A Midnight Clear is mentioned a couple of times in passing. I remember liking it a lot watching it in the late 90s on VHS and IFC but haven't seen it since. I think it proves Truffaut wrong in that you CAN make an antiwar war movie. Rarely see it brought up and I've never talked to anyone else who's seen it outside of…

If the show were more ambiguous I'd think they were trying to use the fact that the kid still wants to be Carol's tagalong buddy as another sign he's a victim of abuse but, nah. I'm sure he, like many of the show's viewers, has never doubted that the cookie lady - who traumatically threatened a nine-year-old to keep…

Your microwave-ready S3 plot: 1a. Stella needs Spector's help with a new case or 1b. Stella testifies at Spector's trial. 2. More, ugh, sexual tension to undermine the character of Stella. 3. Stella catches rando Ulster baddie. 4. Spector tries to escape. Stella has to shoot him and feels bad about it. (Please invert…

Poor Athelstan? Poor Lagertha, once again used as a cover by a guy who wants to do some experimenting with a blue-eyed monk.

If the people Lagertha left behind were the ones too weak to fight or farm and those she didn't trust (Einar and his kin) then it's plausible that Kalf could quickly take over. His plot still doesn't make much sense but it does make sense that he could take over somewhat easily in her absence.

Agreed on "Bleah" for Athelstan and Judith. What's worse, the historical Aethelwulf's eldest son was named Aethelstan, so they could be headed for a cuckolding storyline with the payoff of Athelstan's bastard son as the future ruler of Wessex. They might even streamline the lineage and make him Alfred the Great.…

TBF Aethelwulf fought against that pretender for Kwen, who murdered the other rapist in her family. It's true his father's ambition is the real motivation but until he has a throwaway line (and maybe it's coming, or something worse if he's an antagonistic figure) to the effect that he's pro- or neutral on rape I don't…

What I also don't get is why they're skipping to Ragnar in scouting out potential 1v1 danger. Kalf doesn't look tougher than Cnut from Season 1.

TV Handsome's plot is so muddled. "Earl Ingstad is hinting something fierce that she wants me to propose. I could rule in her place while she's away and our child could rule after her but no, I want to rule all the time. So, I'll recruit Einar to get his kin on my side. His kin who wouldn't support him for Earl.…

The repetition of it was the birth of the "____, based on the novel 'Push,' by Sapphire" runner.

It's beneath everyone, isn't it? Isn't acting supposed to be about the craft? "Glad hand us and we'll give you a trophy for it" is hard to represent as anything but grubby. "It's marketing for the film" sounds like the only argument that could work on someone who isn't a narcissist.

No matter who the producer is Oprah's a more bankable co-star than Mo'Nique, isn't she? This sounds a little like Daniels knowing which explanation would track with her. "I'd cast you if I could, but, you know, politics .. "

I guess it depends on how much of him is Pagan now and how much is Christian. (Can we get a running percentage?) For a Christian, fornication's a sin, adultery's a sin. You can't rationalize either. For a Norse pagan, at least a Norse pagan in this show, wives are seemingly free to sleep with whom they want up to a…

They won't linger on it if it's ridiculous. You'll get slowmo and Wardruna as they lead him to the pit, he'll look down, say his line and jump? Then the last episode/half-episode/ten minutes of the last episode will be the Sons invading and Bjorn blood eagle-ing Aelle.

To be fair to the King of Wessex she didn't consider two or three guards at the same time enough for her. "No, no, keep 'em coming." She's presented as having a certain disorder.

Well, isn't Christianity vs Paganism the main conflict of the show? Athelstan has to give in to the temptations of the flesh at some point. They can't tease it for another season. Fornication can't rate higher than raiding your (old) Christian homeland with your Pagan buddies, and he's done that.

So, last time they rowed left, then? Kwennie asked her redshirt Vikings what to do, one of them responded in unintelligible Old Norse and pawed at her dress and … No translator? How did that work? That's my version of how they lost the first time, then. Meryn Trant ordered a sneak attack while she was finger painting…

"My wife plays this all the time and it bugs me" is at least a better cause of Hate than "The wrong kids in my middle school liked this," "These guys think they're punk rock. They're not punk rock!" or "I can divine the songwriter's true thoughts and I assure you they are not represented by the lyrics."

Ragnar thought "I'm King now. The plaited mohawk is too much work." The fuzz is like going from dress slacks to sweatpants.

It's a little worrying that so much of the season's conflict might be based around reshuffling the couples like a soap opera ("Ecbert with Lagertha, Princess Whosit with Athelstan, Ragnar with Kwenethaxonname, Floki with Rollo") or repeating last year's storylines (home territory usurped while the ruler is in Wessex),…