WiC Watches: Vikings season 6
By Corey Smith
Episode 6×09 “Resurrection”
Man, we were doing so good there for a minute. After three very solid episodes that largely dealt with Lagertha’s death and its aftermath, “Resurrection” throws the plot back into neutral as we set up the mid-season finale next week. That episode looks to feature a massive battle between Ivar, Bjorn and Harald, but this episode once again mires us in plots that vary from idiotic to meaningless. There are some bright spots, but when Vikings chooses to be bad, it does it really well.
First up, we take in the wedding of Bjorn to Ingrid, a character we met just this season. This late in the series, it’s fairly maddening for the show to spend this much time on a plot like this, and makes me wish producers had just kept the season to 10 episodes. For a show that started with the Viking exploration of England, and later Paris, to slowly morph into a CW drama about which woman Bjorn is going to marry this week makes me want to put an axe through my TV. It’s not that I don’t care about the personal life of the enigmatic king of Kattegat, but Bjorn getting married for the umpteenth time to some woman we just met 10 episodes before the series comes to a close feels rather pointless.
At any rate, Bjorn’s first wife Gunnhild isn’t as cool with it all as she proclaims herself to be. From pettily berating Ingrid to snapping at Erik and finally to crying herself to sleep as Bjorn leaves the room to be with Ingrid on their wedding night, Gunnhild is clearly struggling with her feelings, and yet proves to be the most sensible person in the room when Erik brings news of the Rus’ impending attack. It’s Gunnhild who convinces Bjorn to seek out a truce with Harald in order to fend off the Rus.
For his part, Harald isn’t exactly eager to team up with Bjorn, being king of all Scandinavia and whatnot. In the first of many unintentional laugh-out-loud moments, Olaf convinces Harald to ally with Bjorn by saying something to the effect of, “Do you remember when you told me I might say something wise one day?” before urging the partnership. Yes, we remember; Harald said that last week, not two seasons ago.
Anyways, Harald agrees to ally with Bjorn against the Rus, but insists Bjorn bring his forces to Harald to protect the capital, because nothing is ever easy in the ninth century.
And that was the good stuff, are you ready for the worst parts? Let’s start in Iceland, where Ubbe and Torvi settle in to what has become a thriving village since Kjetill left for Kattegat. Naturally, the million dollar question is: where is Floki? We haven’t seen the charismatic crazy man since the season 5 finale, and as the show’s longest living character, we want to know where he is, right?
The show takes our curiosity and throws it back in our face. “Resurrection” teases a mysterious stranger, but it’s not Floki. It’s a Viking named Othere, who claims to actually be Athelstan, a character Floki murdered way back in season 3. A character we saw Ragnar bury. A character who even if he had somehow survived would still be decades younger than the old man Othere clearly is.
Why lean into this kind of confusion? Just let Othere tease Ubbe with his story of a “golden land” to the west of Iceland. Why force some sort of false identity on him? It all feels like something out of an episode of Riverdale. Why the show insists on repeatedly opening up these plot holes is beyond me. At this point I’m starting to take it personally, like the show is mad at me for something, and there’s more to come.
Ivar is part of the raiding party sent by Oleg. He encounters Hvitserk, recently exiled from Kattegat. Ivar is happy to find his brother, especially after learning Hvitserk murdered Lagertha and avenged their mother. Their reunion actually plays out rather nicely, and feels believable despite the two’s shared history of hurting one another. It’s when the pair return to Kiev that the show once again starts insulting our intelligence.
Upon seeing the clearly identical Katia/Freydis — remember they are played by the same actress — Hvitserk remarks that the two share no resemblance. Ivar is simply crazy, you see? Which I guess could work, except every interaction between Oleg and Katia/Freydis is based on their shared resemblance. It’s one or the other, Vikings, you can’t have it both ways. Also for the record, I thought we abandoned any hope of explaining the whole situation, so thanks for taunting us with it once again.
Anyways, Oleg reveals his army to Ivar and Hvitserk as the episode closes, and even Ivar begins to regret what he has unleashed on his former home. Oleg’s forces are massive, well trained, and apparently this is only part of his army. Bjorn and Harald will have their hands full next week, and it’s hard to see a path to victory for our beloved Vikings. Next week’s episode should be a thrilling and harrowing return to what Bjorn, Harald, and the show do best; epic battle sequences. And if we’re lucky, the clash between nations will take out some of the show’s idiotic plotlines.