History Channels Vikings Season 5 Episode 1 Review IS LIFE AFTER RAGNAR WORTH LIVING??

I disagree that they're trying to make Ivar the new Ragnar. Nominally, maybe, because he does take up the mantle of the viking warlord, but I think it's clear they're going in the direction of trying to make Ubbe the "moral" or intellectual conscience that Ragnar provided before. This can be seen in that battle scene in York where we get to see Ivar reveling in the bloodlust (he came across as a maniacal psychopath and it appeared like they were trying to portray him as exactly that) while we see Ubbe actually have some misgivings when it came to the death of that nun. There was definitely a shot of him at the end of battle kind of dazed and reeling, almost like he was having some sort of internal battle about what he was engaging in. Remember how Lagatha last season told Ubbe he reminded her of Ragnar.

To me the show has become a bit anticlimactic, because I completely agree with you about the stupidity of Lagatha letting Harald live but at the same time we knew all along that there was no way the future king of Norway was going to die, so the suspense of whether Lagatha was really going to kill him wasn't really suspense. Yes I realize the real Sigurd from history becomes a king as well and they had Ivar kill him (which really annoyed me that they deviated that much) just to advance Ivar's character development as unhinged and ruthless (which we already knew, they really didn't have to add the flourish) but it's obvious the way they've been setting up Harald who united the various factions to become the future viking lord of Norway there was no way he was going to die.

The scene of Lagatha raping Harald didn't bother me as much as it did some people. I think it was her way of showing domination over him. She'd been screwed over by every man in her life, including Ragnar, that I can understand her reasons for being cynical and wanting to show Harald who was boss when he offered to marry her. But the ultimate way to do that would have been to kill him at the end, which of course she didn't do and we already knew she wouldn't do so in the end all the scene did was expose her for being weak after all. She's maybe my favorite character on the show but I don't like what they're doing to her.

There is life after Ragnar, as there is after Ned Stark, Glen Rhee, it will take time.
Also, Ivar The Boneless story in the vigings history is one of the most interesting of all.

I really enjoyed the premiere