Those About to Die Ending Explained: Explanation of the Season Finale of the TV Series About Gladiators
You’ve seen Those About to Die and you missed some details of the ending: here we are to help you. In this article we retrace step by step what happened in Let the Games Begin, the tenth and final episode (of the first season?) of this series. Below is our explanation summary of the conclusion, divided into paragraphs by topic. Obviously, with all the spoilers of the case. As we all know, Those About to Die is set in the days of the arena of Ancient Rome, when gladiators challenged each other to death for the entertainment of the people and the emperors, who decreed their life or death. The cast is therefore also filled with Italian names, such as Gabriella Pession, Davide Tucci, and Clelia Zanini, even if the series is filmed in English. So let’s see the names of the actors and (if available) the characters they respectively played.
How the Latest Episode of Those About to Die Begins?
The episode begins with a dialogue between Kwame and Viggo, who in the bowels of the Flavian Amphitheater that is about to be officially inaugurated, wonder who they will have to fight this time, the two of them together as has already happened other times. In the stands, Titus notices the agitation of his brother Domitian (who has seen his and Tenax’s plans to eliminate Titus fail before he speaks with the navarch who has already arrived in Ostia to report the blockade of his ship loaded with grain imposed on him by Domitian himself to encourage revolts in the city). But Domitian continues to feign his innocence and says he is ready to accompany his brother to Ostia.
Those About to Die Ending Explained: Tenax Discovers Cala’s Betrayal?
Tenax tries to find a solution, and while he is leaving the imperial park he finds the body of Berenice, the queen of the Jews who was killed by some of her countrymen who thought she was a traitor, just as she was bringing Titus the confession of Tenax and the centurion Manilius about their plan to eliminate the emperor. A confession that Cala had stolen from Tenax’s secret room after Berenice herself and Antonia had convinced her to betray Tenax to free her daughter Jula, who in the meantime has been torn from her mother and taken to the Colosseum. In the meantime, Manilius learns from one of his men that the navarco who will frame Domitian has arrived in Ostia, so he hurries into action.
The Clash Between Kwame and Viggo Begins?
And so Kwame and Viggo go before the public, and there they discover that madman Domitian has thought it best to pit them against each other for a fight to the death between brothers, a metaphor for his relationship with his brother that Tito will not fail to underline. The two warriors try to oppose the destiny written for them and stand back to back ready to face the legionaries surrounding them, but Domitian had foreseen everything and brings in Jula (that’s why she was brought there) and Viggo’s son: the two gladiators will have to challenge each other and only the winner will also let his relative live. And so the fratricidal fight begins.
Manilio Chases Tenax, Elia Wants to Return to Spain?
Out there, Manilius has arrived with his men to find and kill Tenax, to erase all evidence of their old plot worth ten million sesterces against the emperor. But Tenax, of course, escapes. As does Elia who, after having caused the death of his brother Fonsoa as a consequence of his deadly plan of revenge against Scorpo who had in turn killed Andria, want to leave Rome and return to Baetica, in Spanish land? He says goodbye to Gavros and his favorite horse Ferox, but the little girl Nica arrives at that moment to tell him that Jula has been taken hostage in the duel between Kwame and Viggo.
Kwame Has to Kill Viggo But Saves Jula with the Wooden Sword!
The fight in the arena continues, and even if Viggo seems to prevail in the end it is Kwame who gets the better of it, but before killing his friend he asks the public and the emperor to recognize Viggo’s value and spare his life. The crowd agrees but surprisingly Tito, who saw in those two a metaphor of himself and Domitian, shows the thumbs down, forcing Kwame to kill his brother from the North. “It’s the house of death and I will never enter again” comments (the wonderful) Antonia, who after having witnessed the end of her husband Marsus torn to pieces by crocodiles followed the gladiatorial duel alongside Cala.
“Wooden sword” the arena audience still shouts, inviting the emperor to give Kwame the wooden weapon that symbolizes his liberation from his duties as a gladiator slave. Titus grants it to him, but Kwame is forced to use it to finally free his sister Jula, who is escorted out by Elia, to whom she reveals that she is pregnant; and obviously Elia will not leave her or Rome. And so, once the gladiator duel is over, Titus tells his brother to accompany him to Ostia: Domitian goes, but first, he has Viggo’s son killed, with yet another act of wickedness that increases Kwame’s hatred even more. As they leave the Colosseum, Titus finds Berenice’s body and has it taken to his palace while he goes to Ostia.
Tenax vs Manilio, the White Lion Against All?
Tenax and Manilius finally come face to face and sword to sword: Tenax wants to kill the one who betrayed him, and Manilius wants to kill the one who knows too much about him now that he sees Domitian close to defeat. So the fight begins, but as Tenax had said “street warriors win over soldiers” and so Manilius is killed rather easily. Even more easily killed is the poor (idiot) Carpo, who, seeing the lion a little down, opens the cage and practically signs his death sentence: the enormous white lion tears him to pieces in a second and proceeds to look for more human flesh in the backstage of the Colosseum. He immediately arrives where Tenax is reproaching Cala for his betrayal and interrupts their conversation. Of course, Kwame takes care of the white lion, who manages to lead him into the arena, where the white lion begins its massacre. Cala, in the meantime, finds Aura, who with her partner had decided to volunteer to be an extra in the games. Aura lends a hand to her brother against the white lion.
Tenax Convinces Manilius’ Men?
Tenax manages to get out and goes to Manilius’ men and convinces them to go over to his side in exchange for the promise to split the 10 million left free by the deceased Manilius. The lion has instead leaped onto the stands, devouring anyone who happens to be in his jaws. Kwame therefore faces him, who makes him go down into the arena and with the gladius manages to kill him in the end and also not be killed.
At Ostia, Tenax Kills the Emperor Titus?
The Flavian brothers have instead arrived in Ostia, where they listen to the confession of the navarch who reports that he remained stranded off the coast of Corsica for three weeks on Domitian’s orders. Titus tells his faithful Porto that he will have him thrown from the Tarpeian Rock after the Senate’s condemnation, to give him the public execution he deserves. But in the meantime, Manilius’ former men, now in the pay of Tenax, arrive there, killing all of Titus’ escort and forcing the emperor to surrender. Titus in turn tries to bribe the soldiers who forced him to surrender, but even if the traitors hesitate, Tenax takes a wet rag and puts it in front of Titus’ mouth until he suffocates to death in front of his brother who mocks him until he dies.
Domitian New Emperor (and in History?)
And so now the new Caesar is Domitian. The new emperor speaks briefly with a statue of his father, then charges Tenax with the role of Aedile Ludi and orders him to clean up the traces of the imperial murder and to say that Titus died poisoned or something like that. He returns to Rome and heads to the Senate, where he reports his brother’s death and proclaims himself the new supreme leader of the empire. All the senators stand up and greet him: the last one is Leto, the senator who had reported to Titus about the naval blockade decided by Domitian. We point out here that, in real history, Titus’ empire lasted a couple of years and ended due to an illness that led to his death in a short time, after which Domitian ascended to the throne: therefore there are no fratricides, at least in this page of the bloody history of Rome.
Happy Ending for Jula and Elia?
There is a happy ending for Jula and Elia, who ask permission to marry Cala, who asks how her son-in-law will support his daughter and the grandchild who will come. “I am the leader charioteer of the blues and we also have a pension” Elia reassures her, who receives the blessing of his mother-in-law and the gods of Numidia. Cala is summoned by Tenax for the redde rationem.
The Epilogue: Tenax “Pardons” Cala and Starts his Career
Tenax wants to kill her for the attempted betrayal, but with her dialectic Cala convinces him to entrust her with the management of the business in Suburra while he lives among the rich in Esquilino, “I would betray you again in a second for my children, but apart from that I’m the only one you can trust and you know it” says Cala, and she’s right. “I killed an emperor, but the reward was to become an aedile ludi,” Tenax says in the epilogue (of the first season) of this series. “This was only a first step in my journey,” he continues, explaining to the audience that one day he will head to Syracuse, where he comes from, to find out if it is true – as Ursus told him – that the man who raped them as children was really his father and therefore he has patrician blood in his veins. “I have to watch out for Domitian, he’s a petulant child, he’s cruel and he’s an unpredictable killer, I hope I can control him,” he says again, while we see Domitian sit in the emperor’s place and place the laurel wreath on his head. “Let the games begin,” says Domitian, and the episode ends on these words that quote the title of the season finale of Those About to Die.
