Vikings season 5, episode 11 midseason premiere recap: The Revelation

Vikings has returned and so has the legendary Duke of Normandy Rollo.

Just to recap what happened in season 5’s midseason finale of Vikings, Ivar’s army, with the help of uncle Rollo, defeated Lagertha and Bjorn. Episode 11 brings us to the aftermath of the battle.

Kattegat

Camp Ivar celebrates their victory. King Harald feels remorse for killing his brother and losing his wife and unborn child, but Ivar, ever the heartless one, tells him to look forward to the future.

Rollo arrives and he’s happy to be home. He’s noticeably aged quite a bit, not even moving around very good anymore. He offers his terms for this new alliance: a trade agreement, Kattegat must send warriors whenever called upon, and nobody touches Bjorn. A lot of brother versus brother talk is brought up (as has been a major theme on Vikings as of late). Rollo mentions that he tried to kill his brother a few times. Yes, Rollo, you were an awful brother.

Ivar gets his first love interest, a pretty blonde slave girl he freed earlier in the season. I don’t know if she’s playing Ivar or not, but she says she will do anything for him, even giving her life. My guess? Something bad is going to happen to her. Ivar’s too insane to have a love interest.

Onward to England?

Lagertha, Bjorn, Ubbe, and pretty much all the characters we’re supposed to like, have scattered to the countryside in defeat. They weigh their options about what to do next. Bishop Heahmund pitches going to England and joining King Aethelwulf (RIP). It doesn’t take much persuasion. Lagertha is onboard. The desperation is real.

Before they can go, Rollo slips out into the night and meets them. He knew where they’d hide because it’s the same place he, Ragnar, and Lagertha had hid when they were driven out of Kattegat by Jarl Borg. In the bombshell of the episode, Rollo reveals that he’s always loved Lagertha and that Bjorn is his son. You can tell that Lagertha knows it to be true. So she had been sleeping with him before the events of season one? Guess Ragnar wasn’t the only one sleeping around.

Bjorn isn’t awestruck by the news, there’s always be rumors. In fact, he kind of spits back Rollo’s words in his face, saying there’s no proof, and he’s much more like Ragnar than he is Rollo (he’s a man who’d never betray his brothers and his family). He rejects Rollo’s offer to give them safe passage to Frankia. Bjorn actually tries to kill him and Rollo puts up no fight, but the former calms himself at the last minute.

The Rollo-Lagertha relationship brings us all the way back to season one, which was a nice touch. Saddened, he tells them they’ll never see him again (but I hope we do).

Rollo returns to Ivar and ups his demands for a ridiculous amount of riches and protection, which I’m not sure Ivar can even provide and takes his leave. Will we see Rollo again or is it another long hiatus?

Ditching Rollo’s offer, Lagertha’s group kills a bunch of King Harald’s men and steal a ship for their journey to England.

Floki’s settlement

Elsewhere, Floki makes a speech to his followers, telling them to end the bloodshed. He even offers to sacrifice himself to bring peace. Of course, his biggest hater, Eyvind, is onboard with the plan. He’s not alone.

Eyvind’s son doesn’t vote, but after being pressed by his father, he chooses to spite him and vote to keep Floki alive. He chooses his wife and unborn child as his primary family. Something tells me this brave soul is going to come to regret that decision. Anyways, the good news is that Floki remains alive and in charge.

This is all that we see of the Floki settlement. This is such a separate storyline that I don’t know what purpose it brings (besides keeping Floki on the show).

England

King Alfred’s reign has begun. We learn that more and more Vikings are showing up and raiding their lands. His mother, Judith, who looks about 10 years older than Alfred, wants to find him a bride and therefore an eventual heir. Meanwhile, his brother Aethelred leads the defense (and he seems to be doing a pretty solid job).

I’m a recent fan of Aethelred since he agreed to step aside and let his brother rule. We’ll see if this loyalty remains throughout the season, as you know, people are rarely loyal to each other in this show.

Lagertha’s group arrives on English soil. Heahmund professes his love for Lagertha… that makes two men in one episode, isn’t she the popular one?? She’s a bit skeptical that he’ll just sell them out to the English now that he’s home. I think Heahmund means it when he says he won’t betray them, but we shall see.

The episode ends with the vikings coming into Wessex as prisoners and being booed by the townspeople. This probably isn’t going to go over well. Heahmund’s really going to have to do some persuading.

The leftovers:

Margarethe, the former slave girl who is a little off her rocker, is now a hostage of Ivar. Hvitserk has taken an interest in her for now, despite Ivar’s desire to kill her. Ivar’s right. She’s bad news and Hvitserk needs to be extra careful because he’s definitely the most expendable of the Lothbrok brothers.
I’ll always miss Ragnar, but having Rollo back was fun
Heahmund lies to Lagertha earlier in the episode, telling her he doesn’t sleep with women due to his vows as a priest. We know that’s a huge lie, which makes one wonder if he’s full of more lies, like you know, loving Lagertha?
Alfred has already angered the church as he demands everyone be educated. By the way, if you haven’t heard of Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, you should check it out. King Alfred and the Saxons versus Vikings/Danes is a huge focus of the show and the Alfred in that show is older and wiser.
Vikings has thrown out a lot of the historical accuracy (as it has been more and more as the show continues), but that doesn’t really bother me

dark. Next. Poldark season 4, episode 8 recap: Who dies in the finale?

Overall, it was a good return and I’m invested to see what’s to come. With one side of the feud in England and the other still in Kattegat, I’m guessing we’re a long ways away from the next battle.

What did you think of this episode of Vikings? Be sure to tell us in the comments below!

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