The path of vengeance.
What They Say:
Episode 22. “Lone Wolf”
Thorfinn begins his duel against Askeladd with Canute and Thorkell as witnesses. However, Thorfinn is unable to strike as he stands overwhelmed by the extraordinary mood that overtakes Askeladd after Bjorn’s departure. Having noticed Thorfinn’s hesitation, Askeladd lays down his sword and provokes Thorfinn into an unarmed fight, which incites Thorfinn’s fury.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Thorfinn is in no condition to fight, mentally or physically.
Askeladd takes one look at the boy and immediately knows the fight is pointless. Thorfinn waits and tries to compose himself in his damaged state. Askeladd does what he does best, he pokes at Thorfinn’s weakness and gets under his skin. Askeladd tosses his sword aside and takes a grappling stance.
Thorfinn gives into his pride and rage and charges, and Askeladd proceeds in a one-sided beatdown as Thorkell and Canute watch. Thorkell was betting on Askeladd even before Thorfinn lost his temper. Askeladd is in a serious mindset, having just dealt with Bjorn’s final wish. He doesn’t have time to play with Thorfinn, the boy whom he has used to further his own ends. The boy cannot hope to best Askeladd while he acts in a blind rage.
Askeladd takes the quiet moment after the bout to explain to Thorfinn how to get revenge. We get the missing piece of Askeladd’s backstory as he tells the few gathered why he hates vikings. We already knew that he was an illegitimate child and that his mother was once Welsh nobility. What we didn’t know is how he managed to gain legitimacy, respect, affection, all on the way to framing his brother for his father’s murder. The turning point for the son of a slave was his father almost cutting down his ill mother in her madness.
It was his mother who used to tell him stories of the return of Artorius. She deeply believed that he would return someday as their savior. Askeladd believed that too until his father raised his sword.
The irony here is that Askeladd did what Thorfinn could not. He lifted his sword and plunged it into the chest of a sleeping man. Thorfinn thought to do that as a child and had opportunities to let Askeladd die many times. He failed to take that initiative. Thorfinn isn’t a ‘by any means’ fighter. He has some code, some pride, lying in there determined to prove he’s a better man than Askeladd.
Right now though? He’s just a screaming child throwing a tantrum.
In Summary:
Askeladd versus Thorfinn might be the backbone of this arc of Vinland Saga, but it’s not the driving force of the series. There are those who live to fight and those who fight to live. Thorfinn has been straddling that line. It makes you wonder if he ever expects to actually win against Askeladd or if he plans to die trying. This season is almost at a close, as is this contest of wills. Askeladd would see Canute become the leader the world needs, but will Thorfinn become the man his father wanted him to become? This adaptation has been almost perfectly paced, and I have high hopes they’ll be able to stick the landing.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Amazon
