Spartacus: Blood and Sand - The Thing in the Pit, S01E04

Is Spartacus (Andy Whitfield) cursed by the gods? It is quite possibly so. After all, his wife was taken from him, his village destroyed, and he ended up as a gladiator with far too much pride and not enough intelligence to be successful. And yet he lived and lives.

In The Thing in the Pit, Spartacus fights men in what looks like an underground fighting ring. The pit, as it is called, pits beast against beast, for to be in the pit causes an insanity that destroys most of what it means to be a man. Luckily for Spartacus, his sanity was never intact to begin with. His continued visions of his wife, and the inspiration to kill them all which he receives from her - a lovely gift from wife to husband, I must say - had him on the brink of a different kind of insanity long before he began fighting in such a way as to lose his own humanity.

And so he stays sane, and with purpose. Well, that is, I'll call it sanity that he promised Batiatus (John Hannah) that he would die in the pits so that his master would have the coin to save his wife. His life has no meaning but her, and if his death is the means to save her, so be it.

Unfortunately, when the wager should have been won, Batiatus is set upon by assassins, and Spartacus, knowing that with his master's death, his wife will never be found, must live so that his master may also. And yet, in doing so, he undoes everything that the both had intended.

Is that a curse from the gods, or a disguised blessing?

Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) continues to fascinate as well. She is proud, and she enjoys the pleasures Crixus (Manu Bennett) gives her, but she loves her husband too. Yet her relationship with Crixus cannot simply be called lustful, since she was genuinely pleased with the gift of a necklace which he gave her. The idea that he might love her is a source of happiness. And her pride is often piqued by the current constant failures of the man she married.

Yet, for him she sells her jewels, and not to those who would dishonour him. Nor can she stand the idea of being left a widow, or being forced to marry another. Batiatus and Lucretia may not have the kind of affectionate and lustful love which Spartacus and Sora (Erin Cummings) share, but it is not less deep and real.

And so, amid the gratuitous sex and violence, which is excessive to the point that I turn away and would not eat while watching the show, a solid and interesting story line persists. Is that why you watch? Or is it for the blood?