-Starz
Spartacus: Vengeance continues its bloody fight in the aftermath of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, igniting its ninth and penultimate episode “Monsters,” as Spartacus struggles to unite his men for their cause, while a broken Ilithyia (Viva Bianca) returns to find her place against her maddening husband Glaber. An incredibly strong, if somewhat uneven episode, “Monsters” climactic end will have viewers howling at their televisions for the final installment next week.
Wow, man. Just wow. I’m terribly afraid of losing my eloquence when I talk about ‘Monsters,’as I’m still coming down from something of a high over it, but I wanted to capture the sheer excitement the latest episode of Spartacus: Vengeance imparts. We all thought after ‘Libertus’that the climactic battle that brought down the stadium simply couldn’t be topped in terms of sheer scope, but I actually think the assault on Spartacus’temple tops it. It’s a much smaller scale battle to be sure, but the emotional consequences and sense of palpable danger feel that much higher, especially now that we’re in the penultimate episode, to the point I could barely scrape my jaw from the floor or the smile from my face the entire time. And with an entire episode to go! I’d have been somewhat content if the season had ended there, ignoring the mountainside retreat that Glaber intends to wait out their starvation from. It wouldn’t be historically or climatically accurate to break there, but we’ll get back to history a little later.
To be honest, much of ‘Monsters’feels overshadowed by the climactic battle at its end, and even Ilithyia’s dramatic reversal of Seppia (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence)’s attempt on Glaber’s life, which was equal parts shocking, sinister and sexy. And for clarification’s sake, I received episodes 9 and 10 (which I’m putting on RIGHT after this) in the mail a few days ago, and with their screeners Starz includes bullet pointed lists of spoilers not to reveal prior to the episode’s airing. Of course, moron that I am, I accidentally saw the very first line reading, ‘The deaths of Sepia and Varinius,’and yet while watching the episode, still wound up completely shocked at their passing. That’s how delicious and involving, ‘Monsters’was, that I never would have anticipated Ilithyia’s involvement, or the explosive manner in which Varinius (Brett Tucker) would meet his end. And may the gods bless Spartacus: Vengeance for that. But really, between the unexpected rain of fire destroying the temple, the invasion of Ashur’s men and the brutal sense that we really could lose anybody*, those last 15 minutes really were right up there with ‘Libertus’in cementing Vengeance as one of the more consistently strong seasons of any television series in recent years.
(*) I’ll be interested to read any clarification on the matter in the coming days, but I might venture a guess that killing off Varinius, who historically survived and made his own assault on Spartacus’men after Glaber had failed, occurred to keep us on edge that Spartacus: Vengeance isn’t necessarily beholden to history, and thus any one of Spartacus’men that we believe save could be next for the chopping block.
‘Monsters’was another strong episode for Ilithyia, who dances around the line of morality quite a bit in her return from Spartacus’camp. I’m not entirely certain why I arrived at this, but I had assumed that Spartacus’acts of kindness in ‘Balance‘had brought Ilithyia over somewhat to the light side, to the point she’d rather wash her hands entirely of all this bloodshed and drama by leaving Capua or at the very least, commissioning Gaius’murder to end the affair for good. And with all that had happened, now to find Seppia in her husband’s arms, it had seemed Ilithyia genuinely turned a corner in valuing the life of her child, and her friendship with Lucretia. So imagine my surprise when Ilithyia swung the other way, brutally murdering Seppia in the course of her own revenge plot, declaring herself a monster along with Gaius, and doing it right there, blood covered and adjacent to the still floating corpse of Seppia! Motivations be damned, that was depraved, disturbing, and I loved every slow-motion second of it.
‘Monsters’of course being the theme of the night, the episode still managed to deliver the more thoughtful discourse the series has grown proficient in, where once again we find ourselves posed with the question of what turns people from human to monster. Gaius seems to have been irreparably broken by his wife’s betrayal and the pressure placed on him from above, while in reality Spartacus has done relatively little to warrant such obsession on his part. We can accept that Gaius has been lost to his fury, that Ilithyia was too far gone to ever be humbled by her experience in Spartacus’camp, and even that Ashur has become an institutional man whose vision of freedom involves occupying the very same walls, and keeping a frightened Lucretia by his side.
-Starz
Spartacus however, is a monster of a different kind, similarly broken by his experiences and incapable of giving Mira the love she craves even before her attempt on Ilithyia, but strong enough to understand the pain he inflicts on others. For Spartacus, freedom will always be of a higher cause than vengeance, and with that we slowly gain perspective on the very title of the series, and come to understand its evolution in moving away from it. Rather than allow his vengeance to consume him, Spartacus channels it toward his desire for others, cleverly figuring means of restoring broken bonds throughout his camp. And with that strategy of wine and brawling, we’re privy to some excellent, albeit somewhat superfluous fight sequences that might not otherwise come to pass. Prior to having finished the episode I might have expressed concern that these contests of teaming enemies to battle in pairs seemed like something of a waste for a penultimate episode, but the very spirit of the fights and their aftermath becomes too infectious to begrudge. And it’s a good thing too, because without repairing some of the bonds between Gannicus and Oenomaus, Crixus and Agron, Saxa and Mira, or Nasir and Lugo, that final battle might have gone very differently.
And with that final battle, we’re treated to one of our first major diversions from history, the death of Varinius. Prior to ‘Monsters,’I had a thinly veiled curiosity how Starz might portray the long history of the Third Servile wars, in which Spartacus’armies totaled in the thousands rather than dozens, and how further season might progress. Now it seems to be a bit clearer that Vengeance will likely end with the historically accurate conclusion of Glaber’s efforts, while next season skips past Varinius’equally failed campaign to bring in the recently cast Marcus Crassus, somehow involving a young Julius Caesar as well. It’s hard to believe there’s still a whole other episode to go following ‘Monsters,’but I’d be satisfied if ‘Wrath of the Gods’delivered even half of the payoff of tonight’s final battle, definitely in contention for the best episode of the season.
And Another Thing…
- I very much enjoyed the pool reflecting shots of both Seppia and Ilithyia, and how they retrospectively foreshadow Seppia’s ultimate fate.
- By the way, I have a screener version, but did tonight skip any ‘Previously’segments, even the opening title?
- I will say that ‘Monsters’more or less failed to address two threads; for one, that the rebels’weakened, drunk, and surprised states appeared to have no bearing on the battle with Glaber’s men despite being set up as such, and that we’re not privy to any kind of reaction from Lucretia on Ilithyia’s savage betrayal.
- Good lord, I love Saxa more and more.
- It isn’t given much pause, but it was good to see Crixus and Naevia working through her pain as well.
- F$%king FIRE balls, yo! And while there didn’t seem to be all that much casualty to the battle, we should probably pour one out for Oenomaus’eye. And good lord, was that cinematography beautiful, particularly in the fire Spartacus starts to escape the Romans.
- And for the record, Spartacus: Vengeance is everything The Walking Dead should have been; genuinely tense, exciting, and anchored by a leading man with actual presence, authority, charm and intelligence.
What did YOU think?
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Wow, your comments about The Walking Dead are very unfounded. The lead of Walking Dead is far more charismatic and has a much better screen presence. The Walking Dead is also just an overall better made show. Lol, your reviews have become invalid
The shows are very hard to compare, but in the moment it occurred to me that I understand why people follow Spartacus' decisions, whereas Rick tends to inspire more dissent. Rick has some harder choice to make, but he waffles on them so often that I get why people are so frustrated with TWD this season. I don't think many people have had complaints with the current season of Spartacus.
Absolutely incorrect sir. If this was TWD season 1 versus Spartacus Vengeance then you might have an argument. Don't get me wrong, right now these are my 2 favorite shows even with the TWD having an utterly boring, monotonous and trying first half of the season. TWD ended great but Spartacus has had an entire capuating (hahahaha) season.
I couldn't disagree with you more, Jordan. Walking Dead is as weak as the zombies that walk in it. The first season had great moments, but those have been drowned out. Characters can't get over past feuds and succumb to them (Looking at you, Shane.) In Walking Dead, you have to wait and wait for enough build up to happen to have one good episode. Naysayers of this will say no. They'll say you have great character moments, but the characters of Walking Dead are mostly stereotypes. The father, the wife, the kid. The black man with one line every three episodes. I really wanted Walking Dead to be a great show, but to me, it is not. Spartacus is. Spartacus has all the things I wanted from Walking Dead and didn't receive. I left the majority of the viewings hungry, and when I'm expecting the feast the season finale — it's just another bridge to another episode that involves some far away prison. What?
hey camern, its called a cliff hanger dude, so that you have questions at the end so you watch the next season to see them answered. i like the walking dead, the only thing that bugs me is lori. she should bow down to rick and beg forgiveness, but she instead gets angry.
It's not called a cliffhanger, it's called slow pacing…
Right, the shows aren't anything alike, but Spartacus delivers on the general sense of tension and progression more so than TWD. Although TWD season finale was pretty awesome.
I enjoy both Spartacus and The Walking Dead. Spartacus is more taut, intense, and polished (higher production values), but TWD has better acting chops and is more subtle (some may not like that subtlety, hence the negative comparisons to Sparty — but TWD's character-driven core is more haunting than the keen-edged adrenaline that drives Sparty). Both shows have charismatic casts of characters. Which is better? Probably Sparty. But TWD is pretty good too. For me, the two best shows currently on TV.
I accept this assessment!
Comparing TWD and Spartacus is like comparing apples and oranges. The better comparison would be TWD/Justified. But even then TWD comes up on the short end. And I say this as a fan of TWD.
Back to Spartacus, this episode was just incredible. Whomever is responsible for the editing deserves an award of some kind. Many don't like the slo-mo, but I love it. The scene where each participant runs the gauntlet (with some members like Ganny on the side throwing wine on them) was nothing short of an masterpiece.
Kevin, I don't know how you do it. No way could I have the screener as early as you do and not talk about it.
This show has YET to have an less than spectacular season finale, and I doubt next week will be any different.
I did watch the finale last night. And all I'll say is that it may not go how you expect, but…wow.
Seppia's death scene was very artfully done too. I find myself marveling at how they did it. Tube with holes poked at strategically spaced intervals, liquid pumped through to simulate arterial spray and makeup to disguise the tube in the neck wound + CGI to clean it up after? However they did it, it looked cool.
I was really surprised by Varinus's death in the episode. Historically, Varinius is supposed to go after Spartacus after he beats Glaber. Who knows, maybe he has a brother.
True! But since Crassus has been cast for next season, I imagine they're moving up the timetable a bit by skipping over Varinius, especially considering his campaign probably wouldn't be all that distinct from Glaber's.
is Varinius def dead? I just watched again and he could just be badly burned. I guess there'd be no reason to keep him alive though
Maybe I'm a snob ! Spartacus is my guilty pleasure TV show… I like watching slow motion decapitations and Roman party orgies and damnit the story/characters are good as well. Just, for the love of all that is holy in the world, do not compare it to The Walking Dead.
Can the Walking Dead be long and drawn out? Yes. But that is the nature of character driven drama and it creates a world more of tension because of it. It would have been sad if "The Egyptian" had killed Oenomerious (or however his name is spelled) tonight but it would have had nothing on the Rick-Shane showdown or the Barn Scene or even the Bar Scene.
The fact that TWD can get so much viewers without the action packed zombie killing or HBO/Starz like nudity acting as a filler is a sign of how good the show really is.
Also hope you are reviewing Game of Thrones when it starts next week. Good thing about that is that it blends the good elements from each show and Season 2 looks to be epic.
I just want to say that the comments I've read here have mentioned The Walking Dead, Justified, and Game of Thrones. Kudos everyone for watching and appreciating good television. Oh, and gannicus Is a bad mother… Well you get the picture
i love dbz "kakarot"
Spartacus & Game of Thrones is alot more entertaining than TWD. the zombies and most of the people on TWD have got sooooo boring!
I don't think Ilythia betrayed Lucrecia, their conversation was vague, but I think they were in it togehter.
Why do I like TWD? Because ZOMBIES! Also, the pilot episode was AMAZING. Other than that, everything else is average at best, with an extremely slow pacing, characters who never break out of their stereotype mold, as posted above, and tension and arguments that really should not exist but do merely because the writers wanted to burn 10 minutes of screen time. Its well acted, but I wouldnt go as far as to call it one of the best shows on tv. I think TWD is more popular because exactly because of that. Its not hard for viewers to get into, and since every episode has one zombie decapitation, then heck, why not stay the whole season? This is cool.
Spartacus on the other hand…the moment when Mira asks Spartacus for more love and he says he has given her as much as he can for he has lost what was left of his heart is as beautiful as tv moments can get.
Its these moments, these powerful yet humane and raw moments that spell human emotions at its finest that makes Spartacus one of the best television shows ever to air.
Were this show airing on HBO, it would undoubtedly earn the awards it deserves.
The writing is marvelous, the acting superb, the set pieces are admirable considering the budget they work under, and the wide array of emotions it stirs in the viewers, whether it be a huge smile on our face when we see Gannicus strike down 3 men with his sword, or a gasp when we see Illythia murdering Seppia, or tears welling in our eyes when a betrayal ends in bloodshed.
This episode was probably the best of the season so far, and I cannot wait for next week.
I agree, Rich. We're on the same page. Dr. Gonzo on the other hand, not so much. TWD should be losing viewers, not gaining them at this point. I think the series reached it's peak around the Otis episode, and has been steadily declining ever since. Sure you get a couple good episodes, but nothing like the consistency of Spartacus. To me, Spartacus is a smart and sexy and surprising show. Most episodes deliver and they DON'T leave with you season cliffhangers. They leave you satisfied entertained, and looking forward to more entertainment from next season.
Geez, you guys, Spartacus blood and sand was the BEST OF ALL… Andy Whitfield made Spartacus the best show ever… Liam could not reach the same intensity Andy brought to the show. I was more disconnected to the new cast of Vengeance… The acting of Mira towards Sparty was so cheesy… Eeewwww! You all should watch Blood and Sand first before watching Vengeance because there is a HUGE difference from acting. Steven deKnight can definitely write his Spartacus beautifully but the actors are lacking sparks that only Andy Whtfield and John Hannnah possess in Blood and Sand. Glaber is not that evil compare to Batiatus although Glaber is the one put Sparty in slavery but Glaber is still a wuss… If this is your first time watching Spartacus, then you need to see the first season… It's the best of all the BEST.
geez, Cdacera, Spartacus blood and sand is where it all started and where the show (deservedly) got all of it's hype. Of course it was great and in an ideal (and fair) world Andy Witfield would still be with us playing the part of Spartacus in Vengeance. But this harsh world took him away from us leaving no choice but to move on and adapt. It took me a few episodes to get used to Liam. He'll never replace Andy. But I think he is starting to forge his own Spartacus and on the collective strength of this show it's working. Mira has been good, I'm not sure why you singled her out. The only weak part of this season so far has been Navia and even she is getting better. All 3 seasons have been equally great. Oh and did you see the guy get his face cut off? EPIC!!! EPIC!!! Possibly the best individual moment of the entire series.
This in my opinion was almost a perfect episode.It was definitely a perfect penultimate episode and actually at this point is my favorite of the season. Yes,overall..for me, it has surpassed even "Libertus"!! Wow,I'm just sorry the season doesn't have 12,or 13 eps. But as it's been said,this season has been so consistently strong on every level that it doesn't really matter.
If Varinius is dead then they made a mistake according to history since he's supposed to die after Glaber and after a few more battles. Glaber should die at the end of ep 10.