Vikings: Valhalla season 3 episode 5 recap: complicated family dynamics

In Vikings: Valhalla season 3 episode 5, a man obscured by mist walks on a rocky piece of shore. It's Erik the Red (Goran Visnjic) trying to find food. He cuts the rotting tongue out of a dead walrus on the beach and walks back to a settlement nearby.

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A small boat pulls into the harbor. Erik confronts the villager at the helm. A fishing party had gone out in search of food, but the longboat was lost. All that was left was the small boat, a couple of people and a few fish they caught. The settlement is facing famine.

Later that evening in the longhouse the people share the fish, while Erik and Hilde (Carrie Crowley) eat the tongue and talk about what to do. Hilde tells Erik some of the people are talking about leaving when the traders come. Erik is convinced the gods will save them. His plan is to attack the traders when they arrive and steal their goods.

The land with the golden trees

But the boats that arrive the next day don't belong to the traders. It's Freydis (Frida Gustavsson) and the Jomsvikings. Erik welcomes them, and their supplies. He, Hilde and Freydis have a joyous reunion. Erik and Hilde meet their grandson Harald for the first time.

Freydis tells Hilde and Erik about the fight of London Bridge, the battle at Kattegat, and Leif and Harald leaving for Constantinople. She also tells Erik they will not be staying. Greenland is just a stop in their search for the land with the golden trees.

In Greece, Leif (Sam Corlett) finally finds Calinicus (Najib Oudghiri), the mapmaker. When he approaches, Calinicus first denies the map is his because he is playing dice with a Greek Orthodox priest. But he offers Leif a meal with his family.

Leif is surprised to find the meal is a fish native to Greenland. Calinicus tells Leif of his theory that the currents in the ocean bring Northern fish to Greece, and the currents connect lands on the opposite sides of the world.

Calinicus shows Leif a map of the known world, including currents in all the oceans. It shows a round world, which the church would find heretical. The mapmaker fits the map fragment Leif has into the large map of the world. It depicts the southern coast of Greenland and a fragment of the land with the golden trees that Leif is searching for. Calinicus thinks the landmass that is the golden land is what causes the currents to shift around Greenland.

King Canute's secret

In London, when Canute (Bradley Freegard) takes his throne his hand is shaking. He continues to have tremors, which Emma (Laura Berlin) skillfully covers by taking his hand. When one of his lords gives him a proposed charter to read, Canute doesn't reach for it because of the tremors. Emma takes it instead.

That night in their private chamber they talk about Canute's illness. He is worried about his empire, but Emma reassures him he can still be a strong ruler. Still, Canute knows he needs to get his succession settled and time is running out. He tells Emma to gather all of his sons in Kattegat so he can choose his successor.

Succession is on everyone's minds it seems. In Denmark, Forkbeard (Soren Pilmark) tells Godwin (David Oakes) that he has been told Canute is not well. Forkbeard intends to try and take the throne and he wants Godwin to help him. Godwin agrees, right in front of Harefoot (Pyry Kahkonen).

Should I stay or should I go?

In Constantinople, Harald (Leo Suter) walks into an empty throne room and stares at the throne. Maniakes (Florian Munteanu) follows him into the throne room and asks if Harald wants to be emperor. Harald tells Maniakes his desire lies elsewhere, in Norway. Maniakes says that's good, because emperors can have very short reigns. He indicates Harald should go sooner rather than later.

In Greenland there is a big feast, where the people from Jomsborg share their food and supplies. Erik tries to convince Freydis to stay and start her own community and let her people settle on Greenland. Freydis declines, saying she needs to find the land of the golden trees.

The next day Erik shows Freydis where her people could set up their own community and start farms. Erik tries again to convince Freydis to stay. He tells Freydis he tried over and over to find the land of the golden trees, but he never found it. The more he pushes Freydis to stay, the more determined she is to go.

Kings and emperors

In Denmark, Harefoot isn't going to let Forkbeard take the throne of England. He smothers Forkbeard in his sleep, with Godwin's help.

In Constantinople, Harald receives an invitation to a masked ball. He goes to the party, where everyone is wearing masks and engaging in debauchery of various kinds. He sees a woman who looks like Zoe (Sofia Lebedeva). She beckons him, and he follows her through a maze of rooms and hallways.

She leads him into a chamber where the emperor is being intimate with a handful of women. The emperor tells Harald he knows about his affair with Zoe. The emperor and Zoe planned it because the emperor can't have children, but Zoe must have a child to rule after him. They wanted her to have Harald's child.

As the emperor is talking, the woman Harald thought was Zoe takes off her mask. She's not Zoe. She pulls out a small knife and cuts the emperor's throat. As Romanos bleeds out Harald tries to save him, getting blood all over himself. Maniakes bursts in and tells the guards to seize Harald for murdering the emperor.

All episodes of Vikings: Valhalla season 3 are now streaming exclusively on Netflix .