The Marshes
The episode begins with the Vikings raiding a settlement in Kent. It’s a bloodbath, with a Christian priest killed with a spear. Outside Leif and Harald work together to hold off the troops.
Olaf finds a bunch of women hiding under the floorboards, including the Mistress of Kent. On her knees before the bloodied Vikings, she tells them all that Aethelred is dead and has been for 10 days. His son Edmund is on the throne, so the attention turns instead to killing Edmund.
Edmund continues to skirmish with the various soldiers inside his castle, but of course this is nothing like a proper battle. Given Edmund’s arrogance, Godwin decides to fight him in the courtyard alone, without the tentative soldiers hanging about. This gives Godwin an opportunity to show Edmund just how much stronger he is than him. ..
Godwin takes the boy by the hand and leads him away from the battlefield, schooling him and showing how he is not ready to fight against the might of the Vikings. “I am not your enemy, Your Highness,” Godwin says.
Yrsa and Freydis ride together for their pilgrimage to the sacred mountain. However, a man approaches them and draws his sword swinging at them all.
It takes all the group to try and thwart his threat, with Yrsa stabbed and Toke choked out in the process. Freydis jumps on the man’s back with string around her neck, squeezing until she dies. It’s a harsh, brutal fight and one that sees Toke killed and Yrsa with a fatal wound. Around the attacker’s neck happens to be a cross.
Freydis, a Pagan hunter, finds a healer to look after Yrsa while she continues on to Uppsala. However, other Pagan hunters stumble upon her deceased brother, including a man named Kare and set to work trying to find her. ..
Queen Emma urges the nobles to be ready for a war coming to their doorstop, as the Vikings are already upon them.
The Marshlands stretch on for as far as the eye can see. The Englishmen are held up well, but Leif is tasked with scouting the defences and seeing how well they are held up. Along their makeshift path, the men hold torches to help light the way.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the trap was set and they were soon attacked by archers from the boats nearby. Thankfully, Leif survived and Harald showed up to save him. ..
The King’s forces have been losing men at an alarming rate, and Leif and Harald are determined to find a way to help. They disguise themselves as locals and head to the bridge, where they find villagers stockpiling food. This gives them a good opportunity to study the bridge and plan their attack. ..
Edmund’s coronation is a cause for concern as he seems to be taking the crown for himself without consulting anyone else. Emma is concerned about this and believes that this could lead to disaster.
The Episode Review
With Edmund now on the throne and the fate of England hanging in the balance, everything is left wide open for the second half of this season. It’s clear that Leif has figured out a way to attack London and gain the advantage over the Englishmen and it’ll be interesting to see exactly what he proposes or how they go about doing this.
This episode of “Vikings” features a lot of action, drama, and tension. It’s still to be seen what significance Freydis has in this plot though because right now she doesn’t seem to be adding a whole lot to it.
However, that’s a minor point in what’s otherwise been a rather enjoyable series. ..
