Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 21, 2020

While it’s been perhaps easy to write off Vikings as a Game of Thrones wannabe, it also may be too facile to think of the series in that context. Even I have drawn comparisons between this series and the venerated HBO spectacle in my reviews of the two volumes of the series' fifth season (see below for links), but over the course of the years I’ve been watching Vikings, I’ve become increasingly aware of its own strengths. Yes, the two shows are probably going to be unavoidably linked in some viewers’ minds for any number of reasons, even though Vikings purportedly is more fact based (more about that later). But as Vikings reaches its endgame (this sixth season has already been announced as the series’ last, though, again as in the case of Game of Thrones, a follow up series is evidently in development), the series continues to develop the interrelationships between its gaggle of characters rather smartly, and this first half of the final season delivers a few surprises. Those surprises include yet another link to Game of Thrones in a way, since fans of that series and this series have probably learned through experience that even ostensible major characters can "depart" (to use a euphemism). Without posting any spoilers in that regard, my best advice is to not get too attached to anyone as Vikings marauds its way to its finale.

Due to the vagaries of changing labels and/or distributors, as well as to our various reviewers assigned to them, unfortunately we've only covered the first season and then the fifth, before this final sixth season. For the volumes we have reviewed, please click on the following links:

Vikings: The Complete First Season Blu- ray review

Vikings: Season 5, Volume 1 Blu-ray review

Vikings: Season 5, Volume 2 Blu-ray review

In terms of the series' overall "historical accuracy", even creator, writer and showrunner Michael Hirst and one of his historical advisors Justin Pollard discuss in their commentary on this volume's final episode, Best Laid Plans, that while "everything is true" (in Hirst's words), they've of course taken liberties with certain elements, including some rather radical telescoping of time in aspects like when some Vikings became Christian. In terms of telescoping time, it's kind of interesting to note that Hirst and Pollard kind of ironically also mention how they've spent a lot of time developing the story of Bjorn Ironside (Alexander Ludwig), and how the series could in fact be seen as largely being Bjorn's story. Again while trying to avoid out and out spoilers, there's a certain additional irony to this ostensible focus in terms of its "endgame" (albeit more like a halftime, given that there's still a second half of the season to come).

However, even Hirst's insistence that "everything is true" must certainly be taken with a grain or two of salt with regard to another focal character, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick), whose "historical" presence is at least as much the product of folklore and myth as it is of any "authoritative" historical source. However, as is documented in one of the other supplements included with this release, Lagertha's story as fashioned (or refashioned, if you prefer) by Hirst has allowed for a really fascinating, multifaceted character whose story, like Bjorn's in fact, has certain calamitous repercussions in this first half of the season.

The series, perhaps because its creative staff knows the end is in sight, has some increasingly stylized elements in this volume. Some of these may strike some viewers as overly "arty" or even pretentious, but for me personally they actually helped to evoke a certain poetic majesty at times, as if we as viewers were gathered around a figurative campfire to hear yarns of yore told by some elder. There's an unabashed feeling of devastation that intrudes in several of the episodes in this volume, with even Pollard mentioning Gotterdammerung in his commentary, and so it will be interesting to see if the show can wrest some kind of happy ending for someone out of the mayhem.

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is very much in line with the video presentation in both volumes of Season 5 on Blu-ray, and that's a very good thing. While once again the show understandably utilizes a surplus of icy cold blues and grays, there are also a number of much warmer looking sequences (often interior scenes) that tend to be almost sepia toned, with nicely burnished browns, taupes and even oranges. Fine detail continues to impress even in some of the more heavily graded scenes, with fabrics on costumes and textures of various structures looking precise and often virtually palpable. CGI can occasionally look slightly soft, but a lot of the most impressive set pieces here look like they were done with practical props, and as such can often look remarkably sharp and well defined.

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 features an often powerful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that regularly engages the surround channels. There's some really interesting music in several of the episodes in this volume, including tunes by some contemporary Norwegian and Danish groups that evoke chant like sensibilities, and some of the percussion effects can also be quite forceful. A glut of outdoor material, as well as the expected battles that erupt, provide excellent use of the side and rear channels for various effects. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track. Optional English subtitles are available.

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc Two

• Deleted Scenes

  All the Prisoners Episode, Scene 412 (1080p; 00:43)

  
  

  All the Prisoners Episode, Scene 432 (1080p; 00:25)

  
  

  Death and the Serpent Episode, Scene 621 (1080p; 2:08)

  
  Note: All of the deleted scenes have timecodes both under the image and in the actual frame at the top center. These have been authored separately but there is a Play All option.

Disc Three

• Deleted Scenes

  Valhalla Can Wait Episode, Scene 813 (1080p; 1:08)

  
  

  Resurrection Episode, Scene 914B (1080p; 1:04)

  
  

  The Best Laid Plans Episode, Scene 1003 Part 2 (1080p; 00:40)

  
  

  The Best Laid Plans Episode, Scene 1003 Part 3 (1080p; 2:30)

  
  Note: All of the deleted scenes have timecodes both under the image and in the actual frame at the top center. These have been authored separately but there is a Play All option.

• The Legacy of Lagertha (1080p; 6:44) focuses on the actual historical antecedents of the character and how her challenges this season.


• The Creator's Audio Commentary - The Best Laid Plans features Michael Hirst, with Justin Pollard.

There are no supplements on Disc One of this three disc set.

Vikings: Season 6, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vikings is apparently going for the gusto as it approaches its finale, and while the body count may strike some as disturbingly high, the overall story is nicely detailed and often quite compelling. How Michael Hirst and his team are going to wrap this thing up without approaching near Hamlet-esque levels of mortality is anyone's guess, but I for one am anxious to see them try. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements, while pretty slight, enjoyable. Recommended.