Vikings: The Great Army
January 12, 2017 7:55 AM - Season 4, Episode 17 - Subscribe

Bjorn heads home to join his brothers as they plot a grand revenge for their father's death. Tensions arise between the brothers about what to do with Lagertha.

Meanwhile in England, Judith visits her father King Aelle to warn him of the inevitable revenge from the Vikings, but her parents seem too busy slut-shaming her to pay much attention.
posted by dnash (2 comments total)
 
I like the rift between the brothers on whether to take revenge on Lagertha. I noted that Sigurd got the blade to the throat treatment when Ubbe and Ivar made their move.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 8:15 PM on January 12, 2017


Yay big brother Bjorn! It's not over, though.

Good grief, AHA/Ivar has some decent acting range. "Apprenticing" young Ivar to Floki was the forshadowing for this most smooth transition from Ragnar to Ivar.

I called 'it.'

Ivar's speech patterns/cadence really remind me of early/middle Ragnar, much moreso than his brothers and I never noticed that association between Bjorn and Ragnar. I wonder how on-purpose that is? But yeah, 'oldest kid' does kinda look like less-crazy season 1 Travis Fimmel.

Hmm, on Aslaug's side, they had substantial financial/mercantile interests. Presumably it was held in Aslaug's name, but administered by the eldest son. Now that Aslaug's gone and the sons off to war - does the brood "have people"? I guess if they succeed, plunder would more than make up for business losses.

Ecbert kind of pulls off the cool grandpa thing, if creepily Frank Trumpishly. Sorta weird that the kid has no blood relationship with Ecby.

I'm sure there was a lot of cloning CG, but I was impressed with the Kattegat defenses sets. The leatherwork on Lagertha's shieldmaiden's hero costume looks really impressive. All the leatherwork is amazing and look like it could/would have been done by expert hand. Or Rollo's metal edging on his cloak. I really wonder if they do it by hand, or use modern conveniences like CNC water/laser cutting, or 3D printers/paint - and to what extent? I assume power tools for the vast majority of the woodworking. The intricacy and amount of material in Floki's outfit is really good at pointing out his financial success. Lagertha's throne gown, too - the incredible amount of detail. Those shoulder seams are hot!

Overall, the textiles, furs, leathers are all really convincing. Not to mention the weapons. I can see enough modern production capacity to forge swords using largely traditional techniques, but I can't see anyone justifying doing that with furniture. I bet History Channel cashed in some favours and was able to borrow a lot of it from some collection or other.

Show's been ok about showing dirt, but the "clean" scenes might be a little too clean? Or at least show the difficulty in cleaning up. However, ambient temperature, in general, isn't really taken into account. Those ultra drafty doors that are closing near the end.

The polish of this show's production values makes GoT's look like a talented middle-class highschool drama production compared to Broadway. So, yay History Channel.
posted by porpoise at 7:46 PM on January 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


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