Vikings Valhalla, Season 2, Episode 1 Review

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After about a year’s wait, it’s finally time to get caught up again with our trio of intrepid Vikings, Harald Sigurdsson – who believes he’s the rightful King of Norway; Leif Eriksson – a Greenlander looking to make his own name outside the shadow of his infamous father, Eric the Red; and Leif’s sister, Freydis Eriksdotter – another Greenlander seeking her place in the world. Over the course of the first season, the three became fast friends and war partners, and Freydis and Harald became lovers.

So, how was the first episode of this new season? Did it stand up to the story told in the first season? Well, read on if you’d like my opinion on that (and I certainly hope you do! 🙂 )

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD

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Anti-Woke Idiocy: Pink Floyd Edition

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Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album jacket, showing a white triangle representing a prism in the center of the image, with a white beam of light coming up to the triangle at a shallow, upword angle and bars in the colors of the rainbow exiting the other side at a shallow, downword angle

Pink FLoyd has long been known as a fairly progressive band – not just musically, but also in terms of their social and political views. Apparently, not all of their “fans” have noticed this.

Pink Floyd recently announced that they’re issuing a special edition of their classic “Dark Side of the Moon” album to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its release, and as part of the packaging, they’ve created a new logo for it:

Pink Floyd 50th Anniversary of "Dark Side of the Moon" featuring the number 50 superimposed over a triangle, with verticle rainbow colored bars filling the zero.
Pink Floyd’s new album logo for the 50th Anniversary of the “Dark Side of the Moon.”
For anyone who’s seen the original cover, the inspiration for the new logo is obvious, even the inclusion of the rainbow colored bars. But as Prog Magazine reported, not everyone who claims to be a Floyd fan is actually familar with (a) their political views and (b) the cover of their most famous album. How do they know this? Because following the reveal of the special logo, Twitter went a bit nuts for a while with people claiming to be long-time fans outraged that Pink Floyd has “gone woke” and is now championing LGTBQ+ causes. A few examples:

Sampling of Tweets complaining about PInk Floyd going “woke”
While several people responded to point out the idiocy of the anti-woke crowd, one person hit the nail on the head, saying

“Some people here took ‘we don’t need no education’ too seriously.”

David Crosby 1941 – 2023

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David Crosby with an extremely large joint

David Crosby, a singer and guitarist who played with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash/Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, has passed away at 81. According to Slate:

The Croz, who died Thursday at the age of 81 following a “long illness,” embodied the rebellious, abrasive, creatively innovative spirit of late-’60s California as well as anyone of his time. As the co-founder of two of the greatest American rock bands—the Byrds, and Crosby, Stills & Nash (& sometimes Young)—Crosby played an indelible role in some of the most influential tunes of the folk-rock era: for the Byrds, songs like “Eight Miles High” and their covers of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn!” (both No. 1 hits), and for CSN(Y), tracks like “Guinnevere,” “Wooden Ships,” and “Almost Cut My Hair.” He also played with several other notable artists of the period, adding his jazzy six-string licks and vocal harmonies to recordings by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Carole King, and onetime girlfriend Joni Mitchell (whose career took off because of Crosby, and who later broke up with his cheating ass by penning a song about it).

One of Rock’s great elder statesmen, Crosby had a long and prolific career. His last studio album, “For Free” was released in 2021, and was followed by a live album in 2022.

Vikings Valhalla: Season 2, Episode 1 Recap

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Harald, Leif and Freydis stand on an icy field with the words "Vikings Valhalla" overhead.

Welcome to my first recap and review of Vikings Valhalla Season 2! Given how much I enjoyed the first season, I’ve been looking foreword to this for a while. There are 8 episodes this season, and Netflix has released all of them. I’ll be spacing out my recaps and reviews a bit, however, so people have time to see the shows first, as there will be spoilers in these recaps.

This recap begins after the jump. The review will be in a separate post.

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…and Domestic

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A man with very short cropped black hair, wearing glasses, a black jacket, grey t-shirt and khaki pants is being arrested by two heavily armed police officers wearing bulletproof vests over their uniform tops.

We were reminded again yesterday of the growing threat domestic terrorism poses. From the AP:

A failed Republican state legislative candidate who authorities say was angry over losing the election last November and made baseless claims that the election was “rigged” against him was arrested Monday in connection with a series of drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico’s largest city.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina held a news conference Monday evening hours after SWAT officers arrested Solomon Pena at his home.

The AP also noted:

Police said Pena, an election denier, had approached county and state lawmakers after his loss claiming the contest had been rigged against him despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in New Mexico in 2020 or 2022. The shootings began shortly after those conversations.

The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, state Rep. Javier Martinez’s home was targeted. On Dec. 11, more than a dozen rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, police said.

The final related shooting, targeting state Sen. Linda Lopez’s home, unfolded in the midnight hour of Jan. 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired, including three that Lopez said passed through the bedroom of her sleeping 10-year-old daughter.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the shootings, but four families have been traumatized, or perhaps I should say four more as they are hardly alone.

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“Vikings”, “Vikings Valhalla”, History and Faith

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Poster for the Vikings Valhalla series, showing Harald Sigurdsson, Leif Eriksson and Freydis Eriksdottir holding their weapons in a battle-ready stance, standing around and on top of a smoldering pile of bones, ash and ruined weapons.

Netflix has released all 8 episodes for the second season of Vikings Valhalla, something I have very much been looking forward to. Before I start writing reviews of the episodes, however, I thought I would offer some thoughts on the show and its predecessor, Vikings, along with comments on the show’s portrayal of the characters’ faith and the clash between the Heathen Norse and the Christian English. There are no spoilers for the new season of Valhalla in this article, though I will write openly about events from the first season and from the original Vikings series.

A handsome Viking man with his hair in a topknot and with a neatly trimmed beard looks off into the distance.
Leo Suter as Harald Sigurdsson
One thing that’s important to remember when watching shows like this is that they are dramas first and foremost and are not intended to be seen as historically accurate – which is kind of ironic since the first series aired on the History Channel. It’s best to assume that, while some things are based on actual history, most of it is fictional.

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