But it’s final images of the violent clash that spell out exactly what the future holds. Not only does he believe he can defeat Ivar, he believes he can regain the crown Harald took from him. Harald is clearly out of his depth both as a leader and as a tactician, and while we’ve never doubted either man’s warrior status, Bjorn’s ability to match wits with his younger brother shows a side of him we don’t see often enough. As one of the survivors of the Rus onslaught, her story, however brief, helps close the door on Harald’s underhanded attempts to acquire the crown he ends up wearing only briefly.Įven though neither man survives the attack, it’s fascinating to observe the disparate approaches Bjorn and King Harald take to the coming threat. Any doubts about his true nobility as a ruler and as a man are quickly addressed when he initiates conversation with Ingrid and attempts to get into her head to establish whether or not she could be useful as a tool to eliminate Bjorn as a threat to his crown. There’s little question that this mid-season finale centers on the bad blood between Ivar and Bjorn, but the episode also gives some resolution to Harald Finehair and his brief reign as king of Norway.
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Setting them afire once they’d stopped moving adds to the appeal, but you have to wonder why they didn’t also fill them with oil. Likewise, ingenious weaponry has always had a place in Vikings’ battle scenes, and tonight, the giant spiked balls Bjorn’s men roll down onto the Rus rank among the most entertaining.
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Ivar takes Igor’s suggestion to sail down the river and tackle the mountain (We don’t really know whether Ivar considered this or not), a decision that puts the Boneless among the men as they scale this formidable obstacle, putting themselves in a position to begin the rout of Harald’s armies.
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Vikings consistently presents exhilarating battle sequences, and whether we’re taken inside the brutality of individual combat or made privy to the grand scale of a full blown invasion and war, it’s difficult to find fault with any of the action scenes in “The Best Laid Plans.” Whether based on historical evidence or the product of artistic license, even the strategy sessions featuring scale models of the various terrains each side expects to encounter provide a fascinating look inside the minds of the opposing generals. Ivar exudes a confidence that Bjorn only pretends to feel, and now, the eldest Lothbrok son resigns himself to his fate.
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Though there are brief moments during the action sequences that Ivar appears concerned about the outcome, that quickly changes, and he tells his brother that there’s no way Bjorn can win. Again, it’s only the two of them, and now the realization that Ivar has won begins to sink in. It’s then that we see a beaten Bjorn sitting among the hundreds of dead soldiers littering the landscape and his brother a short distance away. Does this scene reflect Bjorn’s fear that by allowing Ivar to control the Lothbrok narrative, he will somehow be erased from the Viking sagas?ĭespite the overwhelming numbers unleashed by Oleg and the fact that many of the kings and jarls opt to watch from the sidelines, the expectation that Bjorn’s leadership and tactical skills would somehow be enough to ensure victory remains in play until the last ten minutes of the episode. Keeping Ragnar’s legacy alive always seemed more important to Bjorn, and here, Ivar’s suggestion that a Norwegian defeat at the hands of the Christian Rus somehow preserves everything that their father worked to build leaves Bjorn at a loss. We’re never quite sure whose point of view we witness as the two stare out across a sea completely devoid of Rus ships, and it’s this disconcerting feeling that helps us understand Bjorn as he watches his entire world crash down around him. Still, it’s the power of the psychological war Bjorn and Ivar fight as they sit alone on the empty beach discussing the inevitability of the coming conflict between Norway and the Rus that reminds us how personal this conflict has become. Does Gunnhild anticipate being driven into the background by Bjorn’s infatuation with Ingrid, or is Harald correct when he tells the young woman that the second wife is always relegated to the background? Watching this broken woman bury her son alone in a field counterpoints the scenes with Bjorn and Ivar, underscoring the fears each has about the future. When she tells him that “perhaps I am not meant to have a child with you,” this sense of resignation seems totally out of character no matter how young and beautiful Ingrid might be. Despite being wounded by Oleg, Gunnhild escapes, unaware that by day’s end she’ll find herself a widow, but more importantly, her miscarriage foreshadows her husband’s fall.