Once you are a slave, your past evaporates along with your identity.
Spartacus dreams of his beautiful wife Sura, but awakens – chained and filthy – in the bowels of a gladiatorial ludus. And to add insult to injury, Quintus Batiatus orders his hair to be cut.
And Spartacus’ new life as a slave and gladiator in Capua begins.
As Quintus (John Hannah) and Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) chat in their palatial home, we learn a lot about their current circumstances and about this particular depiction of life in ancient Rome. The House of Batiatus has fallen on hard times, money-wise, as their pools have run dry and chickens peck about, for one.
Quintus remains hopeful though that his gambit to “overpay” to acquire Spartacus from Glaber (which temporarily at least spares Spartacus’ life after his unexpected victory in the gladiatorial arena) will pay off, as Glaber (Craig Parker) has sent a message that he will visit the House of Batiatus in a few days’ time.
And while this conversation is happening, we witness Quintus and Lucretia getting… uh, “helped out” by their slaves in preparation for nighttime married couple couplings.
The camera then pans downstairs, and we see Spartacus’ introduction to the slave quarters of the House of Batiatus. “Lo and behold, the pig f—er is still alive,” Crixus says in greeting. “No one gives s— to who you were, Thracian,” he adds.
Once you are a slave, in other words, your past evaporates along with your identity.
Crixus is now champion of the ludus – and a cocky one at that. It’s a far cry from the humble, earnest Crixus that we met during the fantastic Spartacus: Gods of the Arena prequel series.
Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) and the other new Thracian slaves are addressed by Quintus Batiatus on the training grounds – “hallowed ground,” as their Doctore (Peter Mensah) refers to it. If the gladiatorial “trainees” are able to survive, they will literally be branded with a “B,” the mark of the brotherhood that displays that they are gladiators of the House of Batiatus.
“A gladiator does not fear death; he embraces it,” Doctore adds.
For even more of a “warm welcome,” Spartacus is immediately ordered to fight Crixus (Manu Bennett) with a wooden sword in a “demonstration.” And, what’s more, Spartacus keeps insisting that the name “Spartacus” is indeed not even his – he’s Thracian, and not a Roman.
“Your name is what we decide,” Doctore insists.
The “demonstration” fight between Spartacus and Crixus is Spartacus: Blood and Sand the show at its best – combining action and narrative in exciting and inventive ways.
Spartacus was able to defeat and kill four of Solonius’ slaves/recruits in the arena, but at this stage in the story he’s no match for Crixus, the current champion of the House of Batiatus. Things take a tragic turn when Spartacus hurls his sword at Crixus in desperation. The latter bats it aside with his own sword and it slices the neck of one of the bystanders.
After Crixus pins Spartacus and holds his sword to his neck, Doctore instructs the recruit how to ask for mercy (holding two fingers in the air). “Beg for your life, little rabbit,” he adds.
Over a grimy-looking meal in the slaves’ cafeteria of sorts, Spartacus makes a new friend in the form of the blonde-haired Varro (Jai Courtney), who feels that Spartacus is not like the other criminals and “s— f—ers.”
Varro himself became a slave due to falling into debt. Spartacus learns from him that there’s an economic upside of sorts to the gladiatorial life: winning in the arena produces some kind of reward – enough, Varro feels, to support his wife and child… as long as he doesn’t die in the process.
There’s plenty of debt to go around, it seems, as Batiatus is in deep to some kind of lender, and his hopes of paying it back (plus 30% on top of the vig) are victories for his gladiators in the upcoming games.
Meanwhile, Doctore pulls the new recruits outside after dark for a little “night training,” which means walking around in a circle with massive beams of woods hoisted on their shoulders.
And then the night training turns to “day training,” meaning they go straight through to the next day, save only a break for a meal. And by meal, Barca (Antonio Te Maioha) takes pleasure in dumping their gruel all over the ground while he, Crixus, and the other gladiators who bear the mark laugh.
Ashur (Nick E. Tarabay), ever the cunning one, offers Spartacus some extra bread. It’s not out of friendship of course – he’s stayed alive by hedging his bets and stabbing a friend in the back when an opportune occasion calls for it.
Legatus Glaber later visits an infuriated and chained Spartacus, who demands to learn what has happened to his wife, Sura. Glaber can only sneer that Spartacus couldn’t even have the decency to know how to get properly killed off in the arena. Oh, and he makes sure to tell his one-time ally that Sura (Erin Cummings) was… let’s say violated by his many men before being sold off into slavery.
Glaber is ready to head straight back to Rome with Ilithyia (Viva Bianca) after doing what he came to do in Capua, forcing Quintus and Lucretia to scramble to make their house so inviting and accommodating that the couple will stay – and eventually grant the House of Batiatus the patronage it needs to survive.
Ilithyia for one is entranced by the training of the gladiators (“animals,” she calls them, “something out of a fever dream”) in the ludus located in the back of house. However, Glaber is unmoved by the Batiatus’ machinations and swiftly departs, Ilithyia in tow.
Batiatus, a schemer through and through himself, resorts to a backup plan: get value out of Spartacus – who he sees promise in, even though Doctore (who we knew as Oenomaus in the Gods of the Arena prequel) and the other gladiators clearly do not – in the arena.
Quintus summons Spartacus to palaver – much as he’s done in the past with champions Gannicus and Crixus. When Spartacus reveals that what keeps him going is his love for Sura and his hope that she’s still alive, Quintus makes this calculation: “You are the most dangerous of animals – a beast borne of the heart.”
“Fight for me,” Batiatus continues, looking to leverage this knowledge of his gladiatorial slave. “Prove yourself, climb to the pinnacle, gain your freedom!” he adds as sweetener.
What’s interesting here is knowledge that we gain from Gods of the Arena, where Gannicus indeed does eventually earn his freedom. Quintus Batiatus has many “bad” qualities by our modern standards, but he’s not a complete monster either.
Quintus’ price is of course steep, and it starts with Spartacus passing the “test” and voluntarily opting to be subservient to his lanista – he must freely refer to him as “dominus” and swear his allegiance to the House of Batiatus.
Finally, it’s the night of the test. Varro’s contest ends in a “draw” so he’s granted a pass by Quintus Batiatus. Barca then easily kills one of the other Thracians, causing the other gladiators to laugh and cheer.
Next up: Spartacus versus Crixus, which would be cause for plenty enough drama to be featured on the season finale on many shows.
“One final lesson, before I send you to the afterlife,” Crixus says before the fight begins.
The “test” takes place on a platform, which comes into play pretty quickly. Crixus gets the best of Spartacus and has the go ahead from Quintus to finish him off, but then Spartacus is able cause Crixus to fall off the platform at the last moment (in a move that’s a bit trite for anyone who has seen their share of fight scenes in many TV shows and movies).
Spartacus is fully prepared then to kill off the Gaul himself, but Quintus – watching from above the fray as he often does – won’t allow it.
“You have passed the test,” Batiatus tells Spartacus.
“Dominus,” the Thracian responds.
Spartacus is then branded with a “B” (which looks super crazy painful, as aside) in receiving the mark of the brotherhood.
Some stats and info about Spartacus: Blood and Sand – “Sacramentum Gladiatorum”
TV SHOW – Spartacus: Blood and Sand
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 2
AIRED ON – January 22nd, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – Starz
GENRE – Drama, Period Show, Historical Epic, Swords & Sandals
CREATED BY – Steven S. DeKnight
CAST – John Hannah, Manu Bennett, Peter Mensah, Dustin Clare, Nick E. Tarabay, Lucy Lawless, Stephen Lovatt, Daniel Feuerriegel, Viva Bianca, Pana Hema Taylor, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Heath Jones, Katrina Law, Ellen Hollman, Barry Duffield, Andy Whitfield, Craig Parker