| Wolves at the Gate | ||
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| Season | 3 | |
| Number | Episode 02 | |
| Date Aired | February 1, 2013 | |
| Writer | Steven S. DeKnight | |
| Director | Jesse Warn | |
| Guests | ||
| Previous | Enemies of Rome | |
| Next | Men of Honor | |
"Wolves at the Gate" is the second episode of Spartacus: War of the Damned. It is the thirty-first episode in the Spartacus series overall.
Synopsis
Everyone is regrouping after the recent battles. Crassus has amassed an army, and, thanks to Tiberius, armor and weaponry for the said army. Now, Crassus believes he only needs one more thing to take on Spartacus: Julius Caesar. Caesar has covered himself in glory fighting battles abroad. However, he's fallen deeply in debt in the
process. Crassus brings him in and proposes a deal. He offers him money and further glories if he can help him stop the slave rebellion and kill Spartacus. Caesar agrees to help. Caesar begins to show interest towards Crassus' body slave, Kore, and attempts to undress her. Crassus discovers this and dismisses her. Crassus' wife then admonishes her. She runs away crying and tells Tiberius. Tiberius then overhears Crassus telling Caesar that his son isn't quite ready to be his ally yet, as he needs an experienced soldier, like Caesar.
Later, as Crassus prepares to mobilize, Tertulla attempts to force her way out onto the road with him. He says he wants to keep her safe and to be able to focus on the upcoming battle. But the truth is, we discover, that he wants Kore with him. It's clear that he actually truly loves her when he goes to her and asks her to come, yet not as an orders. She agrees. The next day, he tells Tiberius he will ride with Caesar to discern Spartacus' movements, but they won't engage. Caesar is miffed that he's been positioned with Tiberius as an ally, but Crassus tells him to relax and that the rewards at the end of the journey will all be worth it. Crassus addresses his troops, saying that it is time they mobilize.
After chatting with a butcher, Spartacus decides that this city is where they should settle for the winter. It's a walled city on the water so they would have both natural and man made fortification. But first, they need to get inside and take it over, which is no easy feat with both the branding of slaves and the inability to bring weapons beyond the wall.
The rebels secure a disguise. Gannicus knows of a blacksmith on the inside. Spartacus, Gannicus and Crixus pay the coastal city and Gannicus' friend a visit. They get past the wall by dropping a slave master's name and convinces Gannicus' friend, Attius, to make them weapons, but not before offering a large amount of coin to him.
While wandering throughout the city under disguise, they happen upon the stoning of a slave, ordered to quell more unpleasantness among the increasingly disgruntled slaves who praise Spartacus. When the stoning begins, the slave begins chanting Spartacus' name and says the rebellion will win. The stoning only comes to an end when Spartacus himself throws a well-aimed stone at the slave's head. Later, Spartacus' meets Laeta, who proves useful in telling him of their grain stores and Crassus' plans. She then rescues him of an interrogation by the slave master.
Gannicus and Spartacus are dismayed to find their is a curfew when the gate closes. Nonetheless, they convince
The rebels storm through the city
Attius to aid them and go to work. Attius tricks the guards in front of the gate into the arsenal and locks them in. Meanwhile, Gannicus works on lifting the gate and Spartacus holds back the hoard of Roman guards.
Gannicus gets the gates open just in time for the rebel army, led by Crixus and Agron, to swarm in and take the city. They slay women and children in an culmination of carnage. Diotimos dies, but gets the satisfaction of seeing his master killed.
During the siege, Spartacus runs into Laeta once again, who is aghast that he allied with Spartacus. He declares that he is Spartacus himself. She breaks down, seeing the bodies of dead friends, family, and citizens. A few of her friends are still alive, however.
Once cornered, the leader of the city threatens to to torch the vast resources of grain: the heart of the city, it's commerce, and how it feeds its people. Spartacus takes hostage Laeta, the man's wife, and asks her to talk him out of torching the resources in order to save the remaining living. But as she's trying to convince him, Spartacus spears him through the face. Laeta is bereft, saying she could have convinced him. Spartacus tells her that he knows what it's like to lose loved ones, and that he carries the full weight of her loss. He then orders her and the remaining Romans into chains. Spartacus tells his assembled troops that no more Romans are to be killed and that the city is theirs.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Spartacus
Spartacus.
- Crixus
Crixus.
- Gannicus
Gannicus.
- Agron
- Saxa
- Naevia
- Nasir
- Donar
- Lugo
- Nemetes
- Crassus
- Caesar
- Hilarus
- Tiberius
- Kore
- Laeta
- Sibyl
Quotes
| Episodes | |
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| Enemies of Rome | Men of Honor |