Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Difference between revisions

* [[Catch Phrase]]:

** "Jupiter's cock!" might as well be Batiatus'.

** Crixus has one in-universe - "Capua! Shall I begin?"

** "Apologies."

{{quote| '''Batiatus:''' "I will not! NOT be FUCKED, you FUCK you fucking cock-sucking, you haemorrhoid-sucking FUCK, YOU FUCK!"}}

* [[Chained Heat]]: Spartacus and Varro.

* [[The Dreaded]]: Theokoles. Crixus nearly shits himself when it's announced he and Spartacus are to face him. Doctore is sure they'll both die.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Pietros.}}

* [[Empathic Environment]]: When Theokoles (aka the Shadow of Death) steps into the arena, ''the sky clouds over.''

* [[Enemy Mine]]: Spartacus and Crixus against Theokoles. {{spoiler|And again at the end of the first season.}}

* [[Fanservice Extra]]: Some of the arena spectators like to flash their breasts at the gladiators.

* [[Fight Clubbing]]: While the arena is socially acceptable, the Pit is an underground fight club that is considered a shameful den of depravity.

{{quote| '''Batiatus:''' "Once again the gods spread the cheeks and ram cock in fucking ass..."}}

* [[Finish Him]]: An extreme example, {{spoiler|Spartacus is forced to kill his best friend Varro at the conclusion of a playful exhibition match.}}

** [[Big Bad]]: {{spoiler|Batiatus}}

** [[The Dragon]]: {{spoiler|Doctore}}, also the [[Token Good Teammate]].

* [[Go Out With a Smile]]: {{spoiler|Good Solonius.}}

* [[Gorn]]: Obvious

* [[Hearing Voices]]: Spartacus periodically has hallucinations of his wife. She tells him to kill everybody.

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Spartacus obviously, but also Crixus, Oenomaus (Doctore), Batiatus and Glaber.

* [[Improbable Hairstyle]]: Crixus has a modern military crew cut that would be nigh impossible to get at the time. Although the Romans did invent the military cut, the one Spartacus gets would be more accurate. Also Suro has a modern fringe and layers. Subverted with Lucretia, who has unnatural red hair, but episode 3 reveals she wears wigs, which is [[Truth in Television]] for some Roman women.

** Ashur's cruelty to Pietros after {{spoiler|Barca is killed.}}

** Ashur again: he is allowed to have any of the slaves as his sex slave, and he chooses Naevia because he knows that she and Crixus are in love. {{spoiler|This was also likely part of a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to get revenge on Crixus, it works flawlessly.}}

* [[Loan Shark]]: Ovidius, who reminds Batiatus of his owed debts in three different episodes. However, [[Deconstructed Trope|it turns out to be a bad idea to browbeat a guy with a stable of gladiators at his beck and call.]]

* [[The Lost Lenore]]: Murdered wife Sura is a classic example. She appears after her grisly demise in flashbacks and dream sequences, and the closest Spartacus comes to a subsequent love interest is a slave whom he chivalrously does not sleep with, at first, who bears more than a passing resemblance to her.

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Batiatus and Lucretia, who play their slaves and Roman countrymen to whatever tune they like. To a lesser extent, Ashur. The way he goes about {{spoiler|getting Barca killed}} is worthy of mention, as is {{spoiler|his revenge on Crixus, the gladiator who wounded him, in episode 12.}}

* [[Manly Gay]]: Barca.

* [[Mythology Gag]]: The scene introducing Mira to Spartacus bears striking similarity to the introduction of Spartacus and Varinia in ''[[Spartacus]]'', possibly [[Foreshadowing]] their future relationship.

* [[Nice Guy]]: Varro.

* [[Oh My Gods]]: "Jupiter's cock."

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: During a sex scene, no less. It makes sense if you have worked out that {{spoiler|it is actually [[Arch Enemy|Ilithyia]] not Lycinia under the mask, making both of them victims of a ''very'' brutal [[Bed Trick]].}}

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Crixus to Spartacus during and after {{spoiler|the Segovax incident}}.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: Liam McIntyre will be replacing Andy Whitfield as Spartacus as of Season 2. Cynthia Addai-Robinson will also be replacing Lesley-Ann Brandt as Naevia due to Brandt's preoccupation with [[CSI New York|CSI:NY.]]

* [[Poirot Speak]]: Characters do not drop into Latin at random or with any frequency, but the English dialogue is often interrupted by a few specific Latin nouns related to the military, political office or gladiatory games and training (See also [[Shown Their Work]] below)

* [[Pride]]: Ends up causing a lot of the drama in the story.

* [[The Queens Latin]]

* [[Race Lift]]: Oenamaus (aka the Doctore) was historically from Gaul, like Crixus. He is reimagined as a ([[Scary Black Man|scary]]) [[Bald Black Leader Guy]].

* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: Batiatus is the absolute ''king'' of this trope.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Ashur.

* [[Stripperiffic]]: Ye Gods and how. Many of the gladiators go into battle with their chests completely exposed and train in what amounts to a loincloth. There are frequently scantily dressed female slaves as background extras and several episodes where the background extras are fully nude.

* [[Sword and Sandal|Sword And Sand(al)]]

* [[Turned Against Their Masters]]: The gladiators famously turn against their masters in a mass rebellion.

* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: The series is actually rather good about this - being complete bastards does not stop Batiatus/Lucretia and Glaber/Ilithyia from being relatively loving and devoted couples.

* [[Villainous Breakdown]]:

** Batiatus begins to break down {{spoiler|during the revolt at the end of Season 1, when he sees not only his plans for office, but his own ludus falling apart.}}

* [[Visual Pun]]: When the gladiator who wears his opponents' faces in the Pit turns to the audience with his newest trophy and says, "You wanna face me?!"

* [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]: A lot. This gets particularly ridiculous in the pilot, where Spactacus is shirtless and bare-legged ''in the snow''. Also, it isn't restricted to the men, [[Fan Service|not by a longshot]]. It's easier to list the cast members who don't get a shirtless scene.

* [[Wham Episode]]: Episodes 6, 10, and 13.

* [[Whip It Good]]: Doctore.

* [[Woman Scorned]]: Lucretia reacts pretty much as expected when she finds out why Crixus has lost that loving feeling.

* [[Dramatic Irony]]: Being a prequel, the series provides this in spades.

* [[Drunken Song]]: Gannicus sings a [[Bawdy Song|very crude]] one while celebrating his victories in episode 1. While he's balanced on the edge of a cliff no less. It's the [[Call Forward|same song]] the gladiators were singing during the party in "Delicate Things" while {{spoiler|Barca was being murdered.}}

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Gaia, {{spoiler|though her charms failed her in the end.}}

* [[Fake Nationality]]: Gannicus is played by Australian Dustin Clare.

{{quote| '''Titus:''' "Tell me you're not the serpent I thought you to be."<br />

''' {{spoiler|Lucretia}}:''' "I'm not. I'm far worse." }}

* [[The Patriarch]]: Titus.

* [[Perfect Poison]]: {{spoiler|How Lucretia killed Titus and Melitta, though the latter was an unfortunate accident. Just a sip of the poisoned wine was enough to make them cough blood and die messily. Actually, she has been poisoning Titus for a long time, not exactly to kill him, but to make him sick and leave them alone. We don't know if it is the same poison in a bigger dose or another, stronger, one.}}

* [[Psychotic Smirk]]: Tullius is fond of doing this.

* [[Rape Is Love]]: {{spoiler|Gannicus and Melitta fall in love after they're forced to have sex with each other.}}

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: All of the Rhines

* [[Broken Bird]]: {{spoiler|Naevia}} due to recent events.

* [[The Bus Came Back]]: {{spoiler|Gannicus returns in episode 5.}}

* [[Call Back]]:

** Ilithyia accuses Ashur of having this toward Glaber {{spoiler|which is probably the one time in the series when he's actually ''not'' an example}}.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]/[[Woman Scorned]]: Mira does not take learning about the [[Bed Trick]] incident from ''Blood and Sand'' well.

* [[Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like]]:

** Spartacus is not terribly happy with {{spoiler|Crixus and the Gauls}} saving him from {{spoiler|Glaber's soldiers. Crixus later states they ''weren't'' there to save him, but to stop him from killing Glaber, as the Roman reprisal would be more than they were ready for.}}

** Marcus appears to act as Glaber's second-in-command.

** Ashur becomes Glaber's Dragon later. He's even got his own dragon: the Egyptian.

** A villainous example. Ashur seems to be the embodiment of this trope in his own eyes. He did all of Batiatus' dirty work before AND after he was marked as a member of the Brotherhood. He was the one who {{spoiler|rescued Lucretia and nursed her back to health}} and is alluded to have done countless other favors and deeds for other gladiators. Yet he is still seen as someone who is [[Berserk Button|below standing]].

** Glaber also once he learns that despite his rank, ''no one'' likes or respects him.

* [[Eye Scream]]: The Egyptian stabs {{spoiler|Oenomaus}} in the eye in episode 9.

* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: The mines were hinted to be this in ''Blood and Sand'' and ''Gods of the Arena'', and Mira certainly believes it to be as well. From what we see, she's right.

** [[The Hero]]: Spartacus

** [[The Lancer]]: Agron

** In Episode 5, Spartacus and his forces establish a camp at the base of Mount Vesuvius. Historically, Spartacus' final confrontation with Glaber happens on Vesuvius.

* [[Genius Bonus]]: Although its possible that the writers did not know, one of the speeches at the arena in episode 5 is one of these. A Roman character says to a Capuan crowd that "Hannibal is at our gates" and then says words to the effect of "but we beat him ultimately". The in-universe audience and the knowledgeable amongst the viewers will know that Capua switched sides and supported Hannibal against Rome and was punished for that, and at the time of the Third Servile War still had a Roman garrison in order to keep the city under Roman thumb.

* [[Groin Attack]]: {{spoiler|Ashur gets a sword to the crotch, courtesy of Naevia.}}

* [[Hands On Approach]]: Varinius teaching Seppia how to use a sword in episode 4.

** Ashur taunts Oenomaus about {{spoiler|Gannicus and Melitta's affair from ''Gods of the Arena''.}} Later, {{spoiler|he brutally rapes Lucretia just to prove he can.}}

** Glaber crucifies one of Ilithyia's slaves, despite knowing she is innocent, just to show his power, and even forces Ilithyia to confirm that the slave was a traitor.

{{quote| "At least it wasn't a fucking Roman who took my-" (''beheaded'')}}

* [[Kill It With Fire]]:

** Naevia: the delicate flower got thorns indeed.

*** Ashur. Yes, it deserves mentioning twice.

** Likewise, Ashur.

* [[Torture Technician]]: The entire upper-class of Capua/Rome seems to have a minor degree in this.

* [[Unholy Matrimony]]: While Ilithyia and Glaber showed signs of this in ''Blood and Sand'', its taken farther here. Ilithyia even states "We are both monsters Gaius, let us be monsters together."

* [[Villainous Rescue]]: {{spoiler|Ashur saves Oenomaus from death in the pits so he can hand him over to Glaber for interrogation.}}

** Agron dismisses Naevia as just one life and insignificant. Spartacus calls him out and rightfully points out that Agron wouldn't feel that way if Duro was in Naevia's place.

** Spartacus gives one to the Rhines (Agron's kinsmen) after they promptly act like the worst house guests ever.

[[Category:American Series]]

[[Category:Spartacus Blood And Sand]]