Megan Applegate recaps the fourth episode of Vikings Season 2…
So, I’ll just come right out and say that the only thing that ruined this week’s episode, which featured (finally!) a reunion I’d been dying for, was a very-near dying of a favorite character and a crucifixion. But more on that later.
Episode 4 starts out with a whine.
Aslaug’s to be exact.
It’s too cold. It’s too muddy. It’s too crowded. These peasants smell like barn animals.
The normal princess-y things we expect from her. Rollo’s spent time out and about looking for extra farmers ready to raise pitchforks against Jarl Borg and to help the gang take back Kattegat, but all he managed to round up was a measly 30. Things aren’t looking promising, and with the princess driving Siggy mad with her complaints, something’s got to give soon. Lucky for her (and us) her “seeress” powers kick in and she spies a vision of Ragnar traipsing down a hill toward her with his axes at the ready.
Speaking of Ragnar, he’s convinced to sit in a big steamy tub with Ecbert in a rather uncomfortable scene. (Seriously, is Ecbert ever not in that tub?) Seems he’s got ambitious plans that go beyond being the king in Wessex and he thinks the burly Vikings might come in handy. Remember from the last episode that Ragnar thinks being burly Vikings might come in handy when it comes to getting what he wants, as well—English farmland.
Cut to Lagertha and Bjorn. Word’s reached both of them that Kattegat’s been seized and when Lagertha tries to use her feminine wiles to convince her new husband to help out her old husband, it nearly backfires and turns into a rape scene. Lucky for us, Lagertha changes tactics and uses her Shield Maiden wiles instead and nearly runs him through with a dagger and a promise to castrate him again if he ever treats her like “one of his whores.” Go, girl.
The Viking/Saxon negotiations are broken up by the news of Jarl Borg’s massacre. Ragnar and his men leave and Athelstan chooses to stay behind with King Horik. Athelstan later ends up a prisoner of that portly bishop Ecbert likes to bully and finds himself nailed to a cross with a crown of thorns—just like that priest in the last episode promised him. All looked lost for our beloved “halfling” until Ecbert pulls up on a horse (finally with some clothes on and finally out of his bath!) and orders the Viking priest to be cut down. Phew! Not sure if it’s out of the flame and into the fire for him, but at least he’s safe for now.
And finally, the payoff.
Ragnar arrives home and is happily reunited with Aslaug, his boys, and his brother. What more could a man want? Well, Bjorn arrives with his mother and a road full of men ready to support Lothbrook and his quest to take Kattegat back.
Previews for the coming episode make it look like it’s going to be a bloody run and hint at jealousy between the old wife and the new one. Might Ragnar have the chance to rethink his choice? One can only hope…
Megan Applegate
Originally published March 27, 2014. Updated March 21, 2022.
