Ok, frankly any appearance with Ray Stephenson is cool. Rome was the best series on television. Ever. Period. The guy was perfect as a Roman soldier, lots of fun as Blackbeard, and even credibly pulled off a gay East European Mafioso antagonist to Dexter.
But really what is going on? Why on earth would the Rus be invading Scandinavia? It is at this time Scandinavia is a relatively poor place chock full of fighting men. The Rus never did invade Scandinavian, for this specific reason and even fictionally it is ridiculous. Not even the norther Novogrod based ones. Vastly richer Byzantium and Arab lands to raid or trade with, as well as tribute and making serfs of weak non military slavic peoples nearby accessed by river systems in the areas of contemporary Russia and Ukraine, is what the Rus targeted.
And how are these 2,500 or so guys in a schiltron/quasi-phalanx with no shields???? mixing habalard, lots of ax, and a handful of spears is already weird, but the square formations you see all require shields as the constant. The Rus had already fought as mercenaries for, and raiders against, Constantinople, and to take the worse possible combination of Norse and medieval formation is beyond idiotic. The costume departments laughable Mongolian dress and armor for the Rus is one thing, many Vikings viewers can look past that, but completely absurd fighting formations is beyond the pale.
So who's taking bets on who was "resurrected." I don't even know. Hvitserk's looks like he took two or three of the twelves steps, but doesn't seem to be resurrected. Is it Athelstan/Ohthere? Freydis?
My guess is this jumble is a setup for a big mid-season battle. To me none of this is anywhere near as good as the Britain locations. I hope we get there soon
And how are these 2,500 or so guys in a schiltron/quasi-phalanx with no shields???? mixing habalard, lots of ax, and a handful of spears is already weird, but the square formations you see all require shields as the constant. The Rus had already fought as mercenaries for, and raiders against, Constantinople, and to take the worse possible combination of Norse and medieval formation is beyond idiotic. The costume departments laughable Mongolian dress and armor for the Rus is one thing, many Vikings viewers can look past that, but completely absurd fighting formations is beyond the pale.
So who's taking bets on who was "resurrected." I don't even know. Hvitserk's looks like he took two or three of the twelves steps, but doesn't seem to be resurrected. Is it Athelstan/Ohthere? Freydis?
My guess is this jumble is a setup for a big mid-season battle. To me none of this is anywhere near as good as the Britain locations. I hope we get there soon