VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

Friday, April 17, 03:06:22pm [ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Thursday, May 01, 11:03:07pm
Author: Lij
Author Host/IP: adsl-99-31-12-188.dsl.bltnin.sbcglobal.net / 99.31.12.188
Subject: So in nearly every version Mycroft....

.......works for the British Government - ELEMENTARY.

And even Sherlock didn't know.

Meanwhile, it's Thorsday and that means VIKINGS!!

. . .

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Hail King Ragnar Lothbrok -- Lij, Friday, May 02, 12:31:53am (adsl-99-31-12-188.dsl.bltnin.sbcglobal.net/99.31.12.188)

So the question is, was Floki ever in King Horik's court or was he playing him from the begining. Floki always was Ragnar's most trusted of friends. But you got the idea that when Rollo, Ragnar's brother, broke from Ragnar and fought on the side of Jarl Borg and in doing so injured Floki, and yet Ragnar did not have Rollo killed for that transgression, that indeed Floki coulds be recruited to Horik's cause. Horrid run-on sentence I know....

Donal Logue who played King Horik (cannot play him anymore!) says: "I think in Floki he really sees a kindred spirit. And that's the angle he keeps playing with him in regards to Ragnar, that these guys have a bond. There are actually scenes from Season 1 that we shot that didn't air -- because a lot of times you shoot stuff that hits the editing room floor -- but it cemented this bond between Floki and Horik, where they would talk about the sagas and the gods. That was something they respected in each other; they had this deep understanding and belief of it. I think it would be different with Floki. I think that Siggy's in a tougher situation because she's like Scarlett O'Hara; her powerful husband's dead, and now she just tries to exist on the pale of these things, by her wit -- and sexually, any which way she can do it to survive."

Logue continues: "But it's a difficult position for people to be caught in because on one hand they have their allegiance to Ragnar; on the other there's this powerful guy with probably more resources. A choice has to be made. You know, my son asked me, 'Dad, would you say you're the antagonist or the protagonist in this?' I'm like, 'Absolutely the antagonist.' You have a central protagonist like Tom Weston-Jones in Copper or Travis Fimmel in Vikings. You know, you come in as this position of power, so in a way you're up against them, but the hero finds themselves in this position where ethically and otherwise they can't stay the course. So you get to a place where someone's got to go. Whatever the situation is, whatever the existing paradigm is, it just doesn't fit the trajectory of these two people. Something's going to break."
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/02/vikings-the-lords-prayer-review
------------------------------------------

When Ragnar decides to personally slay the man who thought to wipe his life, progeny, and memory from the face of the earth, man he kills he hell out of him. I must confess: It was those final moments, and Ragnar's uninhibited barbarism, that elevated this episode from good to great for me. It was entirely, and viscerally, satisfying to behold someone who’d been as devious and serpent-like as Horik get that particular skull-cracking, Vikings brand of justice. The sequence also served to perfectly encapsulate the nature of Ragnar’s character.

As Siggy revealed to Horik, there’s nothing that Ragnar loves more than his children. He is driven by a near all-consuming, obsessive desire to expand what is quickly becoming his dynasty. Horik already threatened what Ragnar was working to achieve by attacking King Ecgbert, but to plot to annihilate his entire family was enough to unleash a depth of rage that would only be satisfied by unrestrained violence – and man, Ragnar does violence well. Raw and stunning in its honesty, his hate was so pure that it verged on beautiful.

In truth, Ragnar had far more vision than Horik did. He had a long-term plan for his people and understood when to attack and when to negotiate. By the close of the episode, Ragnar sat quite literally on top of the world with Horik’s sword of Kings, and we can only assume that he’d taken his place of leadership, as is tradition. It was interesting that those final moments found him alone and isolated from all he fought to protect, though. One has to wonder if that points to a theme for next season – the cost of leadership. Perhaps part of that price is connection to the very people whose lives Ragnar is working to improve. We shall see.

This season came full-circle with the finale, as Vikings both opened and closed with a focus on treachery. We've seen those close to Ragnar be tempted to the edge of betrayal - or in Rollo's case, well past the edge - only to return to the fold before. Trust and loyalty are tested again and again on this series, as they would be when the stakes are as high as the right to rule and create a legacy. What worked here was the clear distinction that Ragnar makes between those he loves and those he does not. Rollo was forgiven and afforded an opportunity to regain his brother’s affection. Borg and Horik - who admittedly crossed far harsher lines than Rollo had - faced grim and bloody vengeance.

The episode didn’t necessarily offer shocking twists, as few fans truly believed that Floki would turn fully against Ragnar. We saw Ragnar go toe-to-toe with a more powerful man - Gabriel Byrne's Yarl Haraldson – and come out victorious in Season 1. There was little doubt that he would prevail again here. In fact, as wonderful as Donal Logue is, one of the weaknesses of this season was that Horik never really emerged as a true threat to Ragnar. We didn’t feel the weight of his leadership, nor the threat of his menace. The only central character that it genuinely seemed we may lose was Rollo.

However, what this entry, and this season, did capture was the harsh beauty of the Viking culture. Bjorn and Poruun even used warplay as foreplay, which highlighted how valued battle was in that world and how quickly play can become all too real. When it came time for Ragnar to turn the tables on Horik, he did so, entirely. Several citizens of Kattegat were sacrificed as Horik and his men were lured further and further in to meet their doom. Perhaps the one true shock was that Ragnar Lothbrok dealt the King’s daughters their death, just as Horik planned to do with his sons.

That surprised me, as I expected Lagertha to put a stop to that infanticide, the child slaughter. The show did well to fully embrace the horror and Ragnar’s sense of justice, though. Horik’s line became a weed; one he decided must be pulled from the earth permanently. My only question is: What became of Horik’s eldest son, who by my estimation should have been the first to go?

The Verdict

Vikings Season 2 closed on a solid, if somewhat familiar note. This season, like the last, was ultimately about trust, betrayal, power plays, and the drive to leave one's imprint on history. What Vikings does so well is to immerse the viewer in an unfamiliar, brutal, and yet strangely appealing world. It is the strength of Ragnar's will that serves as the backbone of this series, and he's never displayed it quite as clearly as he did in those final, gloriously ruthless moments.

What did you guys think?


[ Edit | View ]


[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.