“Paterfamilias” feels like the first episode of Gods where we need to tread a little water. After the “successes” of “Missio” we need some setbacks. And of course it wasn’t going to be that easy. This was a Batiatus scheme, … Continue reading Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: Episode 03: Paterfamilias

You could be forgiven, based on the marketing, that Spartacus was a show exclusively about how badass gladiators were. And I’m sure many people did write it off as such. Which is a shame, because it means they missed episodes … Continue reading Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: Episode 02: Missio

Weirdly, even though it’s been over a year since I did the last Spartacus: Blood and Sand review, what strikes me most about watching Gods of the Arena this time through is how familiar it feels. In many ways, it … Continue reading Spartacus: Gods of the Arena: Episode 01: Past Transgressions

“What would you do—to hold your wife again? To feel the warmth of her skin, the taste of her lips? How many men would you kill? A hundred? A thousand? There stands but one between you and her. ” There’s … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 13: Kill Them All

If you think of this episode as, essentially, Part One of the finale, then I think “Revelations” works a little better. Much of this episode is set dressing for the final confrontation and the result is a little uneven, especially … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 12: Revelations

Over the course of the show, Batiatus has put quite a number of wheels in motion, and most of them have run smack into the mud, one way or another. You could forgive yourself if you thought he was piss … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 11: Old Wounds

Friends, ‘Cados, Countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Varro, not praise him. Jai Courtney has not gone on to a lot of terrible success. He’s had a string of high profile box office bombs, all of which … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 10: Party Favors

Pour one out for…uh…let me look up her name…Licinia, Crassus’ niece. There was only ever room in this town for one viperous catty female lead, and Illythia ends this episode by literally bashing her rival’s head in against the floor. … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 9: Whore

I believe the AV Club’s comments called this Chekov’s cock: what comes out in the first act must go off in the last act. Anyhow, pour one out for Segovax, the Gaul whose major failings were basically Spartacus’ failings—a desire … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 8: Mark of the Brotherhood

To this point, Spartacus’ plot, in as far as it follows the life of the eponymous character, has been about reuniting with his wife Sura. Everything he’s done, everything he’s sacrificed or debased himself for, it has all been in … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand: Episode 7: Great and Unfortunate Things

Coming off the heels of “Shadow Games,” you’d expect some bit of a decrease in quality, and while I don’t think “Delicate Things” matches those highs, I do think it continues the win streak.  We pick up immediately after the … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 6: Delicate Things

In my notes, there’s a line that says, “this is a good episode.” Then later I underlined it.  Then I put a star next to it. Now, maybe this is a charitable reading based on just the low lows of … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 5: Shadow Games

The “Pit of the Underworld” sucks. All the gladiators look down on anyone who fights there, and the other ludus owners make snide remarks if you fight your gladiators there. So Batiatus sending Spartacus to fight there, the latter having … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 4: The Thing In The Pit

Three episodes in and I’m vacillating on what exactly I loved about this show. Again, these early episodes are notorious for being sub-par, but there are hints of the show that it’s trying to be, and will eventually become. As … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 3: Legends

The good news about starting so badly is you rarely have any place to go but up. And “Sacramentum Gladiatorum” is certainly a step up from the pilot. For one, thing, we get all the sex out of the way … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 2: Sacramentum Gladiatorum

Spartacus: Blood and Sand starts bad. Very bad. It’s a little hard to remember the first three to four episodes after four seasons, two Spartacuses, plus a decade on since it first aired, but Spartacus—especially its pilot—seemed like it was … Continue reading Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Episode 1: The Red Serpent