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Sorry, I suspect myself of spamming. It's just, I seem to be falling for this. Hard. Which is - unexpected.
Anyway, a number of thoughts in no particular order, several relating to episode 3 (were said falling has happened :-) ).
The first time I watched the opening credits, at first I thought of the sacrifices of weapons and treasure in lakes and bogs during the Iron Age. Then we saw the ships. And then we saw the woman - am I the only one who thinks she might be Ran? I mean, it fits - mysterious woman and some poor Viking drowning?
So, in addition to a location of Scandinavia we now have Kattegat. Alas, that just makes me more confused about the geography. See, first of all, Kattegat was named centuries later, by the Dutch as I understand it - the earliest name for that stretch of sea (along with Skagerrak) was apparently Jótlandshaf, the Jutland Sea. Anyway, second, Kattegat only has Swedish and Danish shores, which really doesn't match my overall impression of Norway when watching the settlement. Guess it must be Sweden, then, even if I am not sure that fits, but my grasp of Swedish topography is not exactly good enough to make that call. Third and final, they say Kattegat as if it's the name of the settlement, and in the credits we see mentioned a "Man in Kattegat". Admittedly, that could put it back in Norway as the name of a fictional settlement, probably at the bottom of a difficult-to-navigate fjord - I mean, in Denmark we have towns named Tarm and Lem and Sæd, why shouldn't there be a tiny Norse settlement called Cat's Arsehole...?
Am I the only one feeling sorry for the poor Sheriff at the end of episode 3? I mean, it's just an impossible situation for him - a first contact situation with a group of armed stranges, nobody speaks each other's language properly (I strongly doubt Ragnar's got much more than very basic tourist-Anglosaxon - languages take longer to learn than a few days), and the poor Sheriff just wants the meeting to run smoothly (we all know who the English king will blame in the event it doesn't...). Poor Sheriff.
Speaking of Anglosaxon - I really liked that scene, the meeting between the Norsemen and the locals. And the languages and the people not understanding each other. (also, it's funny how you can almost, but not quite follow what they are actually saying).
Also, speaking of English kings: King Aelle. Uh-oh.
Anyway, on to more interesting things: Ragnar Lothbrok (as they spell him on IMDB). It occurred to me, while watching this episode - specifically, the scene when Ragnar persuades the Earl to allow a second voyage to England - it occurred to me that Ragnar reminds me of Jack Sparrow. Or rather, he reminds me of the Jack Sparrow I saw in the first PotC movie - a madman, yes, but clever, sneaky, constantly planning, talking people into things, coming out on top at the end. The Jack Sparrow I fell for - and the Jack Sparrow the sequels went further and further away from, choosing instead to show us Jack the fool, Jack the clown, Jack the inept. Part of the reason I fell away from PotC, part of the reason I'll never finish Falling, is that the canon simply zigged when I wanted it to zag, and somehow it stopped being the tale of my Jack Sparrow and became the story of someone else.
Anyway, Ragnar. Ragnar reminds me of that early Jack - oh, he's not a madman, but he's clever. He uses his brain, prefers to avoid a confrontation that will lead to his doom, prefers to talk his way out of trouble (that scene with the Earl, it went straight to the scene with Jack and Barbossa and "a really big hat" in CotBP). Oh, there's plenty of differences - Ragnar is hardly shy of violence, though I find it interesting that it's not automatically his first choice - as his attempt to be diplomatic with the British shows, and when he wants information, he gets Athelstan drunk rather than use torture, for instance. But they're both so clever. (Also, pirates. With lovely ships (I wonder what Ragnar's ship is called? Ormen hin Lange? No, wait, wrong Viking...) And they both have compasses that doesn't point north :-) )
And speaking of Ragnar, of course, there is the matter of a certain OT3. Ragnar/Athelstan/Lagertha. And oh, how I ship it. And I really, really hope the show will keep going as it has, and I worry it won't. But so far, so far I really think that Ragnar is trying to incorporate Athelstan into the relationship as a sort of extra wife for both him and Lagertha. I mean, they don't really treat him as a slave - yeah, Ragnar has him on a leash - but we never see them actually boss him around, put him to work, and there's the invitation (followed by the attempted persuading and dammit Athelstan, but hopefully time will change his mind), which is turned down, which is accepted in good grace, unlike the earlier scene of Rollo just raping a slave girl - taking, not asking. And of course, there's the leaving Athelstan in charge of the house - or specifically, leaving him with the key. Which, Bjorn's little hissyfit aside (now there's a character I dislike - stupid brat), I'd argue supports my theory - because keys among Vikings were a woman's attribute. And it's Ida, the girl who in the absence of her mother would be lady of the house, who is asked if she'd mind - not Bjorn.
And the thing is - it makes perfect sense to add Athelstan. After all, Ragnar is married to a warrior woman. He seems perfectly happy to be married to a warrior woman. But her going viking with him presents a logistical problem: their household is uncommonly tiny. They don't seem to have any other thralls, they don't seem to have any relatives living with them, nobody. They seem to be a traditional nuclear family at a time when that wasn't traditional. Adding Athelstan, a foreigner who clearly lacks traits that the Norse expected from men, well, that makes sense. He's certainly not a threat to the kids, and as Ragnar and Lagertha are going on a sanctioned raid, well, worst case scenario they can always seek help from the Earl. And it's not like Athelstan has anywhere to go - he'd be immediately spotted as a foreigner (the locals would easily identify him as Ragnar's Christian slave), and anyway, he probably barely even knows where he is, geographically speaking (not unlike me ;-) ) - there's precious little risk of him running away (especially with Lagertha's little threat - blood eagles are nasty things indeed), leaving the children alone. All in all, it works - for Ragnar and Lagertha, at least.
Speaking of Athelstan - I really hope he's not going to end up converting anybody. Well, maybe some slaves, but not Ragnar. Not the proud Norsemen. Converting them was not for the faint of heart and not for the meek - there was Poppo carrying burning-hot iron before he could baptize a king. Mind you, the early medieval Christian priests were more like the vikings than poor Athelstan, riding into battle with the armies. Athelstan - I really don't think he'd be able to convince the Norsemen that the White Christ can kick their gods' arses, and really, that would be required. He's sweet, but - and anyway, the show has already been weaving the Aesir into the narrative.
Anyway, a number of thoughts in no particular order, several relating to episode 3 (were said falling has happened :-) ).
The first time I watched the opening credits, at first I thought of the sacrifices of weapons and treasure in lakes and bogs during the Iron Age. Then we saw the ships. And then we saw the woman - am I the only one who thinks she might be Ran? I mean, it fits - mysterious woman and some poor Viking drowning?
So, in addition to a location of Scandinavia we now have Kattegat. Alas, that just makes me more confused about the geography. See, first of all, Kattegat was named centuries later, by the Dutch as I understand it - the earliest name for that stretch of sea (along with Skagerrak) was apparently Jótlandshaf, the Jutland Sea. Anyway, second, Kattegat only has Swedish and Danish shores, which really doesn't match my overall impression of Norway when watching the settlement. Guess it must be Sweden, then, even if I am not sure that fits, but my grasp of Swedish topography is not exactly good enough to make that call. Third and final, they say Kattegat as if it's the name of the settlement, and in the credits we see mentioned a "Man in Kattegat". Admittedly, that could put it back in Norway as the name of a fictional settlement, probably at the bottom of a difficult-to-navigate fjord - I mean, in Denmark we have towns named Tarm and Lem and Sæd, why shouldn't there be a tiny Norse settlement called Cat's Arsehole...?
Am I the only one feeling sorry for the poor Sheriff at the end of episode 3? I mean, it's just an impossible situation for him - a first contact situation with a group of armed stranges, nobody speaks each other's language properly (I strongly doubt Ragnar's got much more than very basic tourist-Anglosaxon - languages take longer to learn than a few days), and the poor Sheriff just wants the meeting to run smoothly (we all know who the English king will blame in the event it doesn't...). Poor Sheriff.
Speaking of Anglosaxon - I really liked that scene, the meeting between the Norsemen and the locals. And the languages and the people not understanding each other. (also, it's funny how you can almost, but not quite follow what they are actually saying).
Also, speaking of English kings: King Aelle. Uh-oh.
Anyway, on to more interesting things: Ragnar Lothbrok (as they spell him on IMDB). It occurred to me, while watching this episode - specifically, the scene when Ragnar persuades the Earl to allow a second voyage to England - it occurred to me that Ragnar reminds me of Jack Sparrow. Or rather, he reminds me of the Jack Sparrow I saw in the first PotC movie - a madman, yes, but clever, sneaky, constantly planning, talking people into things, coming out on top at the end. The Jack Sparrow I fell for - and the Jack Sparrow the sequels went further and further away from, choosing instead to show us Jack the fool, Jack the clown, Jack the inept. Part of the reason I fell away from PotC, part of the reason I'll never finish Falling, is that the canon simply zigged when I wanted it to zag, and somehow it stopped being the tale of my Jack Sparrow and became the story of someone else.
Anyway, Ragnar. Ragnar reminds me of that early Jack - oh, he's not a madman, but he's clever. He uses his brain, prefers to avoid a confrontation that will lead to his doom, prefers to talk his way out of trouble (that scene with the Earl, it went straight to the scene with Jack and Barbossa and "a really big hat" in CotBP). Oh, there's plenty of differences - Ragnar is hardly shy of violence, though I find it interesting that it's not automatically his first choice - as his attempt to be diplomatic with the British shows, and when he wants information, he gets Athelstan drunk rather than use torture, for instance. But they're both so clever. (Also, pirates. With lovely ships (I wonder what Ragnar's ship is called? Ormen hin Lange? No, wait, wrong Viking...) And they both have compasses that doesn't point north :-) )
And speaking of Ragnar, of course, there is the matter of a certain OT3. Ragnar/Athelstan/Lagertha. And oh, how I ship it. And I really, really hope the show will keep going as it has, and I worry it won't. But so far, so far I really think that Ragnar is trying to incorporate Athelstan into the relationship as a sort of extra wife for both him and Lagertha. I mean, they don't really treat him as a slave - yeah, Ragnar has him on a leash - but we never see them actually boss him around, put him to work, and there's the invitation (followed by the attempted persuading and dammit Athelstan, but hopefully time will change his mind), which is turned down, which is accepted in good grace, unlike the earlier scene of Rollo just raping a slave girl - taking, not asking. And of course, there's the leaving Athelstan in charge of the house - or specifically, leaving him with the key. Which, Bjorn's little hissyfit aside (now there's a character I dislike - stupid brat), I'd argue supports my theory - because keys among Vikings were a woman's attribute. And it's Ida, the girl who in the absence of her mother would be lady of the house, who is asked if she'd mind - not Bjorn.
And the thing is - it makes perfect sense to add Athelstan. After all, Ragnar is married to a warrior woman. He seems perfectly happy to be married to a warrior woman. But her going viking with him presents a logistical problem: their household is uncommonly tiny. They don't seem to have any other thralls, they don't seem to have any relatives living with them, nobody. They seem to be a traditional nuclear family at a time when that wasn't traditional. Adding Athelstan, a foreigner who clearly lacks traits that the Norse expected from men, well, that makes sense. He's certainly not a threat to the kids, and as Ragnar and Lagertha are going on a sanctioned raid, well, worst case scenario they can always seek help from the Earl. And it's not like Athelstan has anywhere to go - he'd be immediately spotted as a foreigner (the locals would easily identify him as Ragnar's Christian slave), and anyway, he probably barely even knows where he is, geographically speaking (not unlike me ;-) ) - there's precious little risk of him running away (especially with Lagertha's little threat - blood eagles are nasty things indeed), leaving the children alone. All in all, it works - for Ragnar and Lagertha, at least.
Speaking of Athelstan - I really hope he's not going to end up converting anybody. Well, maybe some slaves, but not Ragnar. Not the proud Norsemen. Converting them was not for the faint of heart and not for the meek - there was Poppo carrying burning-hot iron before he could baptize a king. Mind you, the early medieval Christian priests were more like the vikings than poor Athelstan, riding into battle with the armies. Athelstan - I really don't think he'd be able to convince the Norsemen that the White Christ can kick their gods' arses, and really, that would be required. He's sweet, but - and anyway, the show has already been weaving the Aesir into the narrative.
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Well, what's the point of hanging out with fellow fen if you can't get to show them the latest shiny thing you've stumbled upon? *grins*
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I also agree with your assessment of Ragnar being like COTBP Jack Sparrow - very clever and with a method to his madness. That scene where the Earl told him to pick the one item of treasure he could keep, when he sort of danced around with the golden bowl, and then chose Athelstan instead, was very reminiscent.
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At least it didn't seem as if he didn't want to, it was just - Athelstan's a monk, has sworn celibacy - let's give him a little time adjust, shall we? Hope springs eternal and all that... :-)