Jeri Jacquin
Coming to Bluray from 20th Century Fox Home
Entertainment is the series that has fans coming back for more with VIKINGS
Season 4 Volume 2.
Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) wastes no time upon his return to Kattegat challenging his sons if one of them wants to be
King. The one to step forward is Ubbe (Jordan Smith) but for a completely
different challenge. Wanting his sons to return to England
with him, he is surprised when Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig) tells Ragnar that he
has his own plans with Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard), Harald (Peter Franzen) and
Hvitserk (Marco Llso) to take the Mediterranean .
Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) also has no intention of going
to England
with Ragnar even after he apologizes to her for everything that has happened.
Thinking that his time might be up in this world, the ravens have other plans
for Ragnar. When he returns to Kattegat it is to ask Ivar (Alex Hogh) to go to England . Before
anyone leaves, Ragnar wants Bjorn to find peace with Rollo while Lagertha
refuses to find peace with Aslaug (Alyssa Sutherland).
Before he leaves, Aslaug reveals a vision she’s had but
Ragnar and Ivar won’t be stopped from going to England . When a storm capsizes the
boat, Ragnar and Ivar get to shore and King Ecbert (Linus Roache) is told.
Trying to find peace with Rollo (Clive Standen), Bjorn ends up in jail with his
companions but safe passage isn’t far away.
Lagertha decides it’s time to reclaim what is hers and takes
Ubbe and Sigurd captive with every intent on removing Aslaug from the throne.
Proclaiming herself queen, Lagertha hears from Aslaug that she will tell her
sons not to fight back if she can leave free. Of course the new queen has a
plan of her own with Astrid keeping Ubbe and Sigurd in check.
In Aethelwulf, Ecbert promises that nothing will happen to
either Ragnar or Ivar and introduces them to Magnus. Ragnar makes a claim about
Kwenthrith and Ecbert admits a few truths of his own. After a few drinks the
two reminisce about Athelstan and Ecbert is surprised when Ragnar asks him for
death. Refusing to take part in it, he instead agrees to take Ragnar to King
Aelle so that Ivar can go home. In the same agreement, he tells Ecbert that Wessex
will not be the focus of his son’s revenge.
Before returning home, Ivar learns from Ragnar of his plan
and when Ivar lashes out promising revenge before he is taken to a ship going
home. Ragnar sees Alfred and gives him a gift of his father before a journey
where he has time to rethink all that has happened. Ecbert can not stay away
and when the time comes, he knows that he has lost a friend.
Ivar returns to Kattegat to
find Lagertha on the throne and his mother gone. When he challenges the new
Queen she ignores it and focuses on building Kattegat ’s
back up. But a longship brings a mysterious stranger and more challenges begin.
Bjorn reaches the Mediterranean and along with Rollo they attack Algeciras . Coming in
contact with praying men in the mosque, Floki wants their lives spared. The
news of what has happened to Ragnar reaches Spain and Bjorn and Lagertha is
told by a mystic that a son of Ragnar is planning to take her down.
A return to England
is on the minds of Ubbe, Sigurd and Ivar as a way to revenge Ragnar. Help is
also on the way when Earl Jorgensen brings his ships to help the Lothbroks.
Floki knows that Ivar will stop at nothing to go to war and so he builds him a
chariot and now he had the ability to be a true leader of the troops.
Ivar wants total leadership of the armies but Bjorn has
something to say about it. As the Viking troops advance, Athelwulf knows he
needs more help and turns to Ecbert and in Northumbria , King Aelle is taken
and his fate is sealed.
A surprise attack on Kattegat
brings the capture of Egil who lets it be known that it is King Harald that
ordered the attack. The Viking army is still on the move and Prince Aethelwulf
tries everything to stop them. When he is forced back to Wessex , he
tells Ecbert to retreat which he will not do. Instead, turning his crown over
to his son, Bjorn then allows him to decide his own fate.
As the brothers decide where they will go next, it is Ivar
that stands out with an action that brings even Bjorn into shock.
Fimmel as Ragnar has taken this character to depths that are
absolutely amazing. He is not a vocal character by any means but when he does
speak, the clan better listen. As Ragnar has grown season by season, it is
clear that both the good and bad choices of his life are coming to a decision
that had the viewing audiences’ jaws dropping. I can not think of one actor
that could have done what Fimmel has for the role of Ragnar.
Winnick as Lagertha has also gone to hell and back as a
woman in a world where wielding a weapon and shield is equally as important as
having a family. Lagertha has also made good and bad choices but is solid and
strong even when she is wrong. I have to give props to a bad ass chick who can
give a look that says ‘yea, I was wrong – what about it?’ Winnick is powerful
and she’s back on the throne!
Ludwig as Bjorn has grown out of his father’s shadow.
Wanting to get back to the sea and do what Vikings do is now his motivation.
Making a name and life for himself, Bjorn also begins to understand Ragnar more
and more. Standen as Rollo grabs onto the creed of ‘once a Viking always a
Viking’ and it’s good to see him back with the axe of nightmares.
Andersen as Ivar is one crazy individual who doesn’t have a
problem being without legs. His mind is sharp and his decisions are sharper. Being
the son of both Ragnar and Aslaug means he isn’t someone to be toyed with as he
can mix plotting, war and revenge in a wine cup and swallow in one breath.
Sutherland as Aslaug doesn’t fair as well with Lagertha this time around as her
own plotting just doesn’t have the umph that hers does.
Roache as King Ecbert has played the game with Ragnar to the
point that they are both played out.
VIKINGS Season 4
Volume 2 also contains the special features of The Queen and the Shield Maiden, Vikings – Valhalla
and the Legacy of Ragnar Lothbrok, Creator’s Audio Commentary with Michael
Hirst and Linus Roache on Selected Episodes, The Journeys of Bjorn Ironside and
Deleted Scenes. There are ten unrated
episodes with extended and deleted scenes not shown on television.
The episodes include: The
Outsider, The Vision, Two Journeys, In the Uncertain Hour Before the Morning,
All His Angels, Crossings, The Great Army, Revenge, On the Eve and The Reckoning.
The History Channel has brought a magnificent series to
television and it just gets better and better. Yes I hate when the show loses
characters but I know that means more room for the story to go in another
direction as it should. There is so much more to come and I, for one, will be
there when it happens.
Of course if you have ever been to San Diego Comic Con
International you know that fans wait in ridiculously long lines to see the
actors from the series. They want to know as much as can possibly be shared and
share their own costumes of proud VIKINGS. Of course I have my own drinking
horn that is always used when watching VIKINGS.
If you are looking for action, adventure, intrigue,
fantastic costuming, intense story lines and all wrapped up with actors who
have made VIKINGS a smash, then this is the show for you. Catch up on all the
prior season of VIKINGS and look for VIKINGS Season 4 Volume to on Bluray!
In the end – heavy is the head that wears the Viking crown!
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