Vikings - Série 4

Season 4 is once again very delicious, with no special innovations this time, except perhaps just a minor fascination with China. But all the good things remain the same, and our old friends in the North, in the French Empire, and in the British kingdoms are with us. Athelstan's martyrdom also takes on a new dimension. After the midseason, Vikings become a slightly different show and a lot changes generationally, but that's life... Queens change, and Ivar wins. Who knew? (08/01/2019)

The fourth season is hands down the weakest yet. It’s also 20 episodes long and the emotional level and narrative grip, as well as its drive are questionable. Yes, there's "that thing" that happens in the middle, which is sort of important, and it should be noted that it's pretty faithful to the source material, but a lot of the characters are there just to make something cool happen (e.g. Rollo) and some of the middle episodes are downright drawn-out boredom without much going on. Technically speaking, Vikings isn’t going anywhere either. This is the most significant difference with, for instance, GoT, which became a high-budget spectacle from the third season on. That said, still above-par entertainment. (15/01/2020)

I consider Season 4 the weakest one so far. I was quite glad when Ragnar finally said goodbye. It was excruciating to watch his character disintegrate. Plus, it awfully slowed down the pace of the story. After the writer got out of this major crisis, the story started working again, only to bring more disappointment in the final episode. Twice the number of episodes apparently wasn’t a good move. (18/05/2018)