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I can only think of one time in my life where I’ve felt so sick watching something I’ve had to turn off my TV (Raw, the body horror movie by Julia Ducournau). Now, there’s a second entry in that list – the new Starz show Spartacus: House of Ashur.
Think Gladiator if Ridley Scott didn’t have to adhere to cinema age rating criteria. Blood is well and truly spilled in this version of Ancient Rome, and it’s enough to make even the most hardened of horror fans turn green.
Lift the lid on Spartacus: House of Ashur and you’ll start to see the problems
Even the above trailer has had to be heavily redacted so it can actually be posted on YouTube. The gore and guts are easily Spartacus: House of Ashur‘s big selling point, and this means returning fans will definitely not be disappointed.
There are certainly some astonishing and creative maiming, even if the VFX don’t always make them look believable. Without giving anything away, my favorite (if that’s the right thing to call it) is at the end of episode 2, where Achillia (Tenika Davis) finally gets her own back on the male gladiators who have been expectedly sexist.
Here’s the first big dichotomy. The sequel introduces a female gladiator to its ranks as the big ‘we have can diverse casting just as effective as Bridgerton‘s’ moment. It’s actually a historically accurate decision, but more importantly, it’s effective.
Davis is easily the best part of Spartacus: House of Ashur, running literal rings around her co-stars. She’s clearly put in a lot of hours of training, and Achillia’s attitude to Ancient Rome isn’t just refreshing, but a necessary palate cleanser. Claudia Black’s Cossutia isn’t too far behind, effortlessly swinging from wife to warrior.
As for the rest of the show’s female characters, there’s a lot left to be desired. It’s almost a given that a historical drama will falter to showing degradation unnecessarily because, a) it actually happened and, b) it’s an easy way to create on-screen tension.
But wouldn’t it be a novel idea to be as forward-thinking narratively as shows are in their casting? Rewrite history for the right reasons, people!
As for the rest, it’s all convoluted
But let’s move onto the meat of the show, as it very much were. Aside from Ashur and right-hand man Korris (Graham McTavish), our men are not as interesting once they’ve put down their spears and shields. A good 90% of their time is taken up with combat training, so anything else we see (e.g. emotional narrative) is incredibly heavy-handed.
Outside of the impactful fighting, nothing else really lands. There’s no point in time that I’m concerned with finding out what happens next, or wondering whether the overall storyline is going to take me somewhere else. Instead, I’m wondering who will have blood gushing out of their legs next.
Still, there are small wins. Episode 1 kicks us off with a surprise Lucy Lawless cameo and Ashur keeps a firm hand on the tiller as the new Dominius. But as I’ve hammered home by now, we’re essentially sitting ringside for a 10-episode long fight we can just about stomach.
Nuance, meaning and complexity? Not present here. Full-throttle entertainment, gore and fighting to the death? Amped up to the max. Whether that’s a good or bad thing remains to be seen.
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jasmine.valentine@futurenet.com (Jasmine Valentine)
