Magnificent Sleaziness

Go, Spartacus, Go!

Let it all hang out!

At first, I assumed they would tone down the violence, nudity and sex, once they got our attention.

But, no, arm-loppings and beheadings continue apace.

Every crowd scene has gratuitous boobies, many many boobies, in pairs.

Never a sentence spoken that a f#@k can't be jammed in.

Last night, a major character met his demise, not with one penetration of a sword, but three or four, with blood spraying and cries of anguish, topped off by a vivid throat cutting. (And I do say penetration in the most sexual of ways -- the character just having had several make-out scenes with a member of the same sex...)

There was a orgy scene. They weren't satisfied with a few couples onscreen, no, they had wall to wall sex, of every combination, undulating and swaying. I mean, I don't actually think there are that many gladiators in the show, just in this sweaty scene. A couple of dozen girls, apparently the whores of Rome were all stunningly beautiful.

Wow.

Let's replay that.

And then there was the scene of the gladiator school owner casually grabbing a buxom servant girl and screwing her while he has a business conversation with his wife, Xena, while she sits naked in a bath with two other buxom servants.

As he grunts and flushes, the camera focuses on the grimaces of the servant girl, and I'm thinking to myself, "This probably this young actress's big break. She probably called home to Mum and Pops, who are watching this."

And yet....

The story is actually pretty interesting. I've noticed that the actors aren't quite as awkward with the swear words as they were earlier. The actors have definitively gotten much better with the sword play.

The guy who plays the head of the school has turned into a conniving, cut-throating bastard, after seeming kind of weak in the first few episodes, even worse than his wife, Xena, who at least has the ability to look dismayed for a moment at his actions, and then gets a pleased look all over her gorgeous face.

If you were trying to make an analogy between old, rotten Rome and what we'll accept today, well, I think we've got it.

The show is starting to develop it's own style, if anything, bloodier and more graphic than the 300. I'm sticking with it, if for no other reason to see how much they can get away with...to see how many times per night I say,

"I can't believe they did that!"