![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Well. The plot's progressing nicely (and I'd say my new story's already sort of jossed, both because the house is burned and because Athelstan's situation is nicely - complicated. Typical.)
The geography as seen and the geography as spoken of continues to be at odds. Introducing a foreign character as a Swede pretty much rules out this being set in Sweden, and considering they talk of a crossing, well, that's Scania out of the picture. I suppose it could be eastern Norway, but no, I really do think this show is supposed to be set in Denmark. Sjælland. It just - doesn't make any sense.
Another thing I can't quite figure out - Ragnar's farm. Is it just the house and the fishing boat, a small nuclear family - Ragnar, Lagertha, the children, Athelstan - while the other people shown around it are neighbours? Or is the entire area Ragnar's farm, the other people his tenants, his thralls even? Is it all his farm - a great, rich farm for a powerful man, a serious threat to the earl? It would make sense - after all, why would the earl randomly slaughter and burn Ragnar's free neighbours instead of at least demanding they hand him over? And when Lagertha speaks of the attack, she mentions the farm burned, the livestock slaughtered - but not a word for the people - which would sort of make sense if they were slaves, livestock of a sort themselves. And yet - nobody ever seems to interact with those people - except that scene in ep02 where the boy is taken away, as a hostage, and eventually sacrificed, and nobody ever seems to miss him - it would make sense, that that boy was a slave at the farm - except the boy didn't speak as if he expected the life of a slave. I'm just - I can't figure this out.
Anyway, back to plot - I'm enjoying it. Ragnar makes a very fine viking, like someone out of a saga, and I'm enjoying Athelstan's journey, how curious he is about things, and how it's beginning to seem as if he's the one who's going to get converted - oh, and I adored the conversation between Ragnar and Athelstan early on, about Athelstan's status. (I halfway suspect that Athelstan has been legally a free man since Ragnar cut his rope in public - except of course, Athelstan wouldn't know such fine legal details and why enlighten him ;-) I do hope the show will go the OT3 way (the fact that we had a nice little scene establishing that apparently random threesomes are not that unusual among these people in this episode was kind of interesting), because I still think Athelstan will make Ragnar and Lagertha a fine wife (although, the thing is - so far, I ship Athelstan/Ragnar oh so much, and I ship Lagertha/Ragnar - but Athelstan/Lagertha? So far, it feels as if the third leg of that OT3 doesn't really have that much to stand on. Ah well, maybe later.)
Also, can I just say that Rollo is fast becoming one of my favourites - because he is clearly a nasty, bad, aggressive, rapist Viking with a tendency to like other men's wives - and yet, he is completely loyal to his kin. (I sort of want a scene or a fic where Rollo winds up protecting Athelstan, because Athelstan might be a Christian and maybe/maybe not a slave, but he's Ragnar's and that makes him family, dammit).
So. Apparently threesomes and inviting people into other couple's beds are a thing among friends. Which is nice - and like I said, makes the OT3 angle promising. But I wonder, mostly about the concept of argr and how these things all fit. I mean, clearly Vikings has some sexual element to its nith, ie. Haraldson's description of how his sons' heads were placed behind their arses (as an insult - I am finding the tendency for characters to keep spelling stuff out that nobody would actually bother to spell out in real life sort of dull - I know, I know, exposition for a modern day audience, but still, it's sort of clumsy - seriously, wouldn't Haraldson's obvious anger and Sigyn's reaction have told the audience it was an insult just fine???). Still, half the time, their insults seem sort of - tame. Which might be because I just read a book about nith in the sagas and sort of want somebody to call somebody a mare or something...
Anyway. I'm enjoying it. Can it be next week soon?
The geography as seen and the geography as spoken of continues to be at odds. Introducing a foreign character as a Swede pretty much rules out this being set in Sweden, and considering they talk of a crossing, well, that's Scania out of the picture. I suppose it could be eastern Norway, but no, I really do think this show is supposed to be set in Denmark. Sjælland. It just - doesn't make any sense.
Another thing I can't quite figure out - Ragnar's farm. Is it just the house and the fishing boat, a small nuclear family - Ragnar, Lagertha, the children, Athelstan - while the other people shown around it are neighbours? Or is the entire area Ragnar's farm, the other people his tenants, his thralls even? Is it all his farm - a great, rich farm for a powerful man, a serious threat to the earl? It would make sense - after all, why would the earl randomly slaughter and burn Ragnar's free neighbours instead of at least demanding they hand him over? And when Lagertha speaks of the attack, she mentions the farm burned, the livestock slaughtered - but not a word for the people - which would sort of make sense if they were slaves, livestock of a sort themselves. And yet - nobody ever seems to interact with those people - except that scene in ep02 where the boy is taken away, as a hostage, and eventually sacrificed, and nobody ever seems to miss him - it would make sense, that that boy was a slave at the farm - except the boy didn't speak as if he expected the life of a slave. I'm just - I can't figure this out.
Anyway, back to plot - I'm enjoying it. Ragnar makes a very fine viking, like someone out of a saga, and I'm enjoying Athelstan's journey, how curious he is about things, and how it's beginning to seem as if he's the one who's going to get converted - oh, and I adored the conversation between Ragnar and Athelstan early on, about Athelstan's status. (I halfway suspect that Athelstan has been legally a free man since Ragnar cut his rope in public - except of course, Athelstan wouldn't know such fine legal details and why enlighten him ;-) I do hope the show will go the OT3 way (the fact that we had a nice little scene establishing that apparently random threesomes are not that unusual among these people in this episode was kind of interesting), because I still think Athelstan will make Ragnar and Lagertha a fine wife (although, the thing is - so far, I ship Athelstan/Ragnar oh so much, and I ship Lagertha/Ragnar - but Athelstan/Lagertha? So far, it feels as if the third leg of that OT3 doesn't really have that much to stand on. Ah well, maybe later.)
Also, can I just say that Rollo is fast becoming one of my favourites - because he is clearly a nasty, bad, aggressive, rapist Viking with a tendency to like other men's wives - and yet, he is completely loyal to his kin. (I sort of want a scene or a fic where Rollo winds up protecting Athelstan, because Athelstan might be a Christian and maybe/maybe not a slave, but he's Ragnar's and that makes him family, dammit).
So. Apparently threesomes and inviting people into other couple's beds are a thing among friends. Which is nice - and like I said, makes the OT3 angle promising. But I wonder, mostly about the concept of argr and how these things all fit. I mean, clearly Vikings has some sexual element to its nith, ie. Haraldson's description of how his sons' heads were placed behind their arses (as an insult - I am finding the tendency for characters to keep spelling stuff out that nobody would actually bother to spell out in real life sort of dull - I know, I know, exposition for a modern day audience, but still, it's sort of clumsy - seriously, wouldn't Haraldson's obvious anger and Sigyn's reaction have told the audience it was an insult just fine???). Still, half the time, their insults seem sort of - tame. Which might be because I just read a book about nith in the sagas and sort of want somebody to call somebody a mare or something...
Anyway. I'm enjoying it. Can it be next week soon?