This review contains spoilers.
5.5 The Prisoner
We all have our pet peeves. As both a general viewer and a critic, one of my biggest is the unnecessary plot hole.
Is there such a thing as a necessary plot hole? I suppose such a thing is possible, especially in an age where more writers and directors take risks playing with meta-narrative. But when a plot hole is not just unnecessary but intellectually lazy, it is particularly vexing.
And the way that last week’s The Plan ended and this week’s The Prisoner began, not simply repeating the same footage but actually restaging the same plot hole in both episodes was exactly that. At the end of last week, the Saxons enter York on the word of a messenger who tells them that the Vikings—and their boats—have disappeared in the night. Led by Aethelwulf and Bishop Heahmund, the Christians entered the city to find it empty—except for rats, which Heahmund comments on, “Why are the rats above ground?”
Let’s review both this narrative and what we know of history: Ivar has told the traitorous Hvitserk that he has discovered something Roman that will help them trick the Saxons. The Romans pulled out of Britain in the fourth century, but as with almost everywhere else they had settled, they had left behind them their desire to remake every new colony into home. All roads may lead to Rome, but in a strange way, that was also true simply because they made everywhere Rome: paved roads, aqueducts, baths, and yes, sewer systems. In the six centuries between the Roman withdrawal and Vikings, much of this technology was still in place and, as we saw in Ecbert’s court, still in daily use.
How is it then that it isn’t until Heahmund sees the rats a second time (at the beginning of The Prisoner) that he puts together the simple facts that somehow the Vikings disappeared without ever having left and York is overrun with rats who usually live underground in the sewers (as universal a fact as one can imagine) and not immediately conclude where the Vikings are? Heahmund has shown himself to be a pretty smart tactician. Hard to imagine him missing this for even an instant.
Unless your writer just couldn’t be bothered to come up with a better way to set up a second Viking ambush of the Saxons in York (which also poses the question why that needed to be repeated as well—the first ambush seemed reasonable, a second one just made the Saxons look stupid, which is not what this show has ever done).
If this seems like too much harping on one point, I’d largely agree, except there’s not a lot in this episode to distract from such niggling annoyances. Much of the rest of the episode was split up between three plots, and none of them are particularly compelling. We’ve either seen them before or we know where they are going.
Most obvious is the parallel between Ivar’s supposed respect for Heahmund and his decision to take him back to Norway with him and his father Ragnar’s decision to do the same with the captured monk (and eventual father of Alfred) Aethelstan. The difference is between the two is also obvious. Ragnar was largely motivated by curiosity about other cultures. He wanted to learn Aethelstan’s language and gather information about the monk’s society, as much for his own interest as strategic advantage. With Ivar and Heahmund, any notions about such lofty ambitions are immediately corrected. Ivar doesn’t seem to know if he will cultivate or crucify Heahmund, but his more clear need is one his father shared with Ecbert. The two kings recognized the kinship created by their positions and despite some betrayals, they had profound respect for each other.
Ivar is desperate for such respect. He can get it well enough from his men. But that means little to him. He wants it from those he considers equals, and after killing, disgracing, or driving each of his brothers away, there is no one on what he considers his level whose respect he has any chance of earning. This is why Heahmund’s status as a warrior—and an enemy warrior at that—is so irresistible to Ivar. He wants the same sort of mutual respect he saw between his father and Ecbert. And he’s crazy enough to think that Heahmund can be convinced to give it to him.
Then there’s the return of Floki to the land of the (assumed) living in Kattegat, where he hopes to convince others to join him in Iceland, which he is certain is the land of the gods. Normally, this might not be a problem, but with Astrid in the hands of Harald, Lagertha knows there’s an invasion on the way from one quarter and Ubbe’s own return has all but assured her it’s only a matter of time before Ivar and Hvitserk attack her from another. She cannot afford to lose good men and women at such a time.
Her discussion of this fact with Floki gives us a nice interlude, however. Bringing two of the oldest friends on the show back together—even if it’s to make clear that they are at cross purposes—returns us to a simpler and more honest moment in the Vikings history. Ragnar’s true love and his best friend have not had a chance really to acknowledge their mutual loss not only of him but of a world in which she was just a farmer and he was a “boat builder.” A great deal has happened to both of them, with Lagertha becoming more than her first husband’s equal as a warrior and ruler (and all the ethical complications that go with it) while Floki’s religious beliefs have sharpened to the point where he is now bordering on behavior reminiscent of a cult leader (right down to the visions). Floki may believe that he’s become “more than that,” but Lagertha has always made it clear she understands what was lost in all three of their lives when Ragnar sailed west to find England.
But Lagertha concludes the discussion by expressly forbidding Floki from recruiting her people to join him in Iceland. The problem is, we already know these characters well enough to know how this will turn out before it’s even started: Floki will ignore her wishes and gather “true believers” and Lagertha, who—whatever Margrethe might have to say—isn’t anyone’s fool, will find out. The only thing in question is what she does when she catches him at it.
Then there’s Bjorn and Halfdan.
I have to say that this was a portion of the show I keep looking forward to, but tend to find the most disappointing (on both Bjorn’s southern adventures). Partly, I think this is caused by the fact that, unlike the other plotlines on the show, Bjorn’s adventures have no express goal. He just wants to see more of the world. In Halfdan, he’s picked a good partner for this, since Halfdan has a similarly hazy agenda: to live life to the fullest.
Don’t misunderstand me: I think there’s a lot to be said for what Bjorn and Halfdan are doing. Frankly, I wish more of my fellow Americans would travel the world, discover what’s out here, and learn that life is more than your job and the labels you are wearing.
The problem with such stories is that they are intensely personal and very internalised. The greatest change—the thing that is the most dynamic—in these situations is what is going on inside those experiencing it. And that doesn’t generally make for great television. Especially on an action-adventure show like Vikings is marketed as being.
And so creator Michael Hirst tries to make it more interesting for us by throwing in a little northern African intrigue. But unfortunately, again, he’s been a bit lazy, and the directors haven’t been helping by having so much of Kassia’s power in the situation telegraphed so early in the storyline. By the time Bjorn and Halfdan accompany her and Euphemius to Ziyadat Allah’s encampment, it’s clear that she has manoeuvred the entire thing. To then have the episode end so jarringly (the editing is quite bad here, which is a surprise for Vikings) with the Vikings and Sinric apparently about to be executed just compounds the leaden feeling of the whole thing, especially considering there’s literally no questions that Bjorn and Halfdan will escape.
All-in-all, not one of Vikings best outings. Still, with the reuniting (oh, so briefly) of Lagertha and then the interesting twist of Halfdan’s bedpartner being more than he bargained for (as well as the non-judgmental humor both Alexander Ludwig and Jasper Pääkkönen bring to the next morning’s conversation), it is not without its charms. Hopefully next week will be a little more on point.