Vikings: Season 3 (2015)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

What I liked: 

• The battle scenes. They are still incredibly well done, and always thrilling to watch.
• The score for the show is so suiting and it comes together well.
• How things skipped between Wessex, Kattegat and wherever the vikings were raiding and warring.
• The understanding yet mistrust that is evident between Ragnar and King Ecbert.
• Seeing how faith is still so important here. Athelstan finally got his “sign”, so to speak, and it brought him great happiness, though it definitely threw him back to the status of outcast. Ragnar was not too bothered about Athelstan’s faith, as long as they were friends. Later, it was immensely interesting to see how Christian vs Nordic faith had become such an issue for Ragnar, and how it tore at him.
• The siege that went down in Paris! OMG! You all know that I am immediately sold the second there is a siege. This was no different. It was intense, it was bloody, it was vicious, violent and seemed so superfluous at the best of times.
• The concept of who the real barbarians are. The vikings are painted as uncouth animals due to their traditions, but when you look at what the Christians do, they are equally savage in their own way. So ultimately, who is at fault here?

Both of these scenes just gave me goosebumps…

What I didn’t like: 

• Floki really went all darkside here. It was well done, but it crushed me, it didn’t gel always. At the end of season two it was presented that the strife between Ragnar and Floki was all fake, yet in this season it started up and they were immediately at odds again.
• End of season two showed us that Ragnar was all in love with Lagertha again, and that they were not together, but she was aware. Here we return and Ragnar simply doesn’t love Princess Aslaug anymore, but nothing is happening with Lagertha, either, so it just felt a little pointless.

Rating:
I have been eagerly awaiting the new season of Vikings. The show is that good. When it was time to watch, my fiancé and I made the laughable decision of “watching one episode over brunch” which, naturally, turned into the whole season. Bang. Just like that. Over. It was worth every second of the time spent watching it. There was just so much going on in this season I didn’t even know where to start. I obviously expected Kalf to screw Lagertha over, that was going to happen, and King Ecbert cannot be trusted even when your eyes are on him, so there were no surprises there, though both takeovers were handled extremely well. I was not a fan of how it started with Ragnar and Floki at odds again, I genuinely thought that they had sorted things out, but here we were with them once again. It didn’t progress as smoothly as it could have. I was devastated to see Floki finally take that step against Ragnar and kill Athelstan, it was truly something that crushed me. He was a favourite character of mine. Ouch. Religion was again important here, and it brought about some crazy things all over the show, I was a huge fan of how that was done. The brutality was not held back here again, and I think that the History channel is onto something with this show. The cast does wonders with the material that they are given, and there are so many moments where your heart jumps into your throat before you can even process what has happened. The vikings moving on to invade France was something I have been waiting for for ages now, there is so much that could be going on there and I was dead right in that assessment. It was brutal, violent, extreme, entertaining and nerve-wracking, so the goods were delivered in typical Vikings style. Floki has definitely finally lost his marbles, and his descent into madness is a gripping watch. Well worth the watch!