Spartacus ? the prequel should be terrible but this violent tale of heavily muscled men in loincloths somehow works...
Is there any greater joy in life than discovering something that is better than it needs to be? Why, yes, there is. It's discovering something that is better than it needs to be that is populated by heavily muscled men in loincloths, swearing innovatively and frequently copping an eyeful of Jaime Murray's mammary glands. And then discovering that it is readily available on Sky 1 every Monday for the next six weeks.
Such are the delights of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. It should be terrible. It's not only a prequel (with all the dread wheelspinning and absence of suspense the form implies) but also one created as an emergency stopgap when Andy Whitfield, the lead actor of the original series, Spartacus: Blood and Sand, had first to delay and then pull out of the second season altogether, after he was diagnosed with cancer.
But, you know, sometimes things just work. Sometimes, if you throw enough CGI violence (nobody gets decapitated in this series with anything fewer than two swords in a scissoring motion and it is surely only a matter of time before "Arterial spray and blood gout specialist" starts appearing in the credits), troilism, blackmail, diaphanous chiffon-draped lesbian action and lines like "Words fall from your mouth as shit from ass!" around, it coheres into an unstoppably entertaining mass. Who knew?
As with the original, what really pulls the absurdity into compelling shape is the small but potent amount of attention being paid to the emotional undertow. Just as the love of Spartacus for his wife and his essential pectoral arrangement ? I mean, nobility ? gave just enough heft to the nonsense to make it worthwhile, so do the unfolding complications between Oenomaus (the gladiator trainer-to-be), his wife and gladiatorial champion Gannicus. By the end of episode three, you might even find yourself slightly tearful ? even if the show is largely the most fun you can have without (quite) laughing.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/22/spartacus-gods-of-the-arena
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