WiC Watches: Vikings Season 5, Part 2
Episode 511: “The Revelation”
“Ivar is crowned the new king of Kattegat just in time to welcome Rollo home. Bjorn, Largetha, and Ubbe must rely on unsteady alliances to survive.”
“The Revelation” wasn’t as exciting as I was hoping.
In the wake of their loss to Ivar, King Harald and Rollo’s Frankish forces, former Queen Largetha and her contingent, including Bjorn and Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) are hiding in the hills outside of Kattegat deciding the best plan to keep their group alive. Do they trust Bishop Heahmund (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) enough to sail to England and look for protection from the King of Wessex? Or do they trust Rollo? Rolle, mind you, has just arrived with an offer of love and fealty to Lagertha — despite supplying Ivar with troops — and some rather shocking news: he believes that he, not Ragnar, is the father of Bjorn.
Okay, so: 1) Rollo thinks he’s Lagertha’s baby-daddy; and 2) Jonathan Rhys Meyers is still acting. No one can pull off Henry VIII like Jonathan Rhys Meyers…but I digress.
Ultimately, Largetha and Bjorn agree to trust Henry VIII Bishop Heahmund and sail to England hoping to throw themselves at the mercy of King Ecbert, only to find that his grandson Alfred is now king. I feel like now is a good time to mention I just binge-watched The Last Kingdom season 3, which involves many of these same historical characters, and I know exactly where this story is headed.
Anyway, back in Kattegat, Ivar celebrates his victory by pissing all over Largetha’s throne, which was a really dumb move because they didn’t have industrialized cleaner back then and you know that throne is going to get ripe. Harald is sad because he killed his brother in the battle and Largetha killed his wife. Well, maybe don’t be such a dick to your only brother next time, and while we’re at it, maybe you should stop kidnapping women who are clearly gay and would do anything in the world — including begging her former girlfriend to kill her — to stop an unwanted pregnancy.
And now we come to Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) and his ridiculously boring and drawn-out story. Look, we get it: Floki thinks he’s the herald of the gods now, but since he found that island that is clearly meant to be Iceland, his story has become weighed down with an unusually large amount of dialogue and exposition. Floki was meant to be like Loki, the trickster god. He’s at his best when he’s dancing around, taunting Christians and singing nordic sailing tunes while he crafts his boats.
“The Revelation” was not as revelatory as advertised, and while I understand there had to be some setup for the larger battles to come, I could have more action and momentum here.