I think this might be the only episode of all the seasons combined which has actually left me feeling disappointed afterwards. Usually the cut at the end has me foaming at the mouth and declaring the director a devious bastard for leaving me on the edge of my seat. This episode just left me saying 'meh'.
It was of course apparent that those going to lay siege to Rome were going to their deaths but so far every major character has been given a pretty epic end. So for them to simply kill off a bunch of the big characters like this just felt... cheap. The montage of battle scenes leading up to the inevitable end didn't come off as remotely epic and left the entire episode just feeling rushed and disjointed. It was trying to tell too much story in too little time.
My rule of thumb with killing off main characters is that there are generally two ways to go about it: totally sudden and unexpected (ie. Joss Whedon style) or with a dramatic build up that leaves you almost dreading the inevitable end and left wondering how it will come about. This episode did neither. It killed characters off suddenly but since we knew the story demanded that they die there was no drama in it whatsoever. Oenomaus (most annoying spelling ever) had a pretty damn epic end. As did Asher, Batiatus, Glaber, Lucretia, Ilithyia... etc. I feel Crixus and Agron deserved the same kind of end. A montage, followed by Roman bowling followed by getting stabbed in the back just doesn't seem right.
Then there was the scene with Tiberius and Caesar... it just came out of nowhere and made virtually no sense. All in all it just had me laughing at the absurdity of the thing. A rape scene should not be funny. That was probably the first thing that just ruined this episode.
I had no investment whatsoever in most of the story. The rebels splitting up and going separate ways seems like something which makes sense when pursued by a single Roman army. However it then cut to the Roman commanders discussing the fact that they split up with no explanation as to how they knew. Troop movements are one thing but how did they come about the information that Crixus was heading to Rome and Spartacus going the other way? There was just no explanation given. Are we to assume that they have spies in their midst or did a passing time traveller hand the Roman scouts a pair of high powered binoculars? The notion of this series all along has been that Spartacus and Crassus are fairly well matched tactical minds and both adept at deceit but now the only conclusion I can jump to is that Crassus is also a psychic. Which hardly seems fair.
The only way this series is going to redeem itself for me now is if the final two episodes are just one massive battle scene. Possibly with dinosaurs in it. All along it has been peppered with these minute long montages of battle followed by a half hour of the rebels revelling in their success so I can only hope they have done this to whet our appetites for the finale.
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