Spartacus is intent on doing right by those that follow him, though others will suffer because of it.
What They Say:
Wolves at the Gate – Spartacus tries to provide food and shelter for his people. Crassus builds an army and receives an unexpected visitor.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a solid opening episode for the season previously, we got to see some of the struggles that Spartacus has to face. The growth of his army and those that follow him is a significant issue to deal with because there is more to leading an army and its people than just fighting and more fighting. While we go through some of the first rumblings of that, we also got the introduction of who his main adversary on the Roman side would be with Crassus. That proved to be pretty illuminating as we saw what he went through in his physical and mental training, but also in how he manipulated the senators in order to gain more position in his attempt to take control of the legion that will go against Spartacus.
Taking heed of what he’s learned, Spartacus uses some recent connections to take to a protected city along the coast where he can potentially use its design to take it in order to provide what he needs for his army. There has to be some creativity to it and going there with Crixus and Gannicus to a place where they must give up sword to enter is fun to watch since it’s been so long since they were in such a situation. What becomes fascinating is that while making their way through the streets, they end up upon a man who is about to be stoned for crimes as a slave. Spartacus of course wants to get involved, but the slave begins to call out Spartacus’ name, not knowing he was there, with how Spartacus will change the republic with his actions. It’s brutal, but it shows more reason why Spartacus is fighting as he is.
Crassus himself is continuing to advance his causes as well, though he’s going in a rather curious route that will help in some ways but potentially hinder in others. With a bit of a forceful touch, he’s brought in Gaius Julius Caesar in order to attempt a pair of wealth and name in order to wrest power from those that hold it now, largely through inertia more than anything else. Caesar certainly has ambition and talent when it comes to what he does on the battlefield, but he’s also in debt and has gone against the slow moving senate quite often which has pushed him more to the fringes. It’s a dangerous pairing overall, for both sides, but each sees advantage and the potential to remove the other should fortunes change.
While there are a variety of smaller movements across the episode, such as how Marcus makes a bonding move with the slave girl he has feelings for and we also see how Spartacus deals with unexpected problems within the city when it comes to the curfew, everything moves towards the coming “liberation” of the city itself. He and Gannicus have to get creative in how they set things in motion because of the curfew, but seeing how it’s done from the inside and the scale of the army on the outside, it builds well towards the inevitable. When that does happen, it’s the kind of brutality one would expect as a hoard of former slaves, gladiators and more make their way inside and deal with the ill equipped city watch and others. It’s as vicious as it needs to be and they cover how the ordinary people are handling it as well, especially since many of them are taken advantage of by both sides along the way.
The stakes as shown are pretty well displayed since even as the city is taken, there are still ways for the Romans to to win in a way, making the whole venture ill gotten. With the man behind much of the grain and potentially setting it to fire, Spartacus lucks out a bit in having his wife on hand to try and change his course. While it’s a solid approach in trying to use her, Spartacus has long learned to have many options at hand, brutal that they may be. Laeta brings an interesting passion to things and leaves me curious to see whether she becomes more in episodes to come or is not seen again after this. You can see how Spartacus can see something in her, but he’s also had such losses in his own life that it’s also easy to imagine that he has no view of her as anything but another piece of the puzzle.
In Summary:
With a lot of foundations laid down in the first episode, things begin to progress well here. Spartacus continues to be a man of action and enough patience to allow plans to be formed, though they don’t always go as intended as we see here due to the curfew. His thinking is a bit grander but still realistic here and it’s engaging to see how he’s attempting to change the path of his army to cope with what’s to come. And on that flip side, Crassus’ plans are moving forward and we get the introduction of Gaius Julius Caesar, who will one day sire the more well known Caesar. He’s an interesting addition to things here as he works with Crassus with similar goal in mind. It’s the kind of pairing that you can see falling apart at some point but has a lot of good tension to make it a fun ride throughout. Balancing all the intrigue and plotting with a good bit of brutal action definitely helps but the balance is one that doesn’t favor the action, which isn’t a bad thing. Here’s a lot going on here and it’s shaping the course of the season in some unexpected ways.
Grade: B+
