'Vikings' Season 6 Episode 7 Review: Stunning camera work and an emotional narrative end Lagertha's chapter
The final season of 'Vikings' couldn't have gotten more emotional than Episode 7 'Ice Maiden'. After Lagertha was stabbed (though mistakenly) by Hvitserk, it was obvious that this week's story will only be about the shieldmaiden who marked a century’s history of the Vikings.
Bidding her adieu, Ubbe, Torvi, and Gunhild, along with an entourage of all shieldmaidens and villagers of Kattegat gathered on the seashore for a grand funeral, paving her way to the halls of Aesir in Valhalla.
It was a funeral that the Vikings would have never seen before. And it was a scene we had never seen before on the show. Lagertha's funeral was spectacular, to say the least. But what touched us more than anything were the incredible scenes of the farewell.
Here's how it goes. According to tradition, a longboat is prepared with livestock, flowers and Lagertha's personal belongings. This time, to honor the great queen and mother of Norway (as Bjorn addressed her in his farewell speech), a young shieldmaiden sacrifices herself to join Lagertha on her journey to Valhalla.
Bjorn returns to Kattegat only to find that his mother his dead. In course of time, as the funeral boat sails into the frozen sea, archers light it up and the boat breaks through the ice into the deep sea.
The stone-cold air, the grey landscape fits in perfectly with the mood of the story, with Nordic folklore music playing in the background, enhancing the graveness of the scene.
And then it happens. Asa, the daughter of Torvi and Bjorn and Lagertha's granddaughter, rushes to the sea, wipe off the frost from the frozen surface to catch a glimpse of the dead queen.
She was raised with her grandma's stories of the Valkyries and Odin, and how to achieve ultimate salvation in Valhalla. Asa remembers Lagertha telling stories of her grandfather Ragnar and his victories.
She sees in the ocean below (or perhaps it is her innocent vision) that Lagertha’s dead body slowly sinks to the ocean bed while being surrounded by angels on horses.
The camera work in the ending scene is particularly admirable. The underwater shot of Katheryn Winnick is the most incredible of all. But the best is yet to come.
As her body touches the ocean bed, she lies next to a sand sculpture of Ragnar, frozen in time, waiting for her to join him in the afterlife. Along with the voiceover of Lagertha as she says "In our dreams, we are always together", her body turns into a sand sculpture and slowly the two disappear in the dust.
Touching, emotional to the core, and breathtakingly beautiful, 'Ice Maiden' will remain the most memorable episode of this season.