Vikings (TV Series) The Joke (2018) User Reviews

The Battle for Kattegat

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 13 January 2018]

When Floki proposes to build a temple to the gods, a few discontent followers protest. Meanwhile, Lagherta, Bjorn, Ubbe and Halfdan propose peace to Ivar, Harald and Hvitserk to avoid the battle and a slaughter of their people. Will they make an agreement for peace?

"The Joke" is one of the best and most intense episodes of "Vikings". The action is continuous and the bloody Battle for Kattegat is very well choreographed. Ivar is the great villain of the series and the conclusion is indeed a pause in his intentions. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil):"The Joke"

Mayhem!

[martymasta · 10/10 · 11 January 2018]

The civil war has begun and I am getting more conflicted as the minutes go on. I do not want any of the brothers to die, if only Lagertha could sacrifice herself it would be great!! This was a fantastic episode, great battle with Ivar actually as the underdog, I am more than pleased and I'm looking forward into seeing if Ivar can actually do this, because at the moment it is not looking good!

Ivar is smarter than this

[kurt7825 · 10/10 · 20 May 2021]

I really hope Ivar kills Lagertha soon. I'm tired of the girl power garbage. She is the worst character in the show.

Good battle scenes but where was Ivar the genius master plan?

The best episode without RAGNAR. All characters are there. Good setup for the Great Battle.

[Bababooe · 10/10 · 13 January 2018]

The dialogue was not the best. But it severed the purpose. The actors did a great job and taking the parts seriously. The meeting cinematography with each side different colors, then when the negotiations broke out into a small gang war, both sides slid back for the battle. Two large viking armies ready to kill each other running towards each other. I've seen a lot of battle film and this was up there.

No ragnar, but he is evoked. And that helped.

Good job.

great job

[cedriccha · 8/10 · 27 May 2019]

As usual the strategy part is a bit lacking, and the battle average. But i realy like the meeting between brothers, i want themto keep being a family. Ivar is conflicted and didn't realy want to kill his brothers, that's why his strategy was lackying , and he tried to loose. But i'm pretty sure his resolve will grow and there will be less brothers and betrayals.

Ivar the brainless

[micajelicic · 6/10 · 11 January 2018]

Ivar a born tactician was about to develop a battle plan with Heahmund in the previos episode. Instead he did it in this episode and right before the battle? C'mon. If anything he is smarter than that! Zero tactics. As it if king Harald himself planned it. Why not challenge Lagerhta to single combat to avoid further bloodsheds? And on the other side, why didn't Lagertha done the same? I miss Ragnar. Love the way Bjorn looks and acts btw, it is time to put Rollo back in the game. Can't wait for the next episode to air. This was a solid one uptil the battle.

Very Underwhelming

[becca7931 · 4/10 · 4 August 2020]

Aside from some great scenes during the battle that echoed a throwback to earlier seasons, this episode was full of filler, odd character behavior, and odd writing decisions.

1. Exciting though scenes during the battle were, the battle set-up makes zero sense. Vikings did not conduct pitched battles where they stand in a line and charge at each other. Also, there were no shield walls and no arrows shot except in the forest scene. These were staples of Viking warfare, not to mention the show.

2. The peace talks dragged on for-ev-er. First they send emissaries, then they exchange brothers as hostages to try to talk them into switching sides (neither of which worked), then they allll meet in the middle of a square to talk some more, at which point Ivar does his supposedly unpredictable yet completely predictable "just kidding, I'm actually insane" dance. Nothing was altered in any way from the day before. It was just useless filler.

3. Ivar becomes unpredictable again, but in a way that doesn't fit with the character's nature. First, he leaves the battle scene to go back and take care of the ships. Why not send someone else? Did he decide he did not want to kill his brothers after all and thought this was the best way not to look chicken? But then he stops to listen to the fight, hears that he and his warriors are needed, and chickens out again. He just sits frozen in the landscape. Unpredictable behavior, sure, but not in a way fitting with Ivar's personality, imo.

4. Oh, Floki. Except for how you killed my favorite monk cum warrior papa cum monk, you are my favorite character. But can we talk about how adrift your Icelandic saga currently is. I know the historical Floki brought the Vikings to Iceland, but the way this is written could hardly be worse. It would make more sense for Floki's Iceland storyline to be in less episodes with more storyline per episode. Only 15 seconds happened to move the story forward and that is Eyvind explaining why they could never go back to Kattegat, which, as I previously said, could've been in a different episode. I think (I hope) this storyline will come to a big climax, but it is not a smooth journey to get there.

The battle itself was nicely filmed with tight shots of the combat and a flowing alternation between battle sites and characters that did not feel forced. I appreciated that. However, IMO it does not make up enough for the serious lack of quality writing in the rest of the episode.

Disappointing again

[mbocquet-04061 · 6/10 · 11 January 2018]

Maybe i'm waiting too much from a show which is under the level of other shows. the acting seems too much, actors don't feel, they just play, when travis fimmel was really feeling things, as the actor who embodyied rollo too. These battles don't bring anything in terms of quality nor cinematography, and also nothing to the characters developpement. I'm geeting a star wars feeling, a saga that repeats itself without getting me thrilled enough. (the priest as athelstan, the battles, etc) I get that many of fans love the vikings and their story, i loved it, as depicted during season 1 and 2, not much since actually. I don't fear any character to die in battles, neither in a treason face to face during a meeting. And too many characters who were great before, became meaningless. Also Ubbe isn't getting developped in the right way, the actor though might be the one that is feeling the most.

Battle location makes no sense

[welanderrobert · 3/10 · 17 July 2023]

The writers forget what they even wrote in the script themselves?

The battle location makes zero sense because Ivar doesnt know that Laegertha knows about the attack. So how did they end up in that face to face open landscape? And Ivar is not suprised or anything? Like they called eachother and said, "oh hey lets fight here".

What should have happend is that Laegertha set up a trap where Ivars army gets jumped on... but the twist is Ivar is so smart so he expected it and had a plan for that all along.

Its sad that the story is so weak because the fight is well done except there is no tactics whats so ever. Visually its great.