History Channel's breakout hit Vikings has done an excellent job kicking the carnage and mayhem of Season 2 up a notch from last year. It looks like there is going to have to be a blood bath in tonight's finale if Travis Fimmel's Ragnar Lothbrok is going to be sacking Paris as promised in Season 3. Being that Fimmel is definitely coming back next year, one has to wonder--who's going to be taking care of King Horik and his plans to murder Ragner's children? Will it be his brother Rollo, Horik's not-so-secret mistress Siggy, raped former slave Porunn, played by the perfect Gaia Weiss, or whisperer to the god's Floki? Only one thing is for certain, only the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok is guaranteed to come out alive.
It is a hard world that Ragnar Lothbrok and crew live in on History Channel Vikings, and very few are going to get to live to see old age.
As tonight's Season 2 finale premiere nears one can only speculate on the scores of heads that are about to roll--as there are tons of scores yet to be settled.
King Horik is trying to turn Ragnar's inner circle against him in his preparations to destroy Lothbrok.
The insecure King has enlisted Ragnar's friend Floki to kill his own Earl--as though his god's would smile upon such vile treachery--as well pressuring Lothbrok's own sister-in-law Siggy to murder his son and heirs.
Unfortunately not even Travis Fimmel knows exactly how it all plays out in tonight's episode, but he told Time Magazine that it was definitely a doozy:
"A lot of unexpected stuff happens in Episode 10. I haven't actually seen it, but the few people I've spoken with who have seen it are really happy with it and say it's a great finale.
"And like any fan of the show, I'm looking forward to it.
"And you know, you're not in every scene, so even though you get the script, you don't know exactly what the other actors are doing, how they're playing, so I'm looking forward to watching it."
Perhaps it's Bjorn's former slave/current girlfriend Porunn, played by Gaia Weiss, that puts Kig Horik to the sword.
We saw Porunn beginning the transformation from victim to victor, when she picked up a sword and the desire to fight instead of serve last episode.
Weiss told BuffFocus that her character's inner struggle was all about over-coming her past circumstances:
'I think [creator, showrunner] Michael Hirst wanted to explore her experience and it's a different point of view.
"Even though she's only 20, but she's seen a lot, and she's probably already been raped at that young age."
"It's a complex and challenging role; I had a lot of questions about my character so it's nice to have Michael on set."
Whatever happens tonight, it won't be then end of Vikings or their raids into new territory (via Time):
"'I think we have to up the game again, and Season 3 will certainly feature a very famous event which was their first Viking attack on Paris that Ragnar led.
"Bjorn, sails around the Mediterranean. I mean, they attack what they think is Rome. They go to Spain. They do extraordinary things."
And kill extra-ordinary people.
