'SPARTACUS: BLOOD & SAND' 1.13 - "Kill Them All"

[SPOILERS] It ends with a cacophony of screams, snapped limbs, impaled bodies, slashed throats, vicious stabbings, gruesome beheadings, and the spray of arterial blood. But was there ever any doubt it wouldn't? The season finale of Spartacus: Blood & Sand was curious to me; a visceral bloodbath that brought an end to most of the storylines in brutal style, but one that only occasionally did anything truly unexpected. Coming off the back of a string of episodes that thrilled because of their eleventh hour twists, "Kill Them All" couldn't avoid feeling comparatively simplistic...

I'm the king of the ludus!

To combat that fact, writer Steven S. DeKnight employed the oft-used narrative trick of beginning in media res, with Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) and Crixus (Manu Bennett) fighting to the death in the ludus courtyard, watched by a balcony full of handpicked dignitaries celebrating the patronage of Legatus Gladus, before flashing back a few days to explain the events leading up to this must-see clash.

Turns out that Spartacus has been trying to stoke a rebellion against Batiatus (John Hannah), but knows he needs Crixus's support in order to gain the trust of every single gladiator. Concurrently, Batiatus and Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) plotted the demise of Crixus in his fight with their champion Spartacus, by poisoning him to dull his reactions. In the villa, Aurelia (Brooke Williams) learned from Spartacus that the person responsible for ordering the death of her husband Varro was the Magistrate's teenage son Numerius (Lliam Powell); slave girl Mira (Katrina Law) agreed to help Spartacus escape; and Doctore (Peter Mensah) had it confirmed that Barca was murdered by his master, thus facing a conflict of loyalty when news of a promotion arrives...

All I need is McQueen's baseball

A lot of this episode worked well, but not all of it. I enjoyed how Crixus had a plausible reason to want Spartacus dead (rather than join him in a mutiny to escape and find his beloved Naevia), as there was a chance he'll be given his freedom legitimately once Doctore is promoted by Batiatus, who's planning to chase political office and leave his family's ludus in his care. There was also a nice scene with Spartacus revealing why he craves Batiatus's death and eliciting sympathy in his rival, leading to the admission from Crixus that he believes they could have been great friends "in another life". The fact the two gladiators agreed to honour the loser's desires was also a poignant moment that gave their final battle added emotional context. And, of course, the moment when Crixus changed his mind mid-battle and used his shield to boost Spartacus up to the balcony to slay the onlookers was a fun callback to a similar moment of unity when they defeated Theokoles together.

Once Crixus realizes Spartacus has been right all along, bellowing his compatriot's catchphrase "kill them all!" as a call to arms, the episode became an extended bloody riot with the gladiators slaying Capua's elite. It struck me as a little unfair (those people were essentially innocent spectators of a blood sport that's mainstream entertainment), so it was best to focus on the handful of smaller confrontations between main characters...

Shouting someone's head off?

Doctore offering Ashur (Nick Tabray) an honourable death for his role in staining the reputation of the ludus, only for Ashur to escape in a cowardly move and hide beneath corpses like an insect; Aurelia knifing Numerius to death struck a chord because you felt her vengeance poison her own soul in the act; and Ilithyia managed to escape the atrocities thanks to the protection of her guards and a sly smile. One slightly troubling sequence saw Crixus stab Lucretia in her pregnant stomach -- a chilling act if the child she was carrying was indeed his own, and not something I expected of Crixus.

The climactic confrontation between Spartacus and Batiatus felt very brief given the half-season build-up, but the setting and method of dispatch remained satisfying -- with a cornered Batiatus surrounded by his own mutinous slaves in a bloodstained pool and hearing Spartacus's triumphant speech, before having his throat slashed open in vicious slow-motion, to fall down beside his slowly dying wife. A fitting end for the arch villain of the show, who has been played with a deft mix of tongue-in-cheek humour and disquieting wickedness by John Hannah.

You've got red on you

Looking ahead, owing to actor Andy Whitfield's battle against cancer, Starz greenlit a stop-gap prequel called Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena. I'm interested to see what that delivers, and it'll be fun to see the dead characters again, but I'm concerned that a prequel will feel safe and predictable. I'm just not convinced we need to see events that led to the formation of the ludus just prior to Spartacus joining as a slave, although I'm open to being convinced.

I'd just rather see a second season to the story being told here, even if that would mean a longer wait than usual. I get the impression that Spartacus and Crixus are going to create a small army to assault Rome (with Gladus, Ilithyia and Ashur still villains that need defeating), but that will surely demand a much larger storytelling scope and budget to achieve. Will the show lose its appeal if it abandons the focus on gladiatorial combat and becomes a broader Ancient World epic? Or is that the only option available because they've done all that can with the ludus setting? A part of me thinks Spartacus: Blood & Sand should have been a finite miniseries, but success breeds greed.

Still, whatever the future holds, this freshman season was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me; it started with braindead brutality, ugly CGI, and vapid machismo, then morphed into a genuinely gripping and exciting mix of sex, violence, treachery, blood, death, friendships, love and hatred.

Gratitude.

WRITER: Steven S. DeKnight
DIRECTOR: Jesse Warn
GUEST CAST: Peter Mensah, Manu Bennett, Nick Tarabay, Katrina Law, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Lliam Powell, Daniel Feuerriegel, Ande Cunningham, Brooke Williams, Tim Foley, Janine Burchett, Josh Randall, Siaosi Fonua, Ioane King, David Austin, Mia Pistorius, Andrew Laing, Ioane King & Janine Burchett
TRANSMISSION: 17 August 2010 - BRAVO, 10PM