Ragnarok – Season 3 Episode 1 “War Is Over” Recap & Review

War Is Over

Episode 1 of Ragnarok Season 3 starts with the ominous threat of Ragnarok on the horizon. It’s prophesized that when Ragnarok arrives, the cosmos will be completely destroyed, only for the world to begin again. And of course, this has been teased for the past few seasons now, will it be third time lucky?

The balance of power right now is hanging on a precarious knife edge. Magne is still fighting the Giants, but doing so using modern techniques and trying to get Fjor and the others arrested for their crimes. This causes a fracture among the Fellowship of the Gods, which dissolves in anger and frustration. The Giants however continue to thrive, with Jutul Industries growing stronger and more unpredictable under Fjor’s rule.

Mjolnir, tucked away on a dusty shelf and not used, calls out for Magne and with the inevitable battle on the horizon, our young Thor is on a collision course with the giants. And that’s before mentioning the serpent that Laurits has been growing in secret, having made a secret deal with the Giants in season 2. He heads over to check on it, as it consumes a duck whole.

Time passes and Magne decides to use the hammer again, launching Mjolnir, which knocks off a huge chunk of bedrock down onto the power plant outside Jutul Industries. Laurits speaks to Magne after this occurs, warning that he’s effectively broken the truce and war is going to come sooner rather than later. For the humans though, life goes on like normal, unaware that there’s a big fight coming.

Magne checks up on the power outage, which has been out in parts of Edda for a while, and runs into a woman looking to bring the power back on. This woman is Marit, and she works at the plant as an electrician.

Magne excitedly tells Wotan but he reminds the boy that there’s only way they’re going to stop the Giants, and he knows what that is. Still, Wotan calls a raven all the same and they manage to find her. Predictably, Marit refuses to indulge in the idea of testifying in court. That is, until Magne uses Marit’s wife Elisabeth as a tool to show what drives him, given his own lover was obviously killed several seasons back.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t make it through the night, given Marit is killed by Fjor to prevent her from testifying. The entire scene is staged to make it look like an accident, as if changing a lightbulb is too difficult a task for an electrician.

Elsewhere, Saxa is enslaved by her family, forced on her knees and doing the bidding of her brother, who is still running Jutul Industries. Not only that, but at home Saxa has a neck brace forced on. She overhears an expansion meeting while serving drinks to her family, as Fjor continues to try and build up his father’s legacy.

Fjor shows up to see Laurits that night, pointing out that his patience is running thin. With Magne now using the hammer, it jeopardizes the deal they made last time out. Laurits waves this away though, revealing that his serpent is growing.

Magne is livid and well and truly breaks the pact when he finds out about Marit. He shows up at Jutul Industries and confronts Fjor and Ran. He knocks the former down whilst holding Mjolnir, and points out that the pair have broken their pact.

Magne has had enough and reveals as much to Laurits, deciding that there’s no more truce. He also figures out that Laurits is playing for the wrong side. But before going further, their parents return home. Laurits decides that he’s going to leave, pointing out that his surname is now Jutul.

With his bags packed, Laurits shows up at the Jutul house and decides that he’s going to move in. Ran is having none of that though, and forces him out Unfortunately, that leaves Laurits all alone with his pet serpent.

With the battle lines now drawn, and the other Gods off around the world, Magne feels ore alone than ever before. As for his enemies, they continue to grow in power and stature, promising plenty of drama ahead.

The Episode Review

Ragnarok is back and this time, it seems like we’ve got our hands full with the various conflicts going on. Laurits, our very own Loki, is prepping his pet serpent to take out his enemies, while the giants over at Jutul Industries are growing stronger. With conventional methods no longer working for taking out these foes, it now falls to Magne and Mjolnir to try and instill some good ol’ fashioned justice.

But with the Fellowship broken, are we just waving away the fact it was disbanded because they weren’t happy with Magne’s methods and then 10 minutes later, Magne is back to wielding Mjolnir? It feels like a weak attempt to write people out the show, although personally it would have been nice to see a few killed off, to at least show the strength these Giants have. Instead, it feels like we’re back into the methodical pace that season 2 set.

Magne is also racked with insecurities and it’s unclear how long he can keep this fight going alone before it becomes too much. Will the power of Mjolnir prove to be too much?

Everything is left on a precarious knife edge at the end here, leaving the door wide open for the next episode.