WiC Watches: Vikings Season 5, Part 2

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Episode 519: “What Happens in the Cave”

“What Happens in the Cave” was the perfect penultimate episode for a roller coaster of a season. With the back half of season 5 sporting some of the show’s worst episodes, it’s refreshing to have back-to-back weeks of great content.

The theme of faith runs throughout this episode. It manifests itself in Ubbe as he fights for his life against the Danish king, in Hvitserk as he decides to accept Buddhism, apparently, in Magnus as he holds on for dear life when crossing the rough seas, in Ivar as he continues to try and convince everyone around him that he’s a god, and in Floki, who comes face to face with his worst fear.

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Speaking of Floki, let’s get this right the f**ck out of the way: Once again, his story was the weakest part of this episode…so there’s something to be said for consistency, I suppose. Floki’s story picks up right where it left off last week, as he goes spelunking in a cave looking for the gods. Only when he gets to the place he claims to hear the dwarves using their hammers, he finds a stone cross.

You see, Floki has always hated Christians and anything to do with Christianity, so of course, he freaks out and starts screaming when he finds the cross. This causes the roof of the cave to collapse, and for now, it looks like the writers of Vikings are perfectly to bury Floki’s story under a mountain of rocks, where it probably should have been all season…but I bet we’ll somehow see him in next week’s season finale.

In Wessex, Judith dies. Apparently the breast cancer she had just an episode ago was some kind of super cancer, and now she’s dead. Also, Lagertha has a flashback to the battle where she just wandered off the field and was found by a random witch who cut off her long braid. In the woods of Wessex, witch ladies give haircuts as well as heal wounds and curse people.

Lagertha seems to be taking on the role of a wise woman herself, now that she is no longer a warrior queen. The moment Judith drew her last breath, Lagertha began advising Alfred on how to be a king. She also talks to Ragnar now, so I guess his ghost or memory has become her own personal god.

Also in Wessex, Ubbe and the Danish king kick the ever-loving shit out of each other, and just as it seems as if Ubbe is going to be horribly murdered, he cries out to Odin and the gods of his father, Ragnar, and he kills his opponent. The other Danish kings agree to settle the land Alfred gifted them, and Ubbe later tells Torvi he is no longer a Christian. I guess there’s nothing like the threat of having your head smashed in to cause a crisis of faith. But it looks like Ubbe has come out the other side believing in the gods of his people, the Vikings.

Meanwhile, Bjorn and King Harald’s army sail across the stormy seas to Kattegat so they can kill Ivar and take the throne. Along the way, Magnus is so freaked out he starts praying to Jesus. I guess he really isn’t as much a Viking as he thought. A Shield Maiden tells Bjorn she heard Magnus praying to the Christian god, and he glares at his half-brother. Magnus better keep his praying to himself if he wants to survive what’s coming next.

Speaking of Bjorn, once he makes landfall, Harald challenges him to a fight, and he accepts. However, just as they start to swing their weapons, Bjorn’s wife Gunnhild jumps in the middle and slaps him upside his head, calling him stupid. “Fight after you defeat Ivar,” she says. Bjorn and Harald look at each other, shrug and nod, then fist bump like bros and go about their business. I have a feeling this armistice won’t last long.

Hvitserk and King Olaf’s forces come down from the mountains, on a collision course with Bjorn’s army. Olaf asks Hvitserk if they’re doing the right thing in betraying Ivar, and Hvitserk rubs his little Buddha idol and talks about fate. I don’t get the metaphor, but it seems like Olaf is just crazy enough to understand, and they continue their march.

Later, Bjorn enters Hvitserk’s camp and the two embrace. Hvitserk tells Bjorn his fate was to kill his brother, Ivar, and he’s finally accepted it.

Finally, Ivar is having trouble keeping his people in line. It seems leaving his baby to die in the woods wasn’t popular with his people; they all are start to talk and whisper behind his back as he passes.

Ivar has been telling these people he is a god for half this season, and if he starts to show cracks now, they’ll turn on him in an instant. So he Trump’s his way out of this sticky situation by telling them the gods took his child, and that his brother Hvitserk had betrayed them, so they need to build a wall and keep out his brothers and their armies…and the crime and drugs they’re probably bringing with them. Okay, maybe not that last part, but you get what I’m saying.

This was another great episode; it’s a damn shame the rest of the season wasn’t like these past two hours. The finale looks like it’s going to be bonkers, so get ready for some death and mayhem like only Vikings can deliver.

Grade: A