Vikings
Season 3 Episode 8: “To The Gates”
Directed by Kelly Makin
Written and Created by Michael Hirst
Starring Travis Fimmel, Clive Standen, Katheryn Winnick, Alexander Ludwig, Alyssa Sutherland, Maude Hirst, and Gustaf Skarsgard.
The History Channel
Air Date: Thursday, April 9th, 2015, 10:00pm

Before the Vikings 3.8 “To The Gates” review, let’s recap last week. There will be minimal spoilers, but still tread lightly!

Last week on Vikings 3.7 “Paris,” it was all about prepping for the attack on Paris, despite Ragnar Lothbrok’s (Travis Fimmel) complete devastation at losing his best friend Athelstan (George Blagden). Ragnar doesn’t know that Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) killed him. Or does he? Ragnar puts Floki in charge, which Floki handles with as much awkwardness as we’ve come to expect from him. Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) and Kalf (Ben Robson) clash as expected. It’s more from her side than his. King Ecbert (Linus Roache) sends Aethulwulf (Moe Dunford) to go control Queen Kwenthrith (Amy Bailey) in Mercia, but she surprises him with crazy bravery and a surprise – Ragnar’s child. I cannot wait until Ragnar finds out about his child and Athelstan’s.

The Kids in the Hall
Death Comes to Town
DVD
Directed by Kelly Makin
Starring Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson
A&E Entertainment
Release Date: May 24, 2011

I grew up watching The Kids in the Hall, a half-hour-long sketch comedy series from Canada starring a popular comedy troupe whose core cast of five founding members – Scott Thompson, Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch, and Kevin McDonald – has never changed in their existence. It remains one of the funniest television shows in the histories of both television and things that are funny. The Kids came into my life at a time when I had a very conventional view of what comedy was. Then again I must have been all of ten years old when I first saw The Kids in the Hall arriving on American shores and being resigned to the netherworld of late Friday nights on HBO in the early 1990s. It didn’t have a fraction of the cultural impact of the Beatles coming to the U.S. to play on The Ed Sullivan Show, but it meant a hell of a lot more important to me. The Kids’ unorthodox (to me at least) amalgamation of off-kilter and experimental humor with more broader comedy to appeal to those with a kindergarten student’s comedic sensibility, but it was all done the Kids’ way so that even it when it seemed like they were playing it safe their loyal fans never assumed they were selling out.