Vikings S3

It's no longer unusual for a creator to have such a wide-ranging influence on his television show that he might as well have written every episode himself.  Of course that'd be kind of ridiculous and nearly impossible to do.  And yet, Vikings creator Michael Hirst has tried to do that very thing on Vikings, writing every single one of the 28 episodes so far.

And I think the show has suffered for it.  It's creatively stagnant with few surprises and constantly checking on stories that have never been interesting.  The first season was a good show with a few flaws that never got fixed.  The second season was pretty much an identical season to the first, quality-wise.  And the third season in my mind represents a clear decline.

One of the biggest worries for me going forward is that I thought the dynamic between Athlestan and Ragnar was one of the most compelling and intriguing parts of the show.  And for some reason Hirst had him killed off by Floki.  From a plot sense, it made sense.  Floki has been resentful of Athlestan for years and it was only a matter of time.  But from a character perspective, it loses a lot of the appeal I once had for this show.  With him gone, what relationship will provide the bedrock for the series?

Similarly once a staple of the show, the relationship between Ragnar and Lagaertha is another thing that's been missing.  Occasionally, we'll get a glimpse of their past, but it's few and far between.  Understandably they've grown apart, but unfortunately their new partners are significantly less interesting.  Aslaug has never been a good character and barely anything changes this season.  I can't think of anything she did this season except come into contact with a wanderer and humiliate the Christian who thought he could carry a burning stick.  The wanderer brought the death of Siggy and her death was far more interesting than anything she did in life.  THAT was a good example of using a death for a character who had exceeded her time and raising the stakes.

And Kalf is a dud as a character, who instead of being menacing, just makes Lagaertha bad because she trusted him.  His character motivations made no sense either.  Lagaertha wanted to marry him and he didn't because we needed a plot here, so he usurps her by gaining the trust of another member who wanted her gone because women be crazy.  That member was apparently impactful enough to convince everyone else Kalf was good as earl, but not impactful enough to convince everyone Lagaertha was bad.  It's a mess and it could probably be forgiven if Ben Robson is at all convincing.  But he's not and every time spent on him was time better spent elsewhere.

Which is really the story of Vikings at this point.  It's a shocking change of pace from one moment to the next.  You're either really interested in what's happening (Ragnar is usually involved) or not at all interested (most of King Ecbert later in the season, although thank god for Linus Roache).  Speaking of not being interesting, I have no idea why they decided to make Athelstan have sex with Princess Judith.  Here's where something comes out of nowhere.  Despite never showing any interest in women, he all of a sudden is so distraught with "love" for Judith that he abandon common sense and has sex with her.  She gets pregnant and then gets her ear cut off and then Ecbert wants to have an affair with her, because she's apparently irresistible despite having no personality.  She's basically a blank canvas so that Hirst can do whatever he wants with her in order to have a plot.

Floki is well played Gustaf Skarsgård, but his character is extremely annoying at this point.  I'm sure there's another beat to be played other than "Really religious and hates Christianity" but Hirst has yet to do it.  It isn't that his character isn't well-explored, it's that there's got to be something else to the character.  It was good to see him get his comeuppance in the battle because I no longer like him at all.

Speaking of that battle, Hirst keeps trying to do the impossible and fool the audience into thinking something will happen that so clearly won't.  Last season, it was Floki turning on Ragnar.  This season, it was acting like Ragnar died.  Look, it was somewhat convincing, but the biggest problem is that without Ragnar there is no show.  He IS the show.  So if he dies, what the hell else is he going to do?  Plus, all of his actions where nobody could see him look worse because if you're playing a long con on the audience, you need to have him fooling someone else who isn't supposed to know.  But if he's coughing up blood by himself, that's just cheating.

Naturally, Travis Fimmel is as good as ever.  He's the reason to watch the show at this point.  In fact, I'm not sure if his story is still technically interesting as it is written or if Fimmel is just that good.  Similarly, Linus Roache does his best with some weak material.  When he's a part of the plot and he and Ragnar grin and play mind games with each other, it's honestly fantastic television.  When he starts just getting thrown in to remind us he's still a factor, he's not really able to save the pointlessness of it all.

Not much else to say about this season - or at least if I did have more, I'd talk too much about plot.  This show is technically better than other shows as mediocrely written as this because of its production values, it's acting, and it's period drama.  Technically speaking I should probably give this a higher grade than I will.  It's a C show that is elevated to a B show from its production.  But I'm going to give it a C anyway because no way in hell do I think this season deserved a B.

Grade - C

Playlist
1. "Easy" - The Commodores
2. "The Man in Me" - Bob Dylan
3. "Maggot Brain" - Funkadelic
4. "1999" - Prince (Look this up on Spotify I guess; no Prince songs on Youtube)
5. "House of the Rising Sun" - The Animals

Vikings S1 Review

I'd be lying if I said Vikings is a welcome surprise as going into it, I was pretty sure I was going to like it.  However, there is certainly something to be said for meeting expectations.  Vikings is a brutal, beautiful show that goes beyond what it needs to.  That is to say, Vikings is very clearly intended for a certain demographic and that demographic will want plenty of blood spilled and a chance to see humans at their most barbarian.  However, Vikings manages to do the impossible: makes us sympathize with these barbarians.

Filmed on location in Ireland, one of the show's greatest strengths is its landscape.  It is just beautifully shot.  With 70 percent of its scenes filmed outdoors, the show thrives on seeming authentic.  It's probably an underrated aspect: if the setting is inadequate, Vikings probably doesn't succeed.

Vikings is also very clearly singular in its mission.  The entire first season was written by the creator, Michael Hirst.  While that can certainly be a burden (See: Downton Abbey), it can also be a strength if that man is a really good writer (See: True Detective).  I'm going to say that Vikings is in the middle of those two shows, but much closer to True Detective than the former.

Hirst is the right man for the job and not just because the end product tells me so.  He has considerable experience writing historical fiction.  He has created two other shows, The Tudors and Camelot, and wrote another movie, Elizabeth (which was well reviewed and stars Cate Blanchett if you're interested).  And to a person with no knowledge of viking history, but who has done a little research, it appears as if he is combining different aspects of differing viking cultures, however it's mostly accurate to the period.  Of course, I'm assuming most of you won't be complaining about anachronistic details on this show if you're like me with little knowledge.

Vikings benefits heavily in my opinion from casting mostly unknowns.  More importantly, these unknowns can act.  Vikings is in such a different setting and such a different time period, highly recognizable actors could somewhat ruin the experience.  There's only two actors who are somewhat famous, Gabriel Byrne and Donal Logue.  Byrne is virtually unrecognizable and probably the weakest part of the show.  He plays the main antagonist and is never really that compelling as his lone defining character trait is that he's really fucking evil.  Logue fits in much better, although doesn't appear until later in the season.  (I also may be letting Terriers influence my opinion of Logue)

The star of the show, Travis Fimmel, is a revelation.  With piercing, blue eyes and a sly grin, Fimmel plays Ragnar Lothbrook as a cunning, enigmatic man.  You never get the sense that you know what he will do, but you are interested to find out.  He is patient, smart, and clearly a cut above the rest of the vikings.

While Fimmel carries the show, Gustaf Skarsgård steals scenes.  It's hard to explain how fun it is to watch him play Floki.  He is a squirrely, thrill-seeking shit starter.  Also awesome is Ragnar's wife Lagertha, played by Kathryn Winnick.  She's a shield maiden and as big of a badass as any man on this show.  Yes, women also kick ass on this show, not just men.  Also notable is the portrayal of Athelstan, as played by George Blagden.  Athelstan is our audience surrogate, a Christian priest who is taken as a slave of Ragnar's.  The interactions between Blagden and Fimmel are some of the most compelling and is what I'm talking about when I say the show goes beyond what it needs.

The interactions between Blagden and Fimmel mostly center on religion, namely the pagan and Christian religions.  This is a pretty important part of the show in fact as it is responsible for a lot of the disdain between England and the vikings.  Both are afraid and insulted by each other's.  That is except Ragnar, who seeks out knowledge about the Christian religion.  Don't worry, Ragnar is not "enlightened" to follow Christianity.  That would be troublesome.  No, the show deftly handles religion without seeming to posit an opinion one way or the other.

I can't believe I wrote eight paragraphs before talking about the greatness that is the battle scenes.  The battle scenes are in all but one episode and all of them are fantastically done.  They aren't just action for action's sake as the battles reveals a part of the fabric of viking culture.  They are efficient, almost workmanlike in their battle strategies.  They are necessarily brutal and cold, worthy of any stories you may have heard of vikings.

I mentioned before that the show is beautiful, but it's not only because of the location.  The three directors called upon for these nine episodes, all do a marvelous job.  The first three episodes are directed by Johan Renck, who directed three Breaking Bad episodes including the great "Hermanos."  The next three are by Ciaran Donnelly, previously affiliated with Hirst on The Tudors.  And the last three are by Ken Girotti, who has directed 89 television shows including Orphan Black, 24, and Rescue Me.  The talent of the directors certainly shows in these episodes.

Unfortunately, the show has some weak spots.  Whether due to the acting or the writing, Rollo as played by Clive Standen is never really that great of a character.  Rollo, Ragnar's brother who vies for Ragnar's position and respect, is a bit one-note.  He mostly exists to provide opposition to Ragnar and not much else.  (In my opinion, he's poorly written as Standen does what he can)  In the battle scenes, he almost always recommends attacking immediately without thinking.  The show seems to have a bit of a problem with writing compelling or interesting villains as Byrnes' Earl Haraldson is similarly uninteresting. (In my opinion, Byrnes didn't bring his A game to this role and is part of the reason the character falls flat)

But overall, Vikings has managed to create a semi-realistic world that is completely foreign to our own.  They strike a tough balance between making the vikings clearly different, yet relatable enough not to alienate the audience.  It's a tricky balance that the show has thus far pulled off.  With great acting, gorgeous scenery, and well-done battle scenes, Vikings is a show you should probably be watching.

Grade - B+

Playlist

1. "Baby Blue" - Badfinger

2. "The Vampyre of Time and Memory" - Queens of the Stone Age

3. "Woman with the Tattooed Hands" - Atmosphere

4. "I'm Not a Part of Me" - Cloud Nothings

5. "Cross My Mind" - Twin Forks