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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 5111976" data-attributes="member: 20741">EPISODE #7 now stands (far and away) as the best yet. There was the obligatory arena combat at the end. And while Spartcaus fights 6 against 1, the show manages some actual tension in the outcome of the battle (to the extent the show's premise allows for it).But that was just the 3 minutes of cool action at the end. The real enjoyment is in the drama before the final battle - where Spartacus: Blood and Sand serves notice that it is not just an action adventure series -- but has decided to take itself seriously.  And those scenes are consistent, rational, real and dramatic-- without being easily predictable or melodramatic.Characters act consistently, true to their motives, fears and hopes, in complex ways. The series makes a deliberate choice to develop its ongoing plot lines and make its characters act in ways that make sense within the story. Spartacus:Blood and Sand has, until episode #7, been over the top and is not self-consciously reaching to be history on film. Maybe so, but episode #7 certainly attained history on film -- and achieved it better than any other sword-and-sandals epic to date in its own small way.For the record, not one over-the-top blood splatter during the arena scene, either. I think the director of this particular episode decided the tale he was telling was about real people who lived 2050 years ago.This series ROCKS.</blockquote>