This was another appropriately titled episode where a big party happens. This party is called the “toga Verillus” which is basically the Roman version of a Jewish bris. This is where a young Roman boy puts on the Toga Verillus which symbolizes him stepping into the world and becoming a man. It’s a bit like the prom we have today. Only this is a private party not 1 with all your high school classmates.
For the high-class boys out there this party took on an amazing magnitude with lots of opulence.
Numarius is the boy who is 15 and he is the son of the magistrate Calabius.
So they have lots of money to burn and Calabius being a quite old man really does want to provide total satisfaction to his son. So he spares no expense. Numarius the boy is definitely into gladiators and loves the games.
So Batiatus invites them to have the party at his villa where a gladiatorial exhibition will happen between Spartacus the champion and Crixus the ex-champion. As an added bonus Numarius will get to be the editor calling out the proceedings and basically being the referee.
But more treachery is going to ensue because Alythia is still there at the villa and she is seething.
She observes Spartacus and his best friend Varo training and gets a devious look on her face. You know the wheels are turning because in episode 8 she had purchased a gladiator in training and told that gladiator Sagovax that if he would kill Spartacus she would set him free.
Obviously, this assassination attempt failed but her treachery was not discovered even though Batiatus and Lucretia highly suspected it was her.
She is a spoiled brat daughter of a senator and so is plotting revenge against the house of Batiatus. Through some maneuvering during the episode the party goes down as expected.
Numarius goes out to do a little bit of training with Spartacus and gets very dirty. His parents ordered him into the baths and somehow he is left alone.
How this happened we don’t really know but Alythia sees her moment and strikes with her feminine wiles. She seduces the boy Numarius and we still don’t know exactly what her plot is but we know she did it to achieve her own end and not just because she was attracted to the boy.
When it comes time for the big finale of the party, which is the exhibition between Spartacus and Crixus, Numarius interrupts with a big shocker. He says Crixus is past his time and he instead wants Varo to spar against Spartacus.
The fight ensues and predictably Spartacus wins. Batiatus instructs Numarius to pass judgment on the fallen gladiator knowing that this was only agreed to be an exhibition. To the surprise and gasps of all the high-class citizens of Capua who were in attendance at the party Numarius unhesitatingly gives Varo a thumbs down.
This means he has decided Varo is to die.
Batiatus interjects that it was supposed to be an exhibition but the boy’s father Calabius says that he will reimburse for the cost of the man and that his son has made his decision. Batiatus gives an evil and be grudging look but instructs Spartacus to obey and kill his best friend Varo.
Spartacus resists but then Varo talks him into it because they will both be killed if Spartacus disobeys. Varo’s lifeless body falls to the ground as Spartacus inserts his sword into Varo’s chest. The episode is almost at its conclusion and we see a devious look from Alythia and an angry, resentful look from Batiatus.
Batiatus was already scorned by Calabius because he wanted Calabius’ support in a political career. He swears that this insult will be paid for in blood.
There’s much intrigue and treachery going on which means episode 11 should be outstanding.
Leave your comments and predictions below.
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The season finale of the first incredibly exciting season of Spartacus Blood and Sand was a thing to behold. If you’ve not seen it all episodes are available on netflix streaming online service. You could be watching them instantly.
It opens by recapping some of the best stuff from season one.
Spartacus and Crixus are engulfed in a battle to the death. The cool thing is that Batiatus has provided this amusement only to the most esteemed and wealthiest members of Capuan society. These are the top citizens of Capua who Batiatus has longed to have access to.
During the fight to Spartacus is talking to Crixus enlisting and imploring him to join his cause.
Then we start with the flashbacks to 2 days ago. Plans were set in motion as Spartacus recruits the other gladiators to his cause. Agron and Duro the two brothers who were showing promise overheard Spartacus talking about plans of escape. They asked him how it could be so to which Spartacus says, “There is only there is but one path. We kill them all.”
But their numbers are still too shallow because the Gauls and many of the other gladiators still support Crixus and believe he is the true champion. Until and unless they can get Crixus to join their cause the other gladiators will not fight alongside Spartacus. His plan cannot take shape until he gets enough allies to see it successfully through.
But Crixus is being held in the dungeon for his betrayal and his outburst against Batiatus number 2 man Asher. It’s amazing how far from grace the former champion Crixus has fallen.
He goes from being the undefeated Gaul to the mad Gaul.
Spartacus wishes to have words with him so he asks Batiatus to release him so that he can train and be at his best for their death match. Batiatus sees the wisdom in this because he wants to give the wealthiest citizens of Capua a show that they will never forget. He sees the advantage in having this fight to the death be an incredibly entertaining and exclusive affair that none of the rest of the regular mob of Capua will have privilege enough to see.
He feels that the entire Roman empire will be talking about this battle and the privileged few who got to witness it.
Spartacus enlist the help of Mira to make sure the villa gates are open at the appropriate time.
She is tough to convince because she still does not see the value in taking this risk. She has wanted Spartacus for a long time and he has spurned her. So she says that if he will have her then she will be his ally. Spartacus reluctantly agrees because he still has great feelings for his wife but he needs his plan to be enacted.
Batiatus and Doctore suspect nothing.
Batiatus knows that Spartacus is his meal ticket and without him he could easily fall from grace. So he hatches a plan with his wife Lucretia and Asher to poison Crixus’ food. He doesn’t want to kill Crixus he only wants an elixir that will weaken Crixus prematurely to give Spartacus an advantage.
This way the fight is incredibly entertaining for the wealthy citizens of Capua and yet none of them will suspect that it was tainted and fixed. He does not want to lose the goodwill of these good citizens by having a match they deem as unbalanced or unfair. He doesn’t want those kind of questions.
The fight drags on and we are given some glimpses of the other events leading up to it.
There was even an exchange between Spartacus and Aurelia where he attempts to explain what happened in Varo’s death. Of course she has an unsympathetic ear and she is disinclined to believe anything he says. But it does plant a seed of doubt in her mind. Later on in the episode she will indulge it in an attempt to find the truth.
As Crixus starts to weaken we are back in the dreaded death match.
He feels himself weakening prematurely and sees the wisdom in Spartacus words. He braces himself behind his shield and invites Spartacus to run and leap into the top where all the honored citizens are watching. Spartacus launches himself and takes out one of the good citizens of Capua right in front of Batiatus.
He then starts going on a killing spree as all these ne’er-do-wells citizens run in fear and terror screaming and shrieking in horror.
This is when the episode gets incredibly interesting because Crixus leads the rest of the gladiators to kill the guards that were on the sands of the practice grounds.
Doctore asks Crixus what he is doing because he had promised to restore order to this ludous.
Crixus turns to Doctore and says “This ludous has no honor. You asked me to trust you and now I’m asking you to trust me.”
And so he throws his sword toward Crixus who narrowly bends his back to avoid it and it catches the guard that was rushing upon Crixus. He turns to Doctore, they look each other in the eyes and their accord has been agreed to.
So the carnage continues as the slaves run wild and the villa gates are open. Women and children are slaughtered mercilessly and without a second thought.
Aurelia gets her revenge on Numarius as she lures him into a secluded place and questions him about Varo’s death. When he confirms that Varo meant nothing and he ordered his death she launches upon him with the same knife that Spartacus was going to use to kill Batiatus only a day before.
The irony is quite sweet as she goes into a crazed killing rage stabbing him repeatedly even though he’s been dead for a while. Spartacus comes in to stop her. She has achieved her vengeance.
Crixus meets up with Lucretia who has told him that the child in her belly is his. They have an exchange of words and he indicates that he would not have his child suckle at her breasts. Then he plunges his sword into her stomach.
Finally all the good citizens of Capua have been disposed of with their corpses lying on the blood drenched floor.
Batiatus is waving his sword like a wild man.
None of the other gladiators dare touch him. Then Spartacus appears on the scene and they have words about his wife’s Sura. Batiatus realizes the futility of fighting any further and drops his sword. Spartacus slits his throat and as he is falling to the ground he taunts him telling him to go to Lucretia.
It ends with a stirring speech from Spartacus telling them they are all free and their destiny is their own. Follow me and we will bring Rome to its knees and see it tremble. If not you may go your own way.
We are starting to get into the slave army which is the regular story of Spartacus that we have all known and heard. It’s going to be interesting to see how season 2 develops and whether it is the final season or whether there are more seasons to be observed.
I suspect the format will be that season 1 was the making of Spartacus as a gladiator champion. Season 2 will show him gathering his army and training it. They’ll probably even win some battles.
Then season 3 will probably be the climax has starts to see the decline of his army and the eventual defeat of it by the Roman empire. The final episode may see him crucified and his body torn limb from limb with his limbs being scattered to the four corners of the earth.
Let me know in the comments what your theories are for next season and how long the show is going to last. Or you can just leave your comments on this awesome season finale.
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This episode begins on the sands of the gladiatorial arena. Crixus with his renewed vigor has been given new life as a gladiator with his victory over Pericles still fresh in the minds of all the mob of Capua. This episode opens with Crixus having a dominating defeat of his opponents.
But he is still playing second fiddle to Spartacus. In the last episode the villain Salonius was discovered by Numarius and Batiatus. At least Numarius was led to believe that Salonius was the villain who cold-bloodedly murdered his father for cause which Numarius does not know. Salonius motives evade Numarius.
So Spartacus is to be the main event. And Salonius’ execution is to be the main attraction in this gladiatorial games.
Salonius has has a surprising amount of skill that even catches Spartacus attention and respect. He puts up a decent fight even though part of it was just Spartacus playing to the crowd and toying with Salonius.
Batiatus, Numarius and the entire entourage up in the Pulvinus delight at the spectacle and show Spartacus is putting on… the show that is Salonius’ execution.
Batiatus has that devious grin as he sees his number 1 arch enemy with his head removed from his body.
This was one of the killer opening scenes as Spartacus cleanly decapitate him, his head flying and spinning through the air. Blood was spewing and draining from his neck as his head spins like a top through the air. It was an amazing spectacle.
Once this is done they turn their thoughts to other matters. Spartacus presses for an audience with Batiatus.
He longs to act upon the information he gleaned in the last episode from Batiatus’ other servant. He learned that that servant killed his wife and it was at the command of Batiatus. He’s already killed that servant so only Batiatus remains to complete the vengeance.
So he sets his plan in motion and even the slave Mira who he has come to care about and who cares about him greatly tells him that he should not because if the master is killed by his slaves then all of the slaves under that master are executed under Roman law. “Why would he risk all of their lives?” She asks.
He moves to make it so and right as he is about to grab a knife and get close to Batiatus, he spies Aurelia the wife of Varo.
So he changes his mind.
Meanwhile, Asher has been elevated to unknown heights and is now the right-hand man of Batiatus. Batiatus even tells him that he’s going to be living in the villa and dressing appropriately.
But Asher is still engorged with his own seething rage and vendetta against Crixus. He saw Crixus with Navea and when Batiatus offers him in any slave woman he desires he of course goes for Navea.
Obviously, he hopes that Crixus will see the two of them together and be enraged.
The legatus Claudius Glaber is set to visit the house of Batiatus to talk about patronage. Basically, it means that he is going to support Batiatus’ political career. I liken it to our current political candidates who get an endorsement from someone who is currently in office or from a trusted source, maybe a retired politician.
Claudius Glaber put Spartacus through the wringer forcing him to fight seven of his elite guard with Spartacus only having access to his wooden practice sword.
It was quite an amazing fight with Spartacus beating them down one at a time and then finally four of them at once. Claudius is convinced that the dog has been tamed.
But he still does not wish to grant patronage until Batiatus shows him the hand of Lychenia. He threatens that Lychenia’s body may find its way underneath Claudius’ villa unless he grants patronage and so he reluctantly does.
He’s extremely angry having to bow down to this leverage even more so because Batiatus tells him that his wife Alythia is the culprit who killed Lychenia.
During the Spartacus battle Asher sees Crixus’ wandering eye and makes a move towards Navea. Asher starts touching her and getting close to her in an intimate way. Crixus flames of his anger are absolutely consuming and he launches himself at them in rage.
The episode ends with Crixus being whipped mercilessly and further plans being put in motion.
This episode begins with Spartacus having haunting memories of his fallen comrade Varo. His one friend in the world has been taken away from him and to make the indignity worse it had to be by his hand that he plunged his sword in deep killing his friend.
Spartacus is now beside himself emotionally and suffers a sword cut during training. The cut becomes infected and he starts running a crazy high fever and they do not believe he will live.
This is incredibly terrible timing because Capua’s main rival which is Pompeii is coming to town. It’s basically like 2 rival college football teams who hate each other like maybe Alabama versus Auburn. It’s like rivalry week the ancient version.
Every year there are huge games between Capua and Pompeii and this year is no exception. Except there is one difference this year and that is the house of Batiatus has secured the Primus which is a great honor. In years past it was always Salonius and his silver tongue and his bribes who had secured the Primus and all of his gladiators had been defeated.
Pompeii has been victorious each year and Batiatus plans to change that this year.
His plans seem to be thwartd as the gods disfavor him and his latest treachery by causing Spartacus to get sick on the eve of the big games. Medicus does not believe he will even be alive to see the games much less to fight in them. He will not take the sand that much is sure.
So who is to replace him?
The trainer Doctore says there is only one who can and his name is Chrixus.
Batiatus remains unconvinced but he doesn’t have any other choice. He has other things on his mind as he has kidnapped the magistrate Calavius and killed all of his guards.
His treachery knows no bounds at this point.
The episode continues on its twisted route and Crixus ends up bringing Capua great honor by defeating Pericles in the Primus. He looked defeated but the heart of the champion came out and he sliced Pericles’ guts out and then stomped on his face as all of Capua cheered his praises. They had booed him only moments before since Spartacus was unable to take the stand. The crowd had wanted Spartacus but now all was forgiven.
Batiatus has a crazy grin on his face as he gloats over the purveyor of the Pompeii gladiator contingent.
And perfectly timed is the news of Calavius gone missing. He offers to take young Numarius out in the search for his father which of course the boy accepts. The mother is reluctant but she decides to allow it when Batiatus says that he will never let the boy out of his sight.
Meanwhile, in the shadows Asher has a secret meeting with Salonius regarding good magistrate Calavius.
He tells Salonius that they can still save Calabius but the time runs short. They come upon Calabius and Salonius tells Asher that he needs to get in here. But Asher says that he has to flee or be crucified and so he leaves.
Of course, Salonius cuts Calavius down but at that moment Batiatus and the boy Numarius come upon them.
It looks as if Salonius has done the dastardly deed killing the magistrate.
This is such a brilliant plan hatched by Batiatus and Asher. In one foul swoop they have taken out the top two enemies that have scorned Batiatus and been a thorn in his side the last few years.
Spartacus also uncovers some timely news from the servant who he believed had protected and fought for his wife when they were attacked. He discovers when the servant tells him that Batiatus was the one who ordered his wife’s death.
The episode ends with Spartacus declaring to Batiatus that he is healthy again and has a devious look in his eye.
We can only guess what is soon to be coming as we rapidly approach the season finale with only two episodes remaining. How will season 1 end? When will the slave uprising led by Spartacus begin?
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This episode was titled “Whore” and that basically says it all. There were lots of twists and turns but we get a glimpse into what life was like for Roman women.
Especially the upper echelon and upper class citizenry of Roman women.
Oftentimes these were the daughters of Senators or other important Romans. And they were married off in arranged marriages to men who were many times 20 or 30 years older than them.
This created a gap in the overall desires of the two parties but the women were still supposed to be faithful because this was a patriarchal society. In fact they could be killed for going outside of the marriage. It was very risky to do this.
Loudouses (training centers for gladiators) out there had lots of gladiators which were highly desired by high-class women who would pay a very high price to sleep with them.
Lychenia, who is the cousin of marcus Crassus, wants to be with Spartacus. Alythia, her friend, finds out about this and wants to have her own gladiator because she has been having the same thoughts.
So this gets very intriguing as the whole one-upsmanship escalates. And one thing about these two friends is they like to upstage one another and socially humiliate one another.
But the matriarch of the house of Batiatus is named Lucretia and she has been having some friction with Alythia. So she sets up Alythia with the arch enemy of Alythia’s husband Claudius Glaber. This arch enemy is of course Spartacus. Then Lucretia times it so Lychenia will walk in on Alythia and Spartacus going at it.
Of course this treachery is discovered and Lychenia begins laughing uncontrollably.
This pushes Alythia over the edge and she sets herself upon Lychenia slamming her head into the marble floor. Before her white-hot rage leaves she has decimated and killed Lychenia brutally.
But the tale of her treachery of being with Spartacus is kept secret. But this secret is not without its cost as she is now being leveraged by Lucretia and the house of Batiatus.
We can see the resentment and anger seething and growing inside of Alythia as she is forced to do ever more indignant things in service to Lucretia for keeping this secret.
Some ominous looks were exchanged toward the end of the episode and we definitely know that bad things are coming down the pike between Lucretia and Alythia.
This is a very exciting and treacherous episode leave any comments you have below.
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