'Vikings' recap: 'A Good Treason'

Treachery abounds in the show's return

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Photo: Jonathan Hession/History

Ragnar Lothbrok lies abed, not dead, not quite alive. In his dreams, he rides on a distant mountain. Great golden doors open in the sky. He can hear the great warriors, singing happily as only dead men truly can. He walks toward the light. The doors close before him. Shall this be his fate? Locked out of Valhalla, despite all his great deeds? He is Viking — and he is Christian.

In the realm of the living, his wife, Aslaug, has a question for the seer: Will a woman take the throne of Kattegat? The seer offers a prophecy: “Yes. I have seen it. A woman will one day rule in Kattegat.” But which woman? And what does he mean, precisely: Will she one day rule, or will she rule for just one day? Power gets passed around frequently here in the land of Vikings. Ask Earl Haraldson. Ask King Horik. Ask Ragnar Lothbrok, who once was a farmer; then an explorer; now a conqueror, a traitor, and betrayed.

While Ragnar slumbers, his sons have grown up. Little Ivar the Boneless is talking, if not precisely walking. Bjorn Ironside mourns the loss of his beloved, Thorunn, who departed Kattegat for parts unknown. She left behind a daughter. Bjorn can’t even look at her, his progeny. “Don’t worry,” says Aslaug, stern and resigned, “We will take care of her.” Perhaps Aslaug prefers it this way. While the men of one generation kill each other, the next generation arises from her household.

Public statements are made. In Kattegat, Bjorn has Floki captured and chained in the town square — long-overdue punishment for the murder of Athelstan. Why punish Floki now? “You also feared his influence on your father,” the shipbuilder declares, unrepentant. Meanwhile, in Hedeby, Kalf declares a new bicameral leadership structure: “I saved Lagertha’s life, and she saved mine. Lagertha and I will share the Earldom, and rule as equals.” Some citizens of Hedeby aren’t too happy about that. Example one: Einar Pornstache, who killed his own uncle for Lagertha before betraying her for Kalf. All Einar’s gambits have left him apparently powerless. He plots a counterattack.

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At last: Ragnar awakes from his slumber. (Perhaps with a little help from the old gods: His loyal friend Floki had carved him some healing runes.) He joins his people in the great hall of Kattegat. A happy man, to be surrounded by so many loving sons. But things are rotten in this state that will eventually be Denmark. Aslaug is raising her sons with the tales of her own father, the great hero Sigurd. (The implication: Her husband doesn’t quite measure up.) A new slave purchased by Aslaug at an auction catches Ragnar’s eye — and we remember that King Ragnar has already left one marriage behind him, one more betrayal in a lifetime of such things.

NEXT: Count on Count Rollo

Ragnar isn’t happy with Bjorn. “If I wanted Floki arrested, I would have done it a long time ago,” he explains. Now, Bjorn has made Floki’s crime public — and left Ragnar with no options. And while we’re on the topic: “Who’s stupid idea was it to leave behind Rollo in Paris?” He may be Bjorn’s uncle, but he is Ragnar’s brother — and Ragnar knows better than to trust his ambitious sibling.

In Paris, Count Rollo is settling in to his new life of Frankish nobility. He’s married away to Princess Gisla, who weeps through the ceremony and holds a knife to his throat on their wedding night. “Don’t touch me, monster!” she says. “You’re tickling me,” he jokes, taunting her by falling asleep. Perhaps Rollo recognizes that Gisla can be a powerful ally in this foreign land. And perhaps Gisla recognizes that Rollo may be her natural enemy, but he’s also the only man in Paris who hasn’t betrayed her. (Yet.)

In Hedeby, Kalf calls a town meeting. He knows that Earl Lagertha is a, shall we say, controversial figure. “Those of you who desire her banishment, mark this post,” Kalf demands. Einar and his loyalists move to the post, slashing it with their daggers. Which puts them all together in one place — easy targets for Kalf’s archers. (ASIDE: One of those archers is Erlendur, whose father was killed by Ragnar, who was himself cuckolded by Ragnar’s son. I have no idea if Erlendur is still around waiting to enact revenge or just waiting patiently to die on the battlefield, but his mere continued existence on Vikings is impressive. END OF ASIDE) Einar himself is pinned against the post, an arrow through his neck. To add injurious insult to injury, Lagertha grabs Einar’s knife and castrates him. A fitting death for a coward. Lagertha regards Kalf, with a smile and with tears. Happy to have a true ally? Or frustrated to depend on a traitor?

Bjorn declares his intentions to take a long trip. He’s going into the interior, deep in the wilderness, to prove to Ragnar that he can live as the great heroes did. Ragnar’s opinion is blunt:

But Ragnar is also proud of his son for trying to prove himself. And frightened for him, perhaps. You feel that maybe he loves his first son more than any of his other children. Bjorn remembers when his father was just a man — not a king, not a hero. And Ragnar is losing his connections to those old days. He goes to talk to his old friend Floki, chained and tormented in the public square. One old friend killed another old friend; is there any end to this cycle? “Are you going to kill me or not?” asks Floki. Ragnar has no answer, not yet.

In Paris, Count Rollo receives a visitor. A Viking, from the encampment, with ill news. It seems the followers of Ragnar left behind don’t think much of their nominal leader, who’s become a Frankish noble and a Christian. Rollo learns that half his men are against him. So he does the mature thing: Goes to the Viking camp with a squad of Franks and kills all his countrymen. “We shall be revenged!” declares one fallen Viking, blood and breath all abandoning him. “Ragnar will revenge us!”

Count Rollo considers these words. He isn’t frightened. He’s ready.

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