The Romans of SPARTACUS are really highlighted in this outstanding episode that sets up the Season Two finale.
Stunningly beautiful blonde Ilythia, the gorgeous, faithless wife of corrupt Roman praetor Glaber, seems to be down and out as the episode begins. She's been kidnapped by Spartacus, and she escapes, but returns to Capua to find her husband making love to innocent young Seppia. But little does the raven-haired beauty know that her new lover is responsible for the murder of her beloved twin brother Seppius! Meanwhile, Spartacus is trying to keep his ragged band of rebels focused and motivated for the coming showdown with Glaber's Roman army. He arranges for games and team-building exercises to get everyone to work together more effectively. To be honest, the sexy intrigues of the decadent Romans in this episode are a lot more interesting than watching Spartacus function as little more than a camp counselor. We're also given a bit of warmed-over feuding between Agron and Crixus, and Oenomaius and Gannicus, but it's all recycled stuff and the actors don't seem very worked up about it. All the slaves are pretty chilled out even when they're fighting. Indeed, there are times when the rebel camp looks more like a beach party filled with tanned young bodies than the hideout of desperate and hunted slaves.
Ironically, the only truly desperate person at this point is pretty little Seppia, the hapless high-born Roman damsel brilliantly played by Hanna Mangan Lawrence. Though she's hardly an angel, Seppia really doesn't deserve the horrible things that happen to her in this episode. Through no fault of her own, she's lost her brother, and the only man who offers her shelter turns out to be a despicable cad! And the older women who advise her are totally two-faced, or worse. It's really quite heart-wrenching to watch, especially when Seppia tries to confide in handsome Varinius and he spurns her innocent entreaties. So in the end, you have this impulsive, rather naive heroine who really belongs in a Jane Austen novel, making a fumbled attempt on Glaber's life and paying the price in the usual gruesome SPARTACUS fashion, complete with the mandatory skyrocketing fountains of gore! There is some satisfaction, of course, in knowing that Glaber and his wife Ilythia will not long survive the innocent girl they butcher. But the larger point is interesting too. After all, Glaber has been chosen by the Senate to "save" the Republic from the supposedly barbaric Spartacus and his slaves. But while Spartacus is so noble and humane that he spares even his enemy's corrupt wife, Glaber the noble soldier of Rome betrays, seduces and murders a genuinely innocent girl.
And all of that just to set up the awesome season finale on Vesuvius!
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