Sacrifice

Nothing Happened except 30 mins of blood and killing disgusting and disturbing

This episode has it all,the vibe @ the holy festival is so damn realistic <3 This is television in his purest form!

This episode raises the important question.

How many people has religion killed? How many people have died needlessly for the thousands of superstitions and cults, several of the larger which still survive to this day at the expense (quite literally in many cases) of their followers.

This is the 21st century and yet we still follow these ridiculous patterns handed down to us from our ignorant forebears.

We should be aghast at ourselves for to still believe in unfounded tales of olde whilst wistfully searching for the imaginary and ephemeral instead of recognising and understanding the absolute reality and magnificence of the universe and the limitless wonders contained herein.

The fact that so much of this show rings true today, 1200 years later is a tragic testament to our lack of advancement as a species and the shame is all ours.

Still, a bloody good watch, though, aye?

This feels very calm for a prenultimate episode. I had hope for the Athelstan character in the beginning, as i thought he was going to be an integral part of plot. I don't like what they're doing with the character. He just ask daft questions and does basically nothing. Tho there's a slight development for him in this episode. I just hope he will be utilized in a way that's very relevant to the story in the future. The episode is basically just people praying and calling gods name. While I enjoyed it and we get to see some weird Viking's traditions but I find it to be way overplayed at this point. We've had enough of that already. That being said, there's actually interesting part that involves Ragnar pledging fealty to King Horik, I'm sure this is going to play a vital role in the coming episode. I liked that Rollo part as well.

"Sacrifice" kept me thoroughly unnerved throughout the episode as they toyed with Athelstan's fate, while also effectively capturing the Norse religious beliefs in all their beautiful, unsettling and trippy nature. In terms of overall development in the story and characters, there isn't a lot, but it is still a decent watch overall.