Spartacus: War Of The Damned S03E09 “Victory”

“Victory” is all about the final battle between Spartacus and Crassus, the epic and decisive end to the rebellion. I don’t want to go into too much detail, because it was so incredibly done and intense that I don’t want to take that away from anyone. But I’ll at least briefly summarize.

After the highly emotional tribute to Crixus at the end of the last episode, Spartacus asks the still-injured Agron to lead those who cannot fight north while he and the others engage Crassus to distraction. Agron protests, and is eventually allowed to join the battle after Nasir fashions him some custom armor. With Gannicus leading one group of rebels and Spartacus the other, they engage the Romans in battle. Gannicus, Naevia and Saxa all fall, but Spartacus is determined to take Crassus down. He pursues the Roman leader, but is finally brought to his knees. Before Crassus can claim his life, though, Agron and Nasir intervene. By the time the Romans regroup, Spartacus is gone. Agron and Nasir remove him from the heat of the battle, and he dies among his few surviving friends, happy to be joining his beloved wife in the afterlife.

I won’t lie, you will need a lot of Kleenex to get through this episode. It’s very difficult to watch at times – the sequence leading up to Gannicus’s capture and subsequent death is absolutely brutal. Even though he goes down fighting, the anticipation and inevitability of it had me on the edge of my seat. Interestingly, of all the deaths, I found his the most difficult to stomach. Not the fact that he had to die, but the way it happened – I just would’ve wanted more for him. It’s my only real complaint about the way things turned out.

While I was sad that Spartacus died, I was glad that he was able to pass among friends. The fact that it was Agron by his side made it all the more meaningful – he was the last of the gladiators from the ludus, and he was there when this whole journey started. His goodbye was very touching, and I am thankful to Steven DeKnight for having both Agron and Nasir survive. It was a nice balm at the end of an emotionally exhausting episode. And just when you think it’s over, the closing credits pay a wonderful tribute to all the characters we’ve loved and hated over the years. Really amazing stuff.

What an amazing, emotional journey this whole series has been! I am so sad to see it end, but I feel like they delivered everything they promised, and I loved every minute of it.

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Spartacus: War Of The Damned S03E09 "The Dead and the Dying"

A rider approaches Spartacus’s camp. It’s Naevia, who has been forced to carry Crixus’s severed head. “I am but pale shade,” she says. She tells the tale of his last stand, and how Tiberius stabbed him from behind as he was fighting with Caesar. She was left alive by Crassus to strike fear into Spartacus and his men with the tale of Crixus’s death.

But Spartacus is looking ahead. He wants to figure out a way to avoid being caught between two armies–one led by Pompey and the other by Crassus.



Tiberius reveals to Caesar that he’s killed off a woman who might have betrayed his rape of Kore. Meanwhile, a representative who says he’s with Pompey’s army arrives and asks Crassus to come to neutral ground for a meeting. Caesar slyly suggests sending Tiberius to meet Pompey. Tiberius, eager to act as his father’s representative, agrees to go. “Caesar at last breaks words that I am moved to embrace,” Tiberius says. But we know that Caesar is up to something. “I wish for him all that he deserves,” Caesar tells Crassus.

Naevia asks Kore why she didn’t kill Crassus when she had her chance before her escape. If she had acted then, Crixus would still be alive now. Naevia says she’s always looking to “balance scale against those who have most deeply wounded heart.”

Tiberius arrives for his meeting with Pompey. But it’s a trick–Spartacus is there waiting. It’s a neat variation on the trick Crassus played on Spartacus in an earlier episode. Spartacus was hoping to snare Crassus, but instead he takes his son prisoner. He seizes Tiberius’s blade, asking if it was the weapon that stole Crixus’s life. He tells Gannicus that he’s not planning on sparing the Roman prisoners’ lives. “I would see them give honor to the dead, in advance of joining their ranks,” Spartacus declares.

Caesar enjoys a trademark Starz sex scene as he revels in his successful maneuvering of Tiberius to his doom. He knew all along that the representatives weren’t from Pompey.

Spartacus gives Tiberius’s blade to Naevia. He plans to stage a gladiatorial contest between his warriors and the prisoners to pay tribute to “The Undefeated Gaul, who shall forever stand so in my eyes.”

Back in the Roman camp, Agron is being held prisoner. Crassus and Caesar mock him, and then have him crucified, with Caesar himself driving in the nails. Caesar promises him he will “never again grasp sword.”

Pompey’s real representatives come to see Crassus. Now he knows the previous messengers were part of a ruse. He’s furious at Caesar and orders him to go to Spartacus’s camp to offer a trade of prisoners for Tiberius. Caesar is being asked to risk his life; his little trick has turned against him.

Tiberius knows that Caesar has fooled him. He orders his men not to fight and give the spectators entertainment. Kore comes to visit him. Tiberius tells her that his father is still in love with her, and she’s says she’s grateful for the news, which she hadn’t dared hope for. But she doesn’t plan to free him. Kore tells him she’ll return at nightfall “when it is your time to die–a thing I long to lay eyes upon.”

The games begin. It’s a reversal from the contests we saw at the beginning of the series. Now the gladiators are in control and the Romans are the human sacrifices–and the entertainment. “This time we shall return favor,” Spartacus declares to the crowd. He wants to honor the dead with Roman blood.

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Spartacus: War of the Damned S03E08 "Separate Paths"

With the entire series drawing to a close, there is the inevitability of what history has in store for Spartacus and his rebels, and it’s certainly no easy task depicting events that conclude contrary to how most stories of “good vs. evil” typically end. As was discussed during last week’s review, it’s clear that as bad as those in Spartacus’ army want total victory, the best they’ll be able to hope for is an everlasting reminder of this campaign’s impact on the Roman way of life. This has proven to be a difficult thing for Crixus, Naevia and, as we find out, Agron to ultimately grasp.

So when Crixus speaks to Naevia about his dreams for their future, she essentially tells him that she’s grateful for what freedom there has been, even if that time was mostly spent in harrowing situations and engaging in brutal combat; it was the ability to make the choice to fight alongside Spartacus and his rebels that matters most – that and killing as many Romans as possible before being sent to the afterlife.

Manu Bennett and Cyntia Addai-Robinson in Spartacus WOTD Separate Paths

And that is the fundamental difference in how the couple sees their situation, and how Spartacus views things: for them, the glory is in fighting the battle. As Crixus told Spartacus in ‘Mors Indecepta,’ he’d rather not die with a Roman sword in his back, and that, in a way, is another facet of the freedom this war has granted these men and women. They may be facing certain death, but they do so of their own freewill.

Perhaps that’s why, when Crixus argues against Spartacus’ plan to traverse the Alps and see what’s left of the freed slaves to some form of enduring freedom far from Rome’s shadow, Spartacus realizes their objectives have become too divergent and it’s no longer suitable for him to deny Crixus the opportunity to seize that which he most craves. To that end, it becomes almost immediately clear that ‘Separate Paths’ will see Crixus to the conclusion of his story.

Naturally, with just a 10-episode season, there’s going to be certain aspects of the narrative that would need to be sacrificed. Here, the writers decide what’s most important is for these characters to come to face their end by acknowledging the shared path that brought them to this point. The departure of Crixus and Naevia was a foregone conclusion, but Agron’s decision to leave Spartacus behind so he could join the legion marching toward Rome was slightly unexpected, and his farewell to Nasir – though brief – offered some surprising insight as to the limits of Agron’s belief in what is ahead.

At the same time, DeKnight and his writers have the difficult task of creating characters on the other side of the conflict that the audience can invest in – even though they are, for lack of a better term, “the bad guys.” But as determined as Marcus Crassus is to get his man, and as wild and impudent as Julius Caesar has proven to be, it would be a disservice to their characters to label them as such. As such, they’ve seen fit to fill the narrative with the increasingly loathsome Tiberius – who has found his villainous niche in life by becoming something of a serial rapist – as he follows his assault on Kore with one on Caesar.

Tiberius also manages to deliver what appears to be (but probably isn’t) the deathblow to Agron and, as bitter a pill it is to swallow, runs Crixus through with a spear to the back before beheading the mighty Gaul at his father’s request. Naevia, injured in her run-in with Caesar, can only look on in anguish.

If anything, the abruptness of the march to Rome illustrates just how the series would have benefited from extra time and space to tell its story. If we could have followed Crixus’ army over a few more episodes, there may have been the opportunity to see some greater depth out of the decision to part ways with Spartacus, and, especially, more insight into Agron’s choice to leave behind Nasir. In the end, Crixus’ death stands as a powerful reminder about how close the series is to its conclusion and just how truly pressed for time these characters are.

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"Spartacus: "War of the Damned" S03E07 - "Mors Indecepta"

Let’s face it; despite the superior skill of Spartacus’ men in a straight battle, the rebels have been having their asses handed to them by the tactically superior Crassus. The Roman Imperator has bested Spartacus every step of the way in what has been an impressive display of war strategy. The mental chess game that Spartacus and Crassus have engaged in has spawned an extra dynamic of strategy that we haven’t quite seen from the series before; at least not on the level of thousands that we’ve seen this season. With the rebels trapped between legions of Roman troops and an artificial wall erected by Crassus’ men, Spartacus may just have fallen into a trap he cannot escape.


The growing sense of desperation amongst the rebels as they find themselves trapped, hungry and helpless leads to increased tension and frustration; especially between Spartacus and Crixus. It appeared that the two had settled their differences last week as they once again had a renewed common purpose, survival. With desperate times setting in a sense of hopelessness, Crixus would rather drive into battle absent strategy instead of finding a Roman sword in his own back. The renewed animosity leads to some great scenes between Spartacus and Crixus that harkens back to their days in Batiatus’ ludus. Their no-holds-barred fistfight was admittedly a joy to watch. The ruthlessness of their words and actions were straight to the points with neither backing down. Their conviction to their ideals is what makes both these characters so great and as frustrating as it is to have the two leaders of the rebel army fight at a time like this, it’s fun to just watch Spartacus and Crixus in a good old-fashioned fistfight.

The raid on the Imperator’s tent brought out the absolute best in Crixus though. A not-so-surprising trap leads to an injured Naevia and Crixus unleashes hell on several Roman soldiers. I loved this entire scene from beginning to end as Crixus decimates several Roman soldiers in pure rage. It’s a striking image of just how powerful and badass Crixus is. I look forward to someone putting together a gif of the whole bloody sequence.

With the pressure on the rebel camp some surprising developments take place within the walls of Sinuessa. Crassus reinstates Tiberius in the Roman army as a commander and puts Caesar under the boy's command. Yeah, I was just about as surprised and pissed as Caesar was. It works though. Caesar had far too much going his way and that worm Tiberius needed to get the upper hand, at least one more time. It will make his hopeful downfall all the sweeter.

Kore’s story has really developed into something interesting over the last few weeks. With the discovery that she is to remain in Sinuessa with Tiberius, Kore decides to tell Crassus the truth. Unfortunately, and somewhat expectedly, she can’t bring herself to hurt Crassus by telling him of what her son has done. What was surprising was her defection over to the rebel camp. I just assumed she would commit suicide but it’s good to see her live another day and I’m really interested to see how her story will continue on Spartacus’ side of things.

As a storm moves in the rebels hunker down for the night and Gannicus finds shelter with Sybil. We kind of expected more to happen between Gannicus and Sybil but it’s hard not to find myself a little disappointed. Saxa has been awesome throughout the entire season. Her devotion to Gannicus has been absolute so it was a little upsetting to see Gannicus sleep with Sybil. I know that’s odd when you consider Saxa offered up Sybil to Gannicus earlier in the season but this was obviously different. There was an emotional connection implied and that clearly wounded Saxa.

The aftermath of the storm leaves a thousand rebels dead. With all hope seemingly lost Spartacus gets one hell of an idea. The battle to take the wall may have been a small skirmish when you consider the numbers but it was a huge victory for Spartacus and it marked Crassus’ first real defeat. The visual of a thousand frozen bodies thrown strategically in a trench to create a bridge to the wall was striking to say the least.

However, it was a little surprising that Spartacus didn’t pursue Crassus when he finally arrived at the wall to inspect what had happened. Crassus was guarded by a fairly small group and, with some forethought; Spartacus could have ended things with Crassus right there and then. Seeing the Romans run in fear was good enough though and I don’t expect the story to stray that far from history, so Crassus lives to fight another day.

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Spartacus S03e06 Spoils Of War

  

Crassus attacks the rebel-occupied city while Gannicus is trapped behind enemy lines. Meanwhile Crassus orders Tiberius to arrange a celebration for a man he loathes.

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SPARTACUS: WAR OF THE DAMNED EPISODE 5 'BLOOD BROTHERS'

Well that didn't take long for everything to go to hell did it? After last week's traumafest that involved the uncomfortable slaughter of Roman hostages and the bone popping good times of decimation -- the real wear has begun. Caesar has thrown a wrench into Spartacus' plans by infiltrating himself behind enemy lines and helping Crassus' army gain access into the walls of the rebel occupied city. Todd Lasance once again brings it with another powerful performance that steals the episode.

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There's a great moment later on with Caesar and a certain someone who tries to weasel his way into the Roman soldier's good graces once he discovers the truth. Remember that woman who died in Caesar's arms last episode? She was avenged. Big time… And it was awesome. While Crixus begins to rally the rebels towards his motives of kill everyone and kill everyone right now, Spartacus goes nuts and lets the remaining hostages go. Look for the great scene where someone is peeing onto the stream of captives as they leave the gates. Now Spartacus is just really giving Crixus a metaphorical boss wedgie.
Spoilers Ahead
Crassus is having a lot of sex scenes lately with his slave woman. It's funny that he's so in love with this person and yet he's fighting against her very cause to be free. Crassus has been having one sexy, greasy time in his war tent so prior to this week I was really starting to wonder what his battle tactics were. He's a gross dude. His son is in the mourning period after his manboy was beaten to death by giant spoons. The kid does something really awkward by the end of the episode though and we're welcomed to the rapevengeance that the series has been known to pull out every once in a while.
There's an amazing twist later on that was so genius that I was very much like Crixus – confused caveman stares abound. Spartacus let the Romans go so that they would tell Crassus that their forces were divided. That's why Spartacus was being so kind to the people he was holding hostage. Crixus is necessarily dumbfounded but it doesn't matter anymore – rebel high-five and let the asskicking flank begin! Yeah! One thing Spartacus didn't plan for however – the greasy pirate backstabbers.
After making his way to the flank, Spartacus is betrayed by the pirates and the invasion begins. Caesar lets his Roman flag fly and joins the battle which is by far the most intense of the season yet. I was holding my breath for a record 15 minutes or so because I was certain Agron was about to meet his end. This was the craziest episode of the season yet and I'm going to be really, really traumatized by series' end. According to showrunner Steven DeKnight it only gets worse…Way, way worse. Awesome…
See full Article ; http://www.dailyblam.com/news/2013/03/05/tv-review-spartacus-war-of-the-damned-episode-5-blood-brothers

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Spartacus: War of the Damned "Decimation"

– Both Spartacus and Crassus have now lost the loyalty of a top lieutenant. These guys really ought to commiserate over a jug of vino sometime.
– Caesar undercover nicely paid off two subtle, curious groundwork details laid earlier this season: The strange, precise mutilation to which he subjected his nether-regions in the premiere (to cover for an absent slave brand), and his offhand explanation in “Men of Honor” that Crassus would not let him trim his locks. See? His appearance isn’t just for Thor-eseque sexiness—it’s for strategic Thor-esque sexiness!
– Caesar tells Nemetes he’s “had the displeasure” of Cilicians’ company. At least this part of his story is true; the real Caesar was briefly the prisoner of Cilician pirates in 75 B.C. (four years before the events of this season).
– Once again I loved Spartacus and Laeta’s brief interaction, especially where she laid out exactly why Crassus poses a legitimate threat. I admire the show’s willingness to yank the rug out from under these two a lot sooner than I expected, although part of me still wants to see them blow off these ingrates and run away to the Alps.
– Likely Sybil thought that ratting out the refugees would prove her worth, not least to her crush Gannicus. Little could she know that he, lone among all Spartacus’s followers, would have preferred to avoid the very outcome she triggered. Womp-womp.
– Agron’s still nursing a grudge against Castus, the Cilician who put the moves on Nasir. I’m not too thrilled with this sort of one-note soapiness expanding into a multi-episode arc just to give Agron something to do.
– As commenters have pointed out, the historic Crixus and a group of followers are recorded as splintering from Spartacus toward the end of the Third Servile War. It’s uncertain whether this action was due to strategic or factional concerns, but it seems the writers have chosen to follow the latter interpretation.
– “The most fearsome weapons yet exposed.”
– “A position not commanded from upon back.” PHRASING, Tiberius!
– “Return to drink and whores or part from this world.” Naevia shares some good advice for any situation, really.
– “We are not Romans. Nor shall we become them by acts of unnecessary cruelty.”
– “Your lesson well learned. Imperator.”
– Body Count: I counted 16, likely dozens more off-screen, including the four other victims of the decimation. On the on-screen basis, 182 for the season.

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Spartacus: War Of The Damned episode 2 : Wolves At The Gate




This week's Spartacus presents the lead's moral ambiguity and prepares the ground for future episodes. Here's James' review...


This review contains spoilers.


3.2 Wolves at the Gate


After a strong opener, this episode was a little more by-the-numbers. At least as far asSpartacus goes. That still meant it was densely-plotted, with strong characterisation and fantastic action, but in the words of Peggy Lee – is that all there is?


Don't get me wrong, there was a lot to like, but much of this episode seemed to be heading towards the flatly inevitable conclusion. Did we ever think Spartacus and his rebels wouldn't take the town of Sinuessa? When he promises something in one episode, we know by now that it'll happen in the next, and that made this plot thread pretty much drama-free, leaving the court of Crassus to pick up the slack in that department.


One thing that was interesting about the invasion of Sinuessa, to be fair, was the extent to which Spartacus and his rebels have become the monsters the Romans fear. Scenes of Spartacus walking through the town, meeting its inhabitants and taking their measure were compelling purely because we knew what was to come – and when we see the citizens he encountered slain under his directive, we're forced to wonder whether their freedom is actually worth such brutality.


He tries to be good, of course, and his commands to stop the killing once they'd succeeded certainly try to paint him as the bigger man – but let's face it, no-one who orders the slaughter of women and children for the crimes of their society is objectively in the right, and the show doesn't shy away from presenting us with both sides of the equation and letting us draw our own conclusions.


Meanwhile, Crassus does what Romans do best: administration. To be honest, the power struggle Tiberius went through was fairly weak, compared to the Shakespearean manipulations we saw in the previous seasons, and the introduction of Julius Caesar did little to improve the situation. Historically speaking, Caesar and Crassus' alliance will, in time, lead to Caesar becoming the ruler of the wider Roman Empire long after Spartacus' rebellion has been crushed. I'm unclear whether Caesar is being introduced at a historically accurate point, but his characterisation in this series as a mash-up of Tyler Durden and Kurt Cobain makes him a little too cartoonish, especially set against the more complex and nuanced Crassus. And we can only guess at what was supposed to be going on with that slave girl and that knife and all that blood, but frankly, I'd rather not think about it too much.


As for subtext, one thread worth grabbing onto is that of the similarities between Spartacus and Crassus. We saw some of this last episode, but in this one both find themselves trying to satisfy various lieutenants while also pursuing a wider cause a little less dispassionately than they probably should be. Another thread harks back to last episode, where Gannicus asked Spartacus where all this would end – not, apparently, with the killing of innocent Romans (such that they exist).


But in the end, Wolves at the Gate was an episode that put most of its effort into setting up the series' ongoing subplots – Crassus' relationships with his family and employees, Spartacus' relationships with his deputies (and victims), the introduction of new characters, the clearing away at least of one old one – and all that focus on subplot really showed in the episode's weak main plot.


Still, experience tells us it'll pay off in the end, and for all the inevitability of this episode's conclusion, it was still a fun battle to watch even if you didn't quite feel it as hard as in other episodes. So a good episode, though not a great one, but it was weak for the right reason: setting up future greatness. As problems go, we can live with that.

Spartacus: War Of The Damned episode 1 : Enemies Of Rome


Spartacus returns for its final season with a brutal, complex antagonist. Here's James' review of the War of the Damned opener...
This review contains spoilers.
3.1 Enemies of Rome
Returning for its final season, Spartacus has learnt a strong lesson from last year's opener: slow and steady might win the race, but it's more fun to burn up the tyres. Leaping ahead some time, we find Spartacus, Crixus, Gannicus and Agron now more successful than ever, leading a literal army of slaves and growing ever-more confident in their righteousness. A fact illustrated by the opening battle sequence, which mostly involves Romans getting their faces smashed in with their own Eagle emblems. Nice job.
With pretty much every bad guy we ever knew getting killed at the end of last season, Spartacus: War of the Damned clearly has a lot of ground to cover with regards to setting up an antagonist. It's with great interest, then, that we observe the careful and deliberate building of Crassus. Last season, Glaber took weeks to become interesting. Here, Crassus goes from faceless to formidable in the space of one episode.
As well as being a family man, with a pair of sons on the cusp of adulthood (whose nascent rivalry is sure to come into play sooner rather than later…) Crassus is also wily, fanatical, principled and skilled – the dark mirror of Spartacus. He puts his life on the line just to test himself, and when he kills his slave, he gives him a goodbye worthy of the closest family members. Crassus is complex, yet focussed, which sets him apart from both Batiatus and Glaber, both of whom were petty and emotional, and ultimately vulnerable to manipulation.
Before Spartacus can face Crassus, though, he has to kill off two more immediate threats: local generals Cossinius and Furius. It's a sign of the show's slicker-than-ever storytelling that these two men, who we've barely seen, stand as a credible threat even as Spartacus takes his best men to kill them. In the end, the fight is something of a victory lap, the twist being that Crassus had engineered their deaths at the cost of a clutch of his own men. Brutal. Absolutely brutal.
However, this episode isn't just about fighting. There's also the matter of what Spartacus has become since we last saw him. He's now the leader of a far greater force than he ever planned, and with that comes certain problems – a particularly excellent scene sees one rebel complain about his leader without realising that he was speaking to him. Another shows Gannicus musing over the nature of vengeance and forgiveness, warning Spartacus that one is far less important than the other, especially when there's only one person who can forgive Spartacus: himself.
But with Spartacus planning to fight all of Rome, if he must, it doesn't take a genius to know where this is going. It's a matter of historical record that Spartacus' rebellion must fail, so the only question is at what price? Records can be fudged, after all, but for me, the big question is whetherSpartacus: War of the Damned will end with Spartacus ultimately welcoming a hero's death, or disappearing into the shadows, finally free from his lust for vengeance. Conversations like he had with Gannicus set both the characters and audience wondering where indeed this will all end.
Still, the real job of this episode was to get us excited for the story to come, and by setting up Crassus so expertly, it succeeded in doing so. Spartacus himself is sharper than ever – it's only right that he faces a foe worthy of his time. The episode ends with Spartacus promising to get his army a city to live in, so the stakes are certainly high – let's see how Crassus plans to meet them.
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Spartacus: War of the Damned 3.3 Men of Honour


The number of subplots make this week's Spartacus: War of the Damned a less-than satisfying watch. Here's James' review...
This review contains spoilers.
3.3 Men of Honour
After last week's Crassus-heavy bore-fest, it was good this week that the show decided to re-focus on the slave army and some of the day-to-day mechanics of actually holding their newly-captured city. Because let's face it: the show's called Spartacus, not The Roman Politics Fun-Time Happy Hour.
As it turns out, holding the city isn't half as difficult as keeping order within it. Indeed, it was the unlikely form of Naevia who caused most trouble, flying off the handle at any nearby Romans the first chance she gets. Not an unreasonable course of events, given all she's endured on top of a lifetime of subjugation, but her behaviour - and Crixus' loyalty to her - is potentially something that's going to put a strain on Crixus and Spartacus' relationship in the future. History records that the slave army is eventually divided in two behind each man - could Naevia's actions be the eventual cause of any split? Assuming, of course, they stick roughly to history's version of events.
Although Tiberius and his crew did make an appearance towards the end, we can at least be glad that this episode was quite light on Caesar, who was dispatched early on to prevent him meeting the main gladiators too early in the season. The guest appearance of a Mediterranean pirate captain named Heracleo (and his crew) doesn't exactly dispell the fear that this series is going to a bit more cartoonish than its predecessors, though. Without Caesar around, Tiberius' attack felt perfunctory: destined to happen, destined to failure. Still, it was probably the most interesting battle of since the show's return, being the first that was noticeably any more than people hitting each other with swords, thanks to the intervention of Heracleo's crew and their incendiary bombardments.
The problem, at the moment, is that it's very hard not to agree with everyone suggesting that Spartacus simply kill their Roman prisoners. He repeatedly justifies his violent actions to Laeta and co., saying that they're at war, nor does he seem to care much when he hears his men have been forcing the prisoners to fight for entertainment (and frankly, that's quite poetic as justice goes.) But Spartacus often makes it known that he explicitly draws the line at cold-blooded murder of Romans because... well, it's not really clear. Reasons of dramatic tension?
Obviously, part of it is to keep Spartacus within a more recognisably-heroic frame by modern standards, but it just comes over as oddly stubborn. It's a much more believable a character beat when he refuses to sell Laeta, claiming that they don't "do" slavery. That's far more convincing than his pseudo-philosophical monologues and unwisely compassionate leniency.
This episode's real weakness, however, was the sheer number of subplots we were being asked to follow, given very little movement in the main plot. The episode's story mainly concerned negotiating deals with the pirates, but the only main-arc content was mostly crammed into the last scene, while the rest of the episode simply piled subplot upon subplot. Laeta, Naevia, Gannicus and Sybil, Agron and Nasir, Tiberius, etc. etc. It's impressive that the writers can find space for everyone to have a story going on, but ultimately that leaves viewers with finger-food rather than a feast. Let's hope for something a bit more filling next week.