Spartacus Season 3: War of The Damned

[denni5themenace]

View media item 365706

 

[spidermachine916]

random rick grimes pic

 

[div1lbc]

The finale was incredible as expected and I'm satisfied with how the show ended, it will be truly missed. I would definitely watch if they decide to do some sort of spinoff show, I think that character that played Caesar has some potential.

Man, real tears for that Andy documentary. I don't think there will be another show that I can be emotionally attached to than Spartacus.

 

[iYen]

Man, real tears for that Andy documentary. I don't think there will be another show that I can be emotionally attached to than Spartacus.

CHeck out Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

 

[Case]

This was the point where the series truly took the turn for the better .

I think this was the point where the series truly cemented itself as a potential classic..

 

[liban906]

Question for everyone:

It seems like the passing of Andy and the subsequent strong adjustments made by the producers including picking up Liam (who was amazing ) had a lot to do with how great this show is in most people's opinion. If Andy was still here and none of the shock surrounding his death and replacement occurred, would this show still be amongst the best?

 

[spidermachine916]

yes... duh

 

[Case]

Question for everyone:

It seems like the passing of Andy and the subsequent strong adjustments made by the producers including picking up Liam (who was amazing ) had a lot to do with how great this show is in most people's opinion. If Andy was still here and none of the shock surrounding his death and replacement occurred, would this show still be amongst the best?

It would have been even better..Which is almost impossible..Andy was just better than Liam..But Liam turned that role into his own and was able to continue the greatness of the show..

Lets not forget the supporting cast..There were so many perfectly cast people that helped make this show awesome..And the "bad guys" in this series are some of the best I've ever seen..The actors that played the bad guy parts truly made you hate them which is a hard thing to do..Without such convincing evil guys/girls Spartacus, Crixus, and Gannicus wouldn't be able to shine the way they did..

 

[crazydav0]

show became the goods once andy hit ilithyia with the masks ... then when the boy set up varro ... and finally when andy had to take on the guards in front of glaber ... show was certified way before kill them all ...

i agree w/ the strong cast though ...

Gannicus, Lucretia and Batiatus ... were my favorites

The women on the show were official ... all strong and beautiful ...

Season finale was good ... Liam really did his thing ... he never really grew on me but he brought it this season

Best season finale in the series was season 2 ... of course ... my opinion ... i was so hyped when Lucretia went rogue ...

I have season 0 and 1 on blu ray ... need to finish the collection

 

[RustyShackleford]

Question for everyone:

It seems like the passing of Andy and the subsequent strong adjustments made by the producers including picking up Liam (who was amazing ) had a lot to do with how great this show is in most people's opinion. If Andy was still here and none of the shock surrounding his death and replacement occurred, would this show still be amongst the best?

It could have been better honestly.

Andy's sickness killed the momentum the show had after season one, which pretty much guaranteed the show wouldn't reach mainstream success, which lead to budgets never being increased and the story probably had to be modified too. I don't think Gods of the Arena was originally planned.

 

[mronegative]

didn't realize, when I was typing it, I wrote nearly this much so... forget all this, how awesome was that little tribute to Andy?

Spoiler: The Wall

So I've watched it three times...and that finale was great. The best episode of the series for me, maybe only because it was THE END. And those incredibly touching moments...Spartacus' death...Crixus'...Gannicus on the crucifix and Andy after the credits...that means more to me than those episodes from Blood and Sand.

it's just...it's such a rare, difficult show to really get your arms around. For something that's supposed to be so simple, blood and *******. 300 the series, there's depth from every angle, inside and outside of the show. It got better, the longer it was on, but behind the scenes this had bigger hurdles to climb than almost any other show I've seen...and it didn't always get over those hurdles. There are almost as many difficult and not so great episodes as there are good ones, so it's just...hard to put the show into words. But these last 4 episodes, were all of the best qualities of this show all coming together the best they ever do.

I knew how this story was supposed to end, but they still managed to stay a cut above. This was the most gorgeous the show has looked. The effects, the battle scenes, the direction, the art...the emotions they found on the battle scene, and how they followed the story all the way through. It's probably a little blasphemous, but this episode was a better battle than Blackwater from Game of Thrones to me. And the writing...the finally reached the mountaintop with that. It's the best, clearest writing of the whole show. They got so much done, so well, that it really does make you want more. They went out on top. They had so many great ideas they got done, great pacing all of it.

It makes me wanna say I love this show, and it was one of the greatest, but so many things out of their control knock this show around.

I guess that's the end of the really good things I gotta say about the show?

I been trying to get a hold of what this show is, and at the end of the day, it's less than the sum of its parts. There are so many amazing parts, characters, scenes, episodes, arcs, but altogether, it's this...thing. This very cool, very memorable thing, but a difficult and compromised vision.

There were basically 6 different versions of this show we got. 6 or 7 different takes on the premise. .Half of them worked (a couple were amazing), half of them were made people quit this show. I mean the first 2 episodes of this show were terrible. They were the crudest, ugliest, stupidest version of this show. The language was unlistenable, the effects were unwatchable and the whole thing felt like a joke. I only kept watching when it first came on, cuz I figured this'll be something funny to throw at the homies every week.

But then something crazy happened. They got through their growing pains in the quickness and moved onto the best version of this show. Gladiators of the arena. Rome mixed with 300. It had the cast, the characters, the acting, the arena and all the best drama and writing and flow. I mean, the show never got back to the level it was at when it had Andy's Spartacus, champion of Capua Crixus, Battiatus, Lucretia, Illythia, Doctore Onameus, Varo, Barca, Mira, Spartacus' wife, Solonius, og Naevia, Ashur even all of it. That's off the dome. The wildest names, and they were that memorable.

You cared who lived and died. Death was a rare thing. Death happened to the enemies in the arena, not to our heroes. And when they died it meant something massive. The simple truth is, nothing will ever be Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the first season. There were 2 rough episodes where they didn't know how to make the show, and then it became pure crack. and nothing has ever been as compelling as the arena. They'll have moments, but those things were guaranteed every episode. AND THEN you had Illythia and Lucretia and Crixus, the champion of Capua, and Onameaus, Varys and Ashur... There's no topping the escape plan episode or when Varys died. Nothing, the end of last season is the closest they've gotten back to that

No actor on this show was every as good Andy.

And lowkey...the brother from the Mummy and Xena WERE the show. They made it worth watching, while Andy grew into the role. I mean, that's how I got dudes onto the show...telling them Xena, after all these years finally showed *******. They balanced the cruelty of his life and situation with their petty issues and comic relief and general *******-ishness. And just practically...no one ever commanded the language and sarcastic personality of the show like Battiatus. No one. They were hurricanes you loved to watch, and how everyone reacted to them and plotted around them made the show.

And the arena. Spartacus was like a ****** up Friday Night Lights. Every episode built up to a release...that battle you knew was always coming one way or another. It was cathartic. Heal the wounds, **** the women, get ready for the fight tonight. The show tapped right into your heart and pumped the adrenaline in every time. That was the greatest. After those first two 'wtf is this nonsense' eps, it was absolute straight crack.

The show had everything you could've asked for. An A+ show. Give us 3 seasons of those last 8 episodes of Blood and Sand, and that is one of the 10 best modern dramas, period. But we didn't....

Instead Andy got sick, and we got Gods of the Arena, a prequel that we didn't really need, that wasn't really good, but it was good enough. I mean, it's basically just leftovers reheated. It's scraps of the same stories we just saw in Blood and Sand, watered down and less memorable with weaker characters and lowered stakes. EXCEPT...that it brought us an amazing new character, Gannicus. It wasn't until later that we realized, this character wasn't as great as Spartacus or Crixus, but he was solid through and through.

That was enough reason for people to jump ship. Feeling like the show hit its peak with Kill Them All and was on it's way down.

Spartacus v1 -- the worst thing with ******* on TV
Spartacus v2 -- the best guy thing on television ever since the 5th season of 24
Spartacus v3 -- a watered down mix of 1 & 2.
Spartacus v4...

Now...yes, Andy died. Yes, they had to replace him. Yes, Liam wasn't up to the task at all at first. But that isn't the only reason why the first half of season 2 sucked ***. They lost the soul of the show. They lost the arena and the brotherhood and the home. Nothing felt right, because they didn't really know how to make a bigger version of the show they'd been building. Suddenly they had to build whole mountains and wilderness. They had to have an army and war. Their biggest mistake was deciding to jump from the uprising all the way to the middle of the rebellion.

They didn't take their time, they just rushed in, and they didn't know how to scale the show up, so it suffered. And they made Crixus a *****, so we suffered. Liam could not be that guy, and it made the show ********. Real recognize real. That's what the arena taught us. So we knew the show was turning to ******** whenever Liam gave a weak *** speech, took our favorite characters lives in his hand and they all fell in line, even though we knew they'd never follow this guy for nothing. I know you can't avoid it, and I know it isn't fair, but this is what killed the show for most people. Even though Andy was gone, you had Crixus, Onameus and Gannicus right there. But they wouldn't bend and let it become an ensemble...they just tried to act like nothing happened, and sent the 3 of them off running in circles *****ing about their feelings.

Not one shred of Blood and Sand made it into the first half of Vengeance. It felt like a weird spinoff. They bring in new characters who are kinda interesting, but have nowhere near the depth the Blood and Sand dudes had. The fights were random. You could tell everyone was uncomfortable, and nothing felt right. Nothing felt real. It felt like a cartoon, which is a damn shame considering, Varo, Spartacus' wife and Kill Them All didn't feel like no cartoon. All there was to do was wait for ******* or a cool death scene and kinda ignore the rest. And it didn't help that Illythia fell off in between seasons.

But it's not a coincidence that the show turned when they went back to the arena. That 2nd half of Vengeance after they burned the arena down was the comeback I didn't expect. I was resolved on Spartacus going out like Heroes, but it kicked for life, and it grabbed onto everything it could from Blood and Sand and built it up high. Glaber and Ashur saved the season. Illythia and Lucretia finally got back to what we watch em for, and they locked in on how to make these outdoor battles work. And it was great...except they still ****** Crixus and Naevia up.

She just stuck around as a reminder that you minus whale give up, we're doubling down on the things you don't like. And even though the show got a pulse back, it still slow rolled the big showdown. And Liam was better, but still nowhere near Andy by the end. They stuck the landing, but that didn't make up for a majority of a season being weak as hell. That's why nobody really cared about season 3.

Spartacus v6...War of the Damned

The 6th different Spartacus show we got. Now...with all of the baggage I went in with, those first 3 episodes were tough, because yet again...they introduced a bunch of new characters all over the place and screamed they're important now, mmkay. This show has a bad habit of telling you people are special or important and expecting you to treat them like your favorite characters immediately. It doesn't feel like taking the time to let you like, and love and respect these new people like how you do for the ogs. It just rolls your eyes at you and hopes you catch on eventually.

That alienates people.

That's why I dipped and wait til the end to marathon it.

The show just felt barren. I didn't realize that Illythia and Lucretia were getting me through the show, cuz it for damn sure wasn't new Spartacus. And even Gannicus, just kinda showed that he was sorta one-note and Crixus was still kind of a *****. It felt like they killed 2 people too many. Not even Onameus? And all the regular chicks were gone too... I respect that this show gives no damns about killing characters fans care about. But they never replaced them.

All they ever had to offer was watered down versions of them. I mean even Gannicus, was more or less a watered down mix of badass Andy Spartacus and og Crixus. Now that's pedigree, and that puts you up there, but they just ran outta character juice. Suddenly there were just watered down Barca's...Mira's...Varo's. It just feels like the next generation never came. It's alright to kill off big characters, if you build up new ones the same way, but this show didn't. Maybe Rusty is right and their budget got tight, because it just felt like they grabbed extras and made them main characters.

And that's a real problem. Is there 1 actor or actress that wasn't in Blood and Sand that you think you'll ever see ever again in anything?

Gannicus was the last great new character to me outside of Crassus, but both just did a good job. They were well written characters that the actors didn't let down.

But compared to like...Crixus...it was nothing too special. I mean Manu Bennett got a flat, thin character and he made so much out of that. All he had to be was a meathead with an ego, but he gave it depth and gravity. He had you conflicted on who you should root for. He made it a two-man crew. He and Andy were the revelations of the show. HE was supposed to be the one to put the show on his back after Andy died, but instead they made him a ***** and left some new dude flailing in shoes too big doing an impression that didn't work.

And he's probably the only one (outside of the established name actors) you're ever gonna see again. Like right now he's playing the bad guy in The Hobbit movies.

Think about that...3 1/2 seasons, and only one actor you can expect to see again, and they messed up his character for half the series.

Spartacus v7 Decimation on...

Then that happened. That was the official start of the show. It didn't matter if you cared about any of these new people at all, just get on the rollercoaster, because it started there, and it didn't stop until almost everyone was dead. The hallmark of Spartacus is that every season starts bad. In this case, it was slow with a ton of new characters and not enough old ones, but that was enough to put off EVERYONE I knew who still watched the show.

But again...it came back...the new people started clicking, quickly...Crixus got his balls back. Liam was on point all the way through. Naevia managed to not be as hateable. They got structure to the show and real direction. The first few episodes weren't bad like Vengeance. They were just foreign. A lot of new faces and so little of the Spartacus we used to know.

But the last 2 episodes, were straight up amazing. Those last shots were too damn good. I wouldn'ta wrote this wall if it wasn't for those. It's just trying to figure out what it all means that this show kept putting me all the way off and then winning me back by the end of it. War of the Damned is probably the most balanced of all the seasons, not episode is bad, and from Decimation on, they're all pretty great. It's not perfect. I mean Caesar would be a cool bad guy, if he wasn't THE Caesar. It's like, knowledge is my worst enemy in accepting the ********ness of this here Caesar. And they rushed it...this season really coulda used 3 or 4 more episodes, because they just didn't have time to build up the Romans. They were too busy building up the guys they didn't get right last season, but that's fine.

You could always tell this show had bigger ideas than it was really able to express, because in a way, it got sandbagged by its own aesthetic. 300 was just gladiator exploitation. It wasn't about a damn thing, except looking cool, being badass, and not being shook by any man or any odds. So it was fine to hype up the gore and effects and style. It was fine to have action punchlines and ******* and saying Jupiter's cock every 3 minutes, but anytime they tried to be more...that stuff just held it down. It did feel boring and pointless when they tried to give you a history lesson, instead of just saying there's the bad guy...it's gonna go down. And for all the things I loved about the show, those same things stopped it from being what it tried to be.

It rang a little hypocritical when they tried to give moral lessons, but every dude is just waiting to gut somebody. It's hard to philosophize about class and place when every other word is **** and Jupiter and cock. And it aint so easy to get people to buy into love when loved ones get killed and replaced every 5 episodes and the actresses change every season, there's an orgy almost every episode and any time you see a woman, you know it's a countdown to ******* and ******g. It's hard to build up and empower women, when technically you're exploiting them more than any other show on television.

I will give this show props, because I can't think of another show that so openly accepted having gay relationships. There was a lot of 'can I get a Karamo warning pls?,' but I can respect them staying steady and doing their thing, when I know 90% of the audience wasn't about that. They just had normal warriors who happened to be... Yeah. And for what it was worth, there were some badass females on here. Smart, strong and naked, the holy trinity.

And I love the language of the show. It set the show to purpose. Nothing ever sounded like Spartacus-talk, and nothing ever will.

Wow...didn't even realize I wrote that much. I think I wrote this for myself, to just try and work out what it is this show was and what it all meant in the end.

I guess I'll end it with this.

Spartacus always sells the spectacle. It feels like as big a show as it wants to be. And every episode feels like its own epic. Nothing else does this. Game of Thrones gets the nuance and it shoots on location and all the lines are so clever and serious...Spartacus gets the instant gratification. It gets to beat it's chest, ginsu the bad guy and carry the prize chick back to its cave. It was always true to itself. It was always methodical and in control. For whatever its faults, it was always the show it wanted to be, and it's damn hard to find a show like that. Everyone always bends to what the fans or the channel want, but this was one clear, true, bloody vision. And if it wasn't for the title actor dying after season 1, it could've been something a lot easier to hype up and appreciate, but it is what it is.

It's the best, bloody action show I think there's ever been. And it went out on top.

Gratitude.

 

[iYen]

didn't realize, when I was typing it, I wrote nearly this much so...

forget all this, how awesome was that little tribute to Andy?

Spoiler: The Wall

So I've watched it three times...and that finale was great. The best episode of the series for me, maybe only because it was THE END. And those incredibly touching moments...Spartacus' death...Crixus'...Gannicus on the crucifix and Andy after the credits...that means more to me than those episodes from Blood and Sand.

it's just...it's such a rare, difficult show to really get your arms around. For something that's supposed to be so simple, blood and *******. 300 the series, there's depth from every angle, inside and outside of the show. It got better, the longer it was on, but behind the scenes this had bigger hurdles to climb than almost any other show I've seen...and it didn't always get over those hurdles. There are almost as many difficult and not so great episodes as there are good ones, so it's just...hard to put the show into words. But these last 4 episodes, were all of the best qualities of this show all coming together the best they ever do.

I knew how this story was supposed to end, but they still managed to stay a cut above. This was the most gorgeous the show has looked. The effects, the battle scenes, the direction, the art...the emotions they found on the battle scene, and how they followed the story all the way through. It's probably a little blasphemous, but this episode was a better battle than Blackwater from Game of Thrones to me. And the writing...the finally reached the mountaintop with that. It's the best, clearest writing of the whole show. They got so much done, so well, that it really does make you want more. They went out on top. They had so many great ideas they got done, great pacing all of it.

It makes me wanna say I love this show, and it was one of the greatest, but so many things out of their control knock this show around.

I guess that's the end of the really good things I gotta say about the show?

I been trying to get a hold of what this show is, and at the end of the day, it's less than the sum of its parts. There are so many amazing parts, characters, scenes, episodes, arcs, but altogether, it's this...thing. This very cool, very memorable thing, but a difficult and compromised vision.

There were basically 6 different versions of this show we got. 6 or 7 different takes on the premise. .Half of them worked (a couple were amazing), half of them were made people quit this show. I mean the first 2 episodes of this show were terrible. They were the crudest, ugliest, stupidest version of this show. The language was unlistenable, the effects were unwatchable and the whole thing felt like a joke. I only kept watching when it first came on, cuz I figured this'll be something funny to throw at the homies every week.

But then something crazy happened. They got through their growing pains in the quickness and moved onto the best version of this show. Gladiators of the arena. Rome mixed with 300. It had the cast, the characters, the acting, the arena and all the best drama and writing and flow. I mean, the show never got back to the level it was at when it had Andy's Spartacus, champion of Capua Crixus, Battiatus, Lucretia, Illythia, Doctore Onameus, Varo, Barca, Mira, Spartacus' wife, Solonius, og Naevia, Ashur even all of it. That's off the dome. The wildest names, and they were that memorable.

You cared who lived and died. Death was a rare thing. Death happened to the enemies in the arena, not to our heroes. And when they died it meant something massive. The simple truth is, nothing will ever be Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the first season. There were 2 rough episodes where they didn't know how to make the show, and then it became pure crack. and nothing has ever been as compelling as the arena. They'll have moments, but those things were guaranteed every episode. AND THEN you had Illythia and Lucretia and Crixus, the champion of Capua, and Onameaus, Varys and Ashur... There's no topping the escape plan episode or when Varys died. Nothing, the end of last season is the closest they've gotten back to that

No actor on this show was every as good Andy.

And lowkey...the brother from the Mummy and Xena WERE the show. They made it worth watching, while Andy grew into the role. I mean, that's how I got dudes onto the show...telling them Xena, after all these years finally showed *******.

They balanced the cruelty of his life and situation with their petty issues and comic relief and general *******-ishness. And just practically...no one ever commanded the language and sarcastic personality of the show like Battiatus. No one. They were hurricanes you loved to watch, and how everyone reacted to them and plotted around them made the show.

And the arena. Spartacus was like a ****** up Friday Night Lights. Every episode built up to a release...that battle you knew was always coming one way or another. It was cathartic. Heal the wounds, **** the women, get ready for the fight tonight. The show tapped right into your heart and pumped the adrenaline in every time. That was the greatest. After those first two 'wtf is this nonsense' eps, it was absolute straight crack.

The show had everything you could've asked for. An A+ show. Give us 3 seasons of those last 8 episodes of Blood and Sand, and that is one of the 10 best modern dramas, period. But we didn't....

Instead Andy got sick, and we got Gods of the Arena, a prequel that we didn't really need, that wasn't really good, but it was good enough. I mean, it's basically just leftovers reheated. It's scraps of the same stories we just saw in Blood and Sand, watered down and less memorable with weaker characters and lowered stakes. EXCEPT...that it brought us an amazing new character, Gannicus. It wasn't until later that we realized, this character wasn't as great as Spartacus or Crixus, but he was solid through and through.

That was enough reason for people to jump ship. Feeling like the show hit its peak with Kill Them All and was on it's way down.

Spartacus v1 -- the worst thing with ******* on TV
Spartacus v2 -- the best guy thing on television ever since the 5th season of 24
Spartacus v3 -- a watered down mix of 1 & 2.
Spartacus v4...

Now...yes, Andy died. Yes, they had to replace him. Yes, Liam wasn't up to the task at all at first. But that isn't the only reason why the first half of season 2 sucked ***. They lost the soul of the show. They lost the arena and the brotherhood and the home. Nothing felt right, because they didn't really know how to make a bigger version of the show they'd been building. Suddenly they had to build whole mountains and wilderness. They had to have an army and war. Their biggest mistake was deciding to jump from the uprising all the way to the middle of the rebellion.

They didn't take their time, they just rushed in, and they didn't know how to scale the show up, so it suffered. And they made Crixus a *****, so we suffered. Liam could not be that guy, and it made the show ********. Real recognize real. That's what the arena taught us. So we knew the show was turning to ******** whenever Liam gave a weak *** speech, took our favorite characters lives in his hand and they all fell in line, even though we knew they'd never follow this guy for nothing. I know you can't avoid it, and I know it isn't fair, but this is what killed the show for most people. Even though Andy was gone, you had Crixus, Onameus and Gannicus right there. But they wouldn't bend and let it become an ensemble...they just tried to act like nothing happened, and sent the 3 of them off running in circles *****ing about their feelings.

Not one shred of Blood and Sand made it into the first half of Vengeance. It felt like a weird spinoff. They bring in new characters who are kinda interesting, but have nowhere near the depth the Blood and Sand dudes had. The fights were random. You could tell everyone was uncomfortable, and nothing felt right. Nothing felt real. It felt like a cartoon, which is a damn shame considering, Varo, Spartacus' wife and Kill Them All didn't feel like no cartoon. All there was to do was wait for ******* or a cool death scene and kinda ignore the rest. And it didn't help that Illythia fell off in between seasons.

But it's not a coincidence that the show turned when they went back to the arena. That 2nd half of Vengeance after they burned the arena down was the comeback I didn't expect. I was resolved on Spartacus going out like Heroes, but it kicked for life, and it grabbed onto everything it could from Blood and Sand and built it up high. Glaber and Ashur saved the season. Illythia and Lucretia finally got back to what we watch em for, and they locked in on how to make these outdoor battles work. And it was great...except they still ****** Crixus and Naevia up.

She just stuck around as a reminder that you minus whale give up, we're doubling down on the things you don't like. And even though the show got a pulse back, it still slow rolled the big showdown. And Liam was better, but still nowhere near Andy by the end. They stuck the landing, but that didn't make up for a majority of a season being weak as hell. That's why nobody really cared about season 3.

Spartacus v6...War of the Damned

The 6th different Spartacus show we got. Now...with all of the baggage I went in with, those first 3 episodes were tough, because yet again...they introduced a bunch of new characters all over the place and screamed they're important now, mmkay. This show has a bad habit of telling you people are special or important and expecting you to treat them like your favorite characters immediately. It doesn't feel like taking the time to let you like, and love and respect these new people like how you do for the ogs. It just rolls your eyes at you and hopes you catch on eventually.

That alienates people.

That's why I dipped and wait til the end to marathon it.

The show just felt barren. I didn't realize that Illythia and Lucretia were getting me through the show, cuz it for damn sure wasn't new Spartacus. And even Gannicus, just kinda showed that he was sorta one-note and Crixus was still kind of a *****. It felt like they killed 2 people too many. Not even Onameus? And all the regular chicks were gone too... I respect that this show gives no damns about killing characters fans care about. But they never replaced them.

All they ever had to offer was watered down versions of them. I mean even Gannicus, was more or less a watered down mix of badass Andy Spartacus and og Crixus. Now that's pedigree, and that puts you up there, but they just ran outta character juice. Suddenly there were just watered down Barca's...Mira's...Varo's. It just feels like the next generation never came. It's alright to kill off big characters, if you build up new ones the same way, but this show didn't. Maybe Rusty is right and their budget got tight, because it just felt like they grabbed extras and made them main characters.

And that's a real problem. Is there 1 actor or actress that wasn't in Blood and Sand that you think you'll ever see ever again in anything?

Gannicus was the last great new character to me outside of Crassus, but both just did a good job. They were well written characters that the actors didn't let down.

But compared to like...Crixus...it was nothing too special. I mean Manu Bennett got a flat, thin character and he made so much out of that. All he had to be was a meathead with an ego, but he gave it depth and gravity. He had you conflicted on who you should root for. He made it a two-man crew. He and Andy were the revelations of the show. HE was supposed to be the one to put the show on his back after Andy died, but instead they made him a ***** and left some new dude flailing in shoes too big doing an impression that didn't work.

And he's probably the only one (outside of the established name actors) you're ever gonna see again. Like right now he's playing the bad guy in The Hobbit movies.

Think about that...3 1/2 seasons, and only one actor you can expect to see again, and they messed up his character for half the series.

Spartacus v7 Decimation on...

Then that happened. That was the official start of the show. It didn't matter if you cared about any of these new people at all, just get on the rollercoaster, because it started there, and it didn't stop until almost everyone was dead. The hallmark of Spartacus is that every season starts bad. In this case, it was slow with a ton of new characters and not enough old ones, but that was enough to put off EVERYONE I knew who still watched the show.

But again...it came back...the new people started clicking, quickly...Crixus got his balls back. Liam was on point all the way through. Naevia managed to not be as hateable. They got structure to the show and real direction. The first few episodes weren't bad like Vengeance. They were just foreign. A lot of new faces and so little of the Spartacus we used to know.

But the last 2 episodes, were straight up amazing. Those last shots were too damn good. I wouldn'ta wrote this wall if it wasn't for those. It's just trying to figure out what it all means that this show kept putting me all the way off and then winning me back by the end of it. War of the Damned is probably the most balanced of all the seasons, not episode is bad, and from Decimation on, they're all pretty great. It's not perfect. I mean Caesar would be a cool bad guy, if he wasn't THE Caesar. It's like, knowledge is my worst enemy in accepting the ********ness of this here Caesar.

And they rushed it...this season really coulda used 3 or 4 more episodes, because they just didn't have time to build up the Romans. They were too busy building up the guys they didn't get right last season, but that's fine.

You could always tell this show had bigger ideas than it was really able to express, because in a way, it got sandbagged by its own aesthetic. 300 was just gladiator exploitation. It wasn't about a damn thing, except looking cool, being badass, and not being shook by any man or any odds. So it was fine to hype up the gore and effects and style. It was fine to have action punchlines and ******* and saying Jupiter's cock every 3 minutes, but anytime they tried to be more...that stuff just held it down. It did feel boring and pointless when they tried to give you a history lesson, instead of just saying there's the bad guy...it's gonna go down. And for all the things I loved about the show, those same things stopped it from being what it tried to be.

It rang a little hypocritical when they tried to give moral lessons, but every dude is just waiting to gut somebody. It's hard to philosophize about class and place when every other word is **** and Jupiter and cock. And it aint so easy to get people to buy into love when loved ones get killed and replaced every 5 episodes and the actresses change every season, there's an orgy almost every episode and any time you see a woman, you know it's a countdown to ******* and ******g. It's hard to build up and empower women, when technically you're exploiting them more than any other show on television.

I will give this show props, because I can't think of another show that so openly accepted having gay relationships. There was a lot of 'can I get a Karamo warning pls?,' but I can respect them staying steady and doing their thing, when I know 90% of the audience wasn't about that. They just had normal warriors who happened to be... Yeah. And for what it was worth, there were some badass females on here. Smart, strong and naked, the holy trinity.

And I love the language of the show. It set the show to purpose. Nothing ever sounded like Spartacus-talk, and nothing ever will.

Wow...didn't even realize I wrote that much.

I think I wrote this for myself, to just try and work out what it is this show was and what it all meant in the end.

I guess I'll end it with this.

Spartacus always sells the spectacle. It feels like as big a show as it wants to be. And every episode feels like its own epic. Nothing else does this. Game of Thrones gets the nuance and it shoots on location and all the lines are so clever and serious...Spartacus gets the instant gratification. It gets to beat it's chest, ginsu the bad guy and carry the prize chick back to its cave. It was always true to itself. It was always methodical and in control. For whatever its faults, it was always the show it wanted to be, and it's damn hard to find a show like that. Everyone always bends to what the fans or the channel want, but this was one clear, true, bloody vision. And if it wasn't for the title actor dying after season 1, it could've been something a lot easier to hype up and appreciate, but it is what it is.

It's the best, bloody action show I think there's ever been. And it went out on top.

Gratitude.

Just read your dissertation.

If you expected Liam to live up to Andy's performance than you'd never think that Liam would be as good of a spartacus as Andy was.

I remember the first ep. of vengeance saying who is this *****? when I first saw liam. When I found out that he was spartacus, I tried to clear my mind of any prejudgements. From what I remember of vengeance, his speeches were just as cool as his speeches in war of the damned. Liam is as good of a spartacus as Andy. It's very easy to make the case that actor A is better than their replacement when actor A has died. All I'm saying is that Liam was great.

Liam made spartacus his own and I respect that.

The arena got repetitive as hell. Oh spartacus is going to train, fight, and win. Rinse and repeat.

Them leaving the arena was a GOOD thing.

You can only do so much while spartacus and his cronies were actually slaves.

I think that them being slaves in season 1 constricted the development of most of the characters.

I thought that the gay relationships were hilarious.

Not that being gay is funny, but I felt that the show basically said "you're watching two dudes **** each other right now, you mad?"

The ******* were just like what?

They just showed ******* just to show them.

I ain't even mad.

I can see your point new characters being hurled at you and being told to care about this people, but come on there's only 10 eps. in the season.

I'm not saying that more episodes wouldn't have made it better, but the people who made the show did a great job with the resources that they had.

I'm sure that if they had more time, more money, etc, then we'd see a better show, but that case can be made for any show.

War of the damned was great from being to end.

I wasn't feeling season 2 that much. After seeing season 3 I knew that someday I'd rewatch it to gain a better appreciation of it.

Bascially what I'm saying is that war of the damned made me want to re-watch the entire series just so I can understand the show.

Had it not have been for that season, I would have just chalked it up like I did SOA, Lost, and Boardwalk

Granted, they are good shows in their own right, but rarely do shows make me want to rewatch the entire series after just one season.

I'd write more but I'm too lazy.

 

[iYen]

 

[maicolkickhead]

Gannicus was that dude

 

[Case]

I re-watched season 2 yesterday and I gotta say it was even better the second time around..I don't know if it's because I was already warmed to the idea of Andy not being Spartacus or I already knew how great Liam was in the role..But it just seemed better to me..I'm gonna say that I think the majority of season 2 is actually better than the majority of season 3..

Just go back and watch the whole show..Start with the prequel season and go straight through..You'll catch way more stuff and appreciate it even more..Bout to fire up season 3 right now..

 

[iYen]

You'll catch way more stuff and appreciate it even more.

This is what I expected.

 

[Case]

This is what I expected.

I know this a weird comparison, but it's kinda like the Matrix..The more you watch the more you pick up..Only difference is Spartacus makes wayyyyyyyyyy more sense than the Matrix..You'll definitely appreciate Glaber, Illythia, Lucritia, and Navea more..

 

[jecca650]

Already having spartacus withdrawals knowing there wont be a new ep this friday. the only time i turn on TV is to watch NFL, MLB, NBA, UFC or boxing. The last time I watched tv consistantly transformers and TMNT the cartoons were still airing new episodes and i was only a couple years old. Spartacus has sick combination of multiple elements that are unique to this show and the way everything is presented is fing awsome. The action, the sex, the gore, the violence, the epicness, the glory, the honor/dishonor, ETC.


for dudes like me it truly is a bitter end.

 

[big1236]

I just finished watching the episode during my lunch break and haven't read any posts in here yet about it.

With that said, this is one of my favorite series finales! I thought it was well done.

I usually feel like series finales don't do a good job of ending things, but I felt like they did a good job...

Now- onto reading what you guys thought about it.....

 

[Case]

I just finished watching the episode during my lunch break and haven't read any posts in here yet about it.

With that said, this is one of my favorite series finales! I thought it was well done.

I usually feel like series finales don't do a good job of ending things, but I felt like they did a good job...

Now- onto reading what you guys thought about it.....

It was probably the best series finale I've ever seen..But I like how it leaves the door open for a Caesar spinoff w/possibly Agron and Nasir involved..

 

[mronegative]

Just read your dissertation.
If you expected Liam to live up to Andy's performance than you'd never think that Liam would be as good of a spartacus as Andy was.
I remember the first ep. of vengeance saying who is this *****? when I first saw liam. When I found out that he was spartacus, I tried to clear my mind of any prejudgements. From what I remember of vengeance, his speeches were just as cool as his speeches in war of the damned. Liam is as good of a spartacus as Andy. It's very easy to make the case that actor A is better than their replacement when actor A has died. All I'm saying is that Liam was great.
Liam made spartacus his own and I respect that.

You can't be mad at people's expectations, especially when they aren't met, and then turn around and call the show slept on. Every dude alive, heard of and watched some of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. There was no way not to. So when Andy died, most people expected Crixus, Gannicus, Onameus It was on Starz...people don't check for Starz like that. And for the most part, people just waited til it was on Netflix to watch it. So when the week to week guys talk up how disappointing the season has been...

Liam did not work in the first few eps of Vengeance, and that's not just my opinion. I remember the thread. Every episode...ehhhhh this guy is whatever, he doesn't look right, doesn't sound right, doesn't have a presence, can't really act, came out weak on this speech, that speech, that scene. I remember dudes not being about Liam as Spartacus, and they tried to stick with the show in spite of him.

I think Liam was the easy excuse dudes gave for saying the show fell off, but it was a lot of things all at once that had people jumping ship with Vengeance.

The arena got repetitive as hell. Oh spartacus is going to train, fight, and win. Rinse and repeat.
Them leaving the arena was a GOOD thing.
You can only do so much while spartacus and his cronies were actually slaves.
I think that them being slaves in season 1 constricted the development of most of the characters.

I can't agree with that. Look at the Varo dying episode or when Spartacus planned his escape. The arena gave the show structure, but they were already moving onto bigger and more interesting things by the end of Blood and Sand.

And when I say the arena, I really mean the things around it. In TV shows, a place can be a character. The House of Battiatus was a character. The slave quarters, the dining hall, all of it. It gave you perspective. It had you start planning out where the heat was coming from, when trouble was brewing. You could follow Spartacus' whole train of thought when he was planning his escape or whenever Ashur would be creeping. And all of that got traded in for the sewers and a dirt mansion in bumble**** filled with random slave soldiers.

The problem is, all that development you're talking about, happened between seasons 1 and 2. They jumped over it, and never slowed down to let us accept Liam. We had a season to build up Andy into that dude, and in two minutes, they were like...hey Liam's that guy now. Get it? Got it? Good.

And we were left with Crixus on his period, Gannicus scared he hurt Onameus' feeling, Onameus sad that he betrayed Battiatus, and a bunch of lower characters getting promoted to big dogs, just cuz. Those were the type of dudes, who on Blood and Sand would've been redshirts, who just say hi, tell their little story then die in the arena tonight. But instead those guys were supposed to be big dogs? Right up there with Gannicus, Onameus and Crixus?

I can see your point new characters being hurled at you and being told to care about this people, but come on there's only 10 eps. in the season.
I'm not saying that more episodes wouldn't have made it better, but the people who made the show did a great job with the resources that they had.
I'm sure that if they had more time, more money, etc, then we'd see a better show, but that case can be made for any show.

I guess you could say it's me being greedy, but that just makes the show really complicated to explain to someone. You really do have to explain like 6 different versions of the show, and what the deal is with all of them, if you tried to put someone onto Spartacus.

The ******* were just like what?
They just showed ******* just to show them.
I ain't even mad.

My favorite was crowd titty. They'd be fighting in the arena and random some chick just got one breast poppin out.

War of the damned was great from being to end.
I wasn't feeling season 2 that much. After seeing season 3 I knew that someday I'd rewatch it to gain a better appreciation of it.
Bascially what I'm saying is that war of the damned made me want to re-watch the entire series just so I can understand the show.
Had it not have been for that season, I would have just chalked it up like I did SOA, Lost, and Boardwalk
Granted, they are good shows in their own right, but rarely do shows make me want to rewatch the entire series after just one season.

This I can agree on. If it wasn't for the last 3 or 4 episodes, I probably would've just been in here, said...that was kinda dope, _____ death scene was hype. Cya. But that ending made me have to take a good look at the whole show again, to figure how something that well done could make so many people give up on it more than once.

I'd write more but I'm too lazy.

Yeah, I'm done too.


If anyone dropped this show, just do yourself a favor and watch the last 4 episodes.
You don't have to fully understand, but you'll see how far this show came.

 

[hood17]

View media item 365706

All the women of this show have been great


Andy at the end

I don't have a much to say but thank you to the writers for creating this awesome series and connecting all of us.

I do hope for a Caesar spin off I was thinking in the middle of the Gannicus being trapt scence. "I don't know if they could find a better Caesar."

Time for me to focus on Da Vinci and then Magic City

Will grab these on DVD's

 

[iYen]

Just read your dissertation.
If you expected Liam to live up to Andy's performance than you'd never think that Liam would be as good of a spartacus as Andy was.
I remember the first ep. of vengeance saying who is this *****? when I first saw liam. When I found out that he was spartacus, I tried to clear my mind of any prejudgements. From what I remember of vengeance, his speeches were just as cool as his speeches in war of the damned. Liam is as good of a spartacus as Andy. It's very easy to make the case that actor A is better than their replacement when actor A has died. All I'm saying is that Liam was great.
Liam made spartacus his own and I respect that.

You can't be mad at people's expectations, especially when they aren't met, and then turn around and call the show slept on. Every dude alive, heard of and watched some of Spartacus: Blood and Sand. There was no way not to. So when Andy died, most people expected Crixus, Gannicus, Onameus It was on Starz...people don't check for Starz like that. And for the most part, people just waited til it was on Netflix to watch it. So when the week to week guys talk up how disappointing the season has been...

Liam did not work in the first few eps of Vengeance, and that's not just my opinion. I remember the thread. Every episode...ehhhhh this guy is whatever, he doesn't look right, doesn't sound right, doesn't have a presence, can't really act, came out weak on this speech, that speech, that scene. I remember dudes not being about Liam as Spartacus, and they tried to stick with the show in spite of him.

I think Liam was the easy excuse dudes gave for saying the show fell off, but it was a lot of things all at once that had people jumping ship with Vengeance.

The arena got repetitive as hell. Oh spartacus is going to train, fight, and win. Rinse and repeat.
Them leaving the arena was a GOOD thing.
You can only do so much while spartacus and his cronies were actually slaves.
I think that them being slaves in season 1 constricted the development of most of the characters.

I can't agree with that. Look at the Varo dying episode or when Spartacus planned his escape. The arena gave the show structure, but they were already moving onto bigger and more interesting things by the end of Blood and Sand.

And when I say the arena, I really mean the things around it. In TV shows, a place can be a character. The House of Battiatus was a character. The slave quarters, the dining hall, all of it. It gave you perspective. It had you start planning out where the heat was coming from, when trouble was brewing. You could follow Spartacus' whole train of thought when he was planning his escape or whenever Ashur would be creeping. And all of that got traded in for the sewers and a dirt mansion in bumble**** filled with random slave soldiers.

The problem is, all that development you're talking about, happened between seasons 1 and 2. They jumped over it, and never slowed down to let us accept Liam. We had a season to build up Andy into that dude, and in two minutes, they were like...hey Liam's that guy now. Get it? Got it? Good.

And we were left with Crixus on his period, Gannicus scared he hurt Onameus' feeling, Onameus sad that he betrayed Battiatus, and a bunch of lower characters getting promoted to big dogs, just cuz. Those were the type of dudes, who on Blood and Sand would've been redshirts, who just say hi, tell their little story then die in the arena tonight. But instead those guys were supposed to be big dogs? Right up there with Gannicus, Onameus and Crixus?

I can see your point new characters being hurled at you and being told to care about this people, but come on there's only 10 eps. in the season.
I'm not saying that more episodes wouldn't have made it better, but the people who made the show did a great job with the resources that they had.
I'm sure that if they had more time, more money, etc, then we'd see a better show, but that case can be made for any show.

I guess you could say it's me being greedy, but that just makes the show really complicated to explain to someone. You really do have to explain like 6 different versions of the show, and what the deal is with all of them, if you tried to put someone onto Spartacus.

The ******* were just like what?
They just showed ******* just to show them.
I ain't even mad.

My favorite was crowd titty. They'd be fighting in the arena and random some chick just got one breast poppin out.

War of the damned was great from being to end.
I wasn't feeling season 2 that much. After seeing season 3 I knew that someday I'd rewatch it to gain a better appreciation of it.
Bascially what I'm saying is that war of the damned made me want to re-watch the entire series just so I can understand the show.
Had it not have been for that season, I would have just chalked it up like I did SOA, Lost, and Boardwalk
Granted, they are good shows in their own right, but rarely do shows make me want to rewatch the entire series after just one season.

This I can agree on. If it wasn't for the last 3 or 4 episodes, I probably would've just been in here, said...that was kinda dope, _____ death scene was hype. Cya. But that ending made me have to take a good look at the whole show again, to figure how something that well done could make so many people give up on it more than once.

I'd write more but I'm too lazy.

Yeah, I'm done too.


If anyone dropped this show, just do yourself a favor and watch the last 4 episodes.
You don't have to fully understand, but you'll see how far this show came.

I haven't read your post.

I'm just replying to say that I'll read your ppost...eventually.

 

[jsbrown]

I didnt like the way it ended. I mean spartacus dies and the main villian doesn't. Come on I understand why Ceaser doesnt die. But they should of had Spartacus dominate the fight on top on the hill and completely kill everyone and then Ceaser takes him out. Thats my only beef. I wish they would of kept Crixus around to the final episode he was my favorite character. 

 

[mronegative]

That I can't co-sign. That's nitpicking.

Maybe it's cuz I knew ahead of time that Spartacus' rebellion loses, but that ending was so damn well done.

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When I knock on Liam, it's only for season 2, when he was kicking that weak imitation of Andy. Dude brought it all of War of the Damned. He made it his own, and you're a damn tin man if the ending didn't have you feeling some typa way.