It is strange how suddenly the Vikings have changed the direction. Seasons 1 and 2 were full of Ragnar's energy, wit and surprising moments, season 3 had slowed down a little, but still was pretty good, showing us new powerful people, new places and new opportunities for Vikings.
Not so season 4. Throughout all 8 episodes, Ragnar is suffering - and lacking almost everything I liked about him. He doesn't (until episode 8) come up with new ideas, doesn't want to go to Paris or discover new places, feels old and tired, doesn't rule in any way so it looks more like anarchy there and so on. He is just a shadow of his glorious past.
****** SPOILERS AHEAD ********
Then there are these new uninteresting characters. The king Finehair arrives, basically says he wants to overthrow Ragnar, I expect some tense things to happen, but .. in the next episode Finehair just combs his hair in the harbor and Ragnar behaves like nothing happened. And this Chinese girl is totally wasted - much of a screen time is spent on introducing her, but her only purpose is to make Ragnar an addict - what the hell? Additionally this whole emancipation Sweet Judith thing feels so weird and forced. In previous seasons, Judith had feelings for Athelstan and their baby and some character depth, but now she is just being annoying in way like "Look how tough have I become", and again, it fills so much screen time in the series and probably for nothing.
Luckily episode 8 had finally brought some fresh air. Ragnar shows after long long time his wit and comes up with something apparently nobody has every attempted before, despite other's opinion - that's the Ragnar I like. Queen Kwenthrith is no more a queen and is killed eventually and so is count Odo. These two were pretty interesting actors, so I am curious, who replaces them, on the other hand, at least something's happening. Be removing Kwenthrith from the rule, Ecbert shows again his mercilessness and it is why I love this guy. He is really consistent so far (compare it with Ragnar) and gives a great performance.
The moment when I was cheering the most (and where Ragnar surprised me completely) was killing the Yidu. Ragnar isn't that weak after all. Only downside is he's got the drugs, which shouldn't be there in the first place (as well as Yidu). The whole drug issue is so embarrassing and destructive for Ragnar's character that I just pray to God before every episode that this 'ancient Chinese medicine' will be gone for good as if it never existed (like many director's cuts).
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Hope the remaining episodes catch up.
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