked at it in such a long time, the pages were crumbling apart. That right there made me think it must have been a couple years since Lagertha's miscarriage at that point.

I'm a bit disappointed with tonight's season finale. Ragnar downgraded to a woman who appears to be nothing like Lagertha.. in strength or appearance. His daughter is dead, Siggy's daughter is dead.. and there was no fighting. Ragnar seems to be going a bit crazy.. and we have to wait basically a year for a new episode. wtf.

For a season finale, I was hoping the episode would have been a bit more epic. Rollo is a bastard so it doesn't surprise me that he would turn on Ragnar. However, in their mindset, Vikings were all about fame and passing on their heritage and title right? They have to get their names known. The best way to do that is to have power. Considering how everyone in power in this show has had to deal with killing off their brothers for their positions of power, it was only a matter of time before Rollo made a move. I feel bad for Bjorn. The more sons Ragnar has, the more likely scenario they'll all have to fight each other for a throne right? If anything, Ragnar would be better off not having extra kids.

Agree with everything you say above. It's going to be a long SUCKY wait and get this - not a lot of people will probably even care for the show's next season because of the time differential. This isn't popular on the scale of a Game Of Thrones or The Walking Dead. 

The Walking Dead got massive ratings and people eagerly waited a year for new eps. Vikings ratings were good, but not stellar. With season 2 only being renewed for 6 episodes and we have to wait a year to see those 6 eps.. It better be a damn good 6 episodes to bring all the fans back to keep the series going.

I just read this interview and it definitely makes me look forward to a second season:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/28/vikings-season-finale-season-2-all-change_n_3175975.html

that was the season end?

That was aweful finale, 

Dude is pulling  a Rick Grimes. If Ragnar starts seeing ghost Laurie I'm out

that was the season end?

 

That was aweful finale, 

Yeah.

You wrote the "Vikings" finale without knowing whether the show was picked up for a second season. How did you approach that process and what were you hoping to accomplish in this hour when you set out?

I wrote this very much with the hopes that it was going to be picked up. Of course I felt it was far too early to resolve the big issues that I’d set up and running. Ragnar’s own life of course continued and he got married again and has a lot of sons and they became very famous ...

 

So, at the back of my mind was the anticipation, the hope that we would get picked up. If we didn’t, everyone would have found this last episode very unsatisfactory. [Laughs.] I think there are at least three or four issues that are opened up and unresolved -- huge issues: Ragnar and his brother; Ragnar and his wife; Ragnar and [Aslaug]; Ragnar and his son. Really big, big issues open up under the feet of all the major characters.

 

It was a very quiet, character-driven hour compared to some of the earlier episodes. I think generally, viewers have been trained to expect major battles and bloodshed and action from season finales, so why did you choose to subvert that for "All Change"?

 

I would say in general, we managed to defeat and question a lot of presumptions and assumptions that people would have had about a series about the Vikings. I think that people would have just anticipated only seeing battles and only seeing these fit looking guys with long hair hacking each other to pieces. And actually, what I think has been delivered is this much more nuanced, much more interesting show, which is essentially about a family. Of course, there are battles. We tap their way of life, but essentially, what pays off in the end is being invested in these characters and in the family.

 

So, the last episode is taking us back to what the series, in some ways, is about. It’s about Ragnar and his family, Ragnar’s future. It takes us to the root of that. It takes us to a moment of great potential change in his circumstances and his life. I think we’ve earned that through the series by getting people involved in these lives and making them real and interesting. So I didn’t have to pull a battle or anything else out of the bag just for the sake of it -- I wasn’t really interested in doing that. I wanted people to be engaged with the people. I think personally, that it’s a very, very poignant, very deeply moving, deeply felt ending. Again, very unexpected, if you were going to watch a show called "Vikings."

I feel for the characters.. but at the same time, that last episode just did not draw me in like in all previous episodes. The Sacrifice episode felt like a much more powerful episode than the finale.

It needed one more episode to make up for the crap that was the last episode. Or, they should've ended at Sacrifice, like you say! 

Yep. The season ended very weak. I wish it ended on a high note, they could have left something in the back of everyone's minds about how epic Vikings was when season 2 goes to start. I just hope people start watching it again in a year, because I know I will.

I honestly found the ending fitting for the season. Left enough questions to make me come back when season 2 starts (not many though, I know Ragnar's story very well since I've always been interested in Vikings since I was a child). Plus you can't expect much, they really didn't know whether or not if they'd get another season.

Its a shame they didn't know about Season 2 before the season 1 finale was already set in stone. I think my expectations were too high. I'm so used to huge dramatic cliff hangers for finales that I felt let down. Quite a bit did happen in that finale.. but if anything I'm thinking now that I wished they'd have focused the episode more on Lagertha and the plague in their village than emphasizing Ragnar sowing his seeds. Lagertha is a strong character and the one thing I'm looking forward to for season 2, is her kicking Ragnar to the curb and leaving him.