EW – Vikings recap: ‘Crossings’
Season 4, Ep. 16 | Aired Jan 4
Words travel slowly from the lonely ground in Northumbria, where the great, legendary, cursed Ragnar Lothbrok lies buried beneath earth and snakes and ambition. In Kattegat, his first wife Lagertha cannot believe he is dead. But her responsibility is clear. She must pick up the burden of rule, no matter the cost. “Ragnar hated it,” she tells her lover Astrid. “It weighed him down, perhaps it even killed him.” But she cannot disappoint her women: Not Astrid, not Torvi, not the shieldmaidens who fought and died for her. And she thinks Ragnar is watching her.
In Wessex, Ecbert mourns his friend, while his son Aethelwulf fears the worst. Ecbert had an agreement with Ragnar, a promise the Viking’s sons would seek vengeance only against Aelle. “Ragnar and I were alike in many ways,” says Ecbert, suddenly looking like an old man, or like a man who has begun to outlive his own time. He agrees Aethelwulf should raise an army; he will stay right where he is, at the seat of his power, teaching young Alfred the ways of this cruel world.
Lagertha assumes her own seat of power, sitting in the high throne at the center of Kattegat. She sat up there once before, next to Ragnar — and, briefly, next to Aslaug, Ragnar’s second wife. Lagertha, in charge, has some new ideas. Kattegat has become large, “the largest, richest trading center in Norway.” Others will be envious; the time has come to fortify, to dig ditches, to turn this small overgrown village into a true defended city.
Gallery Links:
- Public Appearances > Public Appearances in 2017 > Jan 10: 2017 Marie Claire Image Maker Awards
Katheryn attended the Instyle Golden Globe After Party last night and she looked lovely!
Gallery Links:
- Public Appearances > Public Appearances in 2017 > Jan 8: WB & Instyle Golden Globes After Party
- Vikings > Season 4 > Screencaptures > 4.16 “Crossings” Screencaps
Thanks to our friends at Far Far Away, I have new stills from 4×12 and 4×13. I have also added a still from the upcoming episode The Great Army.
Gallery Links:
- Vikings > Season 4 > Production Stills > 4.12 “The Vision” Stills
- Vikings > Season 4 > Production Stills > 4.13 “Two Journeys” Stills
- Vikings > Season 4 > Production Stills > 4.17 “The Great Army” Stills
How far our Lagertha has come! #Vikings pic.twitter.com/FdHb8UEw7R
— HISTORY Canada (@HistoryTVCanada) December 31, 2016
Gallery Links:
- Photoshoots > 2013 Photoshoots > Photoshoot 007
- Photoshoots > 2015 Photoshoots > Photoshoot 009
- Vikings > Season 4 > Screencaptures > 4.15 “All His Angels” Screencaps
- Magazine Scans > 2013 Scans > 2013 Twelv Magazine – Issue 3
- Magazine Scans > 2017 Scans > 2017 Total Film – February
- Magazine Scans > 2017 Scans > 2017 SFX – February
Gallery Links:
- Vikings > Season 4 > Production Stills > 4.16 “Crossing” Stills
December 22, 2016: In The Uncertain Hour Before the Morning (Season 4 Episode 14)
Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), Georgia Hirst (Torvi) and three Viking shield-maidens join Nick Hodges.
EW – Vikings recap: ‘In the Uncertain Hour Before the Morning’
Season 4, Ep. 14 | Aired Dec 21
Queen Aslaug is queen no more. She knows this, she has no escape plan; she walks into the town square knowing her time has come to an end. There is a freedom to knowing you will never be free again. The Queen looks amused by her invader. “How strange, Lagertha, that you should play the usurper. One woman against another.” Aslaug knows Lagertha values herself as a powerful woman in this world of powerful men — knows that, at this moment of triumph, it will darken Lagertha’s soul just a little bit, the implication she has broken her own rule.
“I was never the usurper,” says Lagertha. “Always the usurped.” Aslaug took Lagertha’s husband, her world, her happiness. “You’re a witch,” Lagertha says. “You bewitched him.” Perhaps she believes that; perhaps it is an easy justification, a way to establish herself as the force of moral right. Aslaug smiles. She did not bewitch Ragnar, but she knows he is dead. “In my dream, his boats were sunk in a storm,” says Aslaug.
She will not fight. She knows she would not win. Aslaug has never been a warrior. Yet, she has raised warriors. “I have fulfilled my destiny,” she says. “The gods foretold Ragnar would have many sons. I have given him those sons. I am as much a part of his saga, Lagertha, as you are.” It is another gambit, a way of snatching some greater victories from the jaws of this mortal defeat. Lagertha may defeat Aslaug. But they will be history soon, are already history; the legends have already formed about Ragnar and Aslaug and Lagertha and their ilk. Aslaug asks only for safe passage. She promises Lagertha will have Kattegat and she promises she will not demand her sons seek vengeance. It will be a peaceful transition of power.
“I understand,” says Lagertha. What does that mean? What message is she receiving from Aslaug? Does she know that, in some strange way, this great day of victory has not been wholly victorious? Does she sense this woman whom she always doubted — this usurper, this alleged witch, this poor excuse for a monarch — has hidden depths to her personality? Does she suddenly recognize, in Aslaug, a warrior?
Aslaug turns her back and prepares to leave her life behind. And then her life is taken and a smile crosses her face. An arrow in the back and a great funeral pyre for the woman who made warriors, for she who never gave up the old faith. She is in the saga forever now, even if her time in this story has come to an end. What future has she cursed Lagertha, too?
