Spartacus and his band of Gladiators move south, and take an isolated villa owned by a wealthy Roman, who had Naevia for a short time before sending her further south. One of the slaves, a young male named Tiberius, attempts to kill Spartacus in the night as he has lost his position due to Spartacus' actions. Spartacus chooses not to have Nasir killed, but decides to train him. When some of Seppius's mercenaries come to investigate the liberated villa, Tiberius invites them in, only to have them slaughtered by the rebels, and Tiberius directly intervenes to save Spartacus. He reveals the mercenary captain noticed his new lack of slave collar, and would have brought more forces had they not killed him. This wins him the trust of the rebels, and reclaims his birth name "Nasir". Back in Capua, Lucretia is viewed as an Oracle due to her surviving Spartacus' massacre; in the marketplace Lucretia receives a note from a hooded stranger. Meanwhile, Oenomaus thinks back about his purchase from the Pits by Titus Lentulus Batiatus in his youth, where he eventually states his reason for living is the honor of Titus and his House. Oenomaus fights in the Pits hoping to be killed, but he is eventually taken to the villa before Glaber as Lucretia is performing a ritual to ask the Gods to aid Glaber against Spartacus. The hooded stranger is revealed to be Ashur, former nefarious right-hand man of Quintus Batiatus, who is working in secret with Lucretia.
Tropes:
- Contrived Coincidence: It's heavily implied Ashur and Lucretia timed his presentation of Oenomaus to coincide with her conclusion of the sacrificial ritual, making it seem as if her prayers have been answered.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Even more than usual. Spartacus is effortlessly able to disarm Tiberius and restrain the knife wielding would-be assassin, without even injuring Tiberius.
- Death Seeker: Two examples:
- Oenomaus has fully become this in the episode, deliberately fighting in the pits in the hopes that he will die in combat. He is so badass that it takes him far longer than he would like to be worn down by his opponents, and he STILL survives.
- Tiberius also becomes a minor one after Spartacus liberates him and his fellow slaves, seeing no real point to his life.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: The dominus really should have stopped talking after telling Crixus he met Naevia. Instead he was stupid enough to reveal to the enraged Gaul, who was in the process of beating him, that he raped the woman the man is searching for. Unsurprisingly, Crixus kills him for this.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Tiberius interrupts Spartacus and Mira just as they are about to break in their new bed. He unsuccessfully tries to assassinate Spartacus.
- Mundane Luxury: Part of the Deliberate Values Dissonance of the period. Spartacus is thrilled to sleep in a bed once again, as it has been a very long time since he was able to. Mira reveals that she has never slept in one. They promptly try to have sex in it.
- Non-Indicative Name: It's lampshaded by the rebels that "Tiberius" is not a Syrian name. At the end of the episode he retakes his birth name of "Nasir" as a show of solidarity.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Whatever Crixus does to the dominus of the villa ends with his death, but it is not shown. It's heavily implied he beat the man to death for raping Naevia.
- Only Sane Man: Marcus becomes this in the meeting between Glaber and Seppius, trying desperately to keep both their egos in check and help them reach agreement. He fails, mostly because Seppius is too much of a Smug Snake to see reason.
- Origin Story: The flashbacks flesh out Oenomaus's backstory, and show how he came to the House of Batiatus and joined the brotherhood.
- Sex for Services: Played with on two occasions:
- This is how Chadara operates, as she has been so Conditioned to Accept Horror that she doesn't see any other use for herself.
- Chadara even accuses Mira of this, saying her status as Spartacus' bedwarmer is the reason the rebels respect her, which hits Mira pretty hard. While she is correct, in that Mira actually extorted Spartacus for sex at the beginning of their relationship, Spartacus is quick to shoot down the idea that this is their current arrangement, and assures Mira that he does in fact care about her.
- Villainous Rescue: Ashur comes to Oenomaus's "aid" in the end, killing his opponent and capturing Doctore.
