Even more than "Cersei was a bitch even at a young age" I love how it also shows that she was willful, myopic (OK, ALL kids at that age are willful and myopic according to my friends with progeny) and has pretty bad decision making skills pretty much from the get-go.

Burning Question of the Night: "What will Norma wear to the Sex Club?"
Given the Victoria's Secret annex in Annika's bathroom, I half expected Norman to peeping tom Norma getting changed into something similar.
Paging Dr. Oedipus…

Would also make great Cockney slang.
"Did you see 'im block that shot on goal? Took one right in the duncle, he did."

Let us not forget 'Norma Running' was prefaced by Norma Climbing Over an Estate Wall in a Prom Dress' and bookended by Noram Hiding in the Shrubbery in a Prom Dress. So. Much. Brilliance.

That's what I thought as well. Do you even get wild boar up in Oregon?

I'd say Jingo goes in there as well. And "Thud" needs a bit of grounding the longstanding Dwarf-Troll blood feud to really be appreciated.

There are several story lines that run parallel and frequently overlap:

Byzantium's influence on Italy varied a lot. Southern Italy remained in the "Greek" orbit for a very long time while central and northern Italy looked more to Rome. Remember also that we're still about 200 years away from the very profound doctrinal schisms between Rome and Constantinople.

I would not say resistance – that brings up to many implied parallels to armies of occupation and that’s way off base for the situation faced by Lagertha. But I will buy that there's a lot of simmering resentment by Einar’s family and their faction. They are described as being pretty highly placed in the Hedeby…

Proving her point with her own troops and shield maidens is good, and well within Lagertha's power. I don't think anyone who has watched the show doubts that. Proving her point with her own forces plus direct support from the King of the Danes (forgetting for just a minute he's also your ex) would be eve better from…

Now see, I interpreted that as a heartfelt compliment, not an Oedipal issue. To me he was saying "See, I prefer a strong-willed woman who can swing a sword and wants to chart her own destiny to a vapid baby-making machine—even if she drives me up the f**king wall sometimes."

This show and its threesomes….

Bjorn has even started to wear his hair like his dad. Before Ragnar chopped off his famour braid, that is. It was really interesting watching how much Bjorn is talking and moving like his father. (Although no one is going to be better at enigmatic quips than Ragnar.)

OK, so not just me. Watching her reaction to Floki killing her uncle I thought: "Um…did she just have an orgasm?" Because that would be simultaneously kinda hot and more than a little disturbing.

Depending on which elements of the legend Hirst plans on incorporating into Ragnar's story arc, there could be even more Future Ex-Mrs. Lothbroks. Horny Saxon Princess certainly seems to think she's in the running and is pretty blatantly putting herself in the path of Ragnar's wandering eye.

It was great to see such extensive use of Old Norse and Old English again. Both the welcome feast negotiations and Athelstan having to play UN translator for Ecbert's outrageously entertaining flirtation with Lagertha were amazing. The cast deserves huge credit for making it seem effortless to rattle off lines that…

I'm going to have to go with the simple fact that you have guys who are "growing up" and can no longer be simple warriors without a care beyond the next raid and how to get better weapons and armor. Even in the (relatively) safe modern world where we don't have to make our livelihood with an ax & shield the transition…

Well Athelstan knows is just a scar from what his (at the time) co-religionists did to him. I'm not quite sure why Judith is convincing herself it's a stigmata (something that miraculously appears on people like St. Francis who have not actually been crucified!). Was she in the audience in Season 2 when Ecbert…

His new ink is amazing.

I'm going to chalk it up to "underestimating Ecbert's 'barbarian' allies" which, if you're a snotty Saxon petty noble with a couple of easy victories under your belt and no actual experience facing the Vikings is at least possible. Admittedly, it was a disappointingly easy victory. But Horny Princess' brother still…