Review – Spartacus: Blood and Sand – Season 1 Episode 1
On January 22nd, Starz launch “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” – surely the most ridiculously named show of the season. Equal amounts man boobs to actual boobs, the opener catapults you to an ultra-violent, hyper stylized world where characters live and die by their ability to backstab — and quite often actually stab — other characters.
The show is helmed by Steven DeKnight – formerly of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Dollhouse” – and story editors include Andrew Chambliss (“Dollhouse”) and Tracy Bellomo (“Dollhouse”). They also wrote an episode in the season.
The fact the show is on cable rather than broadcast becomes evident within seconds — no, it’s not the violence which gives it away (if you’re on FOX I think you’re actually required to mess somebody up every act break), it’s the opening line (““Hold your fucking tongues”). Yes, there’s swearing. The most amount of swearing I can recall since “Deadwood”. There’s also a fair amount of sex scenes, and all credits to them for having a man go down on a woman within the first 17 minutes. I don’t think you’ll be seeing that on FOX soon, unless there’s a Very Special episode of The Simpsons.
So, we have sex, we have violence, do we have plot? The answer surprised me. Because it’s a yes. During the opening hour we meet an array of different characters – most of whom look visually different, which helps being able to identify people – who also seem to be looking at things differently, or looking to take a different path. In the opener we’re really looking at things from the point of view of Spartacus (you’re surprised, aren’t you? Admit it) and his wife. The fact him and his wife are at it like bunnies within 10 minutes is expected; what isn’t expected is that when it comes to the required scene of Spartacus saving his wife’s life, instead of killing everybody and finishing with a kiss in slow motion, you actually end up watching him almost get himself killed in slow motion – and his wife having to save him by going all Buffy. It’s hot, and suggests the writers may actually be going somewhere with the plot.
Female cast wise, we have (left to right) Lucy Lawless as Lucretia (a vaguely defined character who is hovering in the background for now), Viva Bianca as Ilithiyia (a character who has lovable bastard people manipulator written all over her, who is well played by Viva) and Erin Cummings as Sura (Spartacus’ wife, portrayed with style by Erin).
Of course, then there’s the men:
Yes, this show is going to have a huge following on Livejournal. There’s going to be slash written within the first 4 minutes of this airing. Spartacus is played by Andy Whitfield — and played extremely well. The opening episode is very dense in terms of character setup and plot, and both Whitfield, the writers and the director guide us through the tale with expert craftsmanship. Of particular note is that I don’t believe there is a scene in the episode which could be removed without hurting the story. Okay, you could cut a few of the nipple shots, but I’m all about the nipples as a rule.
Another standout thing on display is budget. I don’t know if they’ve blown their load in the opening 50 minutes or not, but this episode visually plays more like a motion picture than an episode of television. If nothing else, this show should sell internationally to networks based on screening this episode. They will be impressed by the production values.
It’s not to say there aren’t problems. In truth I think some of the stylized elements may put off viewers — at times it becomes extremely ‘comic’, to the point of scene changes being jarring. There is also a question of how the show will work week to week – after watching episode 1, I’m not sure. It’s all setup. It is also so busy setting up the world it sometimes forgets to absolutely define who the other players are – yes, we get they’re all after something, but what I’m not sure. Who says I have no patience? Me.
But overall, it introduces what feels like an entirely new television fantasy world with characters to care about and people to hate. And it has hot men and women without much clothes. I’m in. Are you?
Popularity: 33% [?]
No i am not in -pure soft porn trash.
tony
Don’t judge a show before you’ve seen it.
I’m in. But I’m a big Lucy Lawless fan so I’m in by default.
There’s nothing wrong with judging the show before seeing it. There are previews and trailers available. That’s how people decide whether or not they are going to watch a show or a movie.
Don’t you base your decision to see a movie at the theater on the trailer, and maybe some reviews?
Joe. I’ve seen the show. Episodes 1-5.
It is anything but soft core porn…and you saying that it is is laughable.
It’ll be funny once the show airs and you’re forced to eat your (quite ignorant) words.
Indeed – I wrote this article, I’ve seen further in and can confirm it’s not porn. It’s actually really interesting – I like it.
It has people from Dollhouse involved in it, aren’t you contractually obligated to big it up as part of the Whedon army?
…No. If it was shit, I would say ‘this is shit’. I ain’t part of any army.
Sheesh, I was just making a simple comment. If anyone is behaving ignorantly, it’s you. I never said that it was soft porn. Tell me where in my response did I say that it was soft porn, or can’t you read? To the person who viewed the trailer, it looked like soft porn to him/her and therefore decided not to watch. I didn’t say this, they did, and I defend their right to say so, whether you like it or not.
So go crawl up Lawless’s butt. That woman’s acting is mediocre at best.
I’m a big fan of anything approaching soft porn with, you know, actual story. :) Actually this show had me at DeKnight. I’m along for the ride and the sex and blood is all just one big bonus. :)
I’m going to watch it only because Lucy Lawless is in it. I hope her participation grows in the show.
I’ve seen the second episode – I suspect she’s a major player.
I’m happy to read that.
So, the obvious question: What does Lucy Lawless show, and when does she show it?
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I’m CERTAINLY not part of any “Whedon Army.” I’ve never worked for Joss, Starz, Sam Raimi or Rob Tappert. I don’t work for and haven’t worked on Spartacus. I’m just a lucky guy who saw a bunch of episodes.
It’s a very…very good, exciting and well put together show.
I don’t understand why there are some people who always get off on wanting to hate something they’ve never seen. Doesn’t make sense to blindly be a “hater” in my opinion. I’ve heard people doing the same thing with Avatar (a very, very enjoyable film, by the way).
Look…in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece a lot of people walked around scantily clad. There was sex (as there is now) and there were orgies. It’s part of history. It’s real. So the people who are getting all Puritanical about the sex and nudity can really just shut up, in my opinion.
It’s history. It’s real.
And this show has a lot more going on than nudity, sex or even violence. There is a dynamic plot, interesting characters, interesting sub-plots, etc. MORE than enough to keep an audience on the edge of their seats for many seasons (especially if they use the real historical happenings to guide them). I’m excited to have a new show coming on TV to sink down into. And I can’t wait to see how Season 1 pans out.
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trash is trash.
Hey Tony – you are right – trash is trash.
Fortunately this is NOT trash – and you as a viewer will not be missed.
Go back to watching Little House on the Prarie re-runs.
I have seen episode 1, and…well, it entertains…nothing more.
I think the sex scene its too long…and how about the scene where is wife is being attacked…and in the last moment he appears to save her?…what a surprise !…not
its not bad…but it could be better.
after watching, i felt the show could have been better. The production is great, but i feel that the show tries to be too many things at the same time. If you are expecting to see something like rome, it will only disappoint. tna is its only selling point at the moment. sad.
I have seen the first episode. It relied way too much on softcore porn and video game violence to hold people’s attention. Yes, shows like “Rome” also had violence and nudity, but such were depicted in stark, realistic ways as just another part of life in that time. They weren’t meant to be the primary focus or as sole sources of stimulation.
The acting, script, and directing is pretty subpar. If you’re expecting a good action/ adventure series set in Roman times, then you’ll be disappointed. It’s just another low budget 300 clone to add to the already worn out graphic-novel movie/ show genre. I’m guessing that people will still be tuning in because all of the fanboys want to see Lucy Lawless naked. Sigh, why can’t Lucy find work in something good?
‘It’s just another low budget 300 clone to add to the already worn out graphic-novel movie/ show genre’
There is a big difference between this and 300. 300 is about the Spartans pushing back the Persian invasion of Greece. Spartacus (thus far) is about a man sold into slavery as a Gladiator.
‘Yes, shows like “Rome” also had violence and nudity, but such were depicted in stark, realistic ways as just another part of life in that time. ‘
One reason I like SB&S over Rome. Is that all the sex in this show either has something to do with the plot or is there to show a certain aspect of the society. I never understood why we had to be bombarded with scenes of Ray Stevenson’s character visiting whores, or James Purefroy screwing shepperdases and slave girls in Rome. It was nothing but trite titilation. As to the acusation that this show is relying on ’soft core porn’, that in itself is ridiculous. There are few people who can stand gratuitous sex scenes more than me. If I had felt that the show was just using sex as a form of titilation. I would have stopped watching.
With the excpetionof the orgy scene in the first episode, all the scenes with the couples having sex are actually married.
‘I’m guessing that people will still be tuning in because all of the fanboys want to see Lucy Lawless naked.’
Hardly. I’m a heterosexual female over 30 years old. And not a rabid Lucy Lawless fan.
Ive seen it both episodes, it is a rip off of gladiator, 300, and the original sparticus movie, the this so far is a great disapointment with obvious dialog and cheesy special effects, and dare i say it alot of unnessesary sex scenes just to mask the ridiculas dialog. As I see it we can let them keep feeding us garbage , or we can make them hire real writers to do something that hasnt been done before. But Lucy Lawless was by far the best actor on it and just for that is worth watching,.