Spartacus: Blood and Sand
Season One
Starz
This is probably going to be a very short review - though, knowing how I tend to get carried away on this blog, it may end up being longer than anticipated. Insert "that's what she said" joke here.
Anyway, a couple months ago I sped through the first season of Starz's bodily fluid-filled take on the tale of Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt in ancient Rome, probably most famous for his striking resemblance to Kirk Douglas. Starz has recently been making a noticeable push in the original programming department, and the network's business model seems to be essentially: Violence + Nudity = Profit. Much like peanut butter and chocolate and Simon and Garfunkel, violence and nudity is a pretty potent combination, and it's in full effect in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. The first episode is particularly rife with TV-MA goodness; it seems that not a minute goes by without someone receiving a gory neck wound or a nice roll in the hay. Despite a somewhat rocky start, however, Spartacus soon reveals itself to be a bit more than meets the eye.
That's not to say that the eye candy isn't important, because it most definitely is. With a design cribbed chiefly from 300 - that is to say, very bloody with highly stylized violence - Spartacus often provides quite the visual spectacle. Occasionally the stylization can't quite mask the low budget and heavy reliance on CGI, but it's easy to forget moments like those when confronted with the ridiculously awesome and myriad ways that people are killed on the show. And boy, people drop like flies.
Creator Stephen S. DeKnight (a Buffy alum, among other things) clearly knew exactly what kind of show he wanted Spartacus to be, and after some rough patches in the early episodes, the confidence with which the show proceeds starts to be reflected in the quality. Sure, this is not exactly serious dramatic fare - it has the absolute lunacy and tawdry elements of a soap opera, and the show's propensity for violence and sex is almost extreme - but Spartacus has no loftier aspirations. The people behind the show know precisely how ridiculous it is, and that makes it a joy to watch. Spartacus: Blood and Sand may be soapy or pulpy, and it's certainly bloody, but it's also completely addictive and is one of the most purely entertaining shows out there.
Grade: B+
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