The Great Heathen Army is ready to attack. The episode is appropriately titled as we get to see the return of the Blood Eagle.

Bjorn decides that he is going to lead the army. He flaunts his elder brother card all over the place. Ivar was staring down Bjorn pretty hard. He looked like he was ready to take him down right there.

Bjorn acting all bossy is making me think he has his eyes on the throne. It won’t be really hard for him as it would be for the rest of the brothers. He just has to kill his mother while the others will have to go through him and their mother.

Ubbe and Hvitserk sharing Magretha, was shocking, to say the least. I really can’t believe that Vikings don’t get jealous but I guess I have to.

It was messed up enough that they sacrificed animals but now they are sacrificing humans too. Yeah sure, it’s a big army, but couldn’t they just sacrifice a bigger animal? Or many animals? At least the man was willing.

What’s more is that we get to see Bjorn and Astrid together while this is going on. This creates an interesting juxtaposition of the dying man and Bjorn and Astrid doing their thing.

We also we get to see King Harald confronting his long-lost love. He comes to know that she has already married. Harald is mad at her. He even considers killing her but doesn’t. It’s not hard to guess how he will be getting her back.

Aethulwulf has heard of the Great Heathen Army’s arrival and he blames his father. In a heartwarming scene, we see him beg his father King Ecbert to say that he loves him. We also got the Judith is Ecbert’s mistress bombshell in this episode.

I’m kind of annoyed that Ecbert can’t even say that he loves his son, even though his son is begging for him to say it.

King Ecbert is not afraid to face death. He didn’t even flinch on hearing about the arrival of the Heathen Army.

The reaction of King Aelle and his army was priceless. Seeing the Great Heathen Army coming over the horizon and increasing in numbers turned his smirk to a frown. The panning shot of the whole army was glorious.

The lack of a battle was disappointing. Instead, they cut to King Aelle being dragged in the mud by Ivar’s chariot. They have been hyping this invasion for a long time and when it finally happens they don’t even give us a proper battle.

I know that battles are expensive and require expert direction but I think it’s a bit of a cop-out from the showrunners at this point.

The episode ended with a gruesome scene of King Aelle being tortured by the Lothbrok brothers. Ivar in particular really enjoyed it.

I thought that they would just throw King Aelle in the pit. But as we have seen before, Vikings likes to surprise us. Floki telling King Aelle he is a carpenter and then the scene cutting to him hammering nails into his hands was well done.

The Lothbrok brothers got their sweet revenge by turning King Aelle’s corpse into a blood eagle. The whole scene was pretty brutal but really well done. It partially makes up for the lack of a battle.

Stray Observations:

This three-way relationship between Hvitserk, Ubbe and Megretha is not gonna end well.

I wouldn’t spray myself with water I just spat.

I believe King Harald is cooking a plan to take over the throne. I don’t trust him and his brother.

Seriously, either nobody except Helga noticed Bjorn and Astrid are missing or everybody was just too engrossed in the ceremony.

Did Lagertha know about Astrid and Bjorn? This is getting interesting.

Bjorn saying goodbye to his mother, Astrid and Helga was the most awkward goodbye ever.

Rating: B+

What are your thoughts on this episode? Any theories about what’s going to happen? Let us know in the comments!

Vikings airs Wednesdays on History at 9/8c.