Vikings

Most of the middle episodes are beyond fluff. They serve no purpose other than maybe to have a little fight. Typically, what happens in episode 4 through 6 is overwritten later. If you took out episode 1-2, 10, and 19-20, you might have another 3 episodes worth of content

Garrett

Mar 9, 2025 — 4 min read

Synopsis

Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer yearns to raid in a new world; However, opening his city to that world sets the stage for ripple effects he cannot comprehend.

Review

I both love this show and hate this show. The number of times that I have started this show with the intent to finish it since it ended in 2020 is crazy. This last viewing has taken me almost 2 years to finish. However, what I always forget which is one of its worst features is that there are 20 episodes a season at an hour long each. Now, you might be thinking with only 6 season that isn't crazy, but it is.

The reason it is crazy is that most of the middle episodes, (not including mid-season finales) are beyond fluff. They serve no purpose other than maybe to have a little fight. Typically, what happens in episode 4 through 6 is overwritten by episode 11. For instance, the number of time King Herald Finehair has shown back up after being killed is crazy, he even comes back in the same way that he showed up the first time when attempting to take Kattegat. I would say that if you took out episode 1-2, 10, and 19-20, you might have another 3 episodes worth of content that matters. Making the actual show about 8–10 episodes which would have been better. This lack luster middle made it so difficult to watch and continue watching. This doesn't even talk about the fact that after season 4 when Ragnar died, most people stopped watching because his sons for the most part where annoying characters.

What this show does well and did well up into the end, is making the season finale episodes so full of story and emotion that you wanted to see what happens next. This trend doesn't end with the series finale either, as those last two episodes might be some of my favorites. This is what people remember. These bright spots in acting and story that push to you continue watching. The early season fight scenes and the Blood Eagle were crazy and awesome. That didn't last though. The fight scenes became repetitive and formulaic as it was always the same actions that brought down the enemy.

SPOILERS: I am going to talk about the death of Ivar the Boneless. For a man/character who crawled into our hearts as a favorite character, being a great strategist, warrior, and political opponent, he just gets stabbed in the middle of the battlefield? Doesn't attempt to kill the guy? I understand what they were trying to do, but what a shit death for such a strong character. Also talking about the final couple of episodes, why the hell did they bring back Floki? I like his character, but he died two seasons ago and should have just stayed dead. I don't think he adds anything to the Vinland portion of the show.

My Rating

This show is either a 5 for how poor the pacing is inside each episode, season to season, and lackluster battle choreography (Legit the final battle is the same scene over and over again just cut and repeated), or an 8 because of the acting for each of these main characters. I don't like this show and Sam and Carter both told me to stop since I have been watching it since I've known them. However, I just wanted to see how it ended because of the acting. That was the best part of the show after the fighting got dull. I am going to give the show overall a 6. I think that is being very generous. It's rising above the 5 is because of how well the acting was done, but that by itself can't drive the show to be more entertaining. The story writing was a travesty with the dialogue being better than most shows.

Parental Rating

There is a crap ton of blood. I mean I have mentioned a particular scene, because of how crazy it is, and it by itself would stop most people from continuing. Think the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, but cranked up to 10. Most people will think that is a 10, and I can tell you that it pales to craziness and bloodiness compared to the Blood Eagle. There is language, and for a show that got onto Game of Thrones about nudity, I can almost guarantee that they had more sex scenes. I am pretty sure season 5 and 6 are 30% sex, but "modest" because their clothes are coming off. My dad would watch this for maybe 2 seasons, that is when the language started to kick up a lot. Around season 3 or 4. My mom wouldn't make it past the first 1. I am going to say approved by Dad, rejected by Mom. My dad would get bored with the show like I did, so I don't think he would finish it. But I think if I had made a curated list of episodes to watch that covered the story and left in all the important scenes, he would enjoy the show even with the language.