Vikings Season Four Finale: The Reckoning (Review)

By: Patricia Thomas (@littlesrule)

It can’t be over already, can it? It seems like we had to wait FOREVER for the back half of season four of Vikings to start and now we are already at the end. In true Vikings form, there were plenty of shockers in the finale. Have you recovered yet? Let’s recap the most OMG moments.

WARNING! Spoilers ahead! If you need to catch up on Vikings you can do so by watching the season finale or past episodes on History.ca (for Canadian viewers) or History.com (for US viewers).

The end of Ecbert

Never did I think King Ecbert would give up his throne voluntarily. In fact, at the beginning of this episode, I thought the old king had finally lost his marbles when he was shown rocking himself back and forth in the throne room with a vacant look in his eyes. And when he bid farewell to his son while dressed like Obi-Wan Kenobi? Yeah, pretty sure he had lost his mind at that point. But Ecbert has always been a crafty king and one step ahead of everyone else. He had a plan. Ecbert had abdicated the throne and gave it to his son, Aethelwulf, just before the latter fled the onslaught of The Great Heathen Army with his family. When the Vikings appeared at Ecbert’s door, he was waiting – not with an army, but with a proposal: he would grant them land if he could choose how to die. Thing is, Ecbert is no longer king and has no authority to do so. But Bjorn and company don’t know that. They think they have the upper hand. When Ecbert finally meets his end at his own hands, he dies knowing he has basically giving a big middle finger to the invaders. Well played.

The death you never saw coming

Not since Athelstan has the death of a beloved character been so harsh. It’s Vikings. Everybody dies. But it is the warriors you expect to meet their demise in one way or another. Helga was the gentle soul who brought heart and stability to Floki’s neuroses. Without her, his world is empty. He is empty. Her death is even more painful because it was at the hands of a child that she loved and desperately wanted for her to love her back. I will never forgive Michael Hirst for writing her death.

Sigurd finally goes too far

From an unexpected death to one that we all knew was going to happen eventually, but maybe not this soon. Sigurd and Ivar have always had a tumultuous relationship. Sigurd has been jealous of Ivar’s relationship with their mother since they were children and has taken every opportunity to stick it to Ivar. He finally crosses one line too many when he announces that Ivar the Boneless should actually be Ivar the Boner-less. Yeah, kicking him where it hurts, Sigurd. Rather than using his words, Ivar goes for the axe and kills Sigurd with a well-thrown axe to the heart. At first, Ivar seems to have regrets about his actions. He soon recovers, however, and gives us that cold, terrifying stare as only he can.

New character reveal

We knew Jonathan Rhys Meyers (of Tudors fame) would be joining the Vikings cast, but his character has been shrouded in secrecy until now. Meyers plays Heahmund, a warrior bishop, which is a bit of an oxymoron, don’t you think? His appearance at the end of the episode started innocently enough as he performed a funeral for a young man. Heahmund offers condolences to the dead man’s wife…and then proceeds to bed her. Well that escalated quickly. You can bet this bishop will be causing all kinds of havoc in season five.

“Not only did people weep,

but fire wept.

And iron and all the other metals wept.

The stones wept.

Earth wept.

Farewell voyager.

Farewell my heart.

Farewell. For now.” – Floki

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