Spoiler Alert! Reader Beware. As the episode opens, King Ecbert (Linus Roache) has decided to deliver his ‘frenemy’ Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) into the hands of King Aella, who will very happily kill the viking leader. Tormented by guilt at this decision, Ecbert agrees to Ragnar’s request to speak alone with his son before Ecbert sends Ivar back […]
Vikings Season 4: Episode 14, The Uncertain Hour Before the Morning
The action this week swings between Kattegat and Wessex, and the face-offs between Lagertha/Aslaug and Ragnar/Ecbert that we have all been eagerly anticipating. Kudos to the actors, whose expressions convey a wide range of emotions – doubt, fear, anxiety, understanding, astonishment, suspicion. For a show that glories in sweeping battle scenes, this episode is dialogue-rich […]
Vikings Season 4: Episode 13, Two Journeys
In this episode Lagertha starts a war, Rollo goes swimming, and Ragnar takes Ivar on a road trip. In Hedeby Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) is plotting with her girlfriends to take back Kattegat, but Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith) and Sigurd (David Lindström), unlike their brothers, have opted to hang out at home and protect the town […]
Vikings Season 4: Episode 12, The Vision
The title of this episode, The Vision, refers to something that happened near the end of the hour, but I’m going to ignore that event because of spoilers. I’ll only note that my favorite part was the waterspout and the breathtaking final scene. Much of the rest of the episode, similar to last week, was […]
Emma Hamilton: Seduction & Celebrity
Now largely remembered as the woman who captured the heart of the nation’s hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Emma Hamilton was an extraordinary woman in her own right. Sophia Tobin visits a new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum that celebrates her life. In the second room of the exhibition Emma Hamilton: Seduction and Celebrity, the teenage […]
The Crown: Netflix’s Royal Affair
‘Prepare to be welcomed into the coveted world of power and privilege….the leaders of an empire await,’ states the blurb on Netflix about The Crown. Whether or not you subscribe to the streaming service you will doubtless be aware of the eagerly anticipated new series about the reign of Elizabeth II from Peter Morgan, (of […]
Close to the Enemy: Episode One
Close to the Enemy (Episode 1/7, BBC Two, 10 November), written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, confronts, over seven episodes, important historical issues concerning the way we handle political evil. Set in Britain in 1947, the drama centres around two opposing forces among the victors of WWII: those who are investigating German nationals for alleged […]
The Last Days of Leda Grey by Essie Fox
Essie Fox has established a fine reputation as a writer of gothic novels and though her previous books have been set in Victorian times, the Edwardian era of silent movies seems like a very natural backdrop for gothic fiction. The images in these old flickering black and white films with their beautifully mute but vampish […]