Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena Season Finale

THE BEST 62 minutes of television i've seen in a while, or in my entire life for that matter.

I mean wow, where to even start? Watching the Oscar's over the weekend, i swear to god this season finale should have been right up there alongside King's Speech and Inception. (Social Network, you're not included, how dare you beat Inception in the Best Music category.) This episode had everything from backstabbing to face-stabbing, literally, watch the final scene and you'll know what i mean.

With the abrupt death of Titus, his son and now sole ruler of the ludus Batiatus, swears vengeance upon Tullius who he believes was responsible for the murder of his father. We as the audience know that it was in fact his wife, Lucretia, who poisoned the wine but hey, nobody likes Tullius anyways, hes a *@#%#%&.

After talking to his most prized gladiator Gannicus, who is pretty badass might i add, Batiatus realizes that he too wants to seek revenge for the death of his secret lover Melitta who unfortunately also drank the wine and that there is no way in hell he's going to sell him to Tullius and his puppet Vettius even though they risk not being included in the games at the new arena.

In the following scene we see Batiatus' close friend Solonius informing Tullius that Batiatus is in fact going to set Gannicus free so that he does not have to sell him and that there is still time to catch him. At this point we're all thinking, dammit Solonius why'd you have to betray Batiatus, not cool man. But wait! Whats this?! A DOUBLE BETRAYAL?!!? Thats right guys. Thinking he could catch Batiatus red handed, Tullius follows Solonius to find Batiatus in the mean streets of Capua. Unfortunately for Tullius when he does find him, hes outnumbered.

Double Betrayal FTW!

After a good old fashioned beating, Oenmaus is about to finish Tullius off with a nice sword to the throat but Batiatus stops him and suggests a better method of execution. Yup, you guessed it, not only does Tullius get multiple swords plunged into him as if he were some human pin cushion, he gets the privilege of being buried ,while still barely alive, within the very walls of the new arena! Yay! So now that's done with, we now move on to the final fight scene of the finale and boy was it spectacular. But hold on, theres a twist. With Tullius gone and Vettius, his lap-dog, left powerless, Solonius is able to force Vettius into giving all of his gladiators to him to the surprise and disgust of Batiatus who was supposed to receive half of them. So now the stage is set and its Solonius' ludus against the house of Batiatus, Bring it on.

(Thats right, theres a ring of fire surrounding them as they fight.)

Imagine somehow combining all of the fighting scenes from 300 and Gladiator into something like 7 minutes of footage with better fight choreography and cooler finishing moves and then you'll only begin to understand how awesome this scene is.

Im not going to go into too much detail for this scene because you really should watch it yourself but ultimately what happens in the end is Gannicus and Crixus are left to finish off the last opposing gladiator but the latter is thrown out of the ring like a rag doll and its now only Gannicus and the other dude. After a few clashes of swords, shields and skulls, Gannicus finishes the poor gladiator off with a move so disturbing but awesome, it's absolutely jaw-dropping (no wordplay intended, see picture below).

Ouch.

Bitter by the thought of defeat, Solonius gets back at Batiatus by suggesting to the magistrate, the idea of setting Gannicus free as a prize for his performance in the arena and the magistrate agrees. In the end, the house of Batiatus has once again proven to be the best ludus in Capua but unfortunately its prized champion must go.

Peace out!

A short but eventful season, Gods of the Arena was able to layout and explain many of the unexplained stories that were shown in the first season Blood and Sand. From this season, we were able to find out many things such as who was the champion before Crixus, how Ashur broke his leg and why Batiatus hates Solonius. With all the success that this show has had, its unfortunate that actor Andy Whitfield, who plays the role of Spartacus, will no longer be part of the series due to his medical condition. So far it's rumored that actor Liam Mcintyre will be the new replacement for the role but there is a lot of skepticism regarding his ability to live up to the expectations of the fans who will have to wait a painfully long year for the new season to come out.

For more information on the show visit there official website here.

- Masato Kuok