History Channel's 'Vikings'

[chamber-music]

I always thought Floki was bipolar. Floki seems to have manic mood swings.

That destiny shot of Rollo and Princess Gisla gazing at each other

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Great episode.
Old siege techniques, boiled oil and the arrow wall were awesome.
Berserker Rollo
They gave Floki seconds of clarity that was a nice move but like his wife said, he is to egocentric and doesn't realize it, blaming the Gods, Athlestan, everyone but himself.
I really thought Bjorn was dead !
Ragnar speaking to Athlestan, bro moment, the tear

 

[BestGirl]

That was one helluva episode! The Paris battle was all I'd hoped for - and it looks like we're in for more next week. I was surprisingly glad to see the Vikings' asses get handed to them. I guess they'd won too effortlessly up to this point.

Gisla continues to be wonderful and I can't wait to see her with Rollo. She'll be his match and more. Her father will implode without her, though.

Couldn't deal with Thorunn's depression storyline so it's good that she left.

Can't figure out why Kalf just suddenly fell in love with Lagertha. I thought Ragnar had put him up to saving her.

Speaking of, I wonder how Ragnar plans to defeat Paris now that he's lost so much of his force. That man sure does know how to get revenge. I liked his line about how Floki should've feared a patient man more than the gods.

 

[Golgo-13]

Damn..what a blood bath!

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

@Best Girl : beside his betrayal Kalf was always in love with Lagertha, at least that's my take on it as a guy. She's awesome, to Kalf : hey let's enjoy each other but don't get me wrong I will kill you for what you did.

How Ragnar will manage to enter Paris ?

Spoiler

By the catacombs, that was Athlestan idea I think, when he described Paris to Ragnar with a stone model, the central stone was a geode, an "empty" stone, like Paris underground, the catacombs. My hypothesis since I am not Historian.

Me rambling because I'm French but I didn't like how the King was again portrayed as a feeble coward and a *****e bag toward the enemies dead, this package cliché was too heavy ( same stuff with The Musketeers, I like this show too ).

@Golgo-13 : yeah, it was raining corpses, the face on Floki when he realized it !

 

[Golgo-13]

It was almost as if Ragner gave Floki the responsibility as leader because he knew he would fail.

Also, the scene where Ragnar throws himself off the castle after looking out into the town; had he spotted something that made him retreat from his attack?

 

[squeekness]

I always thought Floki was bipolar. Floki seems to have manic mood swings.

That destiny shot of Rollo and Princess Gisla gazing at each other

I could see Floki as bi-polar easily as well. He's not quite right.

 

[Drz]

For some reason i just wasn't sold on this episode. Forgive my ignorance for history, but i have big doubts the Vikings really build those huge siege walls (but if they did, awesome!) carried by small boats. Ragnar being this willing to have hundreds of his own people slaughtered just to prove a point to Floki seemed too extreme and yeah, i guess i was expecting something different from the episode.

Very glad to learn that the siege of Paris wasn't this easy!

 

[S. Grundy]

For some reason i just wasn't sold on this episode. Forgive my ignorance for history, but i have big doubts the Vikings really build those huge siege walls (but if they did, awesome!) carried by small boats. Ragnar being this willing to have hundreds of his own people slaughtered just to prove a point to Floki seemed too extreme and yeah, i guess i was expecting something different from the episode.

Very glad to learn that the siege of Paris wasn't this easy!

They used a variety of "siege engines" when attacking Paris. But historically speaking, the siege of Paris happened way later then when the show takes place, which is either late 790s or early 800s. The actual Paris siege took place in 885. But the show plays it pretty fast and loose with regards to the actual history (like Ragnar's children for example).

 

[James]

It's impossible for the show to be completely accurate seeings as no one's even sure if Ragnar was a real person.

 

[S. Grundy]

Same with Princess Gisla.

 

[chamber-music]

Even though this is on the history channel and uses some historical figures/events it is still mostly fictional.

 

[James]

That's okay, no one expects hard hitting facts from a network whose top shows include Pawn Stars, Swamp People, Biker Battleground and so on

 

[Loki882]

Yeah, I remember a time when the History Channel had, you know, actual History shows. Not mostly conspiracy, alien, doomsday, and reality ones. Those were good days.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

It was almost as if Ragner gave Floki the responsibility as leader because he knew he would fail.

This is precisely the case.

Also, the scene where Ragnar throws himself off the castle after looking out into the town; had he spotted something that made him retreat from his attack?

He didn't throw himself off the wall, he was pushed by a soldier. Ragnar was in awe when he saw the city, he never saw something quite like this.

 

[Drz]

They used a variety of "siege engines" when attacking Paris.

Did it include towers like that?

It's impossible for the show to be completely accurate seeings as no one's even sure if Ragnar was a real person.

Yeah i don't mind those details at all. I just felt like they tried to do something "epic" because of the sake of "epic".

 

[Gort Baringa]

I really didn't catch a good look at the first two series, but I am enjoying this lastest offering. I am somewhat doubtful about historical aspects ... but it is good fun.

Watching the soldiers of King Egbert, the helmets that they are wearing certainly aren't of the period. Aren't they supposed to be Anglo-Saxons?

 

[squeekness]

Damn..what a blood bath!

At what point do you run out of Viking minions to throw against the wall? How many guys did they bring?

 

[Golgo-13]

He didn't throw himself off the wall, he was pushed by a soldier. Ragnar was in awe when he saw the city, he never saw something quite like this.

He launched himself off the ledge, deliberately hitting that beam to slow and direct his descent, so that he landed on top of those bodies...

 

[James]

It kind of looked like he threw himself off to me as well, but I guess it's open to interpretation. I don't think he intended to hit the beam though, if he did launch himself over the wall, rather just make an escape and land on the bodies or in the water.

I guess Ragnar knew (as he planned) that the battle was lost, but he got his peek of the city so it was time to run for it.

 

[Siby]

I think Ragnar totally threw himself off the wall after looking over the city. He even makes a crazy face sticking out his tongue and then jumps over the wall. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit the beam though because that was a hard hit to take on purpose. In the end we see the damage it did to him.

The entire siege was amazing but I couldn't stop thinking the logistics of it all. How many mooks do the vikings have? How can they get more people to mount another attack after such a heavy loss.

Ragnar totally setup Floki to fail when he made him the leader of the siege. He played him from the beginning. Ragnar was hoping to stay out of the battle but had to join in when Rollo and Bjorn went up.

The traps setup by the French were awesome, especially the tunnel of doom. Can't wait to see how things unfold in the next two episodes.

 

[zeroapoc]

Yeah, I remember a time when the History Channel had, you know, actual History shows. Not mostly conspiracy, alien, doomsday, and reality ones. Those were good days.

I love how they still replay older doomsday shows that talk about the Mayans and 2012.

 

[Marvolo]

They have no shame.

 

[Marvolo]

I think Ragnar totally threw himself off the wall after looking over the city. He even makes a crazy face sticking out his tongue and then jumps over the wall. I'm sure he didn't mean to hit the beam though because that was a hard hit to take on purpose. In the end we see the damage it did to him.

The entire siege was amazing but I couldn't stop thinking the logistics of it all. How many mooks do the vikings have? How can they get more people to mount another attack after such a heavy loss.

Ragnar totally setup Floki to fail when he made him the leader of the siege. He played him from the beginning. Ragnar was hoping to stay out of the battle but had to join in when Rollo and Bjorn went up.

The traps setup by the French were awesome, especially the tunnel of doom. Can't wait to see how things unfold in the next two episodes.

It did seem a bit...reckless and dare I say selfish of Ragnar to allow all those able men die just to get back at Floki. It's not like reinforcements are a stone's throw away. It could take months for more Vikings to reach Ragnar and that's not counting the time it would take a messenger to call for reinforcements. I mean I enjoyed Floki's failure, but the whole time I was questioning whether any sensible leader would sacrifice that many men, including his brother and son, to screw with a crazy man's already addled mind.

 

[chamber-music]

Jeremy Renner is producing the History channels next historical drama show about the fall of the Knights Templar.

I'm surprised the U.S History channel doesn't buy the rights to broadcast all the period drama stuff the BBC churns out. Something like Wolf Hall makes more sense to broadcast on the network than Alien conspiracy stuff does.