Summary
The second season is once again capped off with a huge battle, but the story is far from over.
This Barbarians season 2, episode 6 recap for the episode titled “The Price” contains spoilers, as well as a discussion of the Barbarians Season 2 ending.
So, after the shocking revelation in Barbarians season 2, episode 5 that a seemingly endless supply of Roman ships is about to arrive, the tribes are in a bit of a predicament. How do you attack boats? Most of the barbarians can’t even swim, so that’s pretty much off the table. The only realistic alternative is to overwhelm the Roman camp. But the Cherusci barely have the numbers for even that, so it’ll mean mobilizing the entire tribe, including the women, children, and elders. It’s either that or they all die anyway.
Barbarians season 2, episode 6 recap
This would be a tough enough ask on its own, but that sneaky devil Segestes, who has been floating around in exile for the entire season, heads to the Roman camp to tip Tiberius off in exchange for a place in Rome and enough gold to live a comfy life. I wouldn’t trust Tiberius to honor that arrangement — I wouldn’t trust Tiberius to open a tin of beans — but if one thing has been established about Segestes in these recent episodes, it’s that he’s desperate.
As with the first season, everything in this finale revolves around the big battle. We even get the Charusci in the full battle attire, with the warpaint and everything, although Thusnelda doesn’t carve her own face open this time. The barbarians set up a sneaky attack from within the mist, using a nearly-naked Germanicus strapped to a donkey as a distraction so that Folkwin can lead a team over the opposing wall to open the main gate for everyone else.
Also like the first season, the big battle is a good excuse for many character moments and lingering subplots to reach some kind of apex. For instance, Flavus manages to free himself only to save Marbod and then romantically die in his arms. Ari, Thusnelda, and Folkwin all fight back to back as allies. And Dido, who has been trying to kill Germanicus for two whole episodes now, gets to have her showdown with the man who killed her father.
Germanicus manages to wound Dido, so it’s Folkwin who has to follow him to finish the job. But Germanicus hides among the bodies of the dead Romans and rises from among them to fatally stab Folkwin in the back. Ari rushes to his aid, but it’s too late. A dying Folkwin, in a pretty hilarious troll move, asks Ari to promise that he’ll love Thumelicus as if he was his own son, dropping that bombshell even though Ari would probably never have found out otherwise. At least Germanicus develops something of a backbone out of the whole experience — when he finds Tiberius fleeing the battle outside, he scolds him for his cowardice (though obviously leaves with him.)
Despite the battle being won — the Romans flee in terror just as their ships begin to arrive — it’s far from a happy ending. Folkwin is dead. Gaius has crossed a line he can never walk back from. And Thusnelda returns to the village to find Ansgar gagged and bound, and Thumelicus missing. Ansgar leads her into the woods, where she finds her parents handing her child to Tiberius. They’re pretty smug about it, but not for long, as Tiberius has both of them killed in front of her, with the famous quote (mistranslated here), “I love betrayal, but I hate a traitor.” Both Thumelicus and Thusnelda are heading to Rome as captives.
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