Spartacus - House of Ashur
So, I started watching this spin off, because I very much enjoyed the original Spartacus series and because there isn't much else to watch. (Seriously, where have the days gone, when Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones were in rotation)?
I'm genuinely trying to give this show a chance, but I'm having a hard time to be unbiased.
The whole premise of this show is an alternate reality. What if >!Ashur hadn't died !<in the original show and instead >!killed Spartacus and therefore got rewarded with the ludus of his previous dominus. !<
It's a dumb premise but then again: It's fantasy. And I'm like: "Ugh! OK, fine. I'll play along."
Centering this show around one the most hated charactersfrom the previous show, , a backstabbing, viscious snake, is certainly a bold move.
But they are not done yet. Enter: Neferet aka Achillia, the first female black gladiator, who's supposed to make the ludus famous for offering something "exotic" to the crowd.
Ugh! Where have we seen that before, except in every woke, feminist fantasy for the last decade or so. So a woman with maybe 65kg soaking wet is going against trained warriors. At least the show runners were not stupid enough to make her OP from the getgo and so she gets put on her ass a couple of times within the first two episodes before >!ripping off another gladiators junk, after he tries to rape her. For killing a brother !<Korris the dotore challnges her to a fight with steel swords in the absence of Ashur. Achillia is ultimately defeated and just before Korris strikes the lethal blow, >!he recognizes that she has wounded him.!< Therefore she has earned his respect and is now under his protection. I'm rolling my eyes. A very pooly written and even more poorly executed twist to push the plot along somehow.
Achillia so far has the emotional depth of a mud puddle and even though the writers wanted to give her some kind of character arch, the struggle of being put into an impossible and dangerous situation that will most likely lead to her death, is not reflected in her emotions. There's no fear, no self doubt. She is just stoic, determined and angry. At least so far.
I've gotten to episode 2 and I still have a bit of hope that the show runners could make this work somehow if they give Achillia a bit of room to be ... human and give her a bit more exposition and background. But we'll see.
If not, at least the unhinged violence and sex scratches the same itch the original seasons did.