Vikings Season 4 Episode 4: “Yol”

Watching an episode of Vikings can be an unusual experience for regular television viewers because of the series’ pacing. There are other shows out there that move just as methodically in ways that make it feel like nothing’s really happening, even though events unfold in a linear way. But even with a show like Rectify, which shares Vikings‘ obsession with evoking tone and atmosphere above all else, the scripts still show a logical design (either in how they’re structured or how they attempt to communicate a central idea). Vikings, though, is a different experience–at least in the middle episodes of each season, when the story doesn’t have to reach a certain climax or move its characters around too frantically. It is more like a world in which the viewer is dropped and simply asked to observe. So, even though “Yol” does a lot of work at setting up storylines for the next few episodes, that sense of progression is lost behind the power of what’s happening now, and that uniqueness looks really good on Vikings, as a whole.

That strangeness of pace is most evident in the scenes between Ragnar and Yidu, which utterly eschew viewer expectations. Aslaug even goes out of her way to tell Ragnar that she’s open to the idea of him becoming intimate with Yidu, but the way Ragnar interacts with Yidu is unpredictable by TV standards. The lingering stares from previous episodes set up one thing, but the delivery is more of a spiritual exploration and healing for Ragnar, who is still trying to figure out how to live in a world without Athelstan. Ragnar doesn’t have to impress Yidu in the same way that Ecbert served up freedom to Judith on a silver platter. If Ragnar wants something from Yidu, he can take it without consequence. But the development of their relationship in “Yol” is one that highlights Ragnar’s natural empathy towards people. He releases Yidu from her enslavement and makes no aggressive steps towards her, showing her that he is emotionally open in ways that rulers and people of power in his position typically aren’t. More importantly, she understands his pain and offers reprieve through “medicine.”

What does the whole thing amount to? Not a lot, really. But the experience is meaningful for Ragnar, consciously or not, and it’s important that we see his mind altered in the one place he doesn’t feel alone. It’s kind of a test, really, in that it forces Ragnar to deal with his demons on a metaphysical level, and he seems to come out okay in the end. This is kind of what I mean, though, about the pacing of Vikings: It’s incredibly unusual. After “Yol” wraps up, what exactly has developed in the Ragnar-Aslaug-Yidu storyline? Everyone is more honest with each other, I guess? Yet, that doesn’t appear to be the point of those scenes. It’s more an attempt to create something visceral, and it’s wonderfully successful at that.

So, too, is Bjorn walking into Hedeby and giving Torvi a way out from under Erlendur’s control. Bjorn obviously has more information than he’s letting on, so the decision he makes–on paper–makes total sense and reads naturally. But the way it plays out on-screen is dreamlike, Bjorn manifesting seemingly out of nowhere and disrupting the status quo in a major, confrontational way. It just doesn’t feel real, since the last few episodes have had Bjorn isolated from everyone else. That’s not a problem, however; in fact, it makes the sequence even more powerful, because it gives off the impression that Bjorn has achieved some kind of enlightenment after being in the wilderness and confronting his demons (in the form of a bear and a berserker). Now, he has an air of confidence that even Ragnar doesn’t.

This effect, of course, might have to do with a sense of time just as much as a sense of place, because I never feel very confident knowing how much time has elapsed between chapters of this series. For example, Rollo is fluent in French. When did that happen? And does that question even matter? Not really, because the moment he addresses Princess Gisla is–without question–one of the strongest moments of the series. His declarations, despite wherever Rollo is on the moral compass for viewers who still want him to be part of his Viking brethren, are poignant and immediately affect Gisla, who is completely caught off-guard. It’s amazing what a difference communication makes, and it’s even more amazing that Rollo, of all people, has persevered after showing how willing he is to buckle under pressure and anxiety in the past. He’s never been a truly independent character until now, and Gisla sees that fire in him, which manifests in…other ways. It’s a triumphant moment for the brother of Ragnar, and it works so well at evoking a gut reaction that I kind of just want Rollo to remain in that part of Vikings, completely separate from everything else and without the looming conflict between him and his former people. Again, even when moving at a crawl and distracting itself by stepping left and right instead of forward, Vikings continues to engage through sheer force of sensory output and appeals to emotions. This is very, very solid television, people.

Runes Carved from My Memory:

• Vikings-related tune of the week: Led Zeppelin – “Immigrant Song”.
• Ragnar points out to Yidu that both slave and king have duties to serve others.
• Ragnar admits that he’s at least mildly suicidal, which is absolutely in line with his grief.
• North Umbria does not want to see the illegitimate son of Ragnar ascend to Mercia’s throne.
• Floki visits the seer, who has apparently been waiting for him for centuries. Floki doesn’t get much to do in this episode, but the prospect of teaching Ragnar’s son about the true ways of the Vikings sets up an interesting dynamic for those characters going forward. It’s hard to say what kind of head space Ragnar is in at the end of the episode, so he might resist this idea less than would be expected.
• Vikings never shies away from depicting brutality for the sake of realism, but jeez…that disembowelment is kind of hard to watch. Still, good job Bjorn. Not an easy task to take down a berserker in combat.