‘Vikings’ Season 6, Episode 15 Recap And Review: ‘All At Sea’

Now that Vikings has sailed its way from the History Channel to Amazon Prime Video, instead of getting one episode per week we’ve gotten all ten of the show’s final season dumped on us at once.

This has made recapping more laborious. I rarely write individual episodic recaps/reviews for shows that dump all at once. But for the final season of Vikings I’m making a go at something like it.

I’ve already written about the first four episodes of Season 6B. You can read my review of those right here.

I was planning to write a single review of the next three, but as I typed away I realized the discussion of episode 15, “All At Sea,” was running plenty long by itself. So it’s getting its own post. I’m not sure how I’ll format the rest of the season, so bear with me.

This is, once again, a second half-season rather than a season in its own right. Season 6 came out last year and now Season 6B is the “Final Season.”

As something of a side-note, I wish that they had simply started releasing 10-episode seasons instead of these long half-seasons. Season 1 had 9 episodes and Seasons 2 and 3 each had 10. Then, beginning with Season 4, for reasons inexplicable, we started getting 10 episode half-seasons with long gaps in-between. A more sensible and easier way of numbering would have simply had Season 5 follow the first 10 episodes of Season 4 and so on and so forth. We would now be on Season 9 instead of the much clunkier Season 6B. Easier to keep track of and certainly much easier to write headlines for!

But I digress.

MORE FROM FORBES‘Vikings’ Final Season Recap And Review Part 1: The First 4 EpisodesBy Erik Kain

All At Sea, But Also Some In Kiev

In Episode 15, one truly beautiful thing is achieved: We wrap up the Rus storyline.

Don’t get me wrong, there were some good moments in the story of Igor, Oleg, Dir and Katia. But it still felt superfluous to the larger narrative. In many ways, it felt too late in the game to bring in all these new characters and conflicts. I realize that its most important function by far was to give Ivar room to grow and change as a character, something Hvitserk notes as they’re leaving Kiev. In that sense, it’s a worthwhile waystation in the larger Vikings story, but it also feels a bit messy.

Indeed, Ivar’s entire arc feels messy to me. He started out so ridiculously wicked. He killed his brother, proclaimed himself a god, ruled with an iron fist, tortured and brutalized his people, and generally acted like an ass all the way up until he met Oleg and Igor. Then, thanks both to seeing himself in the mirror (in the spitting image of Oleg) and his newfound affection for the young Igor, he started to become actually kind, actually compassionate.

This could all work, I think, if Ivar hadn’t been so awful to begin with. If he had been selfish, cruel at times, overly proud, then perhaps a humbling experience would make sense for his transformation. But Ivar was, not to put too fine a point on it, a psychopath and a megalomaniac. The show tried too hard to make him too evil and then backtracked hard. The about face is . . . clumsy.

Ultimately, though, I’ll take it. Hvitserk is right. Ivar has changed, and he’s changed for the better. When he helped Dir free his horrifying cage and later brought Igor to him, rescuing the boy from the clutches of the one man in the world who Ivar might actually be able to find kinship with (Oleg is the only person he met who matched and exceeded his cruel madness and cunning) he mostly redeemed himself. Mostly. What he does next will determine our final judgment of him.

In any case, he and Hvitserk and Katia free Igor and bring him to Dir and then Dir’s forces march on Kiev, where the troops pledge their fealty to Dir and Igor and the whole thing is wrapped up with a drop of blood.

Almost without a drop of blood. Oleg, who has now completely lost his grip on reality and has begun thinking of himself as Christ, walks out onto the palace balcony and spreads his arms, pleading his countrymen for peace and forgiveness now that things have swung against him.

Ivar convinces Igor to shoot and kill Oleg (dear god, these names) with a bow and arrow, ending the tyrant’s rule once and for all. It’s the only way to ensure he doesn’t rise up and take power again. Ivar should know.

Now that all is right with the world in Kiev, Ivar tells Hvitserk it’s time to go. Igor is heartbroken, but there’s nothing to be done. There’s no place for Ivar here now. It’s back to Kattegat, no matter how icy the reception is likely to be.

A Sinking Sensation

Back in Kattegat, Harald marries Ingrid and hopes to marry Gunnhild. Erik continues to scheme, though I’m still not sure why he’s held in such high regard or has so much access to all these people in power. Surely Harald is too savvy a politician at this point to not recognize Erik’s scheming for what it is. Ingrid reveals to Erik that he’s the one who once sold her into slavery in the first place.

During the wedding ceremony between Harald and Ingrid, Gunnhild comes down to the dock. Harald is pleased at first, until Gunnhild informs him that she’s going to reunite with Bjorn in Valhalla. She wishes them well and then dives into the water. Erik tries to stop her, but Harald tells him to let her go.

This is, once again, meant to be something of a poetic death for one of our female leads. I find it kind of ridiculous. Bjorn was a terrible husband. He was a terrible husband to each of his various wives and just generally overall a bad guy when it came to being faithful, to being a father, to caring about anybody other than himself and his reputation. Why kill yourself over this? Gunnhild was strong and smart and only moments earlier wanted to rule. Why not marry Harald who, at the very least, would almost certainly treat her with more respect than Bjorn? And yes, I realize that Harald has been sort of brutish and forceful when it comes to taking his women, but that’s not entirely outside the realm of normal for those times, historically speaking. I still think he would have been more loyal to them than Bjorn.

This show is so incoherent at times. Gunnhild swims off into the icy waters to drown—I honestly can’t imagine going out that way by choice—and we lose another strong female lead for no good reason. I’d have much rather seen her strike out on her own, go start some village of warrior women like Lagertha once did. Fight back. Or even join up. Anything other than this “poetic” / “cinematic” death.

King Of Whales

Meanwhile, Ubbe and company find themselves in a bloody confrontation with Kjetill over a beached whale that has, thanks to the bad luck of the gods, washed up on his newly plotted land.

Kjetill, psychopath that he is, does not want to share. He doesn’t play nice with others, as we learned back in Iceland.

The confrontation over the whale, which the rest of the settlers desperately need to survive, flows over into bloodshed. Ubbe gets into the fray, disgusted with the man he once trusted. But things are not looking good for Ubbe’s side of the fight, and it’s only thanks to Othere—a surprisingly skilled fighter, we discover—that Ubbe makes it out with his life.

They flee to one of the ships, abandoning all their food and water and other goods in their haste, and take to sea. Kjetill, perched atop the dead whale, laughs maniacally, proclaiming himself “King of Greenland.”

On this point I found myself a little confused. Those escaping the battle at least appear to far outnumber those remaining by the whale. Then why flee? Why not fight? Or at least, why not take the time to get your things before setting out into the great unknown? I suppose this was just a poorly shot moment, and we were meant to think that Kjetill’s forces were much greater than they seemed. Or perhaps Kjetill is such a formidable foe that Ubbe and all his people didn’t stand a chance against him. I’m not sure.

All told, this was a pretty good episode though. I’m glad to (hopefully) see the backside of the Rus storyline. Oleg was a fine villain but, like the rest of that subplot, felt superfluous this late in the game.

Harald remains one of the best characters on the show and Peter Franzén manages to capture a bit of the sly madness of long-dead Ragnar, while still maintaining his own wily gruffness.

I’m sad to see Gunnhild go, of course, but her death could have been worse. It’s just a shame she ever met Bjorn, a man responsible for the misery of so many women (and children) who deserved better.

What did you think of “All At Sea”? Let me know on Twitter or Facebook. And look out for the remaining reviews of this final season of Vikings here on my blog.