If there’s one show I never expected to watch (let alone like) it’s Starz’s Spartacus. At the time this show premiered I thought it was just a 300 knock-off made to capitalize on a movie that I didn’t really like, and that it would be a pale shadow of HBO’s Rome (which is widely assumed to be the far deeper of the two shows). Well, I enjoyed a marathon of the show this weekend, and I’m humbled to say I was wrong.
Spartacus works on its own terms, in a hyper-violent, sexual world that is loosely based on actual history, but not much more realistic than Game of Thrones. And yet the show works a guilty pleasure magic, sucking you into the conflicts of the various characters against your better judgment. It deep-sixes the forced gravitas of Game of Thrones (which suffers from an overly obsessive mythology and a scope so epic it frequently stalls the plot) in favor of more visceral, down and dirty blood, sex, and scheming.
But Spartacus has an unexpected heart. You feel deeply for the much-abused slaves, and it’s good to see actual history reflected in the portrayal of Romans as casually soulless (most entertainment dealing with them romanticizes their cruelty at the hands of “savage” rivals, this show gives voice to the oppressed). The slaves in Spartacus aren’t just on the side of the right thing, but their familial bonds are much stronger. The slaves have deep love between brothers, gladiators, and lovers (the romance between Crixus and Naevia works better than most relationship dramas set in the present day), while the Romans immorality seeps into all their bonds, as sons plot to kill fathers, wives scheme against husbands, and there’s no such thing as real friendship. The show is really saying that if you believe in a system of cruelty to people that are different than you, it’s only a matter of time before it affects how you deal with all people…and that’s a deeper theme than Rome ever touched on.
Season 1: Blood and Sand…Andy Whitfield’s only season as Spartacus before he tragically died. He’s the best Spartacus, and this season is perhaps the fullest, as it sets up an entire world with great conflicts between gladiators, Romans, and even slave and master. The season finale, that finally sees the slaves begin their uprising is fantastic. Grade: A-
The Prequel Season: Gods of the Arena…The show needed to stall production during Whitfield’s health problems, but Starz didn’t want Spartacus to stay off the air too long so there was a six-episode “prequel” season that followed most of the characters before Spartacus came along, and introduced gladiator Gatticus (basically a Colin Farrell impersonator), who joins the other characters in season 2. While I enjoyed John Hannah’s slave master in season 1 (he’s basically an angry, sinister version of Ewan McGregor), I can’t say I was really all that interested in his backstory. The ending of season 1 feels like a perfect springboard into season 2, and it’s a letdown to take a step backwards. None of the big gladiator matches have much suspense since we already know who lives and who dies, and this is just a nice diversion with lots of interesting backstory. You can probably skip this part and not be too confused in season 2. Grade: B
Season 2: Vengeance…The escaped Gladiators are leading a full-on rebellion now, with Spartacus’s main nemesis (who first sold him and his wife into slavery) sent to put them down. This season feels a bit disjointed as it’s caught halfway between the future (the war between freed slaves and Romans) and the past (the gladiator matches that the first season relied so heavily upon) with many old characters surviving too long. BUT, I still really enjoyed it, and the final vengeance Spartacus gets is deeply satisfying. Grade: B
Season 3: War of the Damned…The final season and not finished yet, as the two final episodes haven’t aired yet. This abandons the gladiator battles of the previous seasons (and most of the cast from those shows) and heads full-on into war games between Spartacus and his most formidable opponent ever: the calculating, mildly psychotic Marcus Crassus. We already know the history, but this still makes for very compelling drama. Crassus is a brilliant strategist, and there’s something thrilling about watching them go head to head. Two downsides: Too many scenes with a young, scruffy Julius Caesar, who wasn’t involved in the actual history, and the dipshit Tiberius, son of Crassus but killer of entertainment. Plus, there’s an absolutely depressing death in the last episode (while there’s still two left)…Sniff, sniff, Crixus and Naevia were never going to live happily ever after, but it would have been nice if they at least made it to the end. Grade: B