Spartacus: Blood and Sand – Shadow Games – Episode 105
Brief Summary: Batiatus is presented with a gladiatorial opportunity of a lifetime. Spartacus and Crixus must overcome their mutual hostility to fight as a team against a legendary and unbeaten opponent. USA – 2010 – TVMA
Summary: With renewed hope towards finding his wife, Spartacus dedicates himself anew to training. He’ll need it, since Batiatus, desperate for patronage from Magistrate Calavius, has reluctantly agreed to pair Spartacus and his bitter enemy Crixus in a gladiatorial fight to the death with the legendary gladiator Theokoles, “The Shadow of Death.” against whom only one fighter has survived. Doctore is that man, and he tells the two fighters they must put their differences aside and fight together if they have any hope of prevailing. Crixus and Spartacus somehow have to learn to work together.
As if the prospect of losing his two best fighters isn’t enough for Batiatus to worry about, he also learns his great rival was behind the assassination attempt on his life – and so he takes steps to avenge himself. And his wife, Lucretia, is fretful that her illicit lover, Crixus, might perish in the arena, a fear shared by slave girl Naevia, who shares her own secret passion for Crixus. For her part, Lucretia must continue to face the humiliation of being childless.
The games have commenced and as the Magistrate tells the crowd about this attempt to appease the gods, to bring rain to their parched lands, underneath the spectator stands, Doctore wishes Spartacus and Crixus luck. The two fighters step out onto the sands of the arena as they are introduced, Crixus shouting out his trademark call to the crowd: “Capua, shall I begin?” The Magistrate introduces the undefeated Theokoles just as the sky darkens with clouds and the seven foot tall fighter emerges, covered in the scars of a thousand battles, holding two swords and no shield, no armor.
The fight is brutal, intense and unpredictable and by the end, only one gladiator stands.
