episode nine!!! ahh!!!!!
loved everything about this episode; i was practically pacing around my living room out of stress the entire time. from the moment Pompey arrived at the House of Ashur i had that most exciting of Spartacus sensations: the dangerous feeling of events spiraling rapidly out of control.
so much good discussion here yesterday about Ashur as a character—his desires and his flaws—all borne out so spectacularly in that final scene: his longing to be respected, to be viewed as an equal, to hear others call him by his name, finally realized. and his attempt to extricate Gabinius from the situation showed that maybe there is a bit of selfless goodness left in that cold heart after all… until it all went so spectacularly wrong.
i want to return briefly to my but fractured remnants framework, the idea that the events of Blood & Sand are being repeated & subverted in this new reality. we saw that a bit in the thumbs-down at the conclusion of Tarchon & Achillia’s match-up, once again bringing to mind the death of Varro; and Pompey flying off the handle & slashing Gabinius after being sexually humiliated recalled Ilithyia’s murder of Licinia.
but what i was actually most in mind of through the back half of the episode was “Reckoning,” the penultimate episode of Gods of the Arena, beginning with the plot to drug Pompey’s wine. even though we knew there was opium in the house, having both Hilara and Messia involved in the skulduggery heightened the tension & the expectation that something was about to go fatally wrong (Hilara’s threat to poison Achillia in episode two looms). once again, the show knows that we are familiar with its bag of tricks and uses that knowledge to turn the screws—i was on edge from the moment Achillia brought a chalice to her lips. the ghost of Melitta was very much present.
and then there was the heartfelt talk between Ashur and Gabinius, with its deep paternal overtones (“If father were yet known to you, he would stand as proud as the man you see before you”), recalling the meeting of Batiatus and his father Titus in the old arena. in that scene, an unexpectedly affectionate tone (“You are my son, Quintus, and I will always love you, no matter the path you take”) so moved Batiatus that he decided against murdering his father… only to see the decision removed from his hands—Titus was dead by episode’s end.
from the moment Gabinius arrived at the House of Ashur, we knew the runaway train was coming and that his fate was sealed. and what a scene, when the “old” Ashur finally resurfaced, to finish off his newfound father figure to the sound of screeching strings, not unlike those that underscored the death of Titus—
farewell, good Gabinius. i, for one, will miss you. and hey, when i’m right, i’m right
(and now Chekhov’s shithead brother has a name! Uncle Servius, spoken so portentously there is practically a dun-dun-DUNNN on the soundtrack. oh i am delighted)
i haven't even mentioned Korris or Cossutia or Viridia or a million other little things (like how good the episode looked? Pompey's procession into Capua especially made great use of the limited sound stage), and i suspect i'll have more to say about Daddy Issues eventually (Achillia's backstory was unexpected & tied into the broader themes of the episode quite nicely!), but i'll end here for now & point you to lorewarden's review, which i nodded vigorously along to as usual.
come ON renewal announcement, i NEED there to be more than one episode left, my health and welfare depend upon it!!!
