Follow Genre: Adventure, Drama, History
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Episodes: 10
Duration: 42 minutes (per episode)

Vikings: Season 5, Volume 2 (DVD) – Series Review

November 24, 2019 - Ibuki - 1 Comment

Site Score

8.4

Good: Acting, Story, Overall atmosphere

Bad: Getting a bit long-winded

User Score

8.5

(2 votes)

Click to vote

Rating: 8.5/10 (2 votes cast)

We still have no clue why the creators behind Vikings decided to split up the seasons starting from the fourth season. We realize the number of episodes has been doubled per season since then, but it feels like this format of two parts is just a way of covering up that they are in fact separate seasons, created in a shorter time period. Each volume often has its own theme and feels like a finished season. This is probably to give the impression that the series is not being dragged out too much. Nonetheless, here we are again, ready to see how Ragnar’s sons are slowly sinking into an everlasting war with one another.

The story of the second part of the fifth season can be described in a fairly short fashion. Bjorn (Alexander Ludwig), Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), Torvi (Georgia Hirst), Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) and Heahmund (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) lost the battle against the forces of Ivar (Alex Høgh Andersen) and King Harald Finehair (Peter Franzén). Ivar won thanks to the forces of the long-lost Rollo (Clive Standen) at his disposal. Nonetheless, when Rollo appears on the stage, he offers the lost party safe passage to Francia, where he now reigns. Lagertha and the rest declines and they follow Heahmund’s proposal to seek shelter in Wessex, where Alfred (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) now reigns over the masses. Things don’t go according to Heahmund’s plan, but the Vikings soon find themselves at the side of Wessex, fighting for their lives and the right for the land that was promised to them by the late king Ecbert.

In Kattegat, Ivar is slowly being convinced by Freydis (Alicia Agneson) that he is, in fact, the embodiment of a god on our mortal plane. Things are slowly getting out of hand, and those who protest his actions find themselves in a shallow grave soon after. Hvitserk (Marco Ilsø) isn’t so sure about his choice of following Ivar anymore.

Not much has changed when it comes to the flow of each episode. Each episode will often know one big obstacle to overcome, be it for the different intertwining storylines. You’ll still have a lot going on at the same time, such as Floki (Gustaf Skarsgård) trying to make his tiny colony a viable community, and Alfred who is struggling with his new role as king of Wessex. There is once again a lot going on with sons of Ragnar, as Ivar is tightening his rule on the people of Kattegat, and his brothers are planning to overthrow him.

We still see many of the same cast members, even in this fifth season. We can’t keep moping about the fact that we will not see any new performances by Travis Fimmel in the Vikings universe, but we are also happy that other season 1 cast members are still present. Katheryn Winnick still plays a very powerful and impressive Lagertha, who is slowly feeling the burden of becoming older and more fragile. Gustaf Skarsgård is creating his own separate story arc with Floki, who thinks he has received a sign of the gods to take people into the promised land. Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is getting more screen time as the newly appointed king of Wessex, Alfred, and he does so quite formidably. A very likable newcomer to the series is Ragga Ragnars who plays the shield maiden Gunnhild, who becomes a new love interest of one of the main characters this season. It might be wrong to just describe her as a love interest as her character feels well fleshed out and she becomes a very important and loveable part of the main cast. Other than that, we see many familiar faces who do not shy away from the quality acting of their fellow cast members.

The extras that are found on the DVD edition of the second part of the fifth season are somewhat slim. You’ll have to make do with deleted scenes, commentaries for one single episode and two extra features. These two extra sequences only last a total of fifteen minutes, and they revolve around the conflicts between Ragnar’s sons and Alfred, the new king of Wessex and his loyal warrior bishop. These scenes are still fun to watch, but they don’t add any extra value to purchasing the physical copy of the series.

Conclusion

Vikings: Season 5, Volume 2 is a harsh end of the fifth season and concludes yet another topical issue; the war between the sons of Ragnar. While this part of the season revolves a lot around the life in Wessex, it also shows how Ivar is using his power as the new King of Kattegat and how enemies become allies, and how allies become enemies. While the series is slowly being dragged out, we are still curious to see what happens in the sixth and supposedly final season. If you’ve been a fan since day one, we can easily say that the series is still running strong, even without the performance of the well-loved Travis Fimmel.