Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - "Beneath the Mask"

Ancient Rome meets John Hughes in this week's Spartacus. Batiatus wants to hold a party at the ludus so he takes his father away for the night, and hijinks ensue! I'll grant that in your average teenage comedy there's a little fooling around in a closet instead of a massive orgy, and nobody's head gets bashed in at the end of the night. Otherwise, this was totally Weird Capuan Science.

Why not? High school, like Roman society, is a caste system. Batiatus wants to eat lunch with the popular kids, and he's trying to gain favor by turning the ludus into a Bunny Ranch. Unfortunately, now he's becoming more known for the sexual exploits of his slaves rather than their prowess in the arena. He's dead set on getting Gannicus into the primus of the upcoming games by any means necessary, though, so his hands are tied. Hosting an orgy is the next logical step.

In my mind, it's Batiatus' way of going big or going home. Word of his house's delights is spreading among Capua's elite quicker than he expected, so it makes sense to satiate everyone's hunger all at once instead of one by one.

But like any big illicit party in a high school comedy, there's always the one uninvited guest who ruins everything. In this case, it's Tullius. And not only that, he was invited by Solonius, for reasons I couldn't quite understand, but I'm assuming are a mix of Solonius miffed at playing babysitter at the party in Batiatus' place, trying to reverse the downward spiral of the ludus, and currying favor with Tullius. Like any good villain, Tullius is single-minded in his pursuits. He doesn't want to drink or screw, he just wants to bring the House of Batiatus down. If that means embarrassing Gannicus in an "exhibition" of fighting skills, that's great. If it means killing Gaia to send a message, even better (Jaime Murray exits the series too early, but bless her heart she got topless in all of her episodes).

Thus we get one of Sparatcus' beloved webs of hate. Tullius hates Batiatus and Lucretia, they hate him back, but Titus wants to ally himself with Tullius so now Batiatus and Lucretia are pissed at him too. In the last episode it seemed a foregone conclusion that Batiatus would commit patricide, now it looks like a footrace between him and Lucretia to see who will kill Titus first - if they don't gang up on him, of course. If there's one thing Spartacus excels at, it's capturing pent-up rage churning into vengeance in overblown fashion, and the final scene with Lucretia was very satisfying.

Elsewhere in the ludus: Gannicus can't hold back his feelings for Melitta, Crixus tries to make nice with Barca, Ashur is a prick, and Oenomaus is slowly learning to throw his weight around (and conversely, how to take orders from his superiors whether he likes them or not). The downstairs action isn't necessarily boring, especially when Ashur is involved, but the upstairs action is far more compelling. Batiatus, by Spartacus standards, is a fully fleshed-out character; we know why he's an arrogant bastard. Why makes Gannicus tick? So many of Gods of the Arena's storylines seem preordained; only his has the chance of surprising come the finale.