Vikings: Valhalla season 1—All episodes reviewed and explained

For six seasons, Vikings chronicled the epic life of legendary farmer-turned-warrior Ragnar Lothbrok, as well as the lives of his sons. But the saga doesn’t end there.

Now, Netflix is bringing us Vikings: Valhalla, a spin-off set around 100 years after the conclusion of the original series. It follows an entirely new generation of power-hungry Norsemen, including Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett), Freydis Eriksdotter (Frida Gustavsson) and Harald Hardrada (Leo Suter).

With Die Hard writer Jen Stewart taking over the reins from Michael Hirst, does Valhalla retain the magic of the popular original series? Are the new Vikings as likable as those who came before?

Let’s review every episode of the new season and find out; here’s your SPOILER warning!

Episode One: “The Greenlanders”

Bloody, shocking, political, and action-packed: these are just some of the words that have been used to describe Vikings over the years. And Vikings: Valhalla features a little bit of everything right from the get-go.

The opening scene of this episode is about as shocking as they come. We witness the show’s interpretation of one of the most brutal events in English history: the St. Brice’s Day massacre. Basically, in the 100 years since Vikings concluded, the Danes have created a large settlement in England called Danelaw. However, despite them coexisting more or less peacefully with the English for some time, King Ethelred II the Unready suddenly decides to reclaim land from the Danes. He does this by slaughtering them all in what can only be described as ethnic cleansing. It’s pretty disturbing to watch, especially since it was based on a real event!

I thought it was really effective to open the show with an event as powerful as this. It really set the tone for what’s to come: the Viking need for revenge.

Following the massacre, the show jumps ahead and we return to Kattegat — which is bigger and better than ever before — where the Vikings are preparing to once again wage war against the English. But as always, the Vikings also have to settle scores of their own before attacking their common enemy.

In Kattegat, we’re introduced to one of our three main characters, Harald Harrdrada, who is working alongside King Canute (Bradley Freegard) to gather allies to build the next Great Heathen Army — bigger, perhaps, than the army that Ragnar’s sons took to England to avenge their father’s murder. They intend to bolster their army with the help of Jarl Olaf II of Norway (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson), although with Olaf being a Christian ruler, there are complications in getting him involved. Olaf wants to convert the Danes to Christianity en masse, an idea that is instantly shot down.

After back-and-forth bickering and some pointless fighting, Olaf and Canute finally come to some sort of agreement. I really enjoyed Harald’s involvement in getting the two armies to settle their differences. He’s a great warrior and a superb leader, no doubt.

Elsewhere in Kattegat, Vikings arrive from the Greenland settlement. One of the ships carries two other central characters: Leif Eriksson (Sam Corlett) and his sister Freydis Eriksdotter.

Freydis has the more interesting story. She’s arrived in Kattegat with only one thing in mind: to find and kill Gunnar, who visited Greenland and abused her. He raped her and later cut a cross on her back with his sword. Even though he was found guilty in Greenland, he managed to get away (I would’ve liked this to be further explained, since the reason he was able to leave is brushed over). The problem? Gunnar has arrived in Kattegat at Jar Olaf’s side, so getting him alone is a near-impossible task.

Even though getting Gunnar alone is never going to happen, that doesn’t stop Freydis. Instead, during a feast in Kattegat’s great hall, she decides to walk straight up to him in front of everyone and kill him. It’s not discrete, and Olaf demands that she be put on trial. However, he doesn’t have any power in Kattegat, and the call comes down toJarl Hakkon (Caroline Henderson).

Freydis got her revenge, but now she and the rest of the Greenlanders, including Leif Eriksson, are in trouble.

Verdict

There are a lot more connections to the original Vikings than I expected. Kattegat features heavily, and many of the characters make it known that they are direct ancestors of people we already know. Namely, Harald Hadrada (Leo Suter) says he’s related to King Harald Finehair (Peter Franzén).

I have to laugh at all of the constant in-fighting. Much like on the original series, our Norsemen spend more time fighting amongst themselves than they do working together to take down their mutual enemy. There are already some excellent little story threads going on, all wrapped up in the bigger picture of the Vikings attacking England.

Valhalla is set up to be a story of revenge, and it’s off to a fantastic start!