Maureen Ryan from TVSquad has recapped Episode 5: Reckoning. If you are keeping spoiler free - don't read further!

'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' Prequel Season, Episode 5 Recap
by Maureen Ryan

It makes sense that the fifth episode of this prequel season would be the most compelling one yet. It took four or five episodes for 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' to fully gel, and while 'Gods of the Arena' didn't have the same pacing or tone issues that the first season did when it began, 'Blood and Sand' still needed time to build up the stakes for the characters.

The stakes were high in the melancholy, wonderfully crafted 'Reckoning,' and many characters were forced to make difficult, if not tragic, choices.

What added to the pathos was the fact that the characters knew the prices they'd be paying for those choices -- up to a point. Lucretia couldn't know how much damage she'd do by poisoning Titus' wine, but by now, she should know that pursuing vengeance always brings unintended consequences.

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