‘Vikings’ Season 6 Episode 6 Review: Katheryn Winnick ends Lagertha’s journey with award-winning performance
For almost a century, Lagertha’s story inspired and moved us, making us look up to her as a historical icon. A mother, wife, warrior, shield-maiden, Viking chieftain, and an inspiration for Viking women, she told us the story of her rise and fall, her struggles, her adventures, her dreams, and standing tall through the tides of time.
For six seasons of History Channel’s ‘Vikings’, Lagertha had become a female character to look up to, earning fanfare from all over. Despite being an 8th-century character, her portrayal was also quite apt for today's women. Her emotional strength, resilience, charm, and warmth came together to make her the ultimate woman. Ending the scene, as she takes her last breath, she also admits the same and says, “I feel fulfilled now.”
And had it not been for Katheryn Winnick, we don’t think it would have done justice to the character.
We have seen Winnick grow as an actor and the character over six seasons and we are overwhelmed with her performance, especially in Episode 6 of the final season, which ends with her death. From a naïve wife of a Viking farmer to becoming one of the most powerful female warriors of her time, Katheryn nailed her role as Lagertha.
Her character obviously had gone through multitudes of ups and downs. Whether it was the affectionate and protective mother, the loving wife, the aggressive soldier, or the diplomatic queen, Katheryn nailed every shade of Lagertha, making her shine like no other.
For any actor, it is not always easy to paint all tones of a character on the same canvas, especially when the story has been running for six long seasons and spanning a timeline of a century and still counting. It is only the excellence of an actor that drives the ball out of the park and keeps the performance refreshing every time.
There might have been a few downtimes, where we felt Lagertha’s character slacked, but even before we could delve deeper into it, she bounced back with another hard-hitting episode. But what leaves us in awe and admiration is her work in Episode 6 of Season 6, when she fights her last fight against Whitehair, and then accepts her death in Hvitserk’s hands, remembers her life full circle, and ends with the most emotional monologue.
Apart from her performance which swept us all off our feet, Winnick has also directed and co-produced some of the episodes on ‘Vikings’, taking her contribution to the long-running show to another level.
Although her journey of a Viking warrior ends with her death, and she is on her way to Valhalla, we are still hopeful that this is not the final goodbye, at least for the actor, and we should be able to see her soon at some point before the season finale.
The final season of ‘Vikings’ airs every Wednesday, at 10 pm, only on History Channel.