Barbarians Season 1 Episode 1 Recap – Wolf and Eagle

[00:01:30] A bunch of kids led by Ansgar was running through the camp, playing while some of the adults were trying to stop them. Ansgar’s sister, Thusnelda, manages to corner Ansgar and stop him. Their father, Segestes, came inside the hut, stopping them from horsing around. He tells Thusnelda to let her hair down, for a man is coming for her—Hadgan. He inspects Thusnelda from head to toe. He has a few comments about Thusnelda, but Segestes tells him Thusnelda is more than just a wife. She will be wed to Hadgan to unite their tribes. Hadgan agrees to come for Thusnelda and take her as his wife. While Hadgan is still in camp, the Romans arrived. None of them understood what the Romans were saying, so Segestes translated for Segimer, their leader.

[00:05:00] Varus, the new governor, wants all Germanic tribes to provide tribute, the Romans commanded. They were either going to give 20 cows or 50 centners of grain. Segimer said they had little to offer, but they didn’t care. They gave the tribe three days to come up with the tribute. Segimer didn’t understand why the Romans were asking for a tribute when they already had peace without it. He tells Segestes to send a messenger to every tribe—he wants to call for a vote against the Romans. Segestes told Segimer that a vote would be useless as the tribes wouldn’t unite against the Romans.

[00:07:00] Later that night, the Reiks of all the Germanic tribes met in the cover of darkness. Segimer asked everyone for their vote, but Segestes interfered. The Romans greatly outnumbered them, so the majority voted for peace. Thusnelda followed her father to the meet and spied on them. She heard everything, but a man saw her spying, so she did her best to run back to camp. The man caught up with Thusnelda and threatened to report her for spying. She told him Ansgar has more balls than any Reik they have. The man told Thusnelda he swore an oath to Segimer, but Thusnelda pointed out that he also swore an oath to her. The man starts kissing Thusnelda. His name is Folkwin. Before they went back to camp, Thusnelda told him about being promised to Hadgan.

[00:12:00] Folkwin suggests they elope, but Thusnelda couldn’t commit. She tells him she wants to be with him, but they will be banished if they elope. Thusnelda walks back to camp, hoping the Romans would kill Hadgan before marrying him. Meanwhile, Arminius, son of Varus, arrives at the Roman camps. Varus needs strategic advice from him regarding the Germanic lands. After three days, the tribe gathers whatever they can spare to keep the peace between them and the Romans. The Romans arrive to get the tribute, but they notice what is being offered isn’t enough. They took everything from Segimer’s tribe even though it wasn’t enough for them. The Romans wanted a sign of loyalty from the tribe, so they told Segimer to go down on his knees and kiss the eagle banner.

[00:18:00] Segimer refuses to kiss the eagle banner, so Segestes takes his place. He kneels in front of the eagle banner and is about to kiss it when Thusnelda interferes. The Roman guard drags her by the hair. Folkwin wants to help Thusnelda, but his family holds him back. Ansgar runs out to help his sister, which proves fatal—the guard hits Ansgar on the head with his sword. Ansgar’s head bleeds as he drops to the ground. After seeing what happened to Ansgar, Segimer kneels and places the eagle banner to his head. The Romans leave with the tribute while Thusnelda holds on to Ansgar and his injury. That night, Thusnelda takes Ansgar to their oracle, who does everything in her power to heal Ansgar.

[00:21:00] Sadly, Ansgar succumbs to his injuries as Thusnelda apologizes to her mother. She slaps Thusnelda, leading her to go deep in the woods to offer a sacrifice to their gods. Folkwin watches as Thusnelda offers her blood to gain strength to avenge his brother’s death. One Germanian Reik refused to pay tribute, so the Romans brought him to the camp to face Varus himself. Varus gives him another chance to pay tribute as he calls one of his soldiers to bring forth the eagle banner. The Reik refused to kiss the eagle and instead spits on it. They drag him away from Varus, preparing for beheading. Arminius calls Metellus off and tries to reason with Varus. He explains that Germanic law states that one man cannot sentence another man to die. Varus responds, “There is no Germanic law. There is only Rome.”

[00:24:00] Varus orders Arminius to kill the Reik himself. Arminius takes Metellus’ sword and beheads the Reik. A man watches in grief. The other soldiers dragged the body away while Varus watched them. Meanwhile, Ansgar sat in the middle of the camp. Irmina couldn’t accept what happened to her son, while Segestes couldn’t do anything to ease her pain and suffering. Segestes did what any father would—he approached his son and placed him on his lap, hugged Ansgar to comfort him, and asked for forgiveness—he did nothing to avenge what happened to him.

[00:26:00] Thusnelda thought her brother died, so she returns to the oracle to find out what happened. The gods favored Ansgar, the oracle tells her. He went to and from the land of the dead, which means he still has a task to complete on earth. Thusnelda asks the oracle what the gods want her to do. “The gods will send you a sign if you’re really supposed to fight,” the oracle replied. Folkwin thought otherwise. He didn’t want to wait for a sign because he believed in his sword. Thusnelda didn’t want to wait, too. She wants to make her sign—they plan to steal the eagle banner from the Roman camp.

[00:28:00] That night, Arminius visits the eagle banner and sees a wolf outside the tent. He went outside the tent, but the guards didn’t notice the wolf. Two other Germanian accompanied Folkwin and Thusnelda. They plan to storm the fort with only the four of them. Folkwin and Thusnelda went through the front of the fort. Folkwin told the guards on duty Thusnelda was a sex slave for Metellus. They didn’t plan on stopping them because they feared the wrath of Metellus. Folkwin offered Thusnelda to the guards in front of the tent. They had a few laughs before Folkwin and Thusnelda killed them. The two Germanians went through the back, making sure Folkwin and Thusnelda had a way out. Arminius noticed something was wrong when he saw a pool of blood coming from the tent.

[00:33:00] He drew his sword and opened the tent. He saw two of his men with their throats cut open, so he called out to everyone to secure the camp. As the Romans rushed out to secure the camp, the tent burst into flames. The guards became so preoccupied with the fire they failed to notice all four of them walking out of the camp. Arminius stood by as his men put the fire out. He saw a necklace on the ground. It looked familiar to him. Arminius went back to his tent and found the same tooth on the necklace like the one he has.

[00:36:00] Varus couldn’t accept that the eagle banner was taken from them. He told his commanders it was sacred, and they would suffer the wrath of Mars if they did not get it back. One of the commanders asks for a hundred men to go out and find the banner. Varus declines his commander’s plan to burn all the Germanic villages to find the banner. Arminius plans to take the Germanic mercenaries to search for the eagle banner, telling Varus he will have the banner back by tomorrow. Varus told Arminius to find Talio and ride out with him before dawn, so he visited the camps to find Talio. He found him fighting some Roman soldiers. He stopped him and ordered their mission.

[00:38:00] Talio tells his men they need to lick Roman cunt again. But he doesn’t know Arminius spoke their language, so he ordered his men to lash Talio, teaching him a lesson. Arminius set out to look for the banner with Talio and his men. Meanwhile, Folkwin and Thusnelda reached their village and started showing the eagle banner to everyone. The village cheers their names with the two men who accompanied them: Hanno and Eigil. Segimer takes the banner and starts celebrating with them. Everyone danced around the banner come nightfall. Segimer told Folkwin the Romans would certainly want revenge. He told Segimer not to worry as there are a hundred villages between them and the Roman fort.

[00:43:30] That night, Folkwin beds Thusnelda as the villagers continue to celebrate their victory. Segestes took his horse and left the village without telling anyone. Meanwhile, Arminius tells his men to split up into two groups as they reach a crossroads. Arminius went back alone as he seemingly knew the way. One of the villagers spots a Roman heading their way. They all ran to hide and prepare for the worse. It was Arminius. He approaches the gates while Segimer tells his men to open them for him. He removes his helmet and calls Segimer his father.