Character Development: Siggy’s True Nature Resurfaces, Vikings “Unforgiven” 

Oh man, yet another brutal episode of HISTORY’s Vikings. Would we want it any other way? Not even for a second. Some thoughts about “Unforgiven” before I zero in on Siggy and what happened with her.

• King Ecbert turned to Athelstan for help in preserving Roman works. And, yes, he threatened the monk with crucifixion if he revealed any of what their doing. Poor Athelstan. Sure he’s become sort of right hand man-slash-confidante to Ecbert. But he’s still standing on severely unstable ground here. At any point the king could turn on him. I’m hoping for the Vikings to head back to Wessex and get him back. It’s purely for selfish reasons of course. It’s because I love Ragnar and Athelstan scenes so much. And Ragnar is clearly worried about his friend. Even though Floki and King Horik are not. And, yes, after this episode, Horik is on my shit list. Calling Athelstan a “worthless individual” is grounds. Don’t you think? As for Floki? He’s never been an Athelstan fan.  But I can’t stay mad at the guy for long.  He’s so awesome in every other way.

• Bjorn’s been bitten by the love bug. He has it bad for a slave girl named Porunn. We’ll see how this develops as the season continues. I do like how she’s not falling for him so easily.

• Shallow TV Alert: Rollo (Clive Standen) looked mighty beautiful in this episode. Just saying. It does the character good when he has his brother on his side (even though Ragnar doesn’t always show it) and he can get revenge on Jarl Borg. Rollo’s Revengenda was masterful and scary. Ragnar’s means of killing Jarl Borg was even scarier and I’m thankful they cut to black before we got to see any of it.

• Reason 500 why Lagertha is one of the best female characters on TV. We saw her go through something horrific. And she still remained badass. Her cowardly husband didn’t like that she returned to him sans his stepson, Bjorn. It made him look bad. He couldn’t have that. He told her he made other arrangements that night so she was on her own. Instead, he sent some men to attack her. She gave good fight, but she couldn’t fend multiple men off for long. They beat the crap out of her. And then at dinner, we saw Earl Sigvard being condescending and brutish. He possessively touched her as if she were his property. And you know you can’t do that to her. EVER. So when he tried to treat her like meat and show her “beautiful breasts” to all the diners, she stabbed him in the eye but good. Then one of his men came at her with a big sword. But instead of hurting Lagertha, he beheaded the lout. I hope Lagertha hightails it back to Ragnar and Bjorn. I don’t care what that will do to Aslaug. Those scenes — the attack and the dinner — were brutal and difficult to watch. I’m not going to lie.

Character Development: Siggy’s True Nature Resurfaces

Okay, on to Siggy. I loved her character development in this episode. I feel like ever since her husband — Earl Haraldson — died, we haven’t been seeing the real Siggy. It seems she’s been patient. Her ambitious urges have been on simmer waiting for the right moment to strike. Well, she certainly seems to think the time is now. The very first conversation of the episode was beyond telling. It was with the Seer and it really let us know what she’s been thinking this whole time.

Seer: “Tell me what it is you want. Are you unhappy? Do you think the gods have cheated you?

Siggy: “I want my old position back. I am bitter. And I am angry. Everything I had. Everything I possessed. Everything I was…has been stripped away from me. My anger is like a stone. A stone that I carry inside me that weighs me down. I cannot lift it.”

Seer: “In some ways you are still fortunate. Ragnar could have had you killed at the same time as your husband.”

Siggy: “I’m supposed to be eternally grateful to my husband’s killer…”

Seer: “I ask you once more why you have come here.”

Siggy: “I want to know…will the gods ever smile on me again?”

Seer: “The gods will always smile on brave women. Like the Valkyries. Those furies who men fear and desire.”

So she has never forgiven Ragnar. Not that I thought she would. This is Jessalyn Gilsig playing Siggy, people. She is an actress who excels at playing layered and shady. So glad they’ve finally started focusing on Siggy and her desire to be at the top once again. When you lose your standing, you’re always going to want to get back there. No matter what. Later in “Unforgiven,” she has quite the conversation with King Horik. She’s definitely trying to make her move on up.

King Horik: “Why do you invite me to your bed? Why do you tell me things about Ragnar?”

Siggy: “Everything I do, I do for Rollo.”

King Horik: “And not for yourself?”

Siggy: “If Rollo rises, I rise also.”

Her plan probably didn’t include sleeping with Horik’s son. But that’s what she does. While Horik watches. Ew. I thought it was funny when she told the King that she wasn’t going to do the same for his other sons. After all, she’s not a whore. And she’s not. She’s an opportunist. Horik tells her she won’t. But she’ll have to sleep with him. How is she going to keep this a secret from Rollo? Especially since Floki witnessed this last whispered sex-change between Horik and Siggy. That’s when we got the funniest part of the episode:

Siggy: Can you keep a secret?

Floki: Ha! No.

Season two continues to entertain. A sneaky Siggy is so welcome. I hope Ragnar et. al. make it to Wessex in the next episode. But not before we see Lagertha safe and sound and back in the fold. Vikings airs Thursdays at 10/9c on HISTORY.