Death’s Bed – The episode begins with Tenax (Iwan Rheon) being pulled from the fire by Woola (Theodore Max Gravina) and another of the betting boys. He is immediately taken to Cala (Sara Martins), who takes charge and orders the boys to retrieve a physician. At the same time, Aura (Kyshan Wilson) runs into Ursus (Daniel Stisen) while trying to sneak back home after her night of partying. She doesn’t know who he is but the scares appear to leave her with an ominous feeling.

With the assistance of Cala, it doesn’t take the Physician (Corrado Invernizzi) and his assistant long to splint Tenax’s leg. Just outside, Woola is quick to let Dacia (Jareth J. Merz) know that it was Noro (Christian Hillborg) who betrayed Tenax. After receiving the Physician’s strict orders of bed rest, Cala continues leading the charge by sending Dacia to the Cispian Hill apartment to check on the money. Dacia puts up a slight resistance but it doesn’t take Cala very long to convince him that her orders are what Tenax would want.

It is only minutes later that the unexpected return of Aura gives Cala a fright. While Woola and Dacia discover that the gold is gone, Cala orders Aura to open the betting parlor. She also tells Aura to tell anyone asking about Tenax that he is off buying land at the coast but makes it seem like a lie. By this time, Tenax has rejoined the land of the living. Upon doing so, he tells Cala the full story behind the fire.

Antonia (Gabriella Pession) visits Marsus (Rupert Penry-Jones) in jail to tell him of her failures to save his life. Much to her surprise, he has already accepted his fate and tells her that the best she can do is to publically denounce him and ensure that their son, Julius, gets his rightful place on the Curule Chair. Antonia has an extremely hard time accepting this.

Titus’s (Tom Hughes) meeting with Berenice (Lara Wolf) does go much better as she once again confronts him about refusing to release her people with the completion of the amphitheater. With parliament possibly conspiring against him, he cordially tells her that there is nothing he can do and must put the wellbeing of Rome first.

Antonia wastes little time asserting her newfound authority at a Faction meeting when she not only harshly dismisses Caltonia (Angeliqa Devi), but outwardly declares Marsus a traitor who deserves to die. Scorpus (Dimitri Leonidas) is unexpectedly approached by Xenon (Emilio Sakraya) in the stables and invited to get a drink. Once the drinking begins it doesn’t take long before Xenon’s true intentions emerge. Although Scorpus rebuffs his advances, he doesn’t appear as appalled or upset as one might imagine.

Elsewhere, Salena (Romana Maggiora Vergano) isn’t so gracious when she turns down Caltonia’s advances. This eventually sends her and her young son in a frantic search for Elia (Goncalo Almeida) at the stables. At the moment she doesn’t tell him what happened but alludes to needing a new place to stay. Elia looks as if he couldn’t be happier.

Antonia continues her plotting and scheming by taking Scorpus to bed. After he falls asleep, she leaves him with a nasty little surprise: a scorpion. Cala does some plotting and scheming of her own when she gathers Tenax’s betting boys and tells them to begin approaching the losers with reverse odds. It is only seconds after dismissing the children that Aura arrives to tell her about Scorpus’s absence. Rather than seek out Scorpus, Cala goes to the stables to tell Andria (Eneko Sagardoy) and Elia that they will both be racing today. They couldn’t be happier.

At nearly the same time, Scorpus wakes just in time to discover the nasty little surprise Antonia left him. Despite this, he is still late for the races and shows up just as Andria claims the victory. He is outraged and immediately takes his concerns to Tenax. Tenax meets with him and tries to convince him that having alternate drivers who can win is a good thing. This meeting doesn’t last long thanks to the unexpected arrival of Domitian (Jojo Macari), who is outraged over not yet receiving his payout from the last race. Domitian’s arrival and announcement cause Scorpus to ask the same question. Much to both their surprises, Tenax tells them that the profits have gone to pay a blackmailer. Domitian does care and for good measure, threatens Scorpus on his way out.

It is not long after this that Cala shares the successes of her scheming with Tenax. He is clearly outraged but relents when he realizes how much money she’s made. Cala doesn’t get long to enjoy her win because it’s not long after this that she hears about Kwame’s (Moe Hashim) rematch with Flamma (Martyn Ford). This discovery sends her racing to the apothecary to buy Atropa. Given that Atropa is poison, it takes some convincing and the offer of inside betting information before the vendor will sell to her. The inside tip is to bet on Kwame against Flamma. She is later shown sneaking into the brothel and poisoning his drink while he gets laid.

Viggo (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) becomes outraged when he learns that Atticus (Bruno Bilotta) is making Kwame wear a special type of armor during his fight with Flamma. His complaints fall on deaf ears.

Aura is in the market when she overhears Dacia discussing Ursus with an associate. At the mention of the scars, she immediately knows who they are talking about and tells them about seeing him at the fountain.

Cala is in tears the moment Kwame’s fight with Flamma begins and eventually has to turn away from watching altogether. It isn’t until the crowd begins the Kwame chant that she dares take a look. She chose to do so at just the right moment because Kwame is quickly taking control of the battle. Much to everyone’s surprise, it isn’t long before Kwame kills Flamma. Domitian is not at all happy.

Tenax is in his room recovering when he hears a distant stirring outside. It takes some effort but he manages to elude Ursus by hiding in what appears to be a closet. After Ursus leaves, he discovers Dacia’s decapitated head.

When Cala and Aura finally find the time to talk, Cala learns that Aura respects her to no end but will not be returning home. Shortly after this, Ursus shows up and attacks Cala. Much to his surprise, he puts up much more of a challenge than he would have imagined. There is a brief struggle and just as he is able to kill her, Tenax attacks and kills Ursus from behind.

The episode ends with the death of Ursus.

 

Those About To Die Review

What an incredibly boring episode. I liked episode 6 and was feeling good coming into this one, but it was entirely too long and constantly lost my attention. Along with the oversaturated cast, the length of each episode has always been a major problem for the series. At least that’s how I feel. Although I find the betting somewhat interesting, I don’t care one iota about the chariot racing. It offers a different aspect but it’s not my cup of tea. The death of Ursus leaves a big void to fill. I’d have to give this episode 5 out of 10.

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