The season finale has come and gone and I'll be honest and say "Thank you TV Gods!" - The edited version of one of the most spectacular shows on TV was a huge letdown. Having watched this brilliant show in all it's glory, it was disappointing to see it being cut up like that.
There were parts of this show that my young eyes could have done without seeing but I have come to the conclusion that ALL of it was part of a bigger picture and ALL of it was necessary.
I was interested in two particular scenes of Kill Them All. I've seen the uncut version and two scenes were pivotal for me.
1. The shield tap and jump.
Believe it or not they edited that scene. Not the shield tap and not the jump but Spartacus' sword going to the Roman's head. It actually lost impact on not seeing the poor guy get shishkebabed. Didn't think it would but it did.
2. The scene where Spartacus repeats Batiatus' words back to him:
"What would you do to hold your wife again, to feel the warmth of her skin, the taste of her lips. How many men would you kill? A hundred? A thousand? -
Spartacus' execution of Batiatus..edited. You don't see Batiatus' throat being cut and even when Batiatus is spun around..they must have forgotten to cgi some blood in because there is hardly any of the red stuff on his neck! Oopsie. In the final frame of Batiatus and Lucretia lying together...there's the shaving cut!
As gruesome as this scene is, it's justice and it was edited. Again it loses it's impact more than I thought it would.
I lost count on how many edits there were...it wasn't the body count that went up in this episode....the editors were really earning their money.
For Aussies hop over to EZYDVD and order the DVD or Blu-Ray - UNCUT. It's worth it.
I was so saddened in watching this episode because of Andy. What a wonderful actor and a real find this man has been. Get well soon Andy, we want you back!
Read my review of the UNcut version of this spectacular episode