Spartacus: Gods of the Arena - Episode One (2011)

Created by: Steven S. DeKnight
Directed by: Jesse Warn
Written by: Steven DeKnight
Cast: Dustin Clare, Lucy Lawless, John Hannah, Peter Mensah, Manu Bennett

Last year Starz managed to shock and awe with Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and it looks like they are onto a great start in doing it all over again with the new gore and boob filled prequel Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

The original series was something of a rarity. While certainly borrowing in style and thematic mood from films such as 300, it pushed the bar in terms of sheer gore and gratuitous nudity. It's not enough to say that the series featured blood and naked flesh; rather, it reveled in it. It was written and shot in an unapologetic exploitative and sensationalist style, giving viewers oodles of blood baths and attractive naked people.

They also realized a series cannot rely on guts and boobs alone if they really want to hold an audience every Friday night. Spartacus: Blood and Sand was full of intriguing and scheming characters, and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena looks to follow suit. The melodrama is just as over the top as the violence and sex; the series is a bit like an old fashioned soap opera, except one where they actually show people killing and screwing each other.

Fans of the original series saw the rise of Spartacus within the gladiator troop owned by the House of Batiatus, and how that rise eventually led to the demise of the ruling family. What they didn't see, however, is how Batiatus and his wife Lucretia rose to power in the first place. It is the story behind this climb for power that is a major part of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.

Many of the characters from the original series are back - which is especially fun as quite a number of them were killed off in last year's series, and it's just great to see them in action again. The first episode reveals that it is not only the arc of the family business that is to be shown; it is the arc of the characters themselves. House leader Batiatus (John Hannah) is small fry, and doesn't seem quite as ruthless as the man he is to become. We actually see some of the cutthroat business tactics that led to him being so damned cruel.

Gladiator trainer Oenomaus (Peter Mensah) is back, though at this time he's just a lowly gladiator with dreams of a higher station. Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) is more innocent and not yet fully corrupt - but we begin to see her downfall through her dabbling with opium and lesbian sex. She proclaims that she "…would never have sex with a slave! That would be disgusting!" - at which point the camera playfully cuts to the face of slave Crixus (Manu Bennett), who she constantly banged with wild abandon all through last year's series.

Which brings us to Crixus himself. Crixus was the upmost top dog amongst the gladiators in Spartacus: Blood and Sand. He was cruel, abusive, dangerous, and deadly in the ring. In the initial episode of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, we see his initial induction into the gladiator school. He is long-haired and wild-eyed, full of a strange hope for glory in the ring. He's also strangely "good" - there is a sense of purity about him that puts him apart to the character he later becomes. This begs the question of how they are going to arc his character over this season's episodes to rightfully turn him into the ruthless beast he is to become.

While there are plenty of familiar faces, there are also new introductions. We meet the gladiator Gannicus (Dustin Clare), a drunken and cocky warrior who is the current best of Batiatus' crew. Gannicus is a master of killing men, which makes him a wonderful tool for Batiatus' burning desire to make a profit. I have to wonder how long we are going to get to enjoy Gannicus. The very fact he is not in the original series means he is quite likely dead by that point - and Crixus seems like a very likely culprit.

The one thing that I'm really struck by with the gladiators is just how damned good of shape they are all in. This is fantasy, after all - so physical tone and build are taken way beyond anything that resembles historical accuracy. The men in this series are damned near cut from marble and iron. While the women of Spartacus: Gods of the Arena may spark male lust, the men of the series should induce male shame (as well as, of course, female lust). One of the more amazing is Peter Mensah, who plays Oenomaus. This man is 51 years old, and simply is in amazing shape.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena is a gift for fans of sensationalist plots who enjoy lots of T&A and gore. It is a little like 300 in its melodrama, but with a little more gore and a lot more nudity. This sort of thing has been made uncommon due to the hand-wringing of the imperious MPAA, and it is a damned shame. A feature film such as this would be absolutely doomed to the extremely poorly thought out NC-17 rating (can we just do away with this rating, and all them 'R' again? Thanks). Starz has an in, however, by realizing that an episodic series is completely beyond the authority of the MPAA and their blathering morality. I couldn't be happier that they've made this series.

Look for Spartacus: Gods of the Arena to show up Friday nights on Starz - I will, and I'm looking forward to seeing what blood bath they take us to next!

Rating: (4 out of 5):