Vikings: Valhalla 'The Bridge' -- Leif's ingenuity powers Canute's victory

Vikings: Valhalla Season 1 Episode 4 Recap and Review

The centrepiece of this episode was the massive, well choreographed battle that was the culmination of the Viking move from Norway. But before we get to that, I’d like to spend some time discussing a small quiet scene between Leif and King Canute.

Three episodes in, and we still did not know much about King Canute, the leader of the massive Viking force that gathered to exact vengeance from the Saxons. He gave a rousing speech in the first episode. He seemed a fair leader who took the time to listen to his jarls. On the strength of Bradley Freegard’s performance, I have liked what I’ve seen of King Canute so far. 

‘The Bridge’ took his characterisation a step forward. When Harald laid out Leif’s plan to the King and his jarls, after pointing out the difficulties of Olaf’s plans, King Canute told them to look for another way. In the presence of his most important leaders, he did not just take the side of a Greenlander who was very much a newcomer to their alliance, who was not even a volunteer but was only forced to be there to pay his sister’s legal debt. Later, however, Canute quietly approached Leif and explained that he needed to be convinced. Leif’s plan was good, but Canute would risk the lives of 10,000 men on the actions of six, most of them with no ties to Norway. He needed a reason to do that. He needed a reason to trust Leif the way Harald did.

Leif honestly told him he did not care about the expedition’s success. This was not Leif’s fight. He did not lose family in the massacre on St. Brice’s Day as most of the Vikings fighting did. He was not betrayed by the Saxons after decades of living in peace with them. A battle he would fight to live, and if he lived he could return to Kattegat, take his sister, and return home to Greenland. Leif was an outsider to this quest for vengeance, and he did not pretend otherwise.

But, the plan he proposed involved putting in danger his friends who traveled with him from Greenland. They had already lost Ulf. Once the plan was in motion, their only hope to survive was for it to succeed. They would risk their lives for me, Leif said of his friends. Indeed, they have. Leif might not care about the strangers he was forced to fight with, but he cared, deeply, for the friends who followed him through the dangerous open ocean, through huge storms, through battle. On the strength of his word they abandoned their home. Canute could trust that Leif would do everything he could to make sure they saw it again. 

Briefly, they also bonded over being sons of fathers whose legacy loomed large over their own lives. Demonstrating that he was different from past Viking leaders, Canute also had empathy for young Edmund. He said he had been Edmund, the son of a great warrior king. He understood the desire to stand in his own light. When Canute asked Leif how he planned to get through the marshes, it was obvious that he had made up his mind. 

Leif called it a new Viking ship, but it was basically a wooden paddle board that could be used to navigate the marshes via the waterways rather than the roads that were watched. The small group comprised of Harald, Leif and the remaining Greenlanders Skarde, Njal, and Liv, and someone whose name I did not get because there should be six of them (Ulf died in the last episode). They approached the Saxon camp silently. Shooting arrows up whilst lying down and floating on the paddles was an excellent use of prop. Once they had killed all the Saxon soldiers watching the marshes, they transferred to two boats and used tarps to cover themselves, so that the boats looked like they just carried merchant cargo. Harald and company jumped under the bridge and hid there until sunrise. 

Whilst Canute led the army on land, Olaf sailed three boats, but stayed well out of range of the Saxon archers. Canute on horseback led his army through the bridge, their axes beating against their shields in the rhythmic tone of battle, a good cover for the work that was being done under the bridge. Covered by the noise of the army, Leif and his crew used their axes to weaken the foundations of the bridge. When Canute ordered silence, they stopped work under the bridge too, but by that time, there was already notable damage to the wide wooden foundations.

Atop the battlements of the Saxon camp, Edmund stood with Emma and Godwin near him. Emma quietly gave the order to acknowledge the parley with Canute, and told Edmund to keep the King of Norway busy until Streona arrived. But Canute was a man with a plan, and he successfully goaded Edmund into leaving the relative safety of his position.

It was a masterful performance by Canute, and Mr. Freegard. He called Edmund a coward. He challenged him to come out and battle with honour, man to man, or with his troops, right there on the bridge. Edmund was losing it. He called for an archer to break the parley and shoot at Canute; Emma had a rush to him and stop him. Canute did not miss the dynamics on the battlements. He knew that the brains behind the Saxon defence was the beautiful woman next to Edmund.

Why did Godwin signal the soldiers to open the gates as the mad King Edmund ordered? He was quiet as a servant would be whilst the Saxon and Viking Kings talked, but he side eyed Edmund’s Joffrey-esque performance compared to the dignity and strength of Canute. Did Godwin already know from that conversation that the Saxons had lost? Perhaps. He might have bet on King Canute at that time, but I believe he mostly bet on himself, on his ability to worm his way into power no matter who had the crown. And so despite Emma’s vocal protest, Edmund who could not even win a one on one sword fight with Godwin led his troops into battle. 

At first, it looked like Edmund was gaining ground on the battle. He and his troops were able to push Canute’s army off the bridge. But Emma saw what was happening under the bridge and knew it was a trap. She sent Godwin to bring back Edmund.

As soon as the tide started turning, Olaf’s three ships sailed closer to the bridge. Leif’s band used arrows to shoot ropes toward the waiting ships. Though Emma turned her bowmen at them, Olaf and his men were able to row outside of range again, this time, with the tide helping them pull down the bridge. It was not enough, however. Leif had to take out his axe and continue chopping at the foundation whilst Olaf roared at his men to row.

Emma turned her archers toward the men under the bridge. Skarde was hit, then Liv. After ordering the sails raised, Olaf pushed one of the oarsman away and rowed himself. Leif and Harald jumped into the water as the bridge rumbled and fell.

Godwin reached Edmund on the other side of the bridge and told him what Emma figured out, that the Vikings were trying to bring down the bridge and trap him there. Behind Canute, hundreds of Vikings came out of hiding, a larger army than the one Edmund had on his back. He tried to ride back as Emma instructed, but it was too late. The bridge fell and he was trapped.

Streona arrived to see that the bridge had fallen. He had a large army with him but he decided not to fight. He figured that since Edmund wanted the glory of battle, let him taste defeat. Streona also alluded to greater victory to be gained.

In the end, Emma’s caution about crowing Edmund turned out to be right. ‘Bring me the boy king. Bring me England.’ Edmund was England, and when he fell to Canute, so did the land of the Saxons.

Strays

⚔️At their meeting with the King, Harald said Olaf’s plan would not work because the bridge has been fortified with armed towers. If they stormed the gates, they would lose a thousand men before they reached it. Olaf countered that they could simply raid England until they ran out of food. Harald said the Saxons were prepared for that, they were well stocked for a siege. Edmund was the key, take him and they would take England. It was like Emma was in their minds and saw their moves in advance. 

⚔️Edmund, Emma, and Godwin went to meet Streona with his army. Now that they had established that the Mercians were camped protecting the north, they were to cross the Thames and bring their army to Canute’s rear, trapping him between the river and the swamp. Edmund gave the order and claimed the plan, but Streona knew this was Emma’s doing.

⚔️From Streona’s point of view, the Mercians were taking all the risk whilst Edmund remained behind his walls with his army. In exchange for this, he wanted Mercia to be independent once more. Emma cooly told him to gather his army and leave; once Canute had taken London, he would come for Mercia. Streona was about to leave when Edmund countered with an offer to double Mercia’s lands. Streona kept looking at Emma through this exchange, he knew where the real power was.

⚔️As much as I dislike Olaf, I’d like to acknowledge that he worked really hard on that boat. He didn’t like Leif’s plan, but he gave his all to see that it worked. His face changed, however, as Harald and Leif were cheered by the men. 

⚔️’Hail the Greenlander!’

Rating: A

Writer: Declan Croghan

Director: Steve Saint Leger

Original Air Date: February 25, 2022