This review makes reference to Vikings Season 5, and contains some spoilers.

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Year: 2018 Category: Historical Drama. Director: David Wellington, Steve Saint Leger, Ciarán Donnelly, Jeff Woolnough, Daniel Grou, Helen Shaver. Cast: Katheryn Winnick, Gustaf Skarsgård, Alexander Ludwig, John Kavanagh, Peter Franzén, Jasper Pääkkönen, Moe Dunford, Alex Høgh, Marco Ilsø, Jordan Patrick Smith, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Josefin Asplund, Ida Marie Nielsen, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Georgia Hirst, Jennie Jacques, Jonathan Delaney Tynan, Keith McErlean, Darren Cahill, Ben Roe, Kieran O'Reilly, Frankie McCafferty, Alicia Agneson, Albano Jerónimo, Karima McAdams, Paul Reid as Mannel, Khaled Abol Naga, Adam Copeland, Kris Holden-Ried, Leah McNamara, Jack McEvoy, Mei Bignall, Kelly Campbell, James Craze, Elijah Rowen, Donna Dent, Rob Malone, Scott Graham, Tallulah Belle Earley, Ryan Henson, Svea Killoran, Anthony Brophy, Dagny Backer Johnsen, Malcolm Douglas, Clive Standen, Róisín Murphy, Damien Devaney, Dean Ridge, Tomi May, Ragga Ragnars, Eve Connolly, Ann Skelly, Steven Berkoff, Erik Madsen, Markjan Winnick, Gavan Ó Connor Duffy, Kristy Dawn Dinsmore, India Mullen, Frank Prendergast, Laurence O'Fuarain, Bosco Hogan, Mabel Hurley, Ross Matthew Anderson, Ben McKeown, Conn Rogers, Jamie Maclachlan, Martin Maloney.

Plot

This season shows different events: the fight for control of Kattegat, Björn's journey to the Mediterranean, the political conflict over the succession to the Wessex throne, Floki discovering Iceland and initiating a settlement there, and the religious conflict between the Christian and Viking faith.

Opinion

The events that we see at the beginning of this season are directly related to the end of the previous season, the great army triumphed in York, but in a moment of uncontrollable anger Ivar kills his brother Sigurd, however, despite being a great cliffhanger this really does not have a great impact on subsequent events.

Ivar decides to stay in York and Hvitsärk decides to accompany him instead of going with Ubbe, who failed to try to negotiate with the Christians, to Kattegat. Halfdan decides to leave his brother, King Harald, who wants to go to Kattegat to study the possibility of snatching the city to Lagertha, and accompany Björn on his trip to the Mediterranean. While this is happening King Aethelwulf, Queen Judith, and her two sons; Aethelred and Alfred are still in exile, however, with the arrival of Bishop Heahmund they will recover Wessex. Finally Floki decides to build a ship and go sailing without a destination.

During the course of the season, we see how each of the characters face each other and change sides constantly, showing almost all the combinations of teams available; first Lagertha, Ubbe, Björn and Halfdan try to defend Kattegat from King Harald, Hvitsärk and Ivar, and although they are successful, Rollo reappears and interferes in the conflict by sending Frankish warriors to help the army of King Harald, Hvitsärk and Ivar. Bishop Heahmund first fights against Ivar and is defeated, but Ivar convinces him to fight on his side against Lagertha, subsequently, after the first battle, Heahmund decides to fight on Lagertha's side against Ivar, and finally returns to England to fight the Vikings. Lagertha, Ubbe, Björn and Torvi flee to England after losing Kattegat and there they fight against the troops of King Harald and other Vikings, however, later Björn decides to ally with King Harald and Hvitsärk to fight against Ivar, who has become a tyrant and under the influence of his new wife claims to be a god. In addition always is present the plot of Wessex, in which after the death of the King Aethelwulf, the queen Judith manipulates the situation with the aim of making Alfred, who really is the son of Athelstan, in the king of Wessex, although the line of succession favors Aethelred, which is also loved by the people.

With respect to the previous seasons Vikings lowers the level almost in all the main aspects, besides including some lousy secondary plots, the trip of Björn and Halfdan to the Mediterranean did not make any sense, it seemed that they were on vacation, fortunately it does not last for long time. The plot of Floki discovering Iceland and trying to found an anarchic society, although it perfectly shows the chains of revenge suffered by the old Viking culture, becomes the most boring plot in story, mainly because the characters that participate in it are not important. Not to mention other inconsistencies of lesser or greater importance, such as the fact that Lagertha does not age enough in the first part of the season, to see her continuing to fight is absurd, in addition the series continues to show women participating as warriors and sometimes includes dialogues and situations influenced for the feminist agenda of today, something that is not historically coherent.

Another important factor is not only the absence of Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok, but also the absence of Ecbert, was another of the great deaths of last season, the participation of Rollo is little, and Floki stays away from all events, so Lagertha becomes the only recognizable face that is important since the first season. The script decreases in quality in the sense that all conflicts are born basically of a desire for constant revenge, and everything is solved with a fight, which is good from the point of view of entertainment, but narratively limited and not very complex.

In addition, what happened with Ivar during the course of the season, it is inevitable to compare with what happened in Game of Thrones (I will not say anything specific about this not to spolier another series), which shows a kind of medieval fascism, the characters become great orators with a clearly identifiable war discourse, in which they present themselves as the messiah, which is accompanied by symbology, and which concludes with the idolatry of their followers. This is something that is not only unoriginal, but is also not coherent, since seeing medieval characters adopt forms of twentieth century fascism is anachronistic.

Despite all its flaws the season has positive things, the inclusion of Jonathan Rhys Meyers during the season was a great success, Judith's evolution is impressive, she becomes a highly manipulative and controlling character and tries to turn Alfred into someone similar to Ecbert, completely forgetting his son Aethelred, to whom she not only removes the crown but also kills him. The final evolution of Björn is also interesting, he becomes the reincarnation of Ragnar, the siege he leads in Kattegat recalls the siege that his father led in Paris, and finally the moment when he is proclaimed King, leaves us with high expectations about his development during the following season. Not to mention the incredible amount of well done battles that the season showed, and it includes a great atmosphere and costume as always.

In short, it is not the best season of the series, personally I think it is the worst, however, this does not mean it is a bad season, it has flaws but it also has virtues, it is still highly entertaining, except for some scenes, especially those of Floki's plot, my attention was always on the screen. I do not think the fans of the series are totally disappointed with this season, after all, with the death of Ragnar and Ecbert in season 4, we expected a decline in quality, luckily it did not go down much.

Trailer

Score

7/10