Sandi Layne's Blog - Posts Tagged "lissa-bryan"

Welcome back!   Lissa Bryan , author of The End of All Things , and I are back with another discussion of The History Channel's fantastic series: VIKINGS.

We're still enthusiastically fangirling and were so happy to hear they got picked up for another season!


Episode VI: Burial of the Dead
Lissa: Every episode, I find myself saying, "So much to talk about!" The hallmark of a good show.

Sandi: Indeed! Last week, we outdid ourselves. ;-) This episode totally had me doing the "eyes bugging out and leaning forward in my seat" thing. I live tweeted during the whole thing and even my son came up to see the battle.

Lissa: I'm glad my fears were unfounded that the earl or his men would hurt Floki to try to force him to reveal Ragnar's whereabouts. The acceptance of the challenge and the battle seemed to come so fast! I kept wanting to shout, "Hold on, I haven't prepared myself for this yet!" When Ragnar's sword broke, my reaction was the same as Lagertha's. I closed my eyes for a moment. But Haraldson had at least enough honor to not press his advantage unfairly when Ragnar threw the broken sword and his shield aside.

Sandi: The earl's pre-fight commentary was VERY interesting to me. He seemed, there at the final night of his life, to pay Ragnar some private respect. But not so anyone beyond Siggy could see it. This was a surprise to me and I wondered (briefly) if it was a foreshadowing of Haraldson's victory.

Lissa: It was so sad to see his insecurities out in the open, his fear that if he showed Ragnar respect or admitted he might have been wrong, his men would abandon him for Ragnar instead. He never did truly understand leadership, it seems.

Sandi: My thoughts exactly.

The use of the axes was very well done. It was the most common weapon in hand to hand combat and every one of the warriors had at least one when they fought. They wielded them well, the pair of them.

Lissa: My favorite axe fighting scene remains the one where Ragnar runs home to the village after the attack. He's choppin' as he goes, with incredible skill and this sort of "I ain't got time for you, so die quickly, please" impatience.

Sandi: We didn't even mention the raid last time. How careless of us. But yeah, I am with you.

Lissa: Siggy really does seem to have loved Haraldson after all. Giving him those two precious locks of hair, her last tangible connection to her sons, when he lost his faith, and then her terrible cry when the jarl's lifeblood began to soak into the soil. I felt compassion for her for the first time.

Sandi: Now, I saw that differently. What I was thinking Ragnar might have done was to cut off the earl's right hand, to disable him from fighting in Valhalla. This kind of dismemberment would have been mean, but final. I thought Siggy was responding to that possibility. As it was, Ragnar but sped the earl on his way.

Lissa: I didn't think of that, probably because it seems such an un-Ragnar thing to do. In the end, he did respect Haraldson, even if it did come down to a battle to the death between them.

As suspected, it seems there was at least a plan by Haraldson's right-hand-man to slay Ragnar if the earl fell in battle. It was refreshing to see no one tried to obey his command to kill him, and I smirked a little when his own end came swiftly. And Siggy, grabbing a dagger to murder her daughter's new husband! I was surprised there were no repercussions from this actions. Thiry's husband was an earl himself (where were his men?) and she just killed him in cold blood in front of everyone.

Sandi: I had just tweeted that I wished someone would take out Short Second when Rollo axed him. I totally fist-pumped. I was surprised at Siggy's taking out of the Swede, though. I know she hated that he was her daughter's husband, but killing an ally in front of witnesses was foolish. I wonder if there will be repercussions.

Lissa: And so Ragnar took the fur-covered throne, accepting the pledges of his people. When Rollo came forward, his poor face still showing the signs sof his torture, I thought he was sincere and I was happy. The two of them working together would make a mighty leadership team, but then when he asked Ragnar how the two of them would ever be equal again during the raids, my heart sank.

Sandi: I caught the "as long as" conditional to his oath and laughed, but inside, I wondered. Because Rollo made this oath in front of all the men...how much will that matter.

Lissa: Haraldson's funeral was a jolly affair, the first time we've seen the "stereotypical" Vikings, tearing into meat with their bare hands, sloppily toasting one another with their drinking horns, and literally rolling around in the mud.

Sandi: And Athelstan, meandering through looking dazed or drunk or both. But his new attire was nice.

Lissa: Bjorn holds his liquor better! I feel a little sorry for Athelstan right now. His faith is still a major part of his life, but he's beginning to love these people, even if their customs shock him on occasion.

Ragnar shocked me with his cruel teasing when Siggy asked to light the pyre, bringing the torch to her and then handing it off to another. It seemed pointlessdly mean and out of character for him. If he didn't want to give her the honor, it seems the Ragnar we know would have taken her aside and gently explained his reasons why instead of slighting her in front of the entire village. And why? Siggy and he had no personal quarrel.

I chalked it up to his being ill from his wounds. The producers did a wonderful job with that. In many series, the hero would bounce back right after the pivotal battle, perhaps with a slight limp or something, but Ragnar was worse-off after his fight with Haraldson. His face was sheened with fever-sweat and his eyes looked bleary all through the funeral festivities.

Sandi: I concur - he looked quite horrible and weak. And even later in the winter, when both pig and pregnant lady were "fattening" (ha! to that!) he was still obviously recovering.

Lissa: The slave girl who elected to follow Haraldson to the afterworld really touched me for some reason. Perhaps it was a testament to the skill of the actress. I could feel her fear and sorrow to leave life, and the raw courage it took to follow through on her offer without wavering. I understood Bjorn's outrage when Athelstan wanted to leave instead of watching to honor her bravery and sacrifice.

Sandi: I had to sit with Athelstan on this one. I wouldn't have wanted to see it happen. Bjørn, though, is very Old School and keen on tradition. I wonder if he is more like his mother or father in this regard?

Lissa: And then, ah... my heart was broken when Rollo spoke of himself being the earl. I so hope he was just saying that so Siggy would be interested in marrying him, but I fear not.

And speaking of fear, the snake pit! God, what an awful way to go.

Sandi: First thing out of my mouth was the Indiana Jones quote. "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"

Why didn't he go for Thyri??? I was baffled.

Lissa: As alliances go, Thyri would have been the better choice, but I think Rollo has a bit of a thing for Siggy. She's also ruthless enough to help him in his plans, whatever they may be.

Sandi: I have theories as to how Rollo might make himself earl and marry Siggy without killing off his brother. Exactly. Theories... At this point, I'll keep them quiet, though. I see Rollo as respecting Ragnar, but wishing to be his equal, not his supplanter. He wants his brother - and all the family, I think - out of the way.

Lissa: Spoilers.....It appears they are sticking to the saga, as horrifying as that may be. Let's hope they don't include Thora and Asluag!

Sandi: Well..there is another season coming up, so let us be hopeful! :)

And...we're back!

Lissa Bryan , author of The End of All Things , and I once again live-tweeted during the latest episode of VIKINGS on the History Channel.  We are still enthusiastic fans and hope you are, too!  Two firm thumbs up from us for this remarkable series.  According to IMDb, there will be nine episodes of this first season, so we've only two more to go.

Episode VII: A King's Ransom

Lissa: Before we begin, I think we have to agree the previews of next week's episode DID NOT HAPPEN. It was a dream sequence ... or something ... and that's what I'm firmly sticking to.

Sandi: Yes. I will stand with you in this matter. I was quite upset by the possibility that Athelstan would turn his back on his faith AND that he might be sacrificed. (Though! His appearance was not a problem...)

Lissa: Twitter lit up with admiration for Ragnar's new head tattoos last night.

Sandi: They were there the week before, too, but no one said anything. lo

Lissa: Ragnar is having way too much fun with this leader thing, but he seems to be doing rather well with it. He's proceeding with caution, even when his men are urging him to charge in with both axes swinging.Lissa: Ragnar is having way too much fun with this leader thing, but he seems to be doing rather well with it. He's proceeding with caution, even when his men are urging him to charge in with both axes swinging.

Sandi: I see sometimes a strange light in his eyes that is troubling. I can't trust that face always...but, I believe he is acting for the best interest of his people, overall.

Lissa: I think Ragnar is taking many things as a leap of faith. He, too, has a belief in destiny, and perhaps he thinks the gods won't let any harm come to him until he fulfills it.

The dinner scene was fun. It seems the Vikings decided to ham it up a little and play "barbarians" to shock the English.

Sandi: They really did seem to have fun with the English.

Lissa: I also liked the scene in the midst of it when Ragnar smiled gently and said hello to Ælle's son. He really is a good guy.

Sandi: I was unsurprised at the ransom demand but quite surprised that Ælle went with it. The conversion stipulation puzzled me, however. One would think that the clergy and king would know that a conversion under those circumstances would not hold.

Lissa: I've read of some other "forced conversions" along these lines, in the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors, the persecution of the Jewish people in Spain, and in the accounts of the Crusades. In the case of the Jewish converts, the Morranos, it gave the rulers more power over them because they could now be tried for heresy, even if they hadn't broken any civil law. They believed the baptism held mystical power that made the convert a Christian even if they didn't behave or worship as one, and God would judge them even more harshly than a heathen for turning his back on the faith.

Lagertha is a wonderful leader. She seems to have fallen perfectly into her role as countess. I loved the scene with the accused adulteress. She got the community to not only accept the child, but to embrace it as a gift from the gods. Very smart, Lagertha. If the husband (who appears to have participated in her enjoyment of the stranger's charms, judging by that comment about them all being in the same bed) had cast her out, she and her child would have become a burden on the community, instead of contributors. Lagertha's no fool, inserting that comment at the end that if the husband mistreated his wife,  he'd answer to Lagertha.

Sandi: I liked that she saw to the proper care of the baby and that the woman wouldn't be condemned in that circumstance. In my readings, normally if a man slept with a married woman without the consent of her husband, he would pay the husband off. It was not a huge deal, apparently. That this didn't apparently happen would - as the husband indicated - be evidence that the husband did give his consent. So it was right that the baby be kept as the wife's child.

Lissa: A badass warrior she may be, but Lagertha has a deep well of compassion. I loved how she taght her son compassion when Siggy came as a supplicant. "And if your father had died, I woud be standing where she is now. What do you want me to say to her?" Unfortunately, I suspect you're right that Siggy is up to no good, despite her apparent gratitude and her comforting of Lagertha.

Sandi: I am thinking indeed that Siggy is "keeping her enemies closer" as the saying goes. She is keeping a close eye on the new earl's wife - and her children. She will have her sharp eyes everywhere. Indeed, I wonder even if she had something to do with the loss of Lagertha's child. I was suspicious immediately. But then....I have that tendency, don't I?

Lissa: Oh, lord, I didn't even think of that... Could Siggy really be that evil? I grieved for Lagertha when she lost the child.

Sandi: Me, too. And it was...such a gruesome view on the show, too.

Lissa: I didn't expect that. I thought the child would turn out to be Fridleif, the son he and Lagertha are recorded to have had in the legends. (Bjorn Ironside was supposedly the son of another of Ragnar's wives.) I fear Ragnar will take this loss hard. Both will likely be bewildered by it because of the Seer's prophecy Ragnar would have many sons. (But, oh, Lagertha, the Seer did not say with whom!)

Sandi: Indeed! Which makes me wonder what the writers might have in store!

Lissa: Floki's character continues to evolve. I'm starting to wonder if the mandness might just be an act on his part, something he does for fun to watch how people will react. He's just too darn canny. If Rollo does decide to do something to Ragnar, he'd better take out Floki, too, or his reign would be short, indeed.

Sandi: Floki is crazy-brilliant. I do think he's probably unbalanced, but that doesn't diminish his devotion to Ragnar or to his people. Or his gods.

Lissa: Judging from the number of #FLOKI Tweets, he's one of the most popular characters on the show.

Rollo's conversion-- or at least, the appearance thereof-- was a surprise. I fear it may be part of the plot brewing in his mind, hoping that king Ælle will support a fellow Christian if Rollo decides to rebel against his brother. Floki appears to smell a rat, proving how sharp his mind truly is.

Sandi: Rollo's determination to "kill Christians" was emotional. That struck me. Was he afraid of the anger of his gods or of Floki? How is that going to shape the future of the story?

Lissa: Deep down, it has to torment Rollo that he's at least considering rebelling against his brother, especially when Ragnar is openly loyal and devoted to him.

So! Two more episodes... How will they bring this off?  I don't know, but for next week...?

Episode VIII: Sacrifice

Wow, what an episode last night!

Lissa Bryan, author of the upcoming historical fiction, Under These Restless Skies, and I once again watched and made gasping or shrieking sounds at our televisions during another vivid episode of VIKINGS.

Lissa: I admit, I didn't enjoy this episode as much as I have the previous ones.

Sandi: Me, either.

Lissa: Between the Viking orgy and Athelstan's drug trip, a lot of the episode was taken up by things that didn't really advance the plot.

Sandi: I concur. But Ragnar's offering of Athelstan as a sacrifice — this man he'd seemed to hold as a friend — was interesting. More later...

Lissa: The sacrifice was going to be one of his friends, no matter what. I think, in a way, he was honoring Athelstan by saying he was a worthy gift to offer the gods. The cinematography was awesome, in both the intoxication scene and sacrifice scene. But my True Love became impatient. "Okay, he's tripping. We get it."

Sandi:  It was rather...extended.

Lissa: We've already discussed that human sacrifice is believed by many scholars to be somewhat of a rarity during this time, but I have to praise the producers for their attention to detail. They seem to have based this scene off of the writings of Adam of Bremen about the Temple of Uppsala, sticking very close to his account, though scholars question how much of it is truth and how much of it was exaggerated tales he was repeating. (Support for at least the stories is provided by the Osberg tapestry, which shows bodies hanging in a grove of serpent-trees.) The one thing that isn't questioned is the existence of the temple itself. Which was pretty spiffy, if you believe the descriptions.

Sandi: This is my concern with heeding stories and sagas as history, which is why, I guess, I haven't bought into them as much as I might have. I will have to remedy that, but not today. The research I did for  Éire's Captive Moon  indicated that human sacrifice was not a part of the Norwegian experience by the early 9th Century, so I usually side-eye that kind of thing in the literature.

Lissa: Yep, when pretty much all of your recorded history is written by people who despise you, it's not exactly reliable. I've encountered the same thing in my new Tudor novel, Under These Restless Skies. Many stories of Anne Boleyn's behavior as queen has been taken from the imperial dispatches of Eustace Chapuys, who absolutely hated her. Even knowing that, historians seem to have included many of his tales in the "official" narrative of her life, making her seem petty and spiteful.

[caption id="attachment_1251" align="alignright" width="300"] From the website of author Michael Wills[/caption]

Sandi: But the Temple of Uppsala was indeed remarkable. A cultural landmark that stood for centuries.

Lissa: But certainly not within walking distance of Kattegat. Especially in that pink gown, Lagertha! That gown was NOT made for hiking, girl!

Sandi: That did rather surprise me.

Lissa: When I saw how barren Ragnar's house was at the beginning of the episode, I knew he was crushed by the death of his child, andit turned out to be true. Sitting on the floor in front of a dead fireplace, asking the eternal questions associated with loss: "What did I do to deserve this?"

Sandi: That was remarkable.I had never seen the earl's residence without a crowd.

Lissa: Yet another one of those delicate touches by the director, the significance of which is probably lost on most viewers, though they might have caught an impression of barren loneliness. But the jarl's hall was the social center of the village, sort of a combination of a court house and tavern. For it to be empty indicates something is very, very wrong.

Ragnar asks Athelstan if he will come with him on the pilgrimage, which I didn't catch at the time, but made a lot more sense when the priest asked Athelstan if he was there of his own free will.

Sandi: When Lagertha quietly asked Ragnar "Does he know?" and Ragnar answered in the negative, I was all Dun Dun Dun....!

Lissa: I had assumed she was talking about the orgy-tastic celebrations to ensue. I knew there would be an orgy. Just knew it. What's the use of being a pagan if there aren't any orgies?

Sandi: And, by the by, the orgy sequence was tastefully handled, overall.

Lissa: Seeing Ragnar drinking and brooding while Lagertha was collecting the sacrifices was painful, as was the distance between them. My heart broke for her when she begged Ragnar to stay with her instead of heading back outside into Woodstock--I mean, the festival. And drat that man, he went!

You may have heard a horrible screech sounding all the way from Ohio when Ragnar asked Odin's statue WHO would give him his sons. I'd hoped against hope... but it seems the series is heading in an unpleasant direction.

Sandi: I saw that coming when Lagertha lost the child. I see Ragnar as a man who sees his destiny and will do what he can to achieve it. He believes he is prophesied to have many sons and, let's face it, "There are old pirates and there are bold pirates, but there are no old, bold pirates." Substitute Vikings in there and this might be applicable.

The man wants to procreate.

Lissa: *mutters darkly about Henry VIII*

Sandi: You know all about the pressures of being the man in charge...Oh! Speaking of procreation... I enjoyed the small moment about Gyda growing up. This was well handled (and makes me think (hope?) that there are plans for Gyda coming up) and also served to point to Lagertha's age, as well. Her daughter is able to bear children now. She's a woman. Lagertha's childbearing years are thus symbolically truncated. But Lagertha being strong and awesome, she handled this with love and tenderness as well as nostalgia. I loved that scene.

Lissa:  I agree: beautifully done! Pride, tinged with bittersweet.

I wonder if Gyda felt it was a blessing to become a woman at this event.

Sandi:  Something that did occur to me, yes. Did Bjørn go off to learn a thing or two (ew, maybe, but if he's a man in his culture, yeah?) and would Gyda then be expected to go and do likewise at a future event? Though, as they only go once every nine years, it'd hardly be inappropriate at the "next" gathering.

Lissa: Athelstan heads into the temple, apparently still blissfully unaware of why he is there. I wonder if he felt betrayed or wounded by Ragnar's decision to sacrifice him, or if he understood the meaning behind it. Very Biblical, the priest asking him to deny his Christian faith three times, but then finding the cross clutched within his palm...

Sandi: This bothered me, as a Christian. But then, there is Biblical precedent with Peter denying Christ three times and still being appointed later to "feed my sheep." Three times. Athelstan was just acting on the life-saving expedient and, in terms of the context, I understood him.

I just didn't approve.

Lissa: I wondered if the priest recognized the significance of it and intentionally asked him to deny Christ three times. I think Athelstan was being sincere... He feels he has lost the right to call himself a Christian because he has strayed so far from the faith, and so he was able to meet the priest's eyes and say "No." I'm not entirely sure he would go back, even if he could, but part of him still can't let go entirely.

I would compare it, in a way, to Lagertha's bittersweet reaction to Gyda's maturity: Recognition of growth and change, yet sorrow for that which has been lost.

Sandi: I think the priest did the thrice-repeated question because the powerof three is a universal concept. The Irish had triads, even when their culture was largely pagan, for example. The "rule of three" or the threefold law is something understood by wiccan communities. I felt that this was something that might have been asked of any questionable sacrifice.

Lissa: "His heart is corrupt," the Seer pronounced afterward. "His face is not pleasing to Odin." He's a heretic, AND he's ugly! I know what the Seer meant, but I still found it incongruously amusing at the moment. And Ragnar leaning forward to whisper that Athelstan's faith saved him once again...

Sandi: "Your God came through for you, this time." Yeah. I liked that. But I am not happy with Ragnar, even so. The actor is doing a GREAT job with the role though. I see a slow slide toward someone different than the determined explorer from the first couple of episodes.

Lissa: He is. His grief, yet pride, when Leif laid down on the altar shone through those remarkable eyes. As a viewer, I can't take my eyes off him in a scene. He has an amazing hypnotic quality; so does the actor who plays Floki. The actress who plays Lagertha is amazing, but these two men really were born to play those parts. The casting department deserves an Emmy, without a doubt.

Sandi: Oh, yes. I concur. Ragnar displayed friendship and also a sense ofthanks when Leif walked to the sacrificial altar. Beautifully done.

Lissa: And another small ache in the heart when Floki started to rise to offer himself as the sacrifice, to be stayed by the gentle hand of his lover. "Not you."

Sandi: That was a lovely moment. Small and understated and perfect.

Lissa: That expression on his face when he looked around: "Anybody? Okay, I'll do it!" as if the question was who would run to the store to pick up more beer. It underscored his faith, and his love for his family, that he's so comfortable with the notion of dying for them.

What a bizarre introduction for King Horik! He didn't have Floki's mischief, and so it just seemed mean-spirited, throwing the rooster at the sleeping priests and kicking them awake.

Sandi: King Horik (well, in my reading) was a king of the Danes in the early 9th century. I like this chicken thing. I wonder if there's a story about him that touches on that?

Lissa: I can't recall reading anything about it, but I'm certainly no expert. I do know that he was vehemently opposed to the spread of Christianity within his realm, so the irreverent nature of his morning "chicken attack" seems somewhat incongruous.

Now, Ragnar and King Horik are a team. I caught the warning when King Horik noted he didn't appreciate his earls being independent in their raiding campaigns... I wonder if Ragnar took it to heart. Ragnar's being sent to bring another jarl to heel... The "twist we will not see coming?" Time will tell, I suppose.

Sandi: Horik was polite but very, very clear. "Don't mess with me like you did with Haraldson. I will break you."

Lissa: Trouble in Paradise between Rollo and Siggy! She's jealous and he's indifferent. She certainly took him to school, though, carefully setting food in front of him while she explained he wasn't going to get very far without her. Did Ragnar even consider bringing his brother to the meeting with the king? The director did such a good job with that scene, Siggy's paring knife seeming to bisect his throat as she chatted of him needing her help for effective betrayal.

Sandi: Oh, yeah. That was very smooth of her. She was out alone in the forest, near a fire...and Rollo was intensely involved with "enjoying the gifts of the gods" with a beautiful blonde. Nice one, Rollo.

= = =

The season finale is next week and the teaser is already worrying me!  How about you?  

For the last time in 2013, Lissa Bryan , author of the upcoming novel Under These Restless Skies , is with me to discuss VIKINGS, on the History Channel.  She and I live-tweeted again last night, with many exclamation points and, "Noooooo!" tweets figuring in our exchanges.

We've had a lot of ups and downs over the course of the past nine weeks.  There have been episodes we loved (most of them) and those we weren't as happy with (well, okay, only one).  With a finale, it is natural to have a love-hate relationship.  And I guess maybe we do.

If you haven't yet watched this series, but were waiting for it to be complete before you did so, get started!
Episode IX: All Change
Lissa: We've come to the final episode now and what a magnificent journey it has been.

Sandi: It really has. Thank you for suggesting we do this. This series has been amazing.

Lissa: Last night, I fell in love with the show all over again, torn between raging and fangirling over how many details they incorporated from the saga. The tree that doesn't lose its leaves... Ragnar's riddle-challenges to Princess Aslaug... Even details I wish they HADN'T incorporated. For once, I was almost hoping for historical inaccuracy!

Sandi: Gasp! lol I am not as versed in the Saga, of course, but I appreciated the story as it came at us. The riddle was well-done and I appreciated how Aslaug answered it. That dress? Uh-HUH. And the wolf was great.​​

Lissa: I want to hate Aslaug as a "home wrecker" but I can't. She's probably been waiting her entire life for a worthy suitor to come along and uniting her forces with those of Ragnar makes political sense, even if it's painful, emotionally. She's the daughter of a famous shield maiden... Is she a warrior herself? The show didn't give us any indication of that.

Ragnar set out on his journey to negotiate a settlement with the rebellious jarl for Horik, but it seems this might create a schism within his own house. In trying to include his brother, he may have seen the last threads binding them together severed. Rollo finally gave into the dark side. And I don't think Ragnar even realizes his brother was tempted. It's going to be terrible when he realizes he's been betrayed.

Sandi: I am still of the mind that Rollo doesn't want Ragnar dead. Rollo doesn't wish ill on his brother; I believe he loves him sincerely. But he feels left out when he believed that they would be equal. He feels slighted and unnoticed and for a man of his nature, that's a powerful motivator for undertaking actions he might not otherwise consider. The actor, Clive Standen, did a great job displaying this in understated acting during the final scene with Jarl Borg.​​ There will be a feeling of betrayal, of course, but I do hope that the brothers can reconcile. The Jarl played Rollo like a fiddle. I hope that comes to light.

Lissa: I think you're right. I don't think this came as an easy decision for him, despite the things he'd said to Siggy about wanting to be earl. And maybe he never ALLOWED himself to follow those thoughts to their natural conclusion. (If he's jarl, where is Ragnar?) Even now that he's agreed to go to war with him, he may be imagining this scenario can be solved without having to take Ragnar's life.

Speaking of betrayal, I agreed with you that a bit of a tumble wasn't seen as big a deal as we modern folks think of it, but I was anguished at the pain it was causing Bjorn. He's seen his parents as a united front, passionately in love, and now, suddenly, he sees his father beginning to distance himself from his mother. Bjorn witnessed poor Lagertha begging Ragnar not to leave her during the festival, so he knows his mother is hurt by his father going off to play around with other women. It wasn't the sex as much as it was a symptom of a deeper problem between them.

Sandi: Yes, and I am hoping this will be addressed. Relationship tension will be interesting in Season 2, but there are so many other problems to be addressed as well. ​​

Lissa: I was impressed that Ragnar kept his vow to Bjorn, at least until he learned Princess Aslaug was pregnant. In this detail, they deviated from the sagas, because in the old stories, the princess refused to allow Ragnar into her bed until they were married. Will Bjorn reject his father if he decides to leave Lagertha?

Sandi: ​This is hard to say. Bjørn is close to his father and wishes to emulate him, but a boy ("man" or not, the lad's young) is naturally protective of a mother he has seen honored and loved all of his life. He believes all the best about Lagertha. Will that filial emotion cause him to shield her from hurt or defend her or urge her from Ragnar? Something I think that has been well handled is how the death of a child, even an unborn one, can affect a couple's relationship. ​

Lissa: I was glad the show didn't go for the "low-hanging fruit" and turn it into a simple "power corrupts" story line. He didn't start partying like a rock star when he assumed the mantle of the jarl. Ragnar has made some decisions I dislike emotionally, but he's acted quite sensibly when it comes to ruling his people. Even his relationship with Aslaug, I think, will be decided more on what's best for his jarldom than his own, personal desires.

Back home, tragedy has struck. The plague scenes were so well done. The smoke of the pyres hanging low, the emptiness of the once-bustling little village ... Lagertha looked exhausted from tending the ill, who were packed in like sardines on the floor of the jarl's house. Once again, she proves herself to be a fine leader, quite possibly better at the job than her husband.



Sandi: I will jump on the Lagertha Bandwagon, here. She does (and has always done, as far as I have seen) a great job with crisis. She keeps a cool head and leads her family, her people. She's a rock, even while frightened about her husband's mission and their relationship and his future. Just an amazing woman.

Lissa: I can't see Ragnar cutting her completely out of his life. He truly does love Lagertha, even if he feels the gods are leading him in another direction. It remains to be seen how Lagertha will react to what's happened, and whether she'll accept a secondary position in his life. I doubt if Aslaug would accept the lower-status!

I was anguished for her when she lost Gyda; Ragnar is going to be shattered by the loss, and I fear it will be even more of a wedge between he and Lagertha. Siggy also lost her daughter... will this change her path? Will she reconsider her plans to topple Ragnar and Lagertha because they have both lost a daughter in the prime of life? Will she feel guilty that she was the one who brought the plague to Kattegat?

Sandi: This will be the second child that has been taken from Ragnar, even if he seems to have been successful with engendering more. I do hope that Ragnar doesn't do something stupid. I hope he brings his strong right arm and gets his people back to a good place when he comes home. And Siggy! That threw me. What about her relationship with Rollo, in light of what has happened? Her guilt about the plague will remain to be seen. She has disrupted the whole community, without malicious intent, and this will weigh on her. Still, I hope that the Rollo/Siggy storyline isn't abandoned.

Lissa: Rollo doesn't really want Siggy. He wants Lagertha. And if Ragnar divorces her...

Sandi: Indeed! And wouldn't that be interesting...?

Final Analysis from Two History Geeks:

Lissa: The costumes and sets were, hands-down, the best I've ever seen in a historical television series. The attention to detail was remarkable. I recognized many props that were replicas of artifacts. Except for a couple of minor you'd-never-notice-it-if-you-weren't-a-geek flubs, the show demonstrated a real commitment to historical accuracy, and I adore them for it. I also love how they wove details from the legends into the storyline. It gets my history geek thumbs-up!

Sandi: The costumes were very good, save for a few noticeable exceptions. The scenery was exceptional and felt very authentic. The culture was presented, I think, fairly. I noticed differences between these Vikings and the Northmen I studied for my trilogy, but it is clear that a great deal of effort went in to the crafting of this series. History Channel deserves many kudos.

Lissa: Thank you for all of the wonderful discussions we've had. This has been great fun, and I look forward to next year's episodes!

Sandi: Thank you! It's been a delight, to be sure. :)