Well yeah it wouldn't be impossible to fake (though it looked like he wasn't just bleeding a little from the mouth but spitting out tissue/lumps as well) and I know about the legend but since Ragnar is presented to be actually gravely ill (lethal or non-lethal, he was looking pretty ghostly when he was wreathing in…

I'm sure there's more to the baptism and that it's all part of Ragnar's cunning plan to take the city but I'd be honestly disappointed if he doesn't die. I know, blasphemy! But look: You can't fake pissing and coughing blood. Maybe he'll live long enough to rise from the coffin and let his Viking brethren and sistren…

It's legally available in 40 countries, that's not too bad (and though the Netflix portfolios aren't quite as good yet outside the US, I have an account and am excited to use it for the first time).

Sounds good to me. Now I'm excited.

Hm mysterious… I am intrigued.

D'oh ok, that makes sense. The tracker is fried but I guess they can repair it. The people using the briefcase must've bought it somewhere so I don't quite see why Root or Harold couldn't have purchased one (surely less conspicuous than gassing a whole restaurant?) though I suppose they are hard up for cash. Should…

Surely there was something in that Fabergé egg because why else would the Machine order Root to break it?

I feel about this like I feel about his whole run, not quite hate or love, rather… meh.

She is definitely stuck in the most boring storylines and I could not have cared less about her before but I don't know, I really dig her demeanour and the subtle dignity with which she carries herself this season despite the indignities she has suffered - similar to Lagertha but at the same time completely different.…

I love the flourish of his gestures. It was one of those moments where I expect him to launch into an expressionistic ballet routine.

Aethelwulf should have self-flagellated himself into oblivion. But then we wouldn't have gotten his meeting with Kwenthrith, justifying its existence with her entrance alone: "Forgive me for keeping you waiting. I was bathing."

Yes, in hindsight it was better that the Rollo/Lagertha scene was edited out because of the reactions it caused but I must say that I never got the implication that Rollo was Björn's father and I just found it to be a sweet and overdue conversation between two characters that I wish interacted more often (because for…

"US butcher hour" is a very apt description. I don't get it because it's not even like they're trimming some fat here and there, they are cutting crucial scenes (like, apparently, Athelstan's and Judith's first kiss without which it seems like they gave each other some longing looks and then suddenly jumped straight…

Yeah, I simply handwaved that as her looking at him weirdly because he's acting weirdly instead of her actually seeing the blood. Wasn't that intercut with Harbard arriving in Kattegat and also bleeding from his hands? Maybe it was supposed to be a religious analogy or a foreshadowing to the reawakening of…

Yes, exactly! Floki is, arguably, crazy but we as the viewers could understand why he would think Harbard was Odin and how it could drive him to such drastic actions. If we saw things in a normal light, we wouldn't just roll our eyes at the characters, they themselves would be inexplicable to us. And to leave out…

Fair enough. Those examples of "coincidence or fate?" still fall under my suspension of disbelief but I can understand how others would be bothered by it.

I'll have to disagree. Although we have moved beyond mushroom induced hallucinations, I find the supernatural element in the show still firmly rooted in the characters' perceptions rather than something that pushes the show into the fantasy genre. We are shown things filtered through the eyes of the characters which…

Since Ragnar himself is from the realm of legend and myth, with several historical influences to draw upon, I appreciate that the show doesn't pretend to present a version of history as it might have happened, instead striving for a feeling of authenticity over feigned accuracy. It's why I also appreciate the…

a bond Rollo ruefully envies later when he sees their stone and sand model of the city abandoned to the tides

Bates Bed 'n' Breakfast