Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Legends, S01E03

This episode of Spartacus was aptly named. The primary focus was the telling of stories of how Spartacus (Andy Whitfield)'s fellow gladiators earned their fearsome reputations.

In this, I found the graphics in the ring perfectly fitting. Though I have complained about the ease in which the gladiators removed limbs in combat, the difference between the fight sequences taking place in reality and the ones taking place in the imaginations of our heroes while they describe the legendary battles were distinct. The fogginess and exaggeration was there, but it was superseded by fear.

The idea of Barca (Antonio Te Maioho) fighting his people to the death, and finishing with one-on-one combat with his father, is not only gruesome, but also explains why he's as cruel as he is. To do that, even for your own survival, your mind can hardly stay properly grounded in reality, and no idea of compassion can remain in you.

Crixus (Manu Bennett)'s battle gave me far more terror. The images of the two insane men he fought, dressed in animals skins and more beast than man, struck fear even before they attacked. I felt his reputation earned by those images alone, and though Spartacus was not able to see them, his arrogance in disregarding them was hard to stomach.

The humility that he felt, not only in his fight against Crixus in which he should have died, but afterwards when he realized that it was too late for humility, was well earned. One can only hope that now he will make wise choices, and realize that brash bravery based on nothing will not win him his wife.

I am glad that he lost, and that he learned humility. I thought for certain that he would win, and kill Crixus in the ring, and that just after I had started to like him. Unlike Barca, we have seen a human side of Crixus. His feelings for Naevia (Lesley-Ann Brandt) might originate out of a sense of lust and of power, but what he wants is what Spartacus wants. A woman he can love who loves him. Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) does unman him; she has the power in their relationship, and he is obliged only to please her and to act please himself, even if he is not. The appeal of a relationship where both are there from mutual affection, now that is a goal he cannot easily obtain.

I am glad that Crixus did not die, and that Spartacus will hopefully get his head on straight from now on. But only time will tell how well everything will work out (with the expectation, of course, of how the entire series must end). What are your thoughts?