So much eye liner (for the men, of course) and such talented hair stylists (for the men, of course). Which makes the viewer wonder why the writers inserted a scene of a 12 year old Viking-to-be sneering at a monk’s tonsure, when half of his own head is shaved, his father definitely has a high fade + tail, and so do almost all the other warriors with the exception of an Eric (who has flowing blonde locks and I'd like to see more of him).
It’s nice that the rape to set-up and establish
character we see in the first scenes fails because the baddies try it on with a
Shield Maiden, Our Protag Ragnar's wife, Lagertha, who chops them up. Yet –
rape, to do this. Couldn't we have seen some other sort of action scene to establish that Lagertha is a kick-ass woman? And not that much
later we have a successful rape committed upon a poor smith’s daughter, by Our
Protag’s Bad Brother, Rollo -- who also wants to f*ck his brother's wife -- which is how we know of course that Rollo is a Bad. This poor raped girl will later also have to watch her father be
murdered by other Bads in a particularly horrible manner, with the insinuation
she will be taken off to be a slave and treated with yet more physical and sexual
brutality. Which is another way we know Earl Haraldson and his minions are Bads. They also willy nilly seize members of a man's following or relatives as hostages, just because they feel like it. I’m not sure how historically
accurate this is for the culture of the time – the time when the
Vikings had no idea there was an England . No more than I previously knew that the Vikings of the time (the time is that of the monastery of Lindisfarne) didn't know about England.
Also, these Vikings are extraordinarily sexually permissive, quite like LA Californication types, offering to share their wives with other men in sexual threesomes at the drop of a hat an axe. Who knew? Though again these scenes are plot and character-establishment devices. The Bad antagonist, Earl Haraldson, offers his wife, Siggy, the only woman allowed eyeliner, because clearly she's some sort of sorceress and a Bad, to a minion, as a test of minion's loyalty. Well, Earl Haraldson did offer, Siggy writhed in willingness, but minion's lust-hazed acceptance somehow proved treason so he's chopped. However, when Ragnar offers a threesome with himself and Lagertha to Athelstan, his captured slave priest, Athelstan refuses -- and reshaves his tonsure -- proving he's worthy to be left with Ragnar's children, running the farm. At least, that's presumably what that scene was doing there. Thus Ragnar can securely take his Shield Maiden wife Lagertha with him on his second raid on England's monasteries. Because, of course, Vikings always take their wives on expeditions of rape, murder and plunder!
The scenery scenes of mountains a fjords are breathtaking though.
Vikings was created and produced by Michal Hirst (Elizabeth; The Tudors).
