Vikings: “Yol” Review

Happy Christmas.

Using the winter solstice holiday season (and the different cultural/religious celebrations of said season) to tie the show’s separate threads together, “Yol” (NOT named after the Skyrim dragon shout) brought Ragnar closer to his slave (now former slave) Yidu (Dianne Doan), pitted Bjorn against the Berserker, and consummated the marriage between Rollo and Gisla.

Anytime the show can thematically connect its different stories, the episode will benefit. Even if it’s something as gimmicky as a “holiday episode.” Last week, the visions both Ecbert and Ragnar had of Athelstan worked make everything feel more cohesive and inter-dependent. And this week, the respective celebrations surrounding Christmas and Yule had a similar effect. Though not as profound and/or moving.

That didn’t mean “Yol” was light on action or effort. Bjorn met up with that “bamf’ing” Berserker this week and had himself a pretty violent skirmish on his walk back home. And while he took some licks, he pretty much owned that dude. He even got him caught up in a nasty fish hook trap. Bjorn’s now some sort of undefeatable beast with a sharp mind for traps and tactics.

Anyhow, Bjorn couldn’t get a straight “Who sent you?” answer out of his attacker so he disemboweled the dude and then walked into Hereby and took Erlendur’s wife, Torvi. I mean, she went with him on her own accord because Bjorn isn’t a brute. And Lagertha even offered to care for Torvi’s child so that she could leave with her son. It was a pretty awesome moment. Bjorn didn’t get any real conformation that Erlendur was behind the attack, but he can figure things out. So this was payback. Not that Bjorn didn’t want Torvi, or disapprove of how she was treated, but it was most definitely a power play.

Back in Kattegat, the Seer marked out over Floki and then licked his hand. Right before Aslaug showed up and asked Floki to teach Ivar how to properly hate Christians. So it seems Floki’s going to be doubling down on his stubborn Norse-ness, and perhaps get used as a pawn against Ragnar. Ragnar who became super enamored with “terrible slave” Yidu this week. So much so that he released her and put her up in his own mistress pad (his old house?).

Here’s the thing with Yidu. We know she’s got a sad story. She wasn’t born into slavery, but rather abducted and forced in. Stolen from her family. But Alsaug picked her out of a lineup for the express purpose of seducing Ragnar. Or at least being someone that Ragnar would want to make a move on himself. So how much is she working for Aslaug – who all but signed off on Ragnar having an affair with Yidu this week?

I ask this because of the freakin’ crazy opium party Yidu and Ragnar had. First off, how did Yidu have this stuff at her disposal? Secondly, Yidu would seem the type to know of the addictive dangers involved with her country’s “medicine” of choice. So is she purposefully trying to hook Ragnar on the stuff? If so, is it for her own designs or for Aslaug’s?

Down in Paris, Rollo and Gisla’s official bedding (and loud, repeat, bedding) was played for slight laughs. And yes, it was a little cliche for Gisla to undergo such a huge transformation, character-wise, because of all the sex. But I suppose we can afford Vikings a little levity. More interesting even, perhaps, was the fact that Rollo could now speak fluent French. Of course, we never ever know how much time has passed in the Paris and Wessex stories, but this week we did know – at least – that all these stories were taking place at the same time, holiday-wise. It can be frustrating for sure, though here I was just amused by it. It felt like video game leveling. Like, one lesson and you’ve somehow filled out an entire advanced skill on a talent tree.

The most awkward part of this episode came right in the final five minutes, when an entire new arc seemed to take hold. Aspiring King of Norway Harald Finehair (Peter Franzen) arrived to…I guess murder Ragnar? For being more famous? And costing him respect and chicks?

Now would he be someone Aslaug might want to hitch her wagon to, if she were looking to usurp Ragnar? And how well will the now death-obsessed Ragnar fare against Harald now that he might be hooked on Yidu’s meds? All good questions, though having Harald arrive this way, right at the tail end, felt off.