Yes…that was Hirst's extremely complicated re-telling of how Ragnar died. "Ragnar sacrificed himself so his sons would take revenge on Ecbert". Which is painfully boring and pretentious.

Ragnar suggested to Ecbert that by letting Aelle kill Ragnar, Ragnar's sons would only take revenge on Aelle and would spare Ecbert.

The opening battle scene was good. The rest of the episode…. meh… bordering on WTF?

If I wrote the screenplay… I would have spent most of the episode on the fighting in Wessex.
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Let Aethelwulf ride with his Christian warriors, to a choir of angels praying for God's mercy as they face the Heathen Army. After a series of hard fought skirmishes… neither side have gained the upper hand.…

I have been following Vikings since episode1season1. Last night's episode was the most boring and repetitive by far. For me Vikings was about getting a taste (if somewhat exaggerated) of 8th century Scandanavia, England before the Norman invasion, and Frankia.