But I should have known there was a double cross coming since Harald had volunteered to be the one to go back to Kattegat in the first place. He wouldn't have done that if he had no interest in the crown, and in seeing a possibly overthrown Kattegat waiting for him. That's on me. Still, Harald took a big risk in simply coming clean with his schemes and telling Lagertha he didn't see the point in living anymore. She could have just as soon killed him as taken pity on him.

Now Harald's fled, stolen Lagertha's lover, and is trying to get her to be his Queen. Lagertha seems unfazed at the moment but it's no secret that her council thinks she's made a huge mistake. She's sort of playing by her own secret set of rules right now - and yes that includes the power play moment when she forcibly had hate sex with Harald when he was chained up. What a crazy right hook. To be honest, I really like Harald. Outside of the remaining core cast, and perhaps Ivar now, it's hard to ever really get to know a character on this series. The dialogue sparse and often very direct and to the point and, this might sound strange, the feelings of such stoic characters rarely go much further than rage, revenge, jealousy, and love.

I wouldn't call them simple characters, but they're very mission-driven and a lot of them, because of their faith, believe the same things about conquest and battle. Harald, as someone who came to the story late(ish), is someone I feel like we got to know. Plus, he and Halfdan get extra points as brothers who were able to split amicably and lovingly. Who'd have thought that a younger brother could just say 'Hey, I don't want to play second fiddle to a king' and leave? See, it doesn't have to lead to all-out war, Rollo and Ragnar!Speaking of brothers, Ivar, in the wake of accidentally/on purpose murdering Sigurd, is making accidental/on purpose moves to take over and become the full commander of the army. The show has tried, especially within the context of Ragnar, to turn Ivar into a sympathetic character, but coming out of Season 4 he's all hellfire and brimstone.

Story-wise he is slowly becoming an enemy to his remaining brothers and while the sack of York was another instance of me straining to like a group of characters who butcher and rape for a living the story, in the very least, had Ivar go a few savage steps further than his brothers. Steps that involved pouring molten gold into a dude's mouth and then having his body dragged through the streets. Look, everyone here let it get this far with Ivar. They either need to handle him now or they've got no one but themselves to blame if he goes psycho on them.