Episode Title: “Paterfamilias”
Writers: Aaron Helbing & Todd Helbing
Director: Rick Michael Hurst
Previously on “Spartacus: Gods of The Arena”:
Five years before the arrival of Spartacus, Batiatus (John Hannah) made a bold play to enhance the standing of his house within the gladiatorial games. However, his rival Vettius (Gareth Williams) and his patron Tullius (Stephen Lovatt) literally tried to beat Batiatus into submission when he refused to sell them Gannicus (Dustin Clare), his finest warrior. With the aid of his wife Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) and their house guest Gaia (Jaime Murray), Batiatus came up with a new plan to get revenge on the men who viciously beat him, by sending his gladiators to attack Vettius in the streets.
With Vettius otherwise occupied, Lucretia and Gaia lured vargas back to Batiatus’ estate, where Batiatus himself soon arranged a demonstration fight between Gannicus and Crixus (Manu Bennett). To everyone’s surprise, Crixus nearly won before Gannicus finally emerged victorious. Afterwards, Vargas insisted upon seeing Gannicus have sex with Melitta (Marisa Ramirez), the wife of his friend Oenomaus (Peter Mensah). For his part, Oenomaus was promoted to Doctore after the previous Doctore (Temuera Morrison) voiced his concerns about Batiatus’ actions and forced Oenomaus to kill him in battle.
Although Oenomaus, Gannicus and Melitta all felt shame for their actions, Batiatus’ plan worked and got Gannicus a place in the games. To celebrate, Batiatus made love to his wife and Gaia at the same time.
Story:
In the early morning, Batiatus addresses his gladiators and introduces Oenomaus as the new Doctore and announces that Gannicus is going to be fighting in the Primus, which elicits cheers from the men. Afterwards, Gannicus congratulates his friend on his new position, but Oenomaus misinterprets Gannicus’ guilty discomfort around him with a lack of acceptance as the Doctore. Meanwhile, Batiatus, Lucretia and Gaia are feeling celebratory again and engage in another wild threesome until they are interrupted by the unexpected return of Titus (Jeffrey Thomas), Batiatus’ father and the true owner of the house. Almost immediately, Titus says that his son has brought shame upon them and he begins ripping apart his plans.
Among the gladiators, Barca (Antonio Te Maioha) and his lover Octus continue their torment of Ashur (Nick Tarabay) and his Syrian friend by pissing in their meal, but Gannicus quickly stops the fight before it can happen. In the training session, the men seem to ignore Oenomaus’ orders and Barca mercilessly beats Crixus with a staff. Eventually, Gannicus gives him a few pointers on how to deal with it, but Crixus is humiliated by being forced to practice with the wooden dummy. Elsewhere in the house, Vargas shows up with a friend to enjoy the “pleasures” of the house. To maintain favor, Lucretia reluctantly allows them to deflower one of her virginal slave girls.
In the city, Titus brings Batiatus to a meeting with Vettius and Tullius. After dismissing Batiatus, his father tells him that he has struck a new deal by way of apology for Batiatus’ actions. Gannicus will not be in the games, but four other fighters from their house will be allowed to fight each other. Despite his obvious frustration, Batiatus has no choice but to follow his father’s wishes. Back in the gladiator cells, Octus compliments Crixus’ fighting spirit before he and Barca notice that one of their pet birds is missing. They soon see that Ashur and his friend have cooked and eaten the bird in revenge. A real fight breaks out this time, shaming both Oenomaus and Batiatus.
At the games, Titus pits Barca against Ashur and Octus against Crixus, whom he is sure will lose. Batiatus speaks to Crixus personally and urges him to prove himself in battle. Barca beats Ashur after a fierce battle, but Ashur is spared by the judgement of Vargas. In the next fight, Crixus and Octus fight viciously, with Crixus emerging victorious to the shock of both the crowd and Titus. Later, Batiatus oversees the branding of Crixus as he is welcomed into the gladiators’ brotherhood. Even Barca compliments him on his battle, despite the fact that he killed his lover.
Later, Titus admits that he was wrong about Crixus and perhaps wrong about his son as well. But instead of returning to retirement, he decides to stay in charge of the house until death takes him. And from the look on Batiatus’ face, it won’t be long…
Breakdown:
It’s become clear that the only way to make Batiatus work as a protagonist is to keep introducing bigger a**holes than himself into the story. This week, it’s Titus who steps into that role. Ironically, Titus actually seems like a decent and honorable man, unlike his son. But he’s such a dick around him that Batiatus’ hatred of him is projected on to him by the audience as well. His entire presence basically undoes the progress made in the first two episodes, thereby extending the storyline. I was actually surprised that he wasn’t killed in this episode. When Lucretia served him wine, I thought for sure that it was poison when she wouldn’t let her husband drink it as well.
Speaking of Lucretia, there have been a couple of moments of compassion from her that seemed very surprising. In the last episode, she attempted to keep Melitta from being sexually violated and she actually succeeded this time; but she had to offer up two other slave girls instead. She even tried to turn down Vargas and his pervert friend by claiming the earlier demonstration was a one time thing. Lucretia is a very decadent woman herself, so these rare moments of decency help round out her character.
In the last episode, I wrote that Barca and Octus didn’t have much defining characteristics aside from being gay and in love. This time, Octus actually showed a personality underneath his partner’s bluster. So of course, he died here just as he was getting interesting. Crixus hasn’t gotten a lot of character development himself, but his rise to glory was enjoyable to watch. Even Batiatus’ speech to him at the games was almost moving, despite being self-serving towards Batiatus’ endgame.
Oddly enough, this prequel series has made Oenomaus look really ineffective as the new Doctore. I assume that’s because we’ll be seeing him regain the men’s respect in a battle with Gannicus himself once he learns that he slept with his wife. And we’re three episodes in now and we know next to nothing about who Gannicus is or why he fights with such wild abandon. Despite his special privileges, it’s clear that the other fighters defer to him. He defused Ashur’s first attempt to fight Barca simply by standing in his way.
The middle of this story hit a couple of bumps on the way and now the miniseries is definitely feeling stretched out longer than it should be. Though I guess we should be thankful that the producers didn’t try to make this miniseries into 13 episodes. “Gods of The Arena” has its moments, but it hasn’t yet become the epic that it can be.
Crave Online Rating: 7 out of 10.
