Licinia, a rich noblewoman, desires a gladiator to sleep with - and Lucretia arranges for it to be Spartacus himself. However Illithyia also expresses desire to sleep with a gladiator - and Lucretia is none too pleased when she requests Crixus.
Tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Licinia is the cousin of Marcus Crassus and therefore an elite noblewoman. Given that she's perfectly willing to laugh at the trick Lucretia pulled, the bitch part is true as well.
- Bed Trick: It's revealed that the woman Spartacus was sleeping with is Illithyia and not Licinia. Given that she was expecting Crixus, this is a rare case where both members suffered this.
- Berserk Button: Turns out Illithyia does not like being laughed at. Although it's less the laughter in this case and more being laughed at for being tricked into sleeping with her husband's Arch-Enemy, and being told she's about to be ruined because of it.
- Big Brother Instinct: Agron is warned against his, giving Duro a chance to stand on his own.
- Chekhov's Gun: The discretion used whenever a noblewoman wants to sleep with a gladiator - notably Licinia coming without any slaves or attendants, and without telling anyone. This proves accidentally useful when she's murdered and they can easily hide the body.
- Clingy Jealous Girl/Woman Scorned: Lucretia does not take Illithyia asking to sleep with Crixus well.
- The Dog Bites Back: After Illithyia has been humiliated from the above trick, she beats Licinia to death.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Batiatus is outraged when he learns of the Bed Trick. While part of this could be excused as pragmatism (they now have a murder victim to deal with), he also apologizes to Spartacus over it and seems sincere.
- Exact Words:
- Mira is sent to sleep with Spartacus in preparation for his night with Licinia. He refuses and Lucretia sends her back. This time Spartacus cuts a deal with Mira, and she simply tells Lucretia "he made many demands of me."
- Likewise Lucretia thinks back to Crixus facing Theokoles in the arena and thought he was looking to her - when it was Naevia standing beside her. When she asks him what he was thinking, he replies something about "the arms of a goddess".
- Fanservice Extra: There's rather a lot of naked slaves in the background here.
- Female Gaze: There are lots of lingering shots of Spartacus's body as the slaves apply his body paint.
- Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Both participants in the love scene are covered in gold paint, and wearing golden masks.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Licinia's participation in the humiliation of Illithyia bites her in the ass when the latter beats her to death right there.
- Illithyia getting pranked is this to trying to get Segovax to murder Spartacus.
- Male Frontal Nudity: Of a sort. Andy Whitfield wore a fake penis for his nude scene. Still, it's the only time in the series that we see Spartacus fully nude.
- Mythology Gag: The way Spartacus meets Mira here is similar to the way he met Varinia in the 1959 movie.
- Naked on Arrival: Mira does this twice in one episode. She is nude in her first scene, as one of the topless slaves modelling the masks for Licinia. And when Spartacus finds her in his cell, she's naked.
- Never Found the Body: Spartacus advises Varo on this, since Aurelia's house was found empty and with blood on the floor - but no bodies found. He's quite right; since it turns out Aurelia castrated the rapist.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Spartacus does not care for Mira being naked in his cell.
- Not What It Looks Like:
- Crixus spies Naevia flirting with a guard. It turns out she was distracting him so she could steal a key - and therefore allow them an opportunity to embrace.
- A swap around where the person assumes something tame, when it's actually something raunchy. Illithyia sees Licinia hiding a mask, and assumes Lucretia is planning a masquerade ball.
- Replacement Goldfish: Invoked. Lucretia picks a slave with a resemblance to Spartacus's dead wife to 'prepare' him for Licinia. He's not amused.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Licinia is only in this & the previous episode. However her death provides Quintus and Lucretia with means to blackmail Glaber and discredit Illithyia. Likewise as a result of this, Illithyia leaves the two of them to be slaughtered by their own gladiators in the season finale.
- Stupid Evil:
- By far one of Lucretia's most idiotic moments in the entire series. She obviously did not see how tricking Illithyia into sleeping with Spartacus would go down with either person. To be charitable, perhaps vaguely she felt that Licinia's status might protect her.
- Licinia herself is no slouch either. She outright tells Illithyia that she'll "set every tongue in Rome wagging", forgetting that she brought no slaves or attendants, meaning no one but themselves know she even came there. She instantly made herself more valuable dead than alive.
- Wham Line: "Apologies, Licinia. Illithyia is not yet finished with Spartacus."
