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Spartacus: War of the Damned - the conclusion of a legendary journey - Fri on Starz

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ironcreed

Banned
It was excellent. Some of the battle scenes made Braveheart look like Disney. It has always of course been graphic, but they really went all out here. And yes, Simon Merrells is great as Crassus. Going to be a good season.
 

Nameless

Member
tumblr_m29mntxmOH1qavyw8o1_500.gif
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
I thought it was a great premiere. Liam's Spartacus has really grown on me and I quite liked the new characters, namely Crassus. Very good casting. I know we're supposed to be rooting against him, but I actually thought he was really likable and I can't wait to see more of him.

I still can't believe they killed Ashur, Lucretia, and Illythia in last season's finale, but I do think it was the right choice. I don't really see how they could have had their own story lines without diluting everyone else's.

This episode seemed pretty cheesy, even by Spartacus standards.

I was sort of annoyed that every time one of Spartacus' people killed someone, they made that ridiculous "scream face" every. single. time.
 
Spartacus at it's best. One of the few shows (maybe the only one) where I'm pretty much fucking grinning from ear to ear the entire time. There's nothing else like it. Clearly not everyone's cup of tea, but it knows what it is, and it fucking excels at it. God I just realized how much I missed this show after this ep. I feel I'm just releasing an incredible amt of stress vicariously though the characters.
 

Chairman Yang

if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
I was happy with this episode; it was certainly leagues better than anything in the last season. I was also pleasantly surprised with Crassus. I was expecting another scheming scumbag like every single other villain on the show. Instead, it looks like we're getting a scheming cool dude. Don't get me wrong, scheming scumbags like Batiatus can be awesome, but I need some variety in villains.
 

Replicant

Member
I'm not knowledgeable of speech mannerism in those years back then. But do people really speak like they're reciting poem back then? That's one thing that always bother me about this series.
 

Foov

Member
I'm not knowledgeable of speech mannerism in those years back then. But do people really speak like they're reciting poem back then? That's one thing that always bother me about this series.

From what I understand the writers try to mimic the linguistic conventions of Latin when writing the dialogue. So yes.
 

Clevinger

Member
Spartacus battle tactics:

1. Send your leader/commander on a horse to the front alone against a tightly formed spear unit
2. ???
3. Send in the rest
 

Clevinger

Member
That was great, outside a couple bad parts. They made Crassus really likable. The actor did a really good job. Now I'm excited to see what they do with Caesar.
 

Enosh

Member
well fuck the rebels, Crassus is now my favorite character

good episode, think this will be a great season
 

ironcreed

Banned
Spartacus at it's best. One of the few shows (maybe the only one) where I'm pretty much fucking grinning from ear to ear the entire time. There's nothing else like it. Clearly not everyone's cup of tea, but it knows what it is, and it fucking excels at it. God I just realized how much I missed this show after this ep. I feel I'm just releasing an incredible amt of stress vicariously though the characters.


Indeed, I pretty much looked like this during the entire hour last night.

gladiator-other-eccbc87e4b5ce2fe28308fd9f2a7baf3-1326.gif
 

jett

D-Member
This was fantastic. Crassus was surprisingly interesting. First time the show has had an honorable "villain". I guess they're setting things up for the spinoff.

Oh and glad that they're fully intent on showing the rebels' pillaging, looting and murdering ways.
 

Monocle

Member
Impressions:

- This season is off to a solid start. The dynamic among Crassus, his son, and the trainer was very well done. Crassus was especially good. Excellent casting all around.

- New Naevia seems to have come into her own. She grated on me in season 2. Based on this episode, though, the tone of her characterization has markedly improved. She looks a lot better too.

- Most importantly, episode 1 was packed with great character moments that gave me hope for the future of the season.

- I had some issues with the combat sequences (for one thing, the large-scale battle looked pretty bad), but those fade into the background compared to the strength of the character interaction, which might actually rival the third or fourth episode of season 1 (e.i. the turning point where the series started to show that it had much more to offer than blood and skin).

Much better than I expected overall.
 
Crassus could replace Batiatus. Lets hope this form continues, because the antagonist last time round was poor

agreed. glaber's flaws were masked by how good batiatus was and his dparing appearances in season 1, to have him as the main antagonist without someone like batiatus (ashur, as good as he was just didn't cut it) showed how poor glaber really was.

anyway, very good start to the season. liam is slowly but surely winning me over as spartacus, but I can't stop thinking about how different the performance of sparty and the performance of those around him would be if andy were still alive. :(
 

th3dude

Member
I think the difference between Batiatus and Glabur is that you often liked Batiatus. He was human. He had a good side. Glabur was just too much of a stereotypical antagonist that we were told to hate.

This Crassus guy I can already see myself liking. He wants to earn things. He respected his slave (sounds like Batiatus, no?).

I am hyped to see how this all ends. Loved the premiere.
 

Monocle

Member
I think the difference between Batiatus and Glabur is that you often liked Batiatus. He was human. He had a good side. Glabur was just too much of a stereotypical antagonist that we were told to hate.

This Crassus guy I can already see myself liking. He wants to earn things. He respected his slave (sounds like Batiatus, no?).

I am hyped to see how this all ends. Loved the premiere.
Good point. Spartacus's best villains are the ones you can identify with, or even better, like on some level. Actually, I think this holds true as a general rule in fiction.

Crassus definitely has that quality.
 

tokkun

Member
This is just as wrongheaded as complaining about True Blood for the same reason. The show is the fucking show. Maybe it's not for you?

Episode was fantastic as usual.

I can appreciate things being over-the-top, which has always been the case with this show, but it seems like in this episode they are pushing the violence to the point where it becomes more comedic than exhilarating. I was laughing out loud numerous times during this episode as a Roman would be stabbed, only to emit an explosion of gallons of red paint or be decapitated at the barest flick of a sword.

The series is also in a bit of a pinch with the story going in a direction of needing a lot of large-scale outdoor battles, but not having the budget to realize them in a visually convincing way. A lot of the shots in the opening scene were really cringe-worthy with how obvious it was that they were on a soundstage against green screen or painted backdrops. I don't fault them as much for that since the makers were sort of pushed into a corner on that, but when combined with the silliness of the gore, the show sometimes felt like a parody of itself.
 

Munin

Member
It was good, but McIntyre is still weak (and still looks skinny in comparison to everyone else), and I'm disappointed they're about to launch into another excuse to scale things down for the rest of the season just like in S2.
 
This was fantastic. Crassus was surprisingly interesting. First time the show has had an honorable "villain". I guess they're setting things up for the spinoff.

Oh and glad that they're fully intent on showing the rebels' pillaging, looting and murdering ways.

I hope so after hearing about him in Hardcore history and from i remember he was such a badass and interesting fella.
 
Wow Crassus has won me over already, I love how he let the Gladiator schooled his smug fuck of a son. I can already see him as a for worthy of taking down Spartacus.
 

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
I only watched the first season and the prequel thingie that followed

I don't recognize anyone in those shots

I feel confuse
 
Wow Crassus has won me over already, I love how he let the Gladiator schooled his smug fuck of a son. I can already see him as a for worthy of taking down Spartacus.

I wonder if they'll actually show him take down spartacus or follow history. they've shown a willingness to change historical events for story purposes, so it's anyone's guess as to how the show will end.

I'd prefer they show it, but whatever.
 

X-Frame

Member
I like Crassus a lot. I knew immediately that it was his plan to have the other two general's killed by Spartacus. That was slick.

I wish Liam bulked up a bit more. He had almost a year to do it, even if he gained 5-10 pounds it would have made a big difference between he seems even smaller than last year.
 
I'm not knowledgeable of speech mannerism in those years back then. But do people really speak like they're reciting poem back then? That's one thing that always bother me about this series.

In many ways, I prefer their Latin/English mishmash it to modern English. It's very concise and elegant.
 

ThreeSixty

December 16, 2009. 4:00 AM. THE LIGHT FIELD is the force. The mind. That guides. Controls.
Loved the premiere. So glad Spartacus is back. Looks like is this going to be one epic season. I'm glad they're compressing the story into 10 episodes. It means zero filler. Also Crassus as the antagonist is perfect. Such a superior casting choice to Glaber.

Looking forward to watching this season. Anyone else love the premiere?
 

demolitio

Member
Spartacus battle tactics:

1. Send your leader/commander on a horse to the front alone against a tightly formed spear unit
2. ???
3. Send in the rest

No kidding. I'm all for crazy action but that was a little too crazy since it made the Romans look like complete amateurs to not even handle one guy on a horse which they had strategies for anyway. That's like George Washington charging right into British line infantry by himself and surviving simply because it looks heroic. Obviously those Romans weren't the best they had to offer, but they're still trained for that. I know it's expected to be over the top, but there's a fine line.

Crassus is awesome just like I was hoping. I'm hoping he does really well and it leads to another show in that period since so much happened in his lifetime. Yea, you could say I miss the show Rome but I want more. Roman history is by far my favorite subject and the legendary stories and mythology gives a lot of room for creativity too.

Crassus is finally the "villain" that I actually like. They did a good job of making us like him right away by showing how honorable he was. Sometimes I wish I didn't know what was coming, but the journey there should be glorious at least.
 
Crassus! Magnificent. Glaber was my favourite from last season, and until Caesar rocks up and we can assess his form of badarsery, it'll be Crassus from here until the end.
 

Mr_Zombie

Member
Saw the episode last night. Crassus made a great first impression. His son, not so much. But there's always a place for a spoiled brat in the Spartacus universe ;) I hope the rest of the Roman/villains side will be equally good, because after the last season, with all those dead characters, they have big shoes to fill. BTW. When Crassus' wife appeared, anyone else thought it's Ilithyia? With that hairstyle and makeup she really looks like Bianca. :lol

Ex-slave's side was also better than the last season. Naevia finally became a likable character (and is it me, or is she prettier now?) and Spartacus' character was toned down a bit (no more stupid speeches). However, Liam should really bulk up more; compared to the rest of the cast, he looks like a wimp :/. It's especially visible during the scene where he talks with Gannicus in the tent - his arms are so small in those shots.

It also feels weird that with all those people around, the show constantly focuses on those few main characters. It's like all those ex-slaves aren't even needed there, because Spartacus, Crixus, Gannicus and Agron could take the army all by themselves. The previous season did a better job at creating bigger fight scenes where more characters had their purpose to be there.

And they went really over-the-top with violence this time. With all those buckets of blood it stopped looking simply stylistic and started looking cartoony.

I think the difference between Batiatus and Glabur is that you often liked Batiatus. He was human. He had a good side. Glabur was just too much of a stereotypical antagonist that we were told to hate.
While I agree that Glaber was too much of a stereotypical antagonist, I think that because all of the shit that happened to him since the beginning of the last season (up to the episode where Spartacus and co. took up the arena) and how incapable he was back then, many of us felt sorry for the character. I must admit that I actually cheered when he finally started to man up. :p
 

Inversive

Member
No kidding. I'm all for crazy action but that was a little too crazy since it made the Romans look like complete amateurs to not even handle one guy on a horse which they had strategies for anyway. That's like George Washington charging right into British line infantry by himself and surviving simply because it looks heroic. Obviously those Romans weren't the best they had to offer, but they're still trained for that. I know it's expected to be over the top, but there's a fine line.

Crassus is awesome just like I was hoping. I'm hoping he does really well and it leads to another show in that period since so much happened in his lifetime. Yea, you could say I miss the show Rome but I want more. Roman history is by far my favorite subject and the legendary stories and mythology gives a lot of room for creativity too.

Crassus is finally the "villain" that I actually like. They did a good job of making us like him right away by showing how honorable he was. Sometimes I wish I didn't know what was coming, but the journey there should be glorious at least.

I miss Rome too :( I would give my left teste for another season.
 
While I agree that Glaber was too much of a stereotypical antagonist, I think that because all of the shit that happened to him since the beginning of the last season (up to the episode where Spartacus and co. took up the arena) and how incapable he was back then, many of us felt sorry for the character. I must admit that I actually cheered when he finally started to man up. :p

I really liked the rise of Glaber. That said, I'm going to relish the destruction of the revolt, because as much as I love the show, you've got to give the Roman war machine its dues. Revenge will be sweet.
 

Loomba

Member
No kidding. I'm all for crazy action but that was a little too crazy since it made the Romans look like complete amateurs to not even handle one guy on a horse which they had strategies for anyway. That's like George Washington charging right into British line infantry by himself and surviving simply because it looks heroic. Obviously those Romans weren't the best they had to offer, but they're still trained for that. I know it's expected to be over the top, but there's a fine line.

Crassus is awesome just like I was hoping. I'm hoping he does really well and it leads to another show in that period since so much happened in his lifetime. Yea, you could say I miss the show Rome but I want more. Roman history is by far my favorite subject and the legendary stories and mythology gives a lot of room for creativity too.

Crassus is finally the "villain" that I actually like. They did a good job of making us like him right away by showing how honorable he was. Sometimes I wish I didn't know what was coming, but the journey there should be glorious at least.

To be fair, he kinda done that lol

http://www.cracked.com/article_20182_5-reasons-george-washington-was-either-lucky-or-wizard.html
 
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