Summary
“God is God, Though All Men Death Had Tasted” gets weird and somber in about equal measure, muddying loyalties but redefining the conflict still to come.
This recap of Ragnarok season 2, episode 4, “God is God, Though All Men Death Had Tasted”, contains spoilers.
Tyr is the god of war in Norse mythology, famed for his strength and great courage. He lost his right hand when he sacrificed himself in battle, which makes him a bit more altruistic than Ares, his Greek equivalent, but you know what gods are like. Or perhaps you don’t. None of them seem to know what they’re doing in this show.
Nevertheless, with Vidar dead, the game has changed in “God is God, Though All Men Death Had Tasted”, which is as unwieldy an episode title as I’ve perhaps ever seen. Fjor doesn’t know what to make of the loss, and Saxa doesn’t seem particularly torn up either — Ran, though, is determined to claim vengeance in blood. She’s also still determined that Fjor take over the company for the sake of sexist tradition, which Saxa understandably has a bit of a problem with. “Are you mourning?” the daughter asks, incredulous. “I just lost my husband. Do you not feel anything?” Ran replies. “No,” says Saxa, perplexed. How on Earth do emotions work in this family? Saxa is visibly upset and agitated about not being immediately given control of the company, but death isn’t worth getting moved about? I’m confused.
Magne also tells Fjor about killing his father in Ragnarok season 2, episode 4, mostly in an attempt to salve his conscience. Again, why? The dude was an openly evil giant. Laurits is also furious with Magne about this and calls him a murderer, and the guilt is enough to make him hang up the hammer. Looks like we’re still being a teen drama after all!
As if to prove this point, Magne is offered the opportunity to close out his school year by completing a single exam on Norse mythology. He seems determined to carry on as though nothing has happened, which is obviously ridiculous, and which Iman is quick to point out the absurdity of. Her unbridled devotion to this war is pretty odd considering she didn’t know anything about it two episodes ago. She takes her frustrations out on the mechanic who crafted Mjolnir since it turns out she’s a pretty handy kickboxer, and she takes this bloke to Odin since she believes he can be useful.
“God is God, Though All Men Death Had Tasted” also takes a weird turn when Laurits keeps talking about a tapeworm he has which later turns out to be a pregnancy. That was certainly the aspect of Loki’s story that fascinated him the most, so he seems to have gotten what he wanted in that case, though he seems to get over it right in time for Vidar’s funeral and emerges for it dressed up to resemble his late father, despite having just birthed the biggest (and still-living) “tapeworm” the doctors have ever seen. Magne makes a bit show of arriving late to the funeral, and Laurits chastises him for it, but he also sits with the Jutuls and keeps making deliberately snide remarks, so once again his whole “trickster” personality just seems confusing. Fjor is also present and finally joins the procession to carry his father’s coffin while Magne’s conflicted emotions cause a lightning storm that blows out the church windows. You can feel this scene really straining for gravity but almost none of it comes off as particularly serious.
The funeral stiffens Fjor’s resolve, and he decides to swerve his romantic getaway with Gry — exposing his giant eyes to her in the process — so he can instead promise revenge against his father’s killers. Ragnarok season 2, episode 4 ends with him screaming while topless and brandishing the family’s axe, so you know he’s serious.
