Spartacus now plans to band the entire ludus to rebel against Batiatus and join his rebellion. Agron and Duro are all for it, but he needs Crixus's influence to get the rest of the Gauls to join their side. That won't be easy, because the two are to be put against each other in a fight to the death for the entertainment of Roman nobles as Batiatus attempts to curry favour.
This unfortunately marks the last on-screen appearance of Andy Whitfield as Spartacus.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Once Lucretia is face to face with an angry Crixus and realises she can't bargain for her survival with news of Naevia, she begs him not to kill her. It doesn't work.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Quintus Batiatus sees his wife dying, also bleeding from the womb, and has to watch before he too joins her. The finale of the prequel Gods of the Arena would add to this by cutting back to the scene of them dying together after their Start of Darkness was completed.
- Asshole Victim: Pretty much every victim of the massacre, as they are all slave owners. About the only one who wouldn't count is Domitia, Numerius's mother, who otherwise appeared to be a decent person.
- Back for the Dead: Numerius returns for the celebrations, and is one of the Romans killed in the massacre.
- Berserker Tears:
- After Duro is stabbed, Agron screams and chops the offending Roman's head off. As Duro dies in his arms, he cries and then lets out a yell of anguish.
- Aurelia wails hysterically while stabbing Numerius to death. When Spartacus pulls her off him, she collapses crying in his arms.
- Spartacus himself is near tears when he yells at Batiatus "as you lied to me of my wife!"
- Break the Haughty: This continues for Illythia. She has to do everything Lucretia says, including reading out a speech she wrote and pretending it's her own words.Illythia: My hands are no longer my own and now you seize my fucking tongue!Lucretia: I would not have it flap about absent direction.
- Broken Pedestal: Oenomaus realises what a liar and cheat Batiatus is, and what a pawn of the system he's become.
- Death of a Child: Numerius is considered an adult in Rome but a child by modern standards, so his death at the hands of Aurelia counts.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Duro dies in Agron's arms.
- The Dog Bites Back: After an entire half-season of suffering "indignities" from Lucretia, especially in this episode, Illythia flees the ludus with her men and orders them to seal the doors with everyone still inside. She likewise watches the doors close on one of her 'friends' who was part of Licinia's Girl Posse that laughed at her when Spartacus sassed her several episodes ago.
- Enemy Mine: Downplayed with Illythia. Once the massacre starts happening, she leaves the ludus with her slave and men, and orders the guards to lock the doors with everyone inside. This ensures that Quintus and Lucretia lose everything, and Spartacus's rebellion gets off to a good start. Downplayed because she does this on her own and does not agree anything with the rebels, but her actions do benefit them, and her treatment by the Batiatuses did parallel theirs.
- Faking the Dead: Ashur hiding among the bodies in the ludus will later prove instrumental in ensuring Lucretia's survival.
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Once Aurelia is alone with a defenceless Numerius, the viewer remembers that she wasn't just a Neutral Female, and this is a woman who was said to have castrated her rapist.
- Given Name Reveal: Doctore is revealed to be the historical Oenomaus, who fought alongside Spartacus in his rebellion.
- Heel–Face Turn: The characters were never 'evil' but were antagonists to Spartacus...
- Doctore, revealed to be Oenomaus, sides with the rebels after learning that Batiatus had Sura killed, and also in light of Naevia telling him the truth about Barca. Downplayed as of Vengeance however, as he doesn't join Spartacus at first, and has to be persuaded over a couple of episodes.
- Crixus realises he will never be allowed to see Naevia again unless he joins the others to rebel.
- Aurelia stops blaming Spartacus for Varro's death and targets Numerius in the massacre, afterwards sobbing in Spartacus's arms.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Duro dies trying to save Agron from a Roman's attack.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Crixus makes Spartacus promise to find Naevia if he is killed before he can.
- If I Can't Have You…: When Crixus properly rejects her, Lucretia then gives him the poison, which she had been hinted to be tentative about beforehand.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Lucretia is pregnant with a Child by Rape and when confronted by Crixus, he stabs her in the womb specifically to kill the baby.
- Ironic Echo: Spartacus throws a twofer at Batiatus before killing him.
- "What would you do to hold your wife again?" - the same thing the man told him in order to get him to fight for the House of Batiatus.
- Batiatus says "I gave you the means to accept your fate" and Spartacus responds "and now you are destroyed by it!"
- Loving a Shadow: Mira pretty much admits that she knows this is what she's doing. However, in exchange for helping Spartacus, she asks for him to make love to her so that she can feel "a pale shadow" of what he felt for Sura.
- Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Lucretia reveals that Crixus is the father of her child rather than Quintus.
- Nasty Party: Played with. Quintus and Lucretia throw a celebration with loads of Roman nobles for benevolent reasons - Quintus wants to make a bid for office - but Spartacus sees it as the perfect time to enact his rebellion.
- Perfect Poison: Subverted. Crixus is given something to weaken him for the battle. It's not meant to kill him, and just lower his ability to fight back against Spartacus, who Quintus and Lucretia don't know won't be fighting to kill. Whatever he's given doesn't even seem to affect him once the rebellion has started.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: By Crixus's standards anyway. He says to Spartacus..."In another life, you and I would have been as brothers."
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
- Crixus to Lucretia...
Lucretia: Please, Crixus. Our child...Crixus: I would rather see it dead than suckle at your breast.- Aurelia to Numerius.
"[Varro] was not a perfect man. But he was mine."- Spartacus to Quintus.
Quintus: I gave you the means to accept your fate.Spartacus: And now you are destroyed by it. - Rousing Speech: The final scene of the episode is Spartacus giving a speech to the now-free slaves and gladiators, offering them the chance to leave and "forge your own paths" or to join his rebellion.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Crixus and Oenomaus are able to have a conversation while Roman soldiers and gladiators are killing each other around them.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Oenomaus throws his to save Crixus from a guard attacking him. It embeds itself in his neck.
- Title Drop: Crixus on siding with the rebels shouts "kill them all!" at his fellow gladiators.
- Took a Level in Badass: Mira stabs a guard to death with a piece of broken pottery, and opens the gates to allow the gladiators to massacre the Romans. The next season, she will complete this transformation into full Action Girl.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Aurelia takes the cake, even accusing Spartacus of tainting Varro's food to secure his 'victory', and assuming he's behind the plot to do the same to Crixus.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Not that Quintus was any better, but now that Glaber's men are stationed at the ludus, the gladiators are eternally in chains, get frequently whipped by the soldiers and need their permission to even drink water.
- Villain Ball: Lucretia strikes again, suggesting that Quintus poison Crixus to ensure his victory against Spartacus. The latter finding out about the poison gives him enough evidence to convince Crixus to join him.
- Worf Had the Flu: Ashur is able to get away from Oenomaus by stabbing him in the leg and fleeing, later pretending to be one of the many corpses in the courtyard to hide from him.
- Would Hit a Girl: The female nobles are targeted just as same as the males, and Crixus outright stabs Lucretia in the womb, although Vengeance reveals it was only forceful enough to kill their unborn baby, and she survives the attack.
- Written-In Absence: Naevia is not in this episode, as she was sent away in the previous one, and her whereabouts remain a mystery until Vengeance.
