Review:
Spartacus: Blood and Sand Episode 7

Episode 7: Great and Unfortunate Things

What's good:
- Strong emotions coupled with action
- Spartacus finally embraces the "Spartacus" in him

What's bad:
- Spartacus loses the little bit that keeps him human and "good"
- The pacing of the show is weird, being slow throughout only to speed through the last few minutes

Plot: Spartacus must face his wife's death, and ultimately choose between death or embracing the life of a gladiator.

Review:

With his wife dead, Spartacus no longer has a plan. He no longer craves freedom, or vengeance on the Legotas that put him in his current imprisonment. It's not to say that he lost his values completely, but rather that his heart weighs heavy with the death of his wife. He cares about nothing anymore, except for revenge against the person who killed his wife. Little does Spartacus know that the man is his master. Batiatus decided to kill Spartacus' wife too push Spartacus to become a gladiator. Batiatus hatched the plan himself to bring her dead body back to Spartacus so he can see with his own eyes.

Batiatus' goal is to tame Spartacus, to tame the beast and control him, and use him to take his ludus to its maximum, and then enter into politics within the Senate.

It is in this episode that Varro takes a more pronounced role. Now that Spartacus has no one to fight for, he begins to see Varro as more than a friend, but as a brother. Varro warns Spartacus that all gladiators are slaves, even him.

However, things in the ludus are not what they seem. Word is spreading that Barka was not freed but instead killed, and the Doctore has words with Ashur. Remember how I said Ashur was the right hand man of Batiatus, who is cruel? Well Doctore is catching on, and tells Ashur that if he finds out something happened, he will "have words" with Ashur. An interesting way of saying he'll kill him isn't it?