‘Spartacus: House of Ashur’ Episode 6 Recap – So Close and Yet So Far, As Ever

After a pretty action-packed outing that finally saw Spartacus: House of Ashur return to proper gladiatorial combat, Episode 6 might feel a bit restrained in comparison. With Achillia on the cusp of death due to the injuries she sustained in the Primus, the action is contained to the ludus, with the only swordplay being nonlethal training to determine who among Ashur’s house will stand as interim champion in her stead. But don’t be fooled. “Empty Things” has the best political maneuvering of the season thus far, some of the strongest character moments, and by far the most drastic implications for the remaining episodes.

The unexpected focus is on Korris. The House of Ashur’s weathered Doctore has, as we know, found love in the form of Opiter. And here, an opportunity presents itself that might allow Korris to spin that mutual affection into a life away from servitude and combat. When Ashur, panicking about what Achillia’s potential fate means for his future, throws his medicus off a cliff when he informs him that the infected hand will need to be removed, Korris is sent to entreat with Opiter about borrowing his medicine man. And this opens a door to a new chain of events that threaten to elevate Ashur’s status to previously unimaginable heights, and then, by the end, threaten to leave him even worse off than when he started.

Opiter plans to leave Capua. He confesses to Korris his involvement in maneuvering Cossutia and Viridia so that they could be attacked by Caesar’s “Cilician” pirates, and heroically saved by Korris and Ashur. Now, he’s worried that he might be killed so he isn’t inclined to blab about his involvement in that scheme, and he’s got a fair point. He does send a medicus, one who exclusively speaks fast-paced Greek that Ashur can’t understand, but he also sends Korris back even more annoyed than usual about all the scheming that has been going on behind his back.

And there’s plenty of scheming going on back at the villa. Cornelia remains in residence, abusing Ashur’s hospitality and flexing her storied family name — more significant even than Caesar’s, apparently — to make a mockery of her host. Initially, it seems like she’s just being self-serving to torment Ashur. She sleeps with his slaves in his bath, invites Cossutia and Viridia over without his knowledge, and when Korris proposes a tournament to determine which of the gladiators will stand as champion until Achillia recovers, she steals three of them to partake in a more intimate tournament for the ladies’ benefit. But she does, of course, have a plan of her own.

Cornelia is trying to manipulate Cossutia into marrying Viridia off to an ally of Caesar’s, Quintus Thermus. At present, this is something of a secret; Messia overhears it, but she’s still too salty about Hilara to share the information. But she tips her hand a bit when she organizes a meeting with Gabinius so that Ashur can sell the plan to him. But Ashur’s deeply into Viridia, and the interest seems to run both ways, since his own self-advancement — not to mention elevating Achillia, a woman, to the status of vaunted arena champion — has revealed to her that there’s more to life than “pretty and empty things”, which on some level she considers even herself to be.

So, when Ashur goes to see Gabinius in Spartacus: House of Ashur Episode 6, he’s pretty open about this, and about his lack of loyalty to Caesar, and Gabinius happily agrees to put the kibosh on the arrangement. But Ashur’s negotiating position is strengthened a bit by the latest development in the Korris and Opiter saga, since the former has decided to take the latter’s offer of absconding with him. But given Ashur is prone to violent outbursts when he gets annoyed, Opiter needs to sweeten the deal. If Ashur agrees to release Korris from his service, Optier will grant him his villa, his ludus, and all of the gladiators contained therein.

Ashur isn’t thrilled about Korris’s departure, but he can’t look past how good a deal this is. And, naturally, it’s his own ego that sinks it. When he runs into Proculus in the market, he can’t resist smugly bragging about how much his own standing will be enhanced by Opiter’s holdings. He seems to have everything figured out. Celadus wins the tournament to become the interim champion, but Ashur grants that honor to Tarchon, whom he beat in the final, so that Celadus can become the new Doctore, clearing a path for Korris to depart. All he asks of Korris is to stay with him to pray over Achillia — given how trenchant Ashur’s non-belief is, this is a pretty big indication of how desperate he has become — for her survival. And this, at least, works, since she wakes up from her nightmares of past violence. But she’ll probably be out of commission for a while yet.

The otherwise happy ending is undermined, though, by the Brothers Ferox, who sneak into Opiter’s villa in the dead of night, butcher his staff and ultimately hack him to pieces, clearly on Proculus’s instruction. Korris’s romantic future has been ruined, and Ashur is even worse off than ever. If only he’d kept his mouth shut.