Halfway through the final season of Spartacus, we see that Crixus and Spartacus are still at odds after the murder of Romans in the previous episode “Decimation.” Agron asks Spartacus to speak with Crixus, but Spartacus says he is done with words. Instead, he prepares to leave on Heracleo’s ship, though he is surprised to discover that the drink-loving pirate will not be at the helm.
Their goal is to attack Crassus’ grain shipments, and they succeed, but the sequence seemed out of place from the rest of the episode.
In followers’ camp, Tiberius pouts and sulks and yells because his BFF is dead while other cowards yet live. Kore offers wine and motherly affection, but Tiberius, angry and grief-stricken, rapes her to strike back at his father. I dare say this won’t help mend the rift between father and son.
Within the captured Roman city, Caesar, a.k.a. Lyciscus, has been given a sword. Staying in character of a former slave, he receives it like Luke Skywalker holding his first lightsaber in Ben Kenobi’s home, gazing upon it with wonderment before testing its weight, tossing it from hand to hand. But here’s some advice: be careful to whom you give a sword in times of war. Such a weapon could be your undoing later.
Spartacus sends the Romans from the city, and Laeta finds her way to Crassus, where she tells him what she knows of Spartacus’ plans. We are fearful for her, since we remember what happened to the last person that escaped from Spartacus’ clutches, but the tense moment passes, and she yet breathes.
And then . . . the Romans attack! They spill out into Sinuessa, and Caesar takes advantage to stab Spartacus in the shoulder. Betrayal is on all sides . . . the pirates have turned against them, Caesar’s true identity is revealed, and the rift between Crixus and Spartacus is not the festering wound many believed it to be. Swords clang and blood runs as the two sides battle, but as they fight for their lives, more Romans are battering down the wall, preparing to enter the city.
“Now would be time to run.”