Support NeoGAF

[Admiral Bone to Pick]

I really enjoyed Blood and Sand and Gods of the Arena, so I wanted to get back into the series after a long hiatus. After marathoning my way through this season, I kind of regret it.

This season was a lot less charming than what I remember of the first two. The show always had tons of nudity and violence, but in this season it just seemed obnoxious. The Roman nobility were so sadistic and cruel it was almost comical. I think my least favorite scene in the season was when they were having a game of how much each one could torture the captured gladiator. I know that they had to portray the nobility as being pricks (since they're the villains), but did they also have to be portrayed as sadistic murderers? It's pretty boring when one side is unrealistically evil to the point of absurdity. Neither Glaber or any of the other nobility were anywhere near as interesting as Batiatus either. He actually had some depth and his ambitions made up some of the best parts of the previous seasons. Watching Glaber lose his shit just wasn't as fun.

Also, Ashur seemed so wasted after his buildup this season. The actor is fantastic and he was one of my favorite parts of the previous two seasons, but his death was so....ugh. Naevia's replacement looked downright anorexic, and it's pretty anticlimactic for the show's most devious character to die in such a plain fashion. I'm not going to pick on Andy's replacement either, but he just lacks chemistry with the other actors. His friendship with Crixus seems so shallow now. You could feel more of a connection between Crixus and Gannicus even though they hadn't seen each other in years.

I've heard good things about the final season, but it's hard for me to get motivated when Vengeance was such a slog. If Crassus and Caesar are as prominent as I've heard, it could be promising though.

 

[JDSN]

Yeah, some aspects of the series were bad, the important thing you must remember is that that creepy pear-headed fuck of Cossutius died a painful death.

Fuck that guy.

 

[Cornballer]

iirc, the GAF consensus was that War of the Damned (final season) was a good step up from Vengeance. I certainly enjoyed it, and Liam McIntyre does a better job with his role once he settles in. It's certainly worth watching if you've come this far.

 

[Nameless]

Ashur, fucking victor!

Blood and Sands > Gods of The Arena=War of the Damned > Vengeance.

 

[Piccoro]

I've seen every episode. I kinda agree that the 3rd season is a little weak compared with the others.
But trust me, you'll love War of the Damned the minute you see this guy in the first episode:

 

[zulfate]

Well OP the romans werent nice people and torture,raped, and massacred millions. i feel that of all the inaccuracies of this series the portrayal of the romans was spot on. it was very unfortunate what happened to andy but even when i was understanding of the character change i just couldnt get into the new navia.....and fucking crixus just got neutered, it was really sad lol.

 

[kazebyaka]

Best show ever. I liked it so much i couldn't bear with the idea of it ending, so i dropped it before the final episode. Maybe one day i'll finish it.

 

[Zabka]

War of the Damned is great. Liam really stepped it up.

 

[Verdre]

Vengeance was a pretty big stumble, but War of the Damned manages to do away with most of its problems.