• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • The Muppet Christmas Carol: Michael Caine as Scrooge

      The Muppet’s Christmas Carol remains the gold standard for the book

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 20, 2022
    • Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 1

      2022’s Christmas Movie Watchlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 18, 2022
    • Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio Poster

      REVIEW: GDT’s Pinocchio is my favorite film of the year!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 14, 2022
    • Troll: Ine Marie Wilmann as Nora

      REVIEWS: TROLL and TROLL HUNTER -A giant creature double feature!

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 5, 2022
    • Harry with The Hendersons

      Harry and the Hendersons is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2022
    • Fantastic Four Poster

      The five best “rogues galleries” in superherodom! (part 3)

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 28, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Matrix Keanu Reeves Neo 2

      1999 was a Mt. Vesuvius of pop culture

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 25, 2019
      Movie Blogs, Music
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said “Nevermind” to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
  • TV
    Featured
    • Big Sky S03e05: Kylie Bunbury, J. Anthony Pena and Katheryn Winnick as Cassie Dewell, Mo Poppernak and Jenny Hoyt

      Big Sky S03E05 Review: Flesh and Blood - Glamping!

      By Salome G
      | October 22, 2022
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • Big Sky S03e10: Gang

      Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Rick And Morty: S01e03

      Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e09: Dedee Pfeiffer and Cree as Denise and Emily

      Big Sky S03E09: Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire – Stalling

      By Salome G
      | December 1, 2022
    • The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special: Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff as Drax and Mantis

      REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S01: The Gang

      The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Big Sky S03e08: Reba McEntire as Sunny Barnes

      Big Sky S03E08 Review: Duck Hunting – I love a weirdo.

      By Salome G
      | November 19, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Splatoon 3 Screenshot

      A trio of Nintendo Switch reviews!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 28, 2022
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • AEW All Out 2022: Keith Lee. Anthony Bowens, Max Caster and Billy Gunn

      AEW All Out 2022 - Review and (wild) Speculation!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 5, 2022
      AEW
    Recent
    • article placeholder

      How Long Is WWE Live Holiday Tour?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      How Long Does It Take for WWE 2K22 to Load?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      How Long Does WWE Last in Person?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      How Long Did RVD Hold the WWE Title?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      How Does the Ring Break in WWE?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
    • article placeholder

      How Do You Win WWE if Its Staged?

      By Coder
      | September 29, 2023
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • How Long Is WWE Live Holiday Tour?
    • How Long Does It Take for WWE 2K22 to Load?
    • How Long Does WWE Last in Person?
    • How Long Did RVD Hold the WWE Title?
    • How Does the Ring Break in WWE?
    • How Do You Win WWE if Its Staged?

    Vikings S05E16: The Buddha – A tale of faith and mothers

    By Kevin Boyle
    | January 4, 2019
    TV Blogs

    The Buddha finds the many different strands of stories that have filled this fifth season pausing for breath in order to find their bearings. After the one-two punch of the calm before and the battle between King Alfred and King Harald’s forces, as well as what’s going on with Floki in Iceland and what’s happening in Kattegat, the world of Vikings has become something of a sprawling mess. Even so, the last two episodes felt like the show was beginning to find a semblance of its mojo again, and The Buddha continues this slight uptick in form while also exposing some of this season’s greatest failures. 

    The greatest of these failures is the handling of Lagertha. Since the show’s humble beginnings, Lagertha has been a fan favorite, a woman who is more than a match for the her male counterparts in fighting prowess, ruling a kingdom, and growing old with an absence of wrinkles to show for it (I’ll grant you that most of the first generation cast have aged ridiculously well, apart from Rollo). Lagertha makes only a brief appearance in The Buddha, but she casts a shadow over all proceedings. The episode opens with Heahmund dead on the field of battle (can you say hallelujah!) with a clearly traumatized Lagertha looking down at the lifeless corpse of the man she loved. This should play as a huge moment, and the episode certainly wants us to believe that Lagertha has, in Torvi’s words, come to the end of reason, but I personally can’t get invested in this narrative choice because I could never buy into their relationship in the first place. In fact, I believe that Lagertha’s affair with Heahmund amounts to nothing less than a character assassination.

    Vikings S05e9 Jonathan Rhys Meyers Bishop Heahmund Katheryn Winnick Lagertha

    Let’s look back on this relationship now that we have the full picture. It’s true that Vikings has previously elevated certain story choices by implementing an ending to said stories that show a grander design that was hidden up until this point. The first half of season four had Ragnar languishing in a plot where he basically became a drug addict, but it led to the destruction of his legacy, an estrangement from his children, and his eventual death, all of which made the comparative slog of that arc more than worth it. With the full picture, we were able to see Michael Hirst’s meticulous design of how to bring this man, this living legend to his lowest point.

    It seems that Hirst wants us to believe that this is Lagertha’s lowest point. This is something I can believe considering she had recently lost her kingdom, killed her former lover who betrayed her, had Rollo dropping the bombshell that he might be Bjorn’s father, and her having to flee to Wessex so Ivar couldn’t kill her. All of this is fine, but the relationship between Lagertha and Heahmund, in which his death is the final straw, hasn’t been earned.

    This is mainly due to the fact that Heahmund was clearly more important to Hirst, meaning the best female character in the entire show, who is also first-billed in the credits, is relegated to this idiot’s girlfriend. Poor show, Michael. It doesn’t help that this relationship has been completely rushed because Hirst can’t be bothered to show why these two love each other, outwith both of them being extremely attractive. This problem reaches further than Lagertha, which brings us to Bjorn. I think it’s the right choice for Bjorn and Harald to take on Ivar, and I like the pairing of Bjorn and Gunnhild, but these decisions seem to come out of nowhere, something that isn’t helped by Bjorn feeling fairly rudderless with the only progression being which new woman wants to sleep with him.

    Vikings S05e16 Alexander Ludwig Bjorn

    Vikings S05e16 Georgia Hirst Ragga Ragnars Gunnhild Torvi

    Even with these complaints, complaints that are systemic rather than present just in this episode, there is still a lot going on in The Buddha that is intriguing. Surprisingly, the eponymous Buddha story-line featuring Hvitserk struck a chord with me. It’s perfectly natural for the least of Ragnar’s sons (While Magnus is illegitimate, he has still made a bigger impression in less time) to not only question his decisions but to also question his faith. I would be questioning my faith if my brother was making such a mockery of it by not only thinking he’s a god, but that the gods don’t seem to be punishing him for it. Plus, the scene between Hvitserk and Ivar was genuinely hilarious, mainly because Ivar wasn’t as pantomime villain as usual.

    Vikings S5e16 Alex Hogh Andersen Ivar Boneless

    Vikings S05e16 Marco Ilso Hvitserk

    Finally, we have the biggest moment of The Buddha, a moment that is both brilliant while also highlighting another of the show’s systemic problems. I’ve said that Michael Hirst cares far too much about what’s going on in England at the expense of the actual stars of the show, the Vikings. I still feel that way, but it was still extremely satisfying to see Judith kill Aethelred in service of protecting Alfred. My fondness for this particular moment has nothing to do with these two characters, though it is fun to watch Judith go slowly mad, I’m thrilled that another terrible and boring character has been offed for the second week in a row. Since this nonsense is now over with it will be interesting to see how Alfred takes this new twist once he’s regained consciousness.

    6/10 – While I’ve spent most of this review taking the show to task on its bigger problems, The Buddha was an entertaining episode that sows the seeds for better things to come in the future.

    Tags

    Vikings

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    4 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Stargazer
    Stargazer
    4 years ago

    Although this TV show has a very big influence on religion, mixing Buddhism to the mix just made the show even murkier. I also wish that they will conclude Floki’s story so we can have more time unraveling the story of Ragnar’s sons.

    0
    Reply
    Thatcher
    Thatcher
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Stargazer

    What confuses me is that the show often stays true to Viking history, but I’m not sure about Buddhism. Was Buddhism commonly found during that time?

    0
    Reply
    Snarky-Guru
    Snarky-Guru
    4 years ago

    So far this season, it’s seemed that Lagertha’s been sidelined to a supportive role instead of acting as the intelligent and brave woman that we’ve known her to be. You can’t just rewrite her with a different personality.

    0
    Reply
    Sharq
    Sharq
    4 years ago

    Lagertha’s storyline has been on a downhill run for a while but it would really be anti-climatic if this is how it ended. However, I suspect she may re-emerge in some kind of plot twist.

    0
    Reply

    You might also like

    • Vikings S05E14: The Lost Moment / S05E15: Hell – This is much more like it!

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 27, 2018
    • Vikings S05E13: A New God – I don’t care about Wessex!

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 13, 2018
    • Vikings S05E12: Murder Most Foul – How can this much sex and death be so dull?

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 7, 2018
    • Vikings S05E11: The Revelation – Rollo’s return is the high point of a disappointing premiere

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 29, 2018
    • Vikings S05E10: Moments of Vision – A stirring mid-season finale nearly makes season five worth it

      By Kevin Boyle
      | January 25, 2018
    • Vikings S05E09: A Simple Story – An episode that gets lost while looking for a new direction

      By Kevin Boyle
      | January 18, 2018
    • Vikings S05E08: The Joke – That battle barely shook the TV, never mind ending the world

      By Kevin Boyle
      | January 12, 2018
    • Vikings S05E07: Full Moon – An unsubtle episode with a hollow metaphor at its heart

      By Kevin Boyle
      | January 4, 2018
    • Vikings S05E06: The Message – With everyone re-grouping Vikings becomes the worst version of itself

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 28, 2017
    • Vikings S05E05: The Prisoner – An exciting episode brings the season a much-needed focus

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 21, 2017
    • Vikings S05E04: The Plan – Five stories compete for top spot and no one wins

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 14, 2017
    • Vikings S05E03: Homeland – It’s the Battle of York in a thrilling episode

      By Kevin Boyle
      | December 7, 2017
    • Vikings S05E01 & E02: The Departed – A new chapter begins

      By Kevin Boyle
      | November 30, 2017
    • Vikings S04E20: The Reckoning – A transitional season of Vikings ends with more transition

      By Kevin Boyle
      | February 2, 2017

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    TV Topics

    Recommended for you

    • Big Sky S03E10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock – Break time…

      By Salome G
      | December 11, 2022
    • Is Beth from Rick and Morty a bigger sociopath than Rick?

      By Jason Collins
      | December 7, 2022
    • REVIEW: The GOTG Holiday Special is a sweet prelude to next year’s finale

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 27, 2022
    • The Midnight Club S1 Review – A series of unfortunate events

      By Salome G
      | November 24, 2022
    • Doctor Who 2022 October Special Review: The Power of the Doctor – Lackluster

      By Jason Collins
      | October 25, 2022
    • Can the Doctor regenerate into a previous incarnation?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 23, 2022
    • Is the Tardis more sentient plant or machine?

      By Jason Collins
      | October 10, 2022
    • Star Trek Strange New Worlds – Season two wishlist!

      By Matthew Martin
      | September 14, 2022
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Every episode ranked! (Part 5/5)

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2023 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz