The first episode of the final season of “Spartacus” has only just
finished and already it feels like we’ve been through a war.
The show lost its original Spartacus (the charismatic Andy
Whitfield, who passed away of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), enlisted another (Liam
McIntyre), and, all told, muscled its way through two seasons and a
mini-series. Now, finally, the really epic part of this epic begins.
The first episode, titled “Enemies of Rome,” baptizes us in blood
in the opening scenes. Spartacus and his men have broken through the lines of
the Roman troops, who have once again foolishly underestimated them. And then
we see Spartacus himself, mounted on a horse and armed with a sword, coming for
the commanders, who are now realizing, far too late, the peril they are in.
The Roman leaders are having a meeting about their losses, as they
are washed by naked servants, naturally. They give us a recap within this
recap–Spartacus has seen a string of victories on the battlefield, we hear, and
former slaves are rallying to his side and swelling his army. The current
leaders of the Roman legions are running out of denarii to fight the battle. So
the decision is made to get someone with deep pockets (do togas have pockets?)
to lead the fight: Marcus Crassus (played by Simon Merrells).
We first see Crassus sparring with a gladiator slave, while his son
Tiberius watches. Crassus loses the bout, but he’s learning the slave’s tricks.
It’s all good preparation for fighting Spartacus and his gladiator army. An
emissary arrives and asks Crassus for assistance to fight Spartacus–they want
10,000 men. In exchange, he’ll be given a command–below the current commanders.
Surprisingly, Crassus agrees to the lousy terms, even though he has all the
leverage. After the emissary leaves, Tiberius questions his father’s decision.
Crassus give him a knowing look and says it’s all about the glory of Rome. He’s
a wily one, that Crassus, and he’s playing a long game.
There’s a brief Starz-y interlude in which, gratuitously, Gannicus
takes on a couple women at once, followed by a scene with Agron getting it on
with his warrior lover, Nasir.
Spartacus later takes Gannicus to task–he’s got to stay sharp. He
asks him to take his rightful place as a leader. Gannicus says “I would not be
set above my brothers” as Spartacus is.
Spartacus comes down from his high horse–literally, he was riding a
high horse in the opening scenes of this show–to tour his military encampment
incognito. He finds that the men are hungry and are eating horses.
Spartacus decides it’s time to take some action. He hatches a plan
for a stealth attack against the enemy commanders. “A few men might penetrate
defense unnoticed,” he says. Agron is to lead the men in his absence as
Spartacus, Gannicus, and Crixus go on the mission.
Another Starz break as we see Naervia and Crixus make out a bit.
But it doesn’t go as far as Starz usually goes, just a few kisses. This is only
a one-hour show, after all.
Tiberius and Crassus argue about how worthy an opponent Spartacus
really is. Crassus says they have to look out for him; Tiberius thinks that his
wealth and position clearly give him advantage over a common slave like
Spartacus. Crassus, to teach his son a lesson, asks him to test his theory by
taking on his gladiator slave. Tiberius is easily bested. Crassus tells him
Spartacus has done the same to other nobles, “and laughs as they tumble from
the heavens.”
Crassus fights the slave himself. This time he makes the contest to
the death, so the gladiator slave is forced to do his best. “Come at me as you
would an opponent in the arena,” Crassus demands. Crassus wins the match, and
thus demonstrates that the slave has taught him all he knows, and his
usefulness, to him at least, has come to an end. Crassus kills him. Thus we see
Crassus is both crafty and cruel. “A man’s true enemy is doubt, a thing I would
not carry into battle against Spartacus,” Crassus says.
Spartacus, Gannicus, and Crixus surprise the Roman commanders and
cut them down with a bold stealth attack. Blood is spurting like the fountains
outside the Bellagio. Or rather, I should say, like the fountains around Rome.
Spartacus pins down the two Roman commanders. He is asked for his
terms of surrender.
“There are none that I would trust a Roman to honor,” Spartacus
snarls.
He then executes a double decapitation, as the headless bodies fall
before him in slow motion.
News of the death of the commanders reaches Rome. An emissary
suggests that Crassus’s own messenger may have helped lead the rebels to the
fallen commanders. In any case, Crassus is now the only option and is placed in
sole command of the war against Spartacus. Everything has worked out as he
planned it. He’s like Machiavelli, 1500 years in advance, playing his enemies
like a game of chess (to borrow a line from Lauryn Hill).
“I serve the glory of Rome,” Crassus says.
With Crassus soon to be at his sandaled heels, Spartacus looks to
find his army a city in which to camp.
To borrow a line from “Game of Thrones,” winter is coming.
And so is Caesar. Alea iacta est!
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