Season 1, Episode 2
Date of airing: January 29, 2010 (Starz)
Nielsen ratings information: 0.773 million viewers, 0.4 rating/1 share with Adults 18-49
Written by: Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by: Rick Jacobson
“Not every venture ends in climax.”
“A fact known well to every woman.”
Lucretia is in luck that she and Batiatus have a functioning, working marriage, in which both parties love each other. Otherwise, a comment like that would have convinced the patriarch to go after his woman more violently. But Batiatus either didn't get the burn or he found it amusing enough to let it slide. Or he didn't even hear her because he was too busy hoping that Spartacus would pass the test and not end up with Crixus's sword inside him. Because that would have meant a substantial loss of coin for Batiatus, who paid too much to purchase Spartacus, and with it, Glaber's patronage.
It's interesting how the involvement of Spartacus in Batuatus's affairs is of a more political nature. Batiatus wants love and attention from the Roman Senate, and he can only get it if he has friends within and outside of the Senate – Glaber being the biggest name who actually entered his ludus, and who has reason to have conversations with Batiatus. In any other ludus, Spartacus would have been dead already, but with Batiatus as his master, he has become a plaything in a political game. In any other ludus, Spartacus would have had no chance to dream of revenge against Glaber, or even the hope to fight his way to freedom and buy back his kidnapped and enslaved wife. All episode long, Spartacus hoped to just die – a character destined for a quick death at the hands of another, as he did not want to live the life of a slave, let alone a gladiator. Quite an interesting path for a titular character's plot two episodes into his series.
Meanwhile, this episode showcased for real what the entire show is about: political intrigue (Rome is far away for the characters, but close enough to be in their aspirational eyesight), gladiatorial action, the lives of a slave inside a ludus, Batiatus being a shrewd maneuverer who thinks with his bag of coins instead of his head, and sex. Even if the latter was preambled with moments of slaves “warming up” both Batiatus and Lucretia independently before they went at it together in front of their slaves. It's a friendly reminder of how the Roman Empire never even considered its slaves as people.
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| Lucretia is winning a new love interest. |
