Vikings: Valhalla – Season 2 Episode 7 “Pecheneg” Recap & Review

Pecheneg

Episode 7 of Vikings: Valhalla season 2 starts with Harald and Mariam regaining consciousness after smashing into the water. They grab what they can from the wreckage of the boat but horses whinnying in the distance brings in the Pecheneg warriors camped nearby.

With swords drawn, they question just what Harald is up to. After admiring his courage for facing the Dnieper River, they immediately set to work checking his cargo, especially after Harald claims he was carrying slaves but all of them are dead.

Mariam avoids detection and eventually has Harald strung up and taken away, realizing that he’s valuable cargo. But how valuable? Well, that’s what these warriors intend to find out. And with that, they leave.

When the other shipwrecked victims find out, they realize Harald needs to be saved so Leif, Kurya and Elena head off while the others try to get the boat back in the water, given it looks like it’s still sea-worthy.

In Novgorod, Olaf and his men continue to ask around for exactly where Jomsborg is. The town’s greatest defence is that it’s invisible to those who don’t know where it is and for those who do, they have to pray for safe passage to avoid being shipwrecked on the way. Olaf is not one for superstition though and in fact, he intends to find it outright.

In the Pecheneg camp, Harald is taken to the leader of this camp, where Harald challenges his resolve and claims that they’re cowards, especially given how they’ve forced him to run for miles to their camp.

The leader smirks evilly, deciding to test for strength another way. And with that, the men pierce through his flesh and string him up by his chest. It’s brutal and barbaric, but before things can get really bad, Leif shows up and uses Kurya as a bargaining chip, forcing Harald to go free.

However, Leif is blindsided so naturally they’re taken outside and held prisoner. Thankfully, they’re saved by the women outside who use flaming arrows to set the camp alight and cause chaos, with the horses running wild.

Elena proves herself to be a Legolas-esque shot and she manages to help free Leif and Harald too, not to mention killing a fair few of the Pecheneg before they flee. The group hurry down to the shore, but on the way Kurya runs into the Khan, who confronts him and taunts the guy while he’s surrounded by soldiers. This buys the rest of the group precious time though, who manage to free the boat and set sail.

Kurya uses poison in his hand and blows it at the Khan’s face when he gets close, eventually killing him. Kurya though, is taken down to the shore and tortured in front of Harald and the others, who are forced to watch the Pecheneg have their “fun”.

Leif decides to hit the killing blow though, unwilling to watch this torturous ordeal anymore. They head off somberly, determined to make it to Constantinople.

Meanwhile, Olaf closes in on Jomsborg while Freydis makes herself at home and invites in all the peoples – refugee and townsfolk alike – to enjoy the temple and the company of others.

However, the wildcard in all of this happens to be Jorundr, who’s found at sea by Olaf who brings him aboard and realizes the guy is a Jomsviking and could be their key to storming Jomsborg.

The Episode Review

Vikings: Valhalla continues to meander through its plot points and this late in the game, it’s fair to say the second season hasn’t been anywhere near as good as the first.

There’s a profound lack of urgency to a lot of the issues here and most of Harald and Leif’s story has just been moving from point A to point B without even getting what they wanted to begin with – an army.

It’s still unknown exactly how this one is going to end but given what we’ve seen it seems highly unlikely that we’re actually going to get any sort of resolution to this tale. Hopefully the season finale bows things out on a high.