In episode 6 of war of the damned entitled spoils of war we witness the end of Spartacus’ time within Sinuessa and see the city fall back to Roman control after Crassus and Caesar take it back from Spartacus and his rebels. Interestingly after the city is taken and Spartacus and the rebels leave that’s all we see of those characters until the episode ends. This episode focuses on characters still remaining within Sinuessa. This includes Gannicus, Caesar, Crassus, Tiberius and Kore.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtSP5X_P0RU[/youtube]
The spoils of war title sums up the basic theme of the episode. Crassus has taken the city and is now dividing up its riches to himself and rewarding those who lent aid in the process. But mainly to himself, Sinuessa is now his to do as he wishes. Caesar is given a celebration in his honour and Tiberius is forced to praise him. But even though it was Crassus who took the city it seems he took a back seat in the episodes focus, apart from his scene with Laeta and Heracleo he wasn’t really fully present. This episode focuses very much so on Gannicus and Caesar, maybe they are teasing something of a fight in later episodes perhaps?
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ubQb_xKn6g[/youtube]
So first off we’ll start with Caesar. Caesar in this episode seems to have been transformed as a character. He has a new haircut and is now presented as a victor rather than an inserted brute and untamed beast that he was before. The man with a tongue of silver who tricked all the rebels into believing he was one of them is what he is now praised for. In this episode he is Gaius Julius Caesar a champion of Rome and admired by the soldiers of Rome.
In this episode I really did enjoy watching Caesar, which as of now I think Todd Lasance does very well. I think he was well cast for the role and it was only in episodes before that I thought his appearance was a bit strange for the type of character. But now in watching it as I know the true intent of his long hair and beard I understand what was going on. There’s a few fantastic scenes between him and Tiberius (Christian Antidormi) where he taunts Tiberius and his failings and even manoeuvres Tiberius when he attempts to exploit Caesar into fighting the captured rebel during the celebrations. There’s something very calculated and intelligent about Caesar shown in this episode and for this reason it’s one of the best episodes the season has done so far.
Apart from Caesar there is of course Gannicus (Dustin Clare), once God of the arena trapped within the city in need of escape with Sybil (Gwendoline Taylor) by his side. Gannicus just cannot be killed it seems, even though he is within the city walls surrounded by thousands of enemies like a God he bests each and every one of them including mighty Caesar.
There are many scenes in the episode between Gannicus and Sybil as they pray to the God’s to help them in their escape. They also encounter the traitorous pirate Heracleo who Gannicus can easily best in a fight. Saving Laeta in the process and moving to escape Gannicus is presented as quite the hero.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GB59W97w8c[/youtube]
Apart from Gannicus and Caesar taking all the spotlight there was also increasing tensions between Tiberius and Kore. Tiberius it seems will continue to torment her possibly for more episodes to come. But in doing so I think he comes off as a very ungrateful and spoilt kid constantly mentioning his position and status the whole season while lacking any talent. I’m wondering just what Kore will do? Will she be like other women in Spartacus seasons of past and plot to be rid of him? I certainly hope so….
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hX4shIsF9I[/youtube]
Overall I thought this episode was one of the most entertaining of the season so far. I thought there was a great contrast between Gannicus the hero and Caesar the hero. Both those two just seem to be completely unstoppable. Just what would happen if they did do battle? Will it happen at all or soon? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
