So blatantly depicting an Odinic character was a bit much for me. Ragnar catching a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye while imagining the Valkyries bearing warriors into the clouds was fine — I don't recall Rollo saying he saw them, too. I will admit it didn't appear that anyone but the sons saw the…

That's a good point. I'm just guessing about a time jump, but even if Bjorn returned with the fleet right away (which wasn't the case in real life), it would take *years* to plan and assemble something on the scale of the Great Heathen Army. Long enough (POSSIBLE SPOILER WARNING — avert your eyes!) for Alfred to…

That would be a nice finish. The historical Ivar kinda fades from history after he leads the Great Heathen Army into England and sets things on fire. If his nickname truly indicates a physical condition, perhaps he died young. There are some who say the Norse grave at Repton may be his resting place: http://www.bbc.co…

I think we'll have another major character death this season. But I'm agreed with you.

FWIW — probably not much — I think we'll have another time jump soon. Hirst could just turn Bjorn around at Gibraltar, but he, in fact, would have been raiding in the Mediterranean for a couple years. And assembling a large-scale invasion force to avenge Ragnar would not have been a swift matter.

I'm here until the final credits roll. I'll nitpick the hell out of it, but I love the show. :-)

It's a pity it took me a full week to notice this excellent comment. :-)

Actually, that's just it. Vikings is a story. Hirst has as much right to tinker with the characters as those who compiled the sagas.

I see Trump has already denuded America of its sense of humor. ;-)

Hirst has held both Ragnar and Ecbert long past their expiration dates. Aethelwulf should be king by now — he ruled successfully for almost 20 years. I expect the character to die before the end of the season, which should end concurrently with Alfred's ascension. But who knows? There are all sorts of irreconcilable…

I'm prepared to bet you'll see an older version by the end of this season. ;-)

People of all eras and religious affiliations have reported mystical experiences, so I'm fine with the mostly ambiguous magic that appears in Vikings. Given Odin's legendary penchant for disguise and trickery, this week's one-eyed stranger seemed a bit of a blunt narrative weapon.

Winnick is shooting Season 5, so we won't say goodbye anytime soon. Vikings won't last forever, of course. In a recent interview, Hirst reiterated it was the story of Ragnar and his sons. He's said in the past he'd like to end with the Norse landing in North America. If the ratings hold through Season 5, we could get…

Not knowing, perhaps, she's Lagertha. And that's how he discovers he's truly Ragnar's son. ;-)

Historicalish is right. It's still a fine show. But if you were to do the math, the story is now about 70 years past Lindisfarne, where we saw Ragnar in (guessing) his mid-20s. He looked pretty rough in his final scenes, but you'd expect that of a 90-year-old. ;-)

I'm not positive Rollo survives the season. I hope so, but we don't see him with the Great Heathen Army in any of the released promos. So he probably dies overseas or returns to develop Normandy. His son and heir, William, is already born. The show has plenty of creative latitude with Rollo at the moment.

That stuck out with me, too, though I chalked it up to creative license and the fact that there was extensive trade going on at the time. Northumbria was wealthly and connected to most of the known world at that time.

Understandable, but I take this show as an extended saga of Ragnar and his sons. Season 5 is deep into production. If the ratings hold, I'd expect at least a Season 6. Hirst says he wants to end with the Norse reaching North America.

I think the episode explains what Ragnar was doing in the dark years after Paris: Deciding how to fulfill his true life's ambition, which was the permanent Norse settlement of England. He wasn't going to be able to do it conventionally after being defeated by Rollo: He'd never be able again to raise a large army. So…

If Ragnar was a historical figure, he would have believed passionately in his gods. Period. Allowing Ragnar to doubt in a modern way is acceptable creative license, but it should be received as such.