'SPARTACUS: BLOOD & SAND' 1.8 – "Mark Of The Brotherhood"

[SPOILERS] One thing Spartacus: Blood & Sand has done well is refuse to make its "villain", muscle-bound Crixus (Manu Bennett), into a vanilla nemesis for Spartacus (Andy Whitfield). Instead, Crixus is a more complex character than Spartacus in most ways, and "Mark Of The Brotherhood" benefitted from focusing on the continuing feud between these two gladiators. Their relationship is softening in some ways (they respect each other now), gaining traction in others (they still dislike each other), and remains one of the show's more compelling elements.

Following the conclusion of last week, Spartacus has embraced his life as a gladiator and an opening montage revealed he's become a more proficient and celebrated killing machine, with a host of bloodthirsty triumphs in the arena to his credit. Glory and celebrity is his. And now that Spartacus is the reigning Champion of Capua, the ludus is profiting and this enables Batiatus (John Hannah) to purchase six new slaves for Doctore (Peter Mensah) to train. There's a sense of the show coming full circle throughout this hour; with Spartacus now the veteran gladiator, as new recruits are put through their paces in the same way he was in episode 2. The only difference is that Spartacus rules the ludus with a kinder heart than his predecessor Crixus (memories of his own tough induction still quite fresh), although he manages to exert his Alpha Male status over the ex-champ -- first with a face-off during mealtime, then during a fight Crixus instigates to try and prove he's recovered from his injuries.

As I've mentioned before, I think the reason Crixus often works better than Spartacus is because his character has more of a stake in the ludus: he was the champion there for many years, respected by his peers; he's the favoured gladiator of Lucretia (Lucy Lawless), who uses him as her personal gigolo; he clearly adores slave girl Naevia (Lesley-Ann Brandt); and he has a flinty hatred for the show's hero, Spartacus. It all means Crixus has more attachments to this world than Spartacus, particularly now the eponymous hero's wife is out of the picture. Spartacus only really has his friendship with flaxen-haired Varro (Jai Courtney) and antagonism toward Crixus to fuel the majority of his scenes.

In an interesting move, Ilythia (Viva Bianca) was allowed to satiate her amusing fetish for the "beastly" gladiators, by procuring a well-endowed trainee. While it felt likely she'd use her gladiator-to-be as a sexual plaything like her friend Lucretia, she instead had a more devious plan: convincing her "champion" to murder Spartacus, whom she still reviles (particularly after he impertinently spoke out of turn about her husband). But the attempt on Spartacus's life was foiled by Crixus, who followed the code of the "brotherhood" by refusing to let a brother die in such a dishonourable way, and the Ilythia's slave was swiftly castrated and crucified for his actions.

Overall, "Mark Of The Brotherhood" was another good episode for a series that's proven itself remarkably good at understanding its limitations and playing to its strengths. Every hour's full of machismo, power struggles, gore, violence, sex and political intrigue. It's not intellectually stimulating, but it presents a salacious and gritty view of the Ancient World that's proving to be good fun, while occasionally slipping in some decent shocks and fun twists. Perhaps its greatest strength is that the actors don't feel above the material (even the bigger names like Hannah and Lawless), and their servitude to the scripts has a way of diluting the dumb missteps and silly flourishes. Over the past five episodes, Spartacus: Blood & Sand has found a way to take a seemingly exploitative and brainless TV series and mould it into something more fun and compelling than it started out.

Aside

• Am I alone in thinking Naevia's feelings for Crixus seemed to take a bizarre leap forward in this episode? She's always been a little hesitant and wary, but here it felt like she was suddenly seeing things on his level.

WRITERS: Aaron Helbing & Todd Helbing
DIRECTOR: Rowan Woods
GUEST CAST: Peter Mensah, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Jai Courtney, Nick Tarabay, Craig Walsh Wrightson, Viva Bianca, Daniel Feuerriegel, Ande Cunningham, Brooke Harmon, Tania Nolan, Mia Pistorius, Mike Edward, Robert McCulley, Stephen Butterworth, Siaosi Fonua, Ioani King & David Austin
TRANSMISSION: 13 July 2010 – BRAVO, 10PM