This is one of the richest, most action-packed, and character driven episodes of SPARTACUS: VENGEANCE.
While Spartacus and his men score an explosive success at the beginning of the episode, breaking dozens of battle-tested German warriors out of a slave ship, the clash between Germans and Gauls in the rebel camp quickly threatens to extinguish the rebellion. Warriors like Agron and Crixus have to ask tough questions about loyalty, prejudice and the price of freedom.
Meanwhile in Capua, freed champion Gannicus is being recruited by the evil Roman praetor Glaber to help hunt down his "brothers" from the fallen gladiator school of Batiatus. Dustin Clare as Gannicus really shines in this episode, bringing a complex yet lovable character to life. Gannicus fights like a true god of the arena. Yet he's not an angry man. He's not a committed idealist, like Spartacus, nor a wild brute like Crixus who sees things with a caveman's brutal clarity. Gannicus knows Rome must triumph in the end, and has no desire to play a martyr's part. In this episode he's forced to make a choice between aiding the Romans for coin and aiding his comrades on principle. It seems obvious that a grinning cynic like Gannicus will make the more lucrative choice. Yet a chance meeting with a starry-eyed young slave girl causes him to reevaluate his priorities.
The relationship between Gannicus and his sweet but ill-fated admirer is ironically mirrored by the far more exploitative relationship between Roman praetor Glaber and lovely young Seppia. The impulsive, nubile young noblewoman falls willingly into Glaber's bed, thinking he can help her avenge her brother's death. Yet the truth is far more sinister. And the scorching hot love scene that climaxes this explosive episode is cut excruciatingly short.
For Gannicus has made his decision.
While Spartacus and his men score an explosive success at the beginning of the episode, breaking dozens of battle-tested German warriors out of a slave ship, the clash between Germans and Gauls in the rebel camp quickly threatens to extinguish the rebellion. Warriors like Agron and Crixus have to ask tough questions about loyalty, prejudice and the price of freedom.
Meanwhile in Capua, freed champion Gannicus is being recruited by the evil Roman praetor Glaber to help hunt down his "brothers" from the fallen gladiator school of Batiatus. Dustin Clare as Gannicus really shines in this episode, bringing a complex yet lovable character to life. Gannicus fights like a true god of the arena. Yet he's not an angry man. He's not a committed idealist, like Spartacus, nor a wild brute like Crixus who sees things with a caveman's brutal clarity. Gannicus knows Rome must triumph in the end, and has no desire to play a martyr's part. In this episode he's forced to make a choice between aiding the Romans for coin and aiding his comrades on principle. It seems obvious that a grinning cynic like Gannicus will make the more lucrative choice. Yet a chance meeting with a starry-eyed young slave girl causes him to reevaluate his priorities.
The relationship between Gannicus and his sweet but ill-fated admirer is ironically mirrored by the far more exploitative relationship between Roman praetor Glaber and lovely young Seppia. The impulsive, nubile young noblewoman falls willingly into Glaber's bed, thinking he can help her avenge her brother's death. Yet the truth is far more sinister. And the scorching hot love scene that climaxes this explosive episode is cut excruciatingly short.
For Gannicus has made his decision.
