Vikings (TV Series) Revenge (2017) User Reviews

Where is Ivan Kaye's Emmy nomination for his King Aelle?!

[skutah · 10/10 · 27 April 2019]

'Revenge' starts somewhat too slowly as I was burning to FINALLY see how King Aelle would fare against the Ragnarssons and how their revenge would look (and I'm not alone). But Ivan Kaye, who played King Aelle, fully made up for all the episode's shortcomings by his truly breathtaking, award-worthy performance in every single one of his scenes.

As the title 'Revenge' suggests, the culmination point of this episode is the final confrontation of King Aelle with the Ragnarssons and their revenge on him for which this episode is remembered and has become famous amongst the fans.

Hence this was truly Ivan Kaye's episode in this season and the culmination towards which the first part of the show had been heading since the build-up for Ragnar's storyline with King Aelle in season 1. It is a pity that he wasn't given due space to show more of his brilliance, especially with regard to the intense process that must have taken place to push his forceful and proud character over his breaking point into the miserable state of his penultimate scene.

But even with very limited space and with script issues this incredible actor managed to display most vividly and convincingly a full range of emotions, moods, and states:

From subtle hints at King Aelle's major vulnerability in his restrained concern and seeking strength in religion through awe-inspiring and heroically belligerent determination followed by a whole battle taking place on his face between confidence with triumphant satisfaction, horror and composure, then rather abruptly changing to a defenceless and miserably intimidated state in total desperation and finally culminating in blood-curling suffering which in the end melts into an agony that unveils most touching fragility and thereby the character's bare humanity.

To sum it up: a standout performance par excellence by Ivan Kaye who deserved an Emmy nomination for this stunning performance and definitely a lot more attention. I found myself deeply shaken and impressed by his mastery which induced me to check more of his work.

There were some insults to the audience's intelligence in this episode and a harsh breach of continuity in King Aelle's character development which I can't describe further here in order to avoid spoilers. This is most probably due to the fact that they, unfortunately, decided to spend too much time on introducing the Ragnarssons and then went from this almost boringly slow start to a rushed pace towards the end. Thereby they didn't give King Aelle the careful writing and screentime for which the episode title 'Revenge' and the show's official teasing called and that the actor, the character and the audience deserved after such a long period of waiting for this final showdown.

I give this episode a rating of 10 nonetheless if only because Ivan Kaye really saved the day in my opinion by making even the most ridiculous turns look believable through his convincing portrayal that made all the various states of his character in this episode feel genuine.

Sons of Ragnar Lothbrook set sail for their revenge

[Ed-Shullivan · 8/10 · 18 January 2017]

In this episode we observe the interaction of the five Lothbrook brothers vying for position as the leader of the Vikings who will soon be setting sail to avenge the murder of their father, their deceased Viking King Ragnar Lothbrook who was murdered by the hands and orders of the Saxon, King Aelle. The Lothbrook brothers also are vying for the bedding of a few specific women who are actually already in a relationship with one particular Lothbrook which can only lead to ill will between the five (5) brothers and their mother/step-mother, Lagertha.

In this episode a battle ensues in England between the Saxons and the greatest force of Vikings from many villages that has ever been assembled to seek revenge for the famous Viking King Ragnar Lothbrook who was murdered by the Saxons. What I found missing from this episode was any form of a detail winning battle strategy by any of the five Lothbrook sons which is what we have grown to expect from their deceased King Ragnar Lothbrook.

Queen Lagertha finds herself a man willing to become the Vikings sacrificial lamb who agrees to be sacrificed to their gods to favor the Vikings quest for revenge against the Saxons. The highlight of this episode was when the Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2015 Most Valuable Player (MVP), Josh Donaldson, appears in a cameo role as Hoskuld and he delivers his brother as the Vikings sacrificial lamb for Queen Lagertha to impale with her precious sword. Hoskuld first gets an opportunity to say goodbye to his brother with great pride just before Lagertha sticks the sword right through his stomach and out through his backside.

This is more of a violent episode with the blood-letting in battle, the impalement by Lagertha as she makes a human sacrifice to their gods, and a gory skin-peeling by the oldest son of Ragnar, by Bjorn Lothbrook as he first takes a hot knife to the backside of the Saxon King Aelle, then he switches weapon to an axe as he savagely rips opens King Aelle's backside so that he can stretch his backside skin wide open before peeling it back to form the wingspan of an angel than hanging King Aelle's lifeless body high in the air on two tree stakes for the entire Saxon population who remain alive to witness the Vikings extent of their revenge for the murder of their father and Viking King, King Ragnar. This was much more the type of violence and gore we were accustomed to viewing in seasons 1 and 2 and I anticipate that we will see more of the same as the five (5) Lothbrook brothers continue along their path to battle when they catch up to King Ecbert and his army. This episode is certainly building tension up to the battle that Bjorn and his four brothers are really looking forward to in the next episode when they get set to finish their quest to avenge their father's murder and annihilate King Ecbert and his own son Aethewlf's army. The next episode (4.19) should close one chapter of King Ragnar Lothbrook's legacy and place in motion the legacy that his five (5) sons choose to leave for the history books.

Absolutely brilliant episode

[tomgoodwin815 · 10/10 · 19 January 2017]

This was certainly one of the strongest episodes of a season which has already proved itself to likely be one of 'Vikings's best. The title of the episode, 'Revenge', is justified by King Aelle's death scene at the end, which arguably one of the show's most powerful scenes and the one for which this episode will be remembered for by the fans. After a pretty miserable series of events ( the Viking defeat in Paris and Ragnar and Aslaug's deaths) the death of King Aelle is a huge turning point and highly satisfying. The way he was killed is actually quite symbolic of the whole Christians vs Vikings rivalry throughout the show, with his hands being nailed down then hung up in the air, and the moment when the great army appears on the hill is riveting, with a cut to Aelle being dragged violently through the mud, his forces presumably decimated. The subplot about King Finehair really made me sympathise with his character in a way that I hadn't before, and his infiltration of Kattegat is making me very optimistic about Lagertha's potential death in the near future, as I really cannot abide her anymore. The writers messed up her character really badly with the blatant attempt to make the show more 'politically correct' by making her bisexual, which would have been fine, provided that they'd revealed this originally and not at a much later date when she's decades older. Plus her killing of Aslaug seemed utterly pointless, as she clearly didn't love Ragnar anymore and had already got Kattegat back at this point. Really don't like Torvi at all either and hope she goes fairly quickly. They're two characters on my list which began to be ticked off with King Aelle's death at the end of this episode. The remaining two episodes will likely see the defeat of Ecbert's army by the Vikings and probably his death, to be honest. Ecbert is a character who I think is actually more appealing to the viewer; he's compassionate and merciful when it matters, unlike his son Aethelwulf, who unlike Ecbert, I would absolutely love to see the back of. Overall, a fantastic chapter in the Vikings saga which will likely go down in the show's history. A perfect 10/10 from me.

The great army has arrived

[axel-desoomer · 19 January 2017]

this episode started slow but got better at the end. A lot of things happened. After that we lost Ragnar I am afraid that we might lose Lagertha too. Of course I am not sure, but with the army setting sail. That leaves her in a weak position. Anyway..

The tension between the Lothbrok brothers keeps building up. Bjorn takes the lead, and that is completely normal, he is the oldest and the most experienced. But Ivar would not be Ivar if he did not agree.

The battle scene I loved how king Aelle his face went from full confidence to totally hopelessness. At first I also thought 'is that it? the great army' but when Floki came(who looks really cool as always) I knew it was about to get real.

The one thing that makes this episode an 8 instead of a 10 is just that there is no battle.. They just skipped it. It would have been nice to see at least a little bit of the battle..

After the battle is was wondering how They know where Ragnar died because it was right there where they stopped. Anyway I loved the acting of Aelle in this episode. How he begged for his life.

The thing we had all seen coming.. The second blood eagle of vikings... and for me it was hard to watch. I don't know why but this time I had a hard time to watch how they did it. And when they hung him up for everyone to see. I just know i would lose my mind if that was my king.

overall great episode. Let's see how Ecbert will deal with this great army.

The Little Pigs Will Grunt When They Hear How The Old Boar Suffered

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 15 October 2017]

Ubbe marries Margrethe but decides to share her with his brother Hvitserk. Harald and his brother Halfdan plot with the stranger Egil to find weak points in the defense of Kattegat to invade later. Lagherta sacrifices Earl Jorgesen for the gods to bring victory in the invasion of England. King Aelle commands his army against the Vikings when he realizes the size of the enemy army.

"Revenge" is an episode where Ragnar's death is revenged. Indeed, the little pigs will grunt when they hear how the old boar suffered and King Aelle learns the painful means to die being submitted to the blood eagle. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Revenge"

Great

[boody-67571 · 10/10 · 23 July 2019]

Great episode The pigs took their revenge , I love evar character so much

Amazing Episode

[Marco817 · 10/10 · 2 September 2023]

Ragnar's sons join forces to avenge the death of their father, Ivar and Ubbe who tried to murder Lagertha before See it in the end that the revenge of Ragnar is a priority, How all Vikings from different countries whether king or Earl have allies only to stand on the battlefield in the end and to avenge the death of the legendary folk hero Ragnar Lothbrok was simply epic absolutely good consequence. Floki who is overwhelmed by his feelings because he remembers the words of Ragnar where he said that he loves him was very well conveyed. Ivar, who is committed to leading the armed forces of Ragnar, but Bjorn, as the eldest son, intervenes and declares himself as the leader of the armed forces and the dispute has already accumulated there, was a very good start for how to proceed.

Sacrifice and brutal revenge over King Aelle concerning Ragnar's death!!

[elo-equipamentos · 9/10 · 30 April 2023]

As far I know in this episode was the first time that I hear the word Danes largely spoken in the akin series The Last Kingdom where the Vikings is most knew by Danes from Denmark, that here appears the Earl Jorgensen as emissary on the Viking's assembly, such event has a special meaning, all Viking nation must sailing toward Northumbria with an aim to revenge Ragnar's awful death, before the great Britain invasion, they must sacrifice someone in order to praise their countless Gods, meanwhile King Harald recognizes there an old acquainted from past days where the Princess Ellisif promises marry him when he becomes famous.

Now Princess Ellisif is already married with a meager Earl of Denmark, seemingly such status will not going last so long, in the meantime at Britain King Ecbert has heard rumors over Vikings invasion at Nurthumbria with a chat with his overlooked and soiled son Aethelwulf that claim for your love, due he had great esteem by Ragnar and Athelstan whereof consider a holly man even got pregnancy his own wife and now compelled to raise a b.astard son.

The Invasion takes place, the first target is the chubby King Aelle at Northumbria that is gearing up to fend off their enemies gathering a powerful army to push back Viking's army that at first glance be harmless due so smallest warriors displayed in battlefield, major misconception, further his destiny was sealed by a ranging revenge.

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: Blu-Ray / Rating: 9.

Where is the fight?

[danielvenegas-90541 · 7/10 · 21 May 2021]

I cant wait to see how king Aelle fall, and when the episode appeared the battle was omitted, and i hate it, Ragnar was of great importance to the show. Bjorn and him brothers was needed for a very important revenge.

Very disappointing battle

[christopherdamsgaard · 4/10 · 19 January 2017]

**Spoilers in this review** A huge amount of hype was build up by HBO and in general by the series of this monumental battle to show us the viking fury!

We start of slow in the episode with the marriage of Ubbe and Margrethe. The interaction between the brothers are great. Is a great contrast to the happy and "civilised" side of the vikings moments before they sacrifice a person to appease the gods and gain their favour in the wars to come. After the sacrifice the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok are vying for the position of leader of the Great Army and Bjorn perfectly replicates his father the moment before they attacked Paris and the anticipation of the war builds up!

Then you notice how little time there is left of the episode when they set sail for England and you think.. Oh god.. they aren't going to end it when they arrive there.. but thankfully they skip the travelling and go straight to England with an awesome build up with Aelle showing his huge ego of certain victory and going of to meet the Great Heathen Army. They arrive and the smugness of King Aelle's face slowly disappear as he sees the army and it's great with the screaming of the vikings and the huge army charging in.. then just like this review.. it just ends.. an Aelle gets the blood eagle. What a letdown! Treating your viewers like complete idiots with this great build up and no payoff.

I know some might say the real battle is with Wessex, but then the there shouldn't have been this much hype for the battle. I for one.. is very disappointed

Very dismal and disconnected episode

[billcarr31 · 2/10 · 9 September 2017]

After Bjorn throws his temper tantrum about who is in charge while his cripple brother Ivar looks on malevolently. Hey presto they are suddenly on the battlefield in Northumbria and Ivar leads the charge in his clumsy chariot. Floki seems to have lost his building skills! Then the battle vanishes and we know nothing of how the battle went or what Ivar did in it. Bloodthirsty viewers get their lusts satisfied in the gruesome death of Eille, much worse in fact than Ragnar's death. This show is getting so PC, first we had lesbians, then a threesome. As all the brothers had had sex(or raped) with Bjorn's wife before, (or attempted it in Uffa's case) so she is hardly a blushing virgin. Nobody seems to have noticed that Floki having been lured by the siren song of the Muslims, who by the way just stayed prostrate while the Vikings roamed in their midst, the Imam saying Allahu Akbar over and over again; is having a conscience crisis. BTW why did Algeciras have no garrison? No armed men stood up to the Viking invasion. Also what happened to all the slaves they captured? People must have forgotten how much Floki hates Christianity even though he lived alongside saintly Athelstan, who BTW never did him any wrong, until Floki murdered him for offending Odin, or jealously take your pick. Now having had a very brief contact with Islam Floki is deeply affected! Well he has always been a bit odd! Quite abysmal direction