This weeks episode ofVikingsis called The Plan.
Bjorn Ironsides is one of the latter.
Of all the kin of Ragnar, he has shown the least interest in ruling Kattegat.
Credit: Bernard Walsh/History Channel
Hes caught his fathers wanderlust, carried it further than the old king ever dreamed.
Euphemius seems powerful, has an impressive walled city under his sway.
And he seems amused by the Vikings, asking them to become his bodyguards.
Bjorn wants to meet him, for reasons that might be elusive even to his adventurous spirit.
Back home in Kattegat, the women who love him wait patiently for his return.
Perhaps it will never happen.
Lagertha has a backup plan.
With her son nowhere to be found, she reaches out to one of his half-brothers.
Its a tough moment for Ubbe.
But Ubbes wife Margrethe thinks he should be more ambitious.
Hes in a bad place now but so is Lagertha, a queen losing followers right and left.
She does look diminished somehow, sipping more wine than she used to.
But never underestimate the shieldmaiden-turned-earl-turned-queen.
Every man I have ever known has betrayed me, she tells Margrethe.
Now most women betray me.
A lesser ruler might kill Margrethe for her lack of faith.
Lagertha makes a more difficult decision: She asks Margrethe, free woman to free woman, tobelievein her.
When you believe in a ruler, you could happily follow their directions.
Aethelwulf agrees to this idea.
Time passes, hunting parties are killed, and smoke rises from within the city.
The plan has worked, it seems; surely the Vikings are burning their dead.
Aethelwulf reverses his earlier trepidation, declares that now is the time to attack.
Within the city of York, Ivars forces do seem to be falling apart.
But Hvitserks brother is no fool.
The Saxons come into town and find it empty but the rats have run free.
Why are there rats above ground?
Maybe someone else went underground.
Like the sons of Ragnar, Astrid has her own ambitions.
But she also believes the gods have a plan.
They are married within the ribcage of a great whale, a great godlike beast killed by Haralds people.
There has been much war in this land, and much more to come.
Is there another way?
In a place that may as well be the land of the gods, Floki has an epiphany.
It is very wrong for me, he tells the Allfather, to enjoy this paradise alone.
For the first time in a long time, Floki has a plan.
