Spartacus: War Of The Damned S03E09 “Victory”

“Victory” is all about the final battle between Spartacus and Crassus, the epic and decisive end to the rebellion. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because it was so incredibly done and intense that I don’t want to take that away from anyone. But I’ll at least briefly summarize.

After the highly emotional tribute to Crixus at the end of the last episode, Spartacus asks the still-injured Agron to lead those who cannot fight north while he and the others engage Crassus to distraction. Agron protests, and is eventually allowed to join the battle after Nasir fashions him some custom armor. With Gannicus leading one group of rebels and Spartacus the other, they engage the Romans in battle. Gannicus, Naevia and Saxa all fall, but Spartacus is determined to take Crassus down. He pursues the Roman leader, but is finally brought to his knees. Before Crassus can claim his life, though, Agron and Nasir intervene. By the time the Romans regroup, Spartacus is gone. Agron and Nasir remove him from the heat of the battle, and he dies among his few surviving friends, happy to be joining his beloved wife in the afterlife.

I won’t lie, you will need a lot of Kleenex to get through this episode. It’s very difficult to watch at times – the sequence leading up to Gannicus’s capture and subsequent death is absolutely brutal. Even though he goes down fighting, the anticipation and inevitability of it had me on the edge of my seat. Interestingly, of all the deaths, I found his the most difficult to stomach. Not the fact that he had to die, but the way it happened – I just would’ve wanted more for him. It’s my only real complaint about the way things turned out.

While I was sad that Spartacus died, I was glad that he was able to pass among friends. The fact that it was Agron by his side made it all the more meaningful – he was the last of the gladiators from the ludus, and he was there when this whole journey started. His goodbye was very touching, and I am thankful to Steven DeKnight for having both Agron and Nasir survive. It was a nice balm at the end of an emotionally exhausting episode. And just when you think it’s over, the closing credits pay a wonderful tribute to all the characters we’ve loved and hated over the years. Really amazing stuff.

What an amazing, emotional journey this whole series has been! I am so sad to see it end, but I feel like they delivered everything they promised, and I loved every minute of it.

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Spartacus: War Of The Damned S03E09 "The Dead and the Dying"

A rider approaches Spartacus’s camp. It’s Naevia, who has been forced to carry Crixus’s severed head. “I am but pale shade,” she says. She tells the tale of his last stand, and how Tiberius stabbed him from behind as he was fighting with Caesar. She was left alive by Crassus to strike fear into Spartacus and his men with the tale of Crixus’s death.

But Spartacus is looking ahead. He wants to figure out a way to avoid being caught between two armies–one led by Pompey and the other by Crassus.



Tiberius reveals to Caesar that he’s killed off a woman who might have betrayed his rape of Kore. Meanwhile, a representative who says he’s with Pompey’s army arrives and asks Crassus to come to neutral ground for a meeting. Caesar slyly suggests sending Tiberius to meet Pompey. Tiberius, eager to act as his father’s representative, agrees to go. “Caesar at last breaks words that I am moved to embrace,” Tiberius says. But we know that Caesar is up to something. “I wish for him all that he deserves,” Caesar tells Crassus.

Naevia asks Kore why she didn’t kill Crassus when she had her chance before her escape. If she had acted then, Crixus would still be alive now. Naevia says she’s always looking to “balance scale against those who have most deeply wounded heart.”

Tiberius arrives for his meeting with Pompey. But it’s a trick–Spartacus is there waiting. It’s a neat variation on the trick Crassus played on Spartacus in an earlier episode. Spartacus was hoping to snare Crassus, but instead he takes his son prisoner. He seizes Tiberius’s blade, asking if it was the weapon that stole Crixus’s life. He tells Gannicus that he’s not planning on sparing the Roman prisoners’ lives. “I would see them give honor to the dead, in advance of joining their ranks,” Spartacus declares.

Caesar enjoys a trademark Starz sex scene as he revels in his successful maneuvering of Tiberius to his doom. He knew all along that the representatives weren’t from Pompey.

Spartacus gives Tiberius’s blade to Naevia. He plans to stage a gladiatorial contest between his warriors and the prisoners to pay tribute to “The Undefeated Gaul, who shall forever stand so in my eyes.”

Back in the Roman camp, Agron is being held prisoner. Crassus and Caesar mock him, and then have him crucified, with Caesar himself driving in the nails. Caesar promises him he will “never again grasp sword.”

Pompey’s real representatives come to see Crassus. Now he knows the previous messengers were part of a ruse. He’s furious at Caesar and orders him to go to Spartacus’s camp to offer a trade of prisoners for Tiberius. Caesar is being asked to risk his life; his little trick has turned against him.

Tiberius knows that Caesar has fooled him. He orders his men not to fight and give the spectators entertainment. Kore comes to visit him. Tiberius tells her that his father is still in love with her, and she’s says she’s grateful for the news, which she hadn’t dared hope for. But she doesn’t plan to free him. Kore tells him she’ll return at nightfall “when it is your time to die–a thing I long to lay eyes upon.”

The games begin. It’s a reversal from the contests we saw at the beginning of the series. Now the gladiators are in control and the Romans are the human sacrifices–and the entertainment. “This time we shall return favor,” Spartacus declares to the crowd. He wants to honor the dead with Roman blood.

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Spartacus: War of the Damned S03E08 "Separate Paths"

With the entire series drawing to a close, there is the inevitability of what history has in store for Spartacus and his rebels, and it’s certainly no easy task depicting events that conclude contrary to how most stories of “good vs. evil” typically end. As was discussed during last week’s review, it’s clear that as bad as those in Spartacus’ army want total victory, the best they’ll be able to hope for is an everlasting reminder of this campaign’s impact on the Roman way of life. This has proven to be a difficult thing for Crixus, Naevia and, as we find out, Agron to ultimately grasp.

So when Crixus speaks to Naevia about his dreams for their future, she essentially tells him that she’s grateful for what freedom there has been, even if that time was mostly spent in harrowing situations and engaging in brutal combat; it was the ability to make the choice to fight alongside Spartacus and his rebels that matters most – that and killing as many Romans as possible before being sent to the afterlife.



And that is the fundamental difference in how the couple sees their situation, and how Spartacus views things: for them, the glory is in fighting the battle. As Crixus told Spartacus in ‘Mors Indecepta,’ he’d rather not die with a Roman sword in his back, and that, in a way, is another facet of the freedom this war has granted these men and women. They may be facing certain death, but they do so of their own freewill.

Perhaps that’s why, when Crixus argues against Spartacus’ plan to traverse the Alps and see what’s left of the freed slaves to some form of enduring freedom far from Rome’s shadow, Spartacus realizes their objectives have become too divergent and it’s no longer suitable for him to deny Crixus the opportunity to seize that which he most craves. To that end, it becomes almost immediately clear that ‘Separate Paths’ will see Crixus to the conclusion of his story.

Naturally, with just a 10-episode season, there’s going to be certain aspects of the narrative that would need to be sacrificed. Here, the writers decide what’s most important is for these characters to come to face their end by acknowledging the shared path that brought them to this point. The departure of Crixus and Naevia was a foregone conclusion, but Agron’s decision to leave Spartacus behind so he could join the legion marching toward Rome was slightly unexpected, and his farewell to Nasir – though brief – offered some surprising insight as to the limits of Agron’s belief in what is ahead.

At the same time, DeKnight and his writers have the difficult task of creating characters on the other side of the conflict that the audience can invest in – even though they are, for lack of a better term, “the bad guys.” But as determined as Marcus Crassus is to get his man, and as wild and impudent as Julius Caesar has proven to be, it would be a disservice to their characters to label them as such. As such, they’ve seen fit to fill the narrative with the increasingly loathsome Tiberius – who has found his villainous niche in life by becoming something of a serial rapist – as he follows his assault on Kore with one on Caesar.

Tiberius also manages to deliver what appears to be (but probably isn’t) the deathblow to Agron and, as bitter a pill it is to swallow, runs Crixus through with a spear to the back before beheading the mighty Gaul at his father’s request. Naevia, injured in her run-in with Caesar, can only look on in anguish.

If anything, the abruptness of the march to Rome illustrates just how the series would have benefited from extra time and space to tell its story. If we could have followed Crixus’ army over a few more episodes, there may have been the opportunity to see some greater depth out of the decision to part ways with Spartacus, and, especially, more insight into Agron’s choice to leave behind Nasir. In the end, Crixus’ death stands as a powerful reminder about how close the series is to its conclusion and just how truly pressed for time these characters are.

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"Spartacus: "War of the Damned" S03E07 - "Mors Indecepta"

Let’s face it; despite the superior skill of Spartacus’ men in a straight battle, the rebels have been having their asses handed to them by the tactically superior Crassus. The Roman Imperator has bested Spartacus every step of the way in what has been an impressive display of war strategy. The mental chess game that Spartacus and Crassus have engaged in has spawned an extra dynamic of strategy that we haven’t quite seen from the series before; at least not on the level of thousands that we’ve seen this season. With the rebels trapped between legions of Roman troops and an artificial wall erected by Crassus’ men, Spartacus may just have fallen into a trap he cannot escape.


The growing sense of desperation amongst the rebels as they find themselves trapped, hungry and helpless leads to increased tension and frustration; especially between Spartacus and Crixus. It appeared that the two had settled their differences last week as they once again had a renewed common purpose, survival. With desperate times setting in a sense of hopelessness, Crixus would rather drive into battle absent strategy instead of finding a Roman sword in his own back. The renewed animosity leads to some great scenes between Spartacus and Crixus that harkens back to their days in Batiatus’ ludus. Their no-holds-barred fistfight was admittedly a joy to watch. The ruthlessness of their words and actions were straight to the points with neither backing down. Their conviction to their ideals is what makes both these characters so great and as frustrating as it is to have the two leaders of the rebel army fight at a time like this, it’s fun to just watch Spartacus and Crixus in a good old-fashioned fistfight.

The raid on the Imperator’s tent brought out the absolute best in Crixus though. A not-so-surprising trap leads to an injured Naevia and Crixus unleashes hell on several Roman soldiers. I loved this entire scene from beginning to end as Crixus decimates several Roman soldiers in pure rage. It’s a striking image of just how powerful and badass Crixus is. I look forward to someone putting together a gif of the whole bloody sequence.

With the pressure on the rebel camp some surprising developments take place within the walls of Sinuessa. Crassus reinstates Tiberius in the Roman army as a commander and puts Caesar under the boy's command. Yeah, I was just about as surprised and pissed as Caesar was. It works though. Caesar had far too much going his way and that worm Tiberius needed to get the upper hand, at least one more time. It will make his hopeful downfall all the sweeter.

Kore’s story has really developed into something interesting over the last few weeks. With the discovery that she is to remain in Sinuessa with Tiberius, Kore decides to tell Crassus the truth. Unfortunately, and somewhat expectedly, she can’t bring herself to hurt Crassus by telling him of what her son has done. What was surprising was her defection over to the rebel camp. I just assumed she would commit suicide but it’s good to see her live another day and I’m really interested to see how her story will continue on Spartacus’ side of things.

As a storm moves in the rebels hunker down for the night and Gannicus finds shelter with Sybil. We kind of expected more to happen between Gannicus and Sybil but it’s hard not to find myself a little disappointed. Saxa has been awesome throughout the entire season. Her devotion to Gannicus has been absolute so it was a little upsetting to see Gannicus sleep with Sybil. I know that’s odd when you consider Saxa offered up Sybil to Gannicus earlier in the season but this was obviously different. There was an emotional connection implied and that clearly wounded Saxa.

The aftermath of the storm leaves a thousand rebels dead. With all hope seemingly lost Spartacus gets one hell of an idea. The battle to take the wall may have been a small skirmish when you consider the numbers but it was a huge victory for Spartacus and it marked Crassus’ first real defeat. The visual of a thousand frozen bodies thrown strategically in a trench to create a bridge to the wall was striking to say the least.

However, it was a little surprising that Spartacus didn’t pursue Crassus when he finally arrived at the wall to inspect what had happened. Crassus was guarded by a fairly small group and, with some forethought; Spartacus could have ended things with Crassus right there and then. Seeing the Romans run in fear was good enough though and I don’t expect the story to stray that far from history, so Crassus lives to fight another day.

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Spartacus S03e06 Spoils Of War

  

Crassus attacks the rebel-occupied city while Gannicus is trapped behind enemy lines. Meanwhile Crassus orders Tiberius to arrange a celebration for a man he loathes.

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