I'm new to this show, watching an ep a night. There are such beautiful moments, and lovely performances. My "allergies" have acted up during a few scenes, such as the dream with Kerwin and Daniel in the field. (I'm of the opinion that all the characters in Daniel's dreams represent Daniel himself though).

ha! Maybe we'll see them in a Hope and crosby type road movie

Mike has gone to hell on earth. A man of action stuck in a tiny office with one view and a Selectric typewriter (nice tie back that). Corporate crime America will have little patience for his grandiloquence.

I've grown to rather like this movie's spare, elliptical quality. Chappellet's arrogant and a heel, but I like how his social insecurity and self-hatred are revealed bit by bit. And the way he exhibits the same dour inaccessibility as his father. Skiing is Chappellet's ticket out of humble beginnings, and it's also…

A+ episode. Derivative? Yes, but successfully made it the episode's own. (Amusing to see Star Wars referenced here, which is itself heavily derivative)

Loved it. Evreryone riding stationary bikes while being compelled to watch - it made me think, with tech displacing millions and millions of workers, and yet we are in a consumer economy - what is a solution? To be paid to watch so you can buy more crap, the consumer as slave.

I'm betting tv Jon Snow revivifies as ColdHands…that would cut out of lot of wandering from the books and bring Jon/Coldhands/Bran (and possibly Rickon) back into the action.

Dick Whitman conjured Don Draper from his own imagination, he's never not been Dick, although Don is only now coming to terms with the truth in the lie. I think that is giving him a new sense of self, of peace - and that is why he passed "Don" forward to the kid from the motel, symbolized by his car.

No way Is Ragnar buying it, at least not this season. But the prospect does underline how weak the other potential protagonists in this story are - too weak to carry show forward for sure. Aside from Rollo, Bjorn would be the logical choice but he's woefully underdeveloped as a character. Child Bjorn had more…

That is true in the show. In the book though Jaime had something to do with the baby's death or terminating the pregnancy.

I take book Cersei to be rather psychopathic and her sexuality such as it is is built around controlling and manipulating others rather any real feeling for the other, including Jaime.

Spoiler: I may be misrembering here, but thought Jamie suffocated Bobbi B's baby with Cersei. If so maybe that baby is part of the count

Great recap. As with SoA, I've reached the happy place of suspended disbelief and enjoyed this episode on its own merits. there were moments that reminded me of Valhalla Rising, it was beautiful.

Fine with me, pendant away :) I might have been less grumpy about it all if perhaps the story had begun somewhat earlier, before getting to Ragnar, but then it would have been a different sort of show. I'd love to see the sagas dramatized someday.

"That being said, how many raids with raping and plundering of abbeys and towns do we need to see"

The way they've chosen to approach this part of Ragnar's story isn't very interesting to me. Personal taste that's all. I've read there's a plan to make Vikings a multi-generational show. In that case, I would have been much more interested in Ragnar's sons varied stories and *then* getting to Rollo.

That's true but the heavy focus on the power struggles in England are diluting the show, or at least my own interest. Spoilerish: the Rollo who became the ruler of Normandy was different than show Rollo. Historical Rollo was born about 70 years after the attack on Lindisfarne —

Not digging the sharp turn into early middle ages European history at all. There's a glut of programming, books, sites covering the entire period. And let's not forget the fantasy side, such as GoT. What appeals about vikings is its comparative freshness. I feel like Hirst doesn't trust the material, and the audience.…

I love Danny, or rather am coming to love to hate him. One of the best, if not the best, depictions of a sociopath on any show, ever. Was he made or born that way? Both? I love his malice and the ease with which he's been able to manipulate those around him, even though they sense how off he is. Best of all, is that…

Everything you said. I know it's tv, but still it IS the history channel. Judith was not Alfred's mother, that was Aethelwulf's first wife. Judith was Aethelwulf's second wife, a 12 year old. No one was tortured over paternity. I say all this because the writers weren't constrained by known facts, they came up with…