Betrayal – The episode begins with Tenax (Iwan Rheon) dreaming of the night he and Ursus (Daniel Stisen) burned some man alive. Things only get worse when Cala (Sara Martins) tells him about receiving a letter, threatening to oust his illegal betting proclivities. After collecting himself, Tenax immediately visits the bar where he orders his men to scour the city and locate the man who bet the little golden horse. When the men disperse, he pulls Felix (Leone Girlnda) to the side and asks him to visit the apartment on Cispian Hill and take a look around.
While Tenax and his men deal with a case of mistaken identity at one of the local brothels, Felix arrives at Cispian Hill and draws the attention of Ursus
Things aren’t going so well for Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas) at Circus Maximus and Xenon (Emilio Sakraya) is more than willing and able to fill the gap. It certainly doesn’t help when Tenax brings this to attention. They don’t get long to air their grievances due to the urgent arrival of a young boy with news of something that requires Tenax’s attention. He is led to find Felix hanging from the rafters. Nica (Mia McGovern Zaini) takes the death especially hard. Scorpus continues to grovel over his recent losing streak and drinks himself to sleep while Tenax oversees the burial of Felix.
After Felix’s burial, Tenax gathers his watchers at the Cispian Hill apartment and gives them explicit directions if and when they see the ‘big scarred man.’ Later that night, Cala has trouble sleeping and visits Tenax, who appears to share her problem. After a few glasses of wine, he tells her that he was practically Felix 20 years ago. She asks him about the blackmail letter but he doesn’t reveal much.
While Fonsoa (Pepe Barroso) helps Salena (Romana Maggiora Vergano) and her young son move in with Caltonia (Angeliqa Davi), Aura (Kyshan Wilson) confronts Cala about telling everyone that she will be returning home. This infuriates Cala and she becomes even more so when she learns that Cala wants to travel while Jula (Alice Ann Edogamhe) and Kwame (Moe Hashim) are literally fighting for their lives. Although Cala later apologizes for being so harsh, she also accuses Aura of being selfish.
Elia (Goncalo Almeida) visits Andria (Eneko Sagardoy) at the stables to tell him about a new driving opportunity while Kwame (Moe Hashim) and Viggo (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) watch in amazement as Flamma (Martyn Ford) makes quick work of several of the arena’s fiercest gladiators. This is soon broken up by Atticus (Bruno Bilotta), with the announcement of a special competition in honor of Emperor Titus’s (Tom Hughes) wedding. Kwame learns that he will be fighting Flamma at the ceremony.
Rufus (Michael Maggi) continues to grovel over losing his shares to Tenax when he is approached by Caltonia with an interesting proposition. Assuming that she wants him to kill Tenax, he tells her there are more competent men for the job. Much to his surprise, she wants him to seek employment from Tenax.
Kwame briefly meets Viggo’s wife, Linza (Maria Muisa De Crescenzo), and young son, Ahren (Daniel Fiamengo), where he learns about Viggo’s future plans to return to his father’s farm once he wins the Wooden Sword. Kwame appears both touched and shocked when he learns that Viggo has prayed to the gods for his safety during his battle with Flamma.
Antonia (Gabriella Pession) is steaming mad after learning about Titus’s marriage to his cousin. She is so upset that she even discusses marrying a Patrician man with undiluted blood who might eventually end up on the Curule Chair. Marsus (Rupert Penry-Jones) warns and reminds her that they’ve already been down this road, as has many before them. Nonetheless, she appears undeterred.
Rufus doesn’t waste any time visiting Tenax and although it takes some begging and pleading, he convinces him to hire him. Tenax puts him under the watchful eye of Cala and at the very same time, Jula learns about Kwame’s fight with Flamma. She takes the news to her mother, who then takes the news to Tenax. He tells her that he couldn’t stop it if he were the Emperor himself.
The red carpet is practically rolled out for Titus and Marcia (Clelia Zanini) as they arrive at the arena for the games. They briefly meet with Domitian (Jojo Macari), who jokes about Flamma killing three men in Marcia’s honor. At the same time, with the help of Tenax, Cala gets a brief meeting with Kwame. She tells him about Aura’s freedom and assures him that he will win the fight.
Although Kwame has two other men with him, they learn that they will be chained together for the fight. The fight goes about as expected, with Flamma quickly dispatching Kwame’s two associates. After doing so, he toys a bit with Kwame and ends up taking some damage in the process. There, however, is a tremor throughout the arena during the fight that the crowd interprets as a sign from the Gods. This puts them on the sign of Kwame and they begin chanting his name. Despite this, Flamma still ends up gaining the advantage and just as Flamma is about to kill Kwame, Titus stops it.
The episode ends with Tenax telling Cala that Kwame might be safe, but the favor with the crowd only means they’ll want to see him fight again and again. As Kwame is accepting his consolation prize, the tremor is revealed as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Those About To Die Review
This was easily one of the best episodes of the series thus far. That said, it had very little to do with the actual content, for me. It was more of the way it was put together. Yes, at the halfway point the ping-ponging returned, but until that, the story mainly focused on Tenax. Whether it had been with Tenax, Titus, or Antonia, it wouldn’t have mattered to me. The fact that one story was the majority focus was the most compelling point to me. For that alone, I’d have to give the episode a 5.3 out of 10.
I can also appreciate the way the Flamma and Kwame conflict rounded out. Get more Those About To Die recaps here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. See what others are saying here.
