User Reviews

While heading to Paris, the Viking fleet is surprised by a fleet of Frankish ships commanded by Rollo and there is a battle on the river. Ragnar is obsessed to kill Rollo, but the Vikings are defeated and retreats. Roland and Therese are executed in Paris and Charler salutes Rollo. Ragnar has disappeared for ten years and Bjorn and Auslag learn what happened in Wessex with the Northmen settlement. Bjorn tells his brothers and out of the blue, Ragnar returns to Kattegat.

"The Last Ship" is an episode with another fantastic battle between Vikings and Frankishes. Unfortunately Rollo does not die and defeats his brother and countrymen. His treachery will certainly have consequences along the series. The return of Ragnar ten years after his defeat and addiction deserves a good explanation. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "The Last Ship"

I didn't like this season as much as the first three either, and hope the 2nd half will be much better. This season was a missed opportunity IMO. They had too much useless crap going to clog up space. Judith's excessive storyline early about painting and what not, too many Paris scenes, too many Wessex scenes, and of course.....Yidu

The worst decision on the show as Yidu. We could've had Ragnar just losing desire to travel and raid by the stuff that has happened to him. The injuries in Paris, murder of Athelstan, betrayal of FLoki, etc.

But they could've told these 10 episodes in 7 really strong ones.

That being said, I don't know why the negative reactions are here for this episode. I thought it was real good, and the time jump was just what the show needed. The ending with Ragnar coming back wasn't him telling people to just put him out of his misery, it was to show that regardless of what's happened, no one can step up to him in Kattegat. And it showed perfectly that Ragnar isn't drug crazy like he was half of this season, he's back to that confident crazy if you know what I mean.

The only thing I disliked about the battle was the extended punching between Ragnar and Rollo, should've just had a much more epic sword fight, instead of punching each other for 90% of the fight, but I digress. The battle was pretty good. I know they didn't kill anyone big, but I felt like they were, it seemed like no one was safe.

And the time jump introduced new directions for the show to go. It's time to see what happens with Ragnar's sons. Though I still think Rangar is by far the most dynamic and interesting character on the show, then Floki and Ecbert. So I hope he's still around next year but I doubt it. But I think it'll be great to see Ragnar interacting with his now older sons. And it looks like we'll be seeing Lagertha and Aslaug going at it, and Ivar looks like a crazy psycho monster.

I thought A GOOD TREASON, YOL, PROMISED, THE PROFIT AND THE LOSS, THE LAST SHIP were all good, solid, or great episodes. Problem was that MERCY and DEATH ALL 'ROUND were the weakest episodes ever. And KILL THE QUEEN, PORTAGE, WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN were mixed bags of episodes. This season lacked the swift pace of the first three, because they meandered too much in Wessex and Paris, and with Yidu.

They just need to stay with the main focus on the Vikings again, like the first three seasons were. Sure, they had Wessex scenes, and they had Paris scenes near the end of last year. But it was never excessive, like this year was.

This episode brings the long expected battle between the two brothers, the king of the Vikings Vs. the born again Christian lord. While all around them extras throw themselves on arrows and swords. It does for a good enough battle, but not an especially interesting one, and in some moments a little bit silly, with all the over-acting of dying soldiers and some of the most stupid deaths seen on a show. Nonetheless, it ticks all the boxes expected in a big battle: injured heroes, blood, violence and a punch-fight between Ragnar and Rollo, maybe because with all the arrows and swords around, some punches make for originality.

The second part of the episode improves on the first, and leaves many questions unanswered, to leave the viewer wondering about many characters: what happened to Lagertha, what will Ragnar's sons do now that his father's back, what about Bjorn's desire to raid the Mediterranean sea with Floki? It reintroduces the world of the vikings in a very nice and neat manner, with so many options the show could take, and so many story lines to develop. And seeing some plot development after four or five episode of just another attack on France's soil makes for a good change of pace.

Maybe the show should start to think about wrapping its hi-story, but for now, it is still fun and fascinating enough to keep its viewer's interest.

I have mixed feelings about this episode.

My favourite scene this episode was the one between Bjorn, Floki and Helga. It was well acted and the music that went with it really fit the scene. That scene alone made me feel excited about what is to come on the show.

We finally got our Rollo vs. Ragnar showdown and it was a letdown. They took turns at punching each other and... that was it.

The deaths of Roland and his sister felt like a waste to me. What was the point of these characters? One episode it seemed that the emperor was trusting them, next episode he kills them?

I was disappointed that they didn't address Siggy Jr.'s death. Why bother killing her if it's going to have such a little effect on the show? They might as well have kept her in the background - it wouldn't have made any difference.

I've been seeing people compare Aslaug to Cersei this season and this episode it really showed. I'm not sure if I like this attempt at Cersei-fying her, honestly. Aslaug is her own character and she can be interesting without turning her into a 'Cersei In Vikings!' fan-fiction.

The casting of Ragnar's grown sons is disappointing. How much older are they all supposed to be? It looks to be a 6-10 time jump, which would have made them teens/young adults and yet they look to be in their late twenties to early thirties. I also don't understand how they all went from being blonde to having dark hair.

I have a bitter taste on my tongue. I was looking forward to see this episode. This fight between Rollo and Ragnar \ Vikings and Franks promised to be truly epic. And what do we have instead? After all that Vikings have done, after executing this madly brilliant plan to drag ships through the terrain, they were pushed back by "fearless" Franks. With all the respect, I feel the rage engulfing me. How is that possible to sacrifice that much and run away in the midst of the crucial battle. But let's forget about this abrupt ending of their raid on Paris and focus on possible reasons to write such a script. I think they intended to implement a new page of the book called Ragnar Lothbrok's life. And this page's about his sons. Because the true history(wiki help needed) tells us that one of his sons(Bjorn) probably discovered America, another one - Ivar the Boneless conquered the England. The true fame belongs to them. And now the question comes forward: how could it possibly be that Ragnar's sons from kids became men in just a few years. It looks like 10 years have passed since Vikings returned from France. I can not believe that script writers did this lemon squeezing just to fill all this events in one episode. And the brilliant ending with Ragnar asking for someone to put an end to his misery. Utterly disappointed I'd say.

Just watched "Vikings: The Last Ship", the season 4 mid-season finale for Vikings. This is my favorite show, but this season has left me starting to question the direction the show is taking. I hoped the show would transcend the life of Ragnar and this episode with it's time jump forward from the defeat to Rollo at Paris (which I'm still baffled if at all historically accurate how they would have sailed to Paris far less prepared than the first attacks, which remember failed, and not expect that the French wouldn't have learned their lesson and built up protection from attacks via the river. Ragnar was not stupid, how could they write him just sailing up the river without even having scout ships and getting caught in a very well prepared trap? Disappointing to say the least). OK, I could go on with the lame attack on Paris but given it wasn't the main point (which makes me question why they wasted 3 shows on it) but staging for the time jump.

So here we are now, about 6 years in the future, Ragnar obviously was pretty bummed that Rollo kicked his butt and sent him home with his tail between his legs. Given Ragnar was a farmer at heart, I can wrap my mind around him just taking off afterwards and leaving his kingdom to fend for itself with (I think) his wife and Bjorn to run the joint. But we fast forward to Bjorn finding out the settlement in Wessex had been wiped out and finding out from Floki that his dad known and killed the messenger so no one would know because he didn't want to go fight he wanted to attack Paris. OK, whim of a king. But having it end with him showing up after his 6 year absence loathing himself publicly and daring someone to strike him dead and become king left me a bit disappointed. Ragnar may have been a farmer at heart, but he wasn't a coward, and that just rubbed me the wrong way. Given how great the first three seasons have been I'm holding out hope that season 4b can right the ship and get this show back on track, but only a year ago I couldn't hardly stand waiting a week in between episodes to being lucky I record it on the DVR and watch it the next day because of my work hours or I might forget to watch. I always knew for the show to have a long run Ragnar was going to have to go and the story transition to one of his sons taking point as king, and I guess this is how they chose to do it. Just seems to me that they used a lot of episodes to do it and get me to a place in the story where I have never been so confused as to the direction as I am now. This show gave me hope of others like it based on historical facts but written as a show. I fear the writers at the History Channel aren't up to it after the first half of season 4. I'm guessing Ragnar is going to wind up dead and Bjorn having great exploits through the Mediterranean as a vehicle for some good old "shock and awe" viking quick strikes. I can only hope, because the writing for the first half of season 4 has fallen far short of the first 3 seasons. It had better pick up or I fear this is the beginning of the end.

Also, as I write this I see that IMDb shows a 9.x rating average for this show. There are 5 ratings and mine is the highest, I think there is an error in the math used to compute this average.

Unfortunately, this is not the first - and probably will not be the last time a show that I love is broken by the screenwriters. Actually, I think the true culprits are the Hollywood executives who want to have a say in the way the show is made. More action, more sex scenes. These they tend to add since they haven't got any skill in how to do any work on a film project.

That's the feeling I get after watching this season and the flop finale to the season. There was just that many things that were utterly wrong. It is as if someone had tried to copycat Game of Thrones, but the director was blind and the screenwriters plagued with the same drug that Ragnar was supposed to take in the show.

There were just that many events that failed a simple logic test called why? Even the start of the season, Rollo betraying his brother after all the events in the first three seasons. Why? Progressing with the next episodes. There was never a justified or realistic reason for people's behavior. There were the internal squabbles of Mercia/Wessex which were of little interest in this season. Why show them at all? The Vikings had nothing to do with these kingdoms. Because Magnus was Ragnar's son? A plot twist that would have been explained by a single line in a dialogue at the end of the season.

The internal squabbles of Franks. Why show them at all? They were utterly boring - and illogical. It felt as if these were in just to show some tits and spanking scenery. In ep9, the emperor is the best buddy with Roland, in ep10, he kills him and his sister for apparently no reason at all. Why?

Then there was the Harbard character. His return to Kattegat was pointless. Why? Death of Siggy? Why? Floki suddenly becoming a seer that sees events that happen at Kattegat? Why? Come to think of it, have you ever seen lamer opponents for Ragnar in the show? King Harald Finehair and his brother? They told the queen that Harald wants to become the next "high king" by displacing Ragnar. What they did in the show? Killed a few unarmed folks. Why? Their characters added nothing to the show. Why then bring them to the show at all?

And then the final episode. The sacking of Paris that everyone was waiting for? The Vikings haul their ships overland to pass the two forts, then apparently build a battle arena that they drag on the river so that the lead characters can have a boxing match there that was on par with a F-category action movie. Certainly not on par with a B- category action movie, truly an action scene from the bottom of the barrel. Why? Why have a sea battle that is so idiotic and well... unlike anything that would resemble realism at all.

And then the show hit the rock bottom. Skip next few years, have Ragnar's sons grow up almost overnight. Anyone else had a Bold & Beautiful moment there? None of the other characters had aged, yet the boys had become grown men. Nice touch. For me, it was bad enough to quit this show. There are better things to do with my life. Like rolling my eyes in disgust or twiddling my thumbs.

How many years did they skip ahead in this one episode? I think the writers are taking too much creative license this season. There is little continuity from one episode to the next. And yet I can't not watch. Instead of compacting one season into just a couple of months, extend the season and give us more detail. There are so many subplots in the show, but the writers appear to be rushed to get us to the end of a season without filling in so many holes. And one question always stands out after each episode: How do all the key characters survive so many lethal wounds? It's not as if they are rushed to the emergency room.

"Vikings" has always been strange in its fast forward placement. Back in season one it pushed the plot nearly towards the last episode, and now it does so again right after the war in Paris. The first half of the episode is unsurprisingly filled with mayhem, but it skips further ahead, more than it did in several seasons just in the span of one episode.

The battle is admittedly gruesome and it gets the job done in portraying the skirmish. It lacks the strategy, yet there's inherent intensity when Rollo faces off against Ragnar. The show has no quarrel on sacrificing its characters, some are unceremoniously thrown to the wolves. Fighting lasts for a good portion, then the pace cuts not to the aftermath but to years ahead.

This doesn't resolve many of the subplots, the warlords simply accept the defeat while Ragnar leaves. It might be a decent way to cycle the cast, although the current ones have more potential to be developed before ushering a set of new characters. Nevertheless, it jumps to Bjorn, the leader after Ragnar and his brothers. It brings promise of novel adventure as well as burden from previous ones.

This new cast deals heavily on the repercussion of Ragnar's action now that skeleton is out of the closet. Bjorn has been groomed to replace Ragnar, he does well on said authoritative figure, but the rest of the brothers might not have the same gravitas. Ivar looks promising, serendipitously due to his ailment, although it's too fast to pit them against the heavy situation.

The naval battle and its fast forward can be visceral and refreshing, but the tone shift is felt a bit jarring.

Seriously, what the hell was this? Why did they show Rollo and Ragnar punching each other in slow motion? All it did was break the immersion and make ir clear as day that they weren't hitting each other at all. Also, they "punched" each other for like 5 minutes straight, both of their faces are bloody as heck, yet you can't see a single cut, bruise, broken nose, or even light scratch on either of them? Then there is the scene where Lagertha gets stabbed and you can clearly see the squared off tip of the sword that hit her, again, due to the dramatic use of slow motion that just did not work. This is the worst episode in this show so far for me, and I think it's only so highly rated because people will love any fight scene you give them.

Underwhelming would be a heck of an understatement for what this episode was. It was complete and utter garbage.