OOC: Episode discussion: S3E9 - Breaking Point

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Under the cut are my reactions that I posted on my Facebook while watching this episode live. Perhaps I'll be more articulate and coherent once we get to discussing stuff.



- LADY VIKINGS BE LIKE FUCKING NINJAS IN THE NIGHT

- HOLY JESUS WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING

- WATCHING A VIKING ATTACK IS LIKE WATCHING A HOCKEY GAME. I SHOUT EXACTLY THE SAME THINGS AT THE TV.

- RAGNAR THIS IS FREAKY WHAT IS GOING ON

- OHHH SNAP VIKING BEHEADING FAKEOUT

- ECBERT & CO: WORST FAMILY DINNER EVER

- jfc ragnar laying down the law

- BAPTIZE ME BITCH

- OH FUCK OH SHIT OH FUCK OH SHIT THEY WERENT SUPPOSED TO SEE THAT

ETA: Me watching this episode:

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

...yeah. I... don't imagine that ending will make Floki one little bit happier with Athelstan.

eta: And that was totally Jesus Ragnar saw with Athelstan, wasn't it. When he wasn't having competing visions of Odin.

[yakalskovich]

I could see that vision connected to Athelstan trying to reach Ragnar in order to keep him from doing something stupid. When he has done some stupid things (like jumping from the battlements onto a heap of corpses) already.

This has so many ramifications, though. Entirely good ones, in the end...

[athelstanthescribe]

Maybe just trying to get him not to lie down and die right there.

[yakalskovich]

Yes, very likely so -- because Athelstan is sensible and he wants Ragnar alive and grow old and wise in their own world, the way Ragnar wants Athelstan to, as in his current thread with Autor.

[yakalskovich]

My reaction post is here:

http://yakalskovich.dreamwidth.org/565737.html

and reads mostly just like your reaction post.

Floki turning away and waving his hands in disgust was oddly priceless, and so typical! On the other hand, the baptism of the Viking king would not have remained a secret; it is a major political point in a peace process involving Christians and heathens at that time. For Rollo to marry Gisela and get Normandy, something like that had to happen anyway.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

BARREL OF DOOM

Floki's spasticness is priceless in any situation, but this one especially. It was all his worst suspicions confirmed.

And yeah, I don't think in the bigger scheme of things that Ragnar's baptism would've been kept a secret. But he might have felt it was on a more personal level, maybe even out of desperation. And by the look in his eyes when he saw the other Vikings on the shore, he was probably not going to tell them right away. "btw guys, I got baptized!"

Oh hey, maybe the baptism miraculously healed him so we can have a Season 4.

[athelstanthescribe]

I think I heard season 4's already been commissioned? But whether Ragnar will still be the lead character...

[yakalskovich]

Yes, we ARE getting a 4th season, but it might be entirely without Ragnar. Nobody is safe, after all.

Also, Floki can go to Iceland...

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Ah, what I meant was that so we could HAVE him in Season 4. This has been a brutal season for deaths of characters we've gotten emotionally attached to and I am SO not ready for Ragnar to die!

[bigarmy_strangepants]

My Inner!Ragnar is totally ready to die at that point so he can be with Athelstan; but I supposed Athelstan isn't going to have any of that, neither in canon nor in Milliways when we get to that point, so Ragnar will just have to deal with it and go on living as a Christian. In the very few cases that Athelstan does put his foot down about something, Ragnar simply has to go along with it.-

[athelstanthescribe]

Oh, and Aslaug subjecting the wandering missionary to trial by red hot iron, then casually ordering him killed when he fails. Wonder what Ragnar will make of that if he ever gets to hear about it...

[yakalskovich]

This is Ansgar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansgar

He's not going to get killed just yet, I would say.

Also, the accounts of the settlement of Iceland all state that the settlers left because their kings at the time were a) exerting undue influence and b) converting to Christianity, while Iceland stayed heathen and converted to Christianity by democratic, unanimous decision in the year 1000 exactly -- so that house? Might have been Floki's...

Actually, now I say the name, this might be supposed to be our Floki after all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settlement_of_Iceland#Hrafna-Fl.C3.B3ki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrafna-Fl%C3%B3ki_Vilger%C3%B0arson

Floki would have been the first person to deliberately sail to Iceland and to name the entire place!!!

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Ansgar is the new Athelstan? But less likeable.

I did read that Floki was somewhat based on that particular historical figure. And then I got to theorizing, if Ragnar doesn't kill Floki out of revenge, he could maybe banish him? And Floki would be all, fine, I'm taking all my ships and naming an island! SEE YA

[yakalskovich]

Yes, totally!!



That is Hrafna-Floki as seen in the wax museum of Icelandic history when I visited there in the summer 2013 -- picture by my sister.

Also, as I said, the settlers left the Viking homelands because their kings had a) become too powerful and b) Christian...

ETA: Also, my Inner!Ragnar says that Ansgar is totally not the new Athelstan; there is no replacement for Athelstan and never will be. He is willing to abandon everything for Athelstan, after all!

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Sorry not sorry I laughed at the hot iron trial.

[athelstanthescribe]

...got to admit, the missionary's happy imagining of how he'd pass it without a mark on him, and then the actual reality, was kind of funny.

[bjornwilde]

I was totally expecting the punking at the viking beheading, and loved it all the same.

Sheild maidens for the win!

Rollo really just doesn't give a fuck when he's in battle does he? Awesome to see him and Floki working together to outwit the siege counter measures.

My Rollo voice couldn't resist saying, "So I can lead you brother" in regards to the baptism. I also wonder what Ragnar's Christian name will be,

[yakalskovich]

... I wonder if Ragnar will even live long enough for his baptismal name to count. Alternatively, it might be a name which makes the history buffs go "OMG IT'S HIM!!"

[lt_blade]

Holy....

Um..not much to say about this one, only...shit's about to get real people.

That does leave me wondering..Athelstan said at the start of season 1 that he did missionary work. I'm wondering how it was that he survived and the other missionary just put it foot into it.

Maybe Athelstan just had better survival instincts at the start.

Lord, Floki at the end of the episode, I could just hear what he was not saying and they were all variations on cursing.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Let's face it, Athelstan is a nice guy. Ansgar is a tactless douche. You don't go into someone's village and start yelling about how all their gods are wrong. You knock on a few doors and say, hey, got some time to talk about Jesus? That to me is more Athelstan's style, heh.

And yes, Floki at the end. That is the culmination of everything he's dreaded since Ragnar took Athelstan in.

[lt_blade]

He's a nice guy and he also had a frankly adorable curiousity about him. People are more willing to listen if a person shows interest in them than someone who's just going to shoot their gods down.

I feel a little sorry for Ansgar in a way. I think he came into the village with the idea of 'saving' the people and becoming a sort of 'hero for christ', if his fantasy was anything to go by. Then of course it all goes wrong.

Definitely, the more he tries to stop things, the worse things get. That Ragnar was willing to convert to Christianity just to be with Athelstan-that's intense.

[yakalskovich]

We're about ready to post the OOM where Ragnar returns from Gotland between Seasons 1 and 2 and Athelstan tells him that Gyda is dead.

http://athelstanthescribe.dreamwidth.org/1075.html

Is there anything else one of you mean to do before we can go ahead with that?

[my_brothers_shadow]

I'm good with this, though I wonder if we'd like to do a flashback thread with Ragnar and Rollo with Rollo staying behind? I don't imagine it will be long and I can wait until tonight or tomorrow for it as I've house chores I am working on.

ETA: Oh, I like that spin Ragnar put on Rollo's actions.

[yakalskovich]

Let us totally do that thread -- doesn't have to be long, and can be posted as 'before that, this happened' OOM -- can you thread from your work tomorrow?

[my_brothers_shadow]

Sure can I'll watch the episode tonight and write up an OOM for us to thread.

[yakalskovich]

Thanks -- that would be excellent! Leave me a link here?

Thanks!

[my_brothers_shadow]

So I am feeling out of sorts today, not sure if it is allergies, sleeping poorly, or both. Which means I don't know that I will feel up to writing the thread today.

I did watch the episode and it turns out they never showed Rollo telling Ragnar he was staying, as I had thought. They just do a fade to next season with Rollo agreeing to fight with Borg. If you wanted to post your bit with Ragnar and Athelstan, I'm fine with just writing an OOM with Rollo and Borg talking, and mentioning it occurs before your OOM.

[yakalskovich]

We can do that OOM whenever you feel like it -- today turned into the work day from hell, anyway.-

[my_brothers_shadow]

And here is the OOM: http://my-brothers-shadow.dreamwidth.org/996.html

Feel free to tag when you can. = ]

I'm not sure how much I'll around tonight, but I should be good tomorrow.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Tagged it, as I am online in the middle of the night for work reasons...

[my_brothers_shadow]

Ick, I hope it won't keep you up too late. I am heading for bed now, thought I did tag back.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

I'm good with this!

So the way I see it, we can handwave that Floki has also been told the news before the next time he comes into Milliways.

[yakalskovich]

Yes, absolutely -- he will have been told it when he returned with Ragnar, before they went out again with more men to fight Jarl Borg and Rollo. I still don't want for Ragnar to know Gyda's in Milliways, though, as that would take away the poignancy from his grief in 2.01 when he talks to her just before Aslaug appears with her royal baby bump.