When the Starz network began its advertisement campaign for Spartacus: Blood and Sand, it seemed obvious that this would be a show unlike any other on television. Clearly taking its visual cue from the film 300 and its basic storyline from Gladiator, it was to be a series that would push the boundaries of sex and violence on television.

And then, another big reveal: there would be equal parts male and female nudity – almost unheard of when it comes to American entertainment. And if that wasn’t enough to lure in gay and bisexual male viewers, we got the scoop that there would also be – get this – a gay gladiator. And not just any gladiator, but one of the biggest and toughest on the show!

Barca AKA the Beast of Carthage

By now we were hooked, and Starz not only kept their word, but exceeded it. Yes, there was ample eye candy that gay male viewers could enjoy, and yes, there was certainly a bad-ass gay gladiator, but the writers went above and beyond by showcasing the fact that the gay gladiator, Barca, was in a committed and loving relationship with another slave named Pietros. Even better, none of the other characters thought any less of him or anything negative about their relationship at all.

It seemed too good to be true. It even caused some to wonder who exactly the target demographic for this show was. Surely, heterosexual men aged 18-35 would be uncomfortable with the level of intimacy shown between Barca and Pietros.

But really, they needn’t have worried. Barca only appeared in five episodes before he was savagely murdered by a roomful of men in one of the show’s patently graphic and gruesome slaughter scenes. In the following episode his lover, Pietros, believing Barca had bought his own freedom and abandoned him, hanged himself.

Barca and Pietros are hardly the first gay characters to die on television. In fact, in the past four weeks alone we've also seen dead GLBT characters on Big Love, Law & Order: SVU and NCIS: Los Angeles. Sadly, this high death toll for queer characters is nothing new for American audiences.

Though the body count for each episode of Spartacus is high, the loss of Barca felt especially disappointing in that we were losing such a unique character. After all, he was a killing machine, referred to as the "Beast of Carthage." How many past gay characters have we seen that cause other characters to quake with fear at the very mention of their name?

Next page ... What went right and what went wrong. 

Make no mistake – Barca was no saint. In fact, in a previous episode he murdered a child under orders from his master. But in the twisted morality of the world of Spartacus, that can be excused, for Barca had no real choice; if he refused, the child would still be killed, and Barca along with him.

What's troubling here is partly the tired old tropes that these deaths fell back on. Since the characters  are secondary, they are very expendable and their deaths are, or will be, used to illustrate and further the main character's story.

Worse, Barca is brutally killed by a group of (presumably) straight men, something we’ve seen time and time again. Pietros, who is not a gladiator but a slave, and thus smaller and weaker than most of the other men, is first raped and beaten by another slave before he kills himself out of despair.

The show does deserve credit, however, for not falling back on a very specific trope: Barca's and Pietros' death had absolutely noting to do with their sexuality. Just the opposite, in fact: their relationship was presented unquestionably as a normal, non-controversial part of life in the ludus where they trained, and none of the other gladiators batted an eye when they expressed affection for each other.

Perhaps it was because of this acceptance of their relationship that their loss is felt so severely by gay fans.

I want to make one thing very clear. I in no way believe their deaths were due to any malicious intent by those penning the scripts. The writers and creators of the series deserve a lot – a lot – of praise for including openly gay characters and treating their relationship the way they did. I can’t imagine how many battles they must have fought to get Barca and Pietros onto our televisions.

What’s more, Barca was not the only character to die in the episode that featured his murder; the other victim was Sura, Spartacus’ wife. This is highly significant, as the writers seemed to be going to great lengths to connect these two deaths; in other words, they were equating the love between Spartacus and Sura with the love between Barca and Pietros.

Both deaths were meant to elicit feelings of sorrow from the viewer, and are no doubt going to propel Spartacus toward the rebellion for which the rebel slave is so famously known. Having the writers place the same significance on both the gay and straight characters in this manner is highly commendable.

Still, their deaths seems like such a waste. There are already precious few gay characters on television, and Barca was one of the most unique we’ve ever seen.

On a personal note, Barca and Pietros were special to me in that I am, well, an unbelievable geek when it comes the shows I like to watch. I was weaned on Star Wars and The Matrix, and have always been a lover of action/sci-fi/fantasy genre shows and movies. One of the real let-downs with these programs was that they rarely even acknowledged the existence of gay people, let alone feature powerful gay heroes.

So when gay characters do appear, there is a feeling excitement: finally, we've made it. We've arrived.

But then to have them killed off so suddenly and horrifically ... it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

Next page ... We've been here before. 

It calls to mind that feeling of loss when the character of Ianto was killed off on the sci-fi hit Torchwood last summer. Parallels can certainly be made: both were action-oriented men on genre shows, both were deeply in love, and both were killled under terribly tragic circumstances.

The death of Ianto Jones

Ianto was a fascinating character: someone we watched grow into his own skin, slowly becoming comfortable with his sexuality and his attraction to another man. The fact that most of his screen time was devoted to chasing down aliens made those small human moments that much more absorbing, and it made his brutal murder so devastating in that it occurred just as he was finally able to accept himself.

Even though she wasn’t a man, many gay male fans recall feeling equally devastated when the character of Tara was killed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Here was a strong, intelligent young gay woman in a beautiful,

committed relationship with another woman, and just as their relationship becomes stronger than ever – indeed, immediately following the first time we as an audience see them make love – Tara was thoughtlessly gunned down by a minor villain.

At the time, there were even fewer gay characters than there are now, and her loss dealt a huge

blow to fans.

The death of Tara

As an audience, we haven’t had the time to connect with Barca or Pietros that we had with Ianto and Tara, but nonetheless there remains the feeling that an incredible opportunity has been squandered. Barca and Pietros could have been a gay couple the likes of which we've never seen before on television — a brutal gay warrior and his brave, loving companion.

Too bad all we have now is their ghosts.