That's a good point. If you settle him in as a Saxon, it eliminates the most-interesting thing about him. But, and I'm thinking long term here, now that I know this is a long-running book series, at a certain point becoming the character who is torn between sides over and over and over again risks you turning into…

I do agree that he is fond of Alfred and somewhat invested in his success. But, yeah, not so invested that he would not cast it off for his ancestral homeland. Yet …

Great point! Everyone wants Uhtred to have some deep and innate loyalty to them. But in the end, he will probably always choose himself.

The cast of characters is really rich. So it isn't surprising that there is a foundation of historical fiction there beyond the actual history. So there is this feeling that while we haven't spent a ton of time with many of these tertiary characters, they have rich lives going on offscreen.

At first I thought the vegetarianism was religious, too, because he initially discussed it with the priest. But during the conversation with Uhtred in the fourth episode I realized it was due to his referred-to illness. Crohn's wad apparently a lucky guess based on a friend of my sister's who has it and used to stay…

Episode 1:
So I didn't know a ton about tbis show otber than the period in which it was set and that Alfred would be heavily involved. But I think it was a brilliant decision to have the protagonist be someone torn between the two worlds and can see the good and the bad of both sides. I like the way the priest and…

I read book reviews on The Millions, Flavorwire, and sometimes Book Riot and Vulture.

I love the idea of The Answers, but I thought the execution was just OK.

I like that idea!

No kidding! Alfred worlds colliding!

Just getting this notification, annoyingly. But, yeah, Lagertha's actions seem like the kind of thing a writer does to move someone from point A to point B, where the motivation is clumsy but the payoff is worthwhile. But she's still just separate from everyone else. It honestly would have made more sense if she had…

Yeah let's check it out. It will be a good flow from Vikings.

I'd always thought Floki was totally made up, too, and probably named in reference to the well-known Loki. So it is a fun surprise. I'm assuming the real-ish/semi-mythical Floki wad a boat builder? That makes his dismayed line about Rollo being the most likely to go down in history even funnier.

OMG what?!?!??! That's amazing that you figured that out. It seems crazy to me that the Vikings would have gone all the way to the Mediterranean before Iceland (according to the show), but it makes sense, I guess, since the latter involves hugging the land the whole way and the former involves open ocean.

True. Ubbe has been a bit of an also-ran most of the season, but he seems poised to represent the long-forgotten farmer side of Ragnar now.

Crossings:
I really wished we could have spent a little more time with Bjorn in the Mediterranean before her had to return, but it makes sense he had to return. (Speaking of which, are we supposed to understand Odin notified them?) But I really liked seeing them react to a strange place and particularly Floki's…

True. I've done that with paper books, left them someplace and by the time I find them again, I have no idea what is happening.

Haha! I have been reading a little on the Kindle app for my phone, but it is much slower.

Not yet. Hopefully tomorrow. Very annoying.

Yeah how the timing of all this will play out going forward is a total mystery with Ragnar already dead.