Vikings: “Promised” Review

Dreaded bliss.

“Promised” spent some time meandering around Paris and Wessex, focusing on a few of the show’s less interesting elements/participants (Odo, Roland, Aethelwulf, etc), but all the Norsemen stuff was great back in Kattegat and Hedeby. Particularly Lagertha’s brutal wedding day betrayal/power play that saw her kill Kalf (perhaps before he could one day kill her) and seize full control of the settlement as the sole Earl. With full shieldmaiden backup!

Now, we may never really know Kalf’s true intentions. Was he really in love with Lagertha? Or was there some sort of ruse underneath his affection? And beneath his wanting to have a child with her? Something that would come back and bite Lagertha in the ass? It’s possible there wasn’t and that Kalf was (now) on the up-and-up. Still, the moments when Lagertha seemed smitten with him, and moved by his words, gave me a big “Nooooo, don’t drop your guard!” feeling. I couldn’t help it. It just felt like she was being suckered into something dangerous somehow.

Granted, Kalf DID sent out a berserker to kill Lagertha’s son. With Erlendur’s help. So was he just trying to appease Erlendur? Or did he really want Bjorn dead so that his son, the one he would have with Lagertha, would be the only son? There were a lot of layers to Kalf that we may not ever get to fully know. What we DO know though is the Lagertha was playing the long con here and was set to stab Kalf no matter what his overall plan was. She wanted full rule. And it’s very telling that her actions weren’t – like – brutal. She didn’t wish a gruesome death on him. Just a quick one.

In Kattegat, Ragnar and his horde prepared for a trip back to Paris. All while Harald (and his brother) joined suit and readied themselves to ride the coattails of Ragnar’s second raid. While also, probably, plotting to kill Ragnar once everything was over. Or kill him during, even. It would seem the joke’s on them though since Ragnar isn’t even all that interested in his old tricks and tactics. He’s way too wrapped up in his death obsession, opium, and Yidu (who told Ragnar she was one of the Chinese Emperor’s daughters) to care about winning anymore.

Meanwhile, it would seem that Ivar’s body isn’t the only thing broken about him. The poor boy switched from sympathetic to “OH DEAR LORD!” in a second after he took a hatchet to the head of kid who wouldn’t play with him. And I’m assuming that Aslaug carrying him away and telling him it wasn’t his fault is only going to make matters worse, from a deep “that boy ain’t right” standpoint.

I don’t doubt that everything we’re witnessing in Paris and Wessex is leading to something, but heading over to those places can occasionally be a trudge. Though, this week, Ecbert’s special one-on-one Christ confessional was a pretty powerful moment. With him basically laying all his cards on the table and saying “I really only care about my earthly kingdom and will dine with the devil himself to get what I want.” It was kind of a one-off moment, since we already basically knew Ecbert to be a conniving master planner, but it was still effective.