I don't know if he'll sack Paris again or not. He may bypass it and raid inland. But there will be some sort of resolution with Rollo.

I agree. Hirst is setting up the colossal struggle for England ahead. Jonathan Rhys Meyers has been cast for Season 5, and I'm betting he's the adult Alfred the Great. Just guessing, of course, but I bet England is the center of the action by next year. Besides, I like the Saxon cast.

I see what you did there. ;-)

The series seems to portray the raid on the Franks last season as the Siege of Paris, which was in 845. If we say Ragnar was 25 at Lindisfarne, he'd have been 77 in Season 3. We're now several years later. So the series timeline isn't historical. Ragnar isn't actually the worst anachronism. Count Odo was likely not…

I'll take the unpopular position and defend the Saxon subplots. Yeah, Hirst has a fascination with courtly politics. But I think the series will increasingly focus on England, and what is going on there will set the scene for late Season 4 or Season 5, when the Great Heathen Army arrives en masse. Besides, Kwenthrith.

Ragnar may come back, but I think he'll be gone mid- or end-of-season. Time to turn the page. He'd be like 90 by now.

Yes, that's how I understood the scene.

It's not opium. It appears to be betel nut: http://www.bbc.com/news/hea…

If she was, it was made of ox leather and had studs, befitting the very Valkyrie themselves.

He's already in a snake pit. ;-)

These are all solid observations. I thought part of the point was to show that Aslaug favored Ivar over the other children, which may have repercussions later. She's clearly turning him into a Viking's Viking. I'm looking forward to see how this plays out.

But the character is acting a lot more like Loki. :-)

Let this be a lesson to helicopter parents everywhere.

My annoyance-of-the-episode was Harold Finehair's battle dress. After being the most authentically clothed Norse major character in the history of the series, it seems he, too, brought along a change of crudely stitched, aluminum-studded, heavy metal motorcycle leathers in which to meet the Franks. And what the hell…

True, but Jarls and Karls who went Viking must have been a pretty slim minority. :-)

There's another cycle that has Ragnar dying of dysentery or some similar disease shortly after Paris. In another, Ragna and Lagertha reconcile, but she kills him to rule alone. We saw reference to the first with Ragnar's extensive injuries in Season 3. I think Kalf was the stand-in for the latter. AS far as Yidu is…

You could be right. I'm less certain of how plot arcs will develop than in past seasons. Hirst has a lot more time to tell stories. As for Ivar, he's going to be a horror. Thanks, Aslaug and Floki.

Well, Ragnar *was* married three times, and his remaining timeline on the show is probably too short to introduce the missing wife … :-)

Hirst has this part right: The Seer is describing what he perceives of the Wyrd, but the Wyrd is endlessly shifting, the result of everyone's choices. So fate, in the Norse mind, is not static.

Oh, yes. :-)