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Spartacus Season 3Follow

#1 Jan 25 2013 at 8:55 PM Rating: Good
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Season 3 of Spartacus started tonight. More over the top gore and sex.

I'll be watching it just to see what they do for this final season.
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#2 Jan 28 2013 at 8:48 PM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
Season 3 of Spartacus started tonight. More over the top gore and sex.

I'll be watching it just to see what they do for this final season.


Hmmm... Didn't even realize it was coming out, much less that it had already. Apparently, I haven't been watching the correct channels to see commercials for this. I'll check it out tonight. Kinda not a whole lot of story left to do, but I'm sure they'll find some interesting filler to put into the historical stuff. And of course, lots of blood, guts, and sex.
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#3 Jan 28 2013 at 8:55 PM Rating: Good
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Ya, I didn't realize it until about two hours before hand. My brother walked out into the living room and said "Oh, by the way, Spartacus starts up again tonight".

The pilot had a couple good points I liked the scene near the end with Crassus training on the Gladiator in front of Tiberius. And how he purposefully sent the messengers by Spartacus' camp so they would get caught and Spartacus would kill Crassus' competition. I know little of the actual history so I have nothing to compare it to..

Oh, And of course a threesome scene between a guy and two girls that quickly cuts to two dudes having sex so the writers can laugh at all the people caught by surprise. Ha ha you are aroused and there are two naked dudes going at it.

I think I'll miss Viva Bianca. Not so much Lucy Lawless. Maybe if she had done it back when she was Warrior Princess and everyone was swooning it would have been interesting.

Edited, Jan 28th 2013 10:48pm by TirithRR
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#4 Jan 28 2013 at 10:05 PM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
The pilot had a couple good points I liked the scene near the end with Crassus training on the Gladiator in front of Tiberius. And how he purposefully sent the messengers by Spartacus' camp so they would get caught and Spartacus would kill Crassus' competition. I know little of the actual history so I have nothing to compare it to..


The broad occurrences are historical, and the broad political competition which hindered the capture of the slaves was real. And the fact that there were problems with house Batiatus which led to the revolt in the first place are real. The series' pretty much fill that in with detail that's completely fictional though. We know what happens to each of the historical figures, so what's fun and interesting is to see what they do with the invented ones. That and the details they make up along the way.
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#5 Mar 09 2013 at 5:09 PM Rating: Excellent
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Just watched episodes 5 and 6 and I must admit they managed what most of the show so far hasn't managed: to really pull me in and put me on edge.
While I always liked the show (yay for blood and nudity) I never found it to be very enthralling. The last two episodes were a different experience and I welcome it. Hope they can keep this up.

So how do you like this season so far? Has been rather quiet in here for a while.
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#6 Mar 09 2013 at 6:05 PM Rating: Good
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It's interesting to see who is ahead of who in the battle of wits between Crassus and Spartacus.

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#7 Mar 21 2013 at 6:54 AM Rating: Excellent
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Just watched episode 3x07 and enjoyed it. The only issue I have with this latest season is that the choreography in fighting scenes doesn't seem to be on par with the fights in Blood and Sand. Sure there is a lot of slowmotion and decapitations and such. But the handling of the various weapons was more impressive in the first season. At least that's what I think. Has been a while since I watched the older episodes.
#8 Mar 21 2013 at 11:51 AM Rating: Decent
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TherealLogros wrote:
Just watched episode 3x07 and enjoyed it. The only issue I have with this latest season is that the choreography in fighting scenes doesn't seem to be on par with the fights in Blood and Sand. Sure there is a lot of slowmotion and decapitations and such. But the handling of the various weapons was more impressive in the first season. At least that's what I think. Has been a while since I watched the older episodes.


Yeah. I noticed that as well. They seem to just go into slow motion and show them waving their swords at folks and them bursting into sprays of blood. I did like how they fit in both the betrayal of the pirates and the big ol trench into the story (although neither exactly as it was historically I don't think). Pretty well done all told though.

My one gripe was the whole "Caesar sneaking into the city" bit. I get him going undercover, but it seemed like ultimately nothing he did really mattered. At the end of it all, he killed one or two rebels and lit a gate on fire. He didn't open the gate, which would have made him useful. He just lit it on fire and waited for the army outside to batter it down. Um... They could have done that from outside just as easily since apparently no one was really manning the walls of the city anyway since there were a bunch of guys with a battering ram just outside the gate. I get that they only have so much set and so many actors they can put into a fight scene, but the few people at the gate can't have been the sole defenders of the city walls, else the army could have just walked up with ladders at any time.

Not to mention, do you have any idea how long it takes for a fire to weaken a gate like that to any appreciable degree? Hours, not seconds. That whole sequence just kinda bothered me.
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#9 Mar 27 2013 at 7:21 AM Rating: Excellent
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gbaji wrote:
Yeah. I noticed that as well. They seem to just go into slow motion and show them waving their swords at folks and them bursting into sprays of blood.


Exactly Smiley: lol

The last episode was pretty good too. Now that theycan kill everyone except Caesar and Crassus they get some good emotional scenes. I mean, you can't compare the characters to The Wire or such but at least some of them grew more complex than haters of the series, who only see the sex and the violence, care to admit.

Also, Anna Hutchison is hawt.
#10 Mar 28 2013 at 11:26 AM Rating: Decent
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TherealLogros wrote:
The last episode was pretty good too. Now that theycan kill everyone except Caesar and Crassus they get some good emotional scenes


They can kill them too (and Pompey if the *** ever shows up). Just have to ignore the title character and go into the politics of what happens after the revolt. Or, I suppose I could just go watch my Rome DVDs instead. ;)


Oh. Not so thrilled with the choice for Caesar in this series either. Am I the only one who thinks they were trying too hard to make him like Pitt's Achilles?

Edited, Mar 28th 2013 10:35am by gbaji
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#11 Mar 28 2013 at 11:46 AM Rating: Excellent
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He doesn't fit the image I had from Caesar at all. Like you I watched Rome before so my expectations were pretty biased. But to be honest I don't mind it too much since this show is mostly about people looking really good while killing other people and/or having sex. Smiley: lol
#12 Mar 28 2013 at 2:27 PM Rating: Decent
Hi, I'm new to this site. A commentary in favor of Spartacus and vibrant scenes and emotion. Thank you.
#13 Mar 28 2013 at 2:28 PM Rating: Good
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MargaStan wrote:
Hi, I'm new to this site. A commentary in favor of Spartacus and vibrant scenes and emotion. Thank you.


A comment doubting the authenticity of your reply.

Edited, Mar 28th 2013 4:29pm by TirithRR
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#14 Mar 28 2013 at 8:46 PM Rating: Decent
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TherealLogros wrote:
He doesn't fit the image I had from Caesar at all. Like you I watched Rome before so my expectations were pretty biased. But to be honest I don't mind it too much since this show is mostly about people looking really good while killing other people and/or having sex. Smiley: lol


It's not just Rome. This version is dramatically different than pretty much every other depiction of Caesar I've ever seen or heard of. The whole blond hair thing, right off the bat, of course. But also that he's some kind of bad *** with a sword (no indication of this historically), or that he'd go in under cover among the slave army? Not likely at all. And that's before getting into the whole back and forth between him and the completely made up Tiberius character. I get that the show takes great liberties with the details within the story, and has changed some events to make the story flow better, but something about how they're portraying him just sets me off as "wrong".

Of course they did Crassus completely wrong as well, but at least I get why. Can't have Sparticus and his friends beaten just because they really had no hope to start with and Crassus' only real accomplishment was using his wealth and power to arrange to be the guy who defeated them (which he failed to achieve the credit for in the end anyway). So they portray him as some genius tactician, and that's how he wins. I get it. And they have to make him and Caesar super good swordsmen so they can have the main characters fighting at some point. Again, I get it. But there was no reason to go so far off the historical path with Caesar.

Drama for drama's sake, I guess?
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#15 Mar 28 2013 at 11:32 PM Rating: Excellent
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TirithRR wrote:
MargaStan wrote:
Hi, I'm new to this site. A commentary in favor of Spartacus and vibrant scenes and emotion. Thank you.


A comment doubting the authenticity of your reply.

Edited, Mar 28th 2013 4:29pm by TirithRR


At first I thought you wrote "doubling". Oh you meany ;)

@gbaji: Apart from him being some kind of ingenious commander, being murdered by Brutus and everything that was portrayed of him in Rome I know nothing about Caesar. So while I understand where you're coming from it doesn't bother me. Spartacus is the kind of show I don't expect historical accuracy from.
#16 Apr 05 2013 at 8:01 PM Rating: Good
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I thought this was the series finale, and was VERY disappointed.

But turns out next week is the finale...
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#17 Apr 08 2013 at 3:54 PM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
I thought this was the series finale, and was VERY disappointed.

But turns out next week is the finale...


I thought so too. Good news is that the DaVinci series is starting this Friday as well, so there will be something else to watch.

I'm honestly not sure what to make of this weeks episode. It's kinda like the writers suddenly realized they needed to wrap up several story lines and character development lines, but couldn't think of a good way to do it.

The death of Tiberius was handled poorly IMO. First off going through the process of having Nevia choose to give up her need for revenge in order to get some prisoners back would have meant a lot more if there had been even the slightest movement in that direction in terms of character development. But it's like suddenly this character that's been portrayed as a dead-inside killer of anyone Roman, to the point of intentionally killing the smith guy who helped them in the city kinda "just because", has some sort of epiphany and changes her mind? Wasn't sold well. I'm assuming editing for time may have been responsible.

Then having him die the way he did, just wasn't very satisfying. I get that they have to resolve the Caesar bit, which requires Tiberius die, but really? I actually kinda get Caesar handing over the prisoners anyway (although I'm unclear how the whole exchange thing was set up, given that he got beat just meeting with Spartacus' folks), cause he got what he wanted out of it all without getting his own hands dirty. But I really don't get either the actions of Crassus' slave (can't remember he name atm) or Crassus himself. Made no real sense. I get her wanting revenge on Tiberius, but I don't get her ever choosing to risk returning to Crassus after that point and I really don't get Crassus taking her back in after what she'd done (even not knowing she's the one who killed his son it makes no sense). Certainly, not to the point of it making up for the fact that his son had died and Caesar gave them the prisoners anyway.


The whole thing really was kinda disjointed, and I'm not sure what the point was. I can only assume they have certain characters that are slated to survive/escape at the end and so they needed to make certain changes to make that happen. Um... But they could have much more easily managed that by just writing a minor change into the previous episode, right? Egeron's choice to go with Crixus was a surprise anyway. He was expected to stay with Sparticus. So they have him change his mind, then get captured and tortured, then returned? So... what? Only reason would be if he's one of the ones who survives and lives happily ever after, but then why have him change his mind and go with Crixus in the first place? It was out of character. Drama for drama's sake again?.

Dunno, the writers did an "ok" job filling in a story within the historical confines (sorta), but I don't think they were able to get the character elements going quite right. I don't know if it was lack of screen time, editorial issues, or what, but some of the characters you just kinda don't really care about the way it appears like the writers intended us to. I've still enjoyed this season (and definitely enjoyed the whole series), but I think it could have been done better.

Edited, Apr 8th 2013 2:55pm by gbaji
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#18 Apr 08 2013 at 4:55 PM Rating: Good
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I get her wanting revenge on Tiberius, but I don't get her ever choosing to risk returning to Crassus after that point and I really don't get Crassus taking her back in after what she'd done (even not knowing she's the one who killed his son it makes no sense). Certainly, not to the point of it making up for the fact that his son had died and Caesar gave them the prisoners anyway.


She still loved Crassus. And when Tiberius lied to her and told her that Crassus still loved her, trying to save his own life, she believed him, but still didn't want to save Tiberius for what he had done to her. When she returned to Crassus, she was hoping to be returned to the same exact point by his side that she had left from, still believing Tiberius's words. Instead, while Crassus did accept her back, he ordered her to refer to him as Dominus from now on, in direct contrast to his feelings and attitude to her earlier in the season where he told her to refer to him as Marcus. Indicating that he no longer held the same respect for her, that she was now just a slave to him.

I don't think it's going to be all sunshine and flowers for her now.


Edited, Apr 8th 2013 6:56pm by TirithRR
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#19 Apr 09 2013 at 5:35 AM Rating: Excellent
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For the first 3 and a half seasons (including the Gods of the Arena season/spin-off into my count) I never expected Spartacus to become so epic. Can't wait for the finale.
#20 Apr 11 2013 at 11:34 AM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
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I get her wanting revenge on Tiberius, but I don't get her ever choosing to risk returning to Crassus after that point and I really don't get Crassus taking her back in after what she'd done (even not knowing she's the one who killed his son it makes no sense). Certainly, not to the point of it making up for the fact that his son had died and Caesar gave them the prisoners anyway.


She still loved Crassus. And when Tiberius lied to her and told her that Crassus still loved her, trying to save his own life, she believed him, but still didn't want to save Tiberius for what he had done to her. When she returned to Crassus, she was hoping to be returned to the same exact point by his side that she had left from, still believing Tiberius's words. Instead, while Crassus did accept her back, he ordered her to refer to him as Dominus from now on, in direct contrast to his feelings and attitude to her earlier in the season where he told her to refer to him as Marcus. Indicating that he no longer held the same respect for her, that she was now just a slave to him.

I don't think it's going to be all sunshine and flowers for her now.


Yeah. I got that as well. And if this had been a character development plot point intended to affect/justify her future actions, that would make perfect sense. But there's one episode left. I'm not sure what if any dramatic acts she can take here and keep the story within the confines of history, so it's almost like wasted screen time. It's just like that whole plot path was created so that she could realize Crassus really was a bad guy, and then... what? Be the poster child for oppressed slaves after the Third Servile War ends? Seems a bit heavy handed to me. It's not like the audience isn't going to get it. Slavery==Bad. It's not like they can re-write history and make it so the poor actions and in fighting among the Romans allows the slaves to win or anything.


I'm just kinda questioning it from a storytelling point of view here. With limited screen time, and what I feel are clear signs that they were rushed on some parts of the story, especially in terms of certain character development, it seems like you could have simply not had the character in there at all, and by changing the way Tiberius died (which might have been better) not really lost anything. Don't get me wrong, I saw lots of potential in how the character could have been used effectively in the story, but it seemed like they missed those opportunities and didn't really hit on any key elements at all with her. I suspect she was originally intended to show a more human side to Crassus, with him more hardened by circumstances than personality, but they decided later to go in a different direction (cause well, he was pretty much the same all the way through), and the character just kinda lost her purpose in the plot.
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#21 Apr 11 2013 at 2:57 PM Rating: Good
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Yeah. I got that as well. And if this had been a character development plot point intended to affect/justify her future actions, that would make perfect sense. But there's one episode left. I'm not sure what if any dramatic acts she can take here and keep the story within the confines of history, so it's almost like wasted screen time.


I don't think I'd be surprised if they used it as a way to have Kore (had to look up her name) betray Crassus in some meaningful way during the finale in a moment between Crassus and Spartacus.
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#22 Apr 11 2013 at 6:23 PM Rating: Decent
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TirithRR wrote:
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Yeah. I got that as well. And if this had been a character development plot point intended to affect/justify her future actions, that would make perfect sense. But there's one episode left. I'm not sure what if any dramatic acts she can take here and keep the story within the confines of history, so it's almost like wasted screen time.


I don't think I'd be surprised if they used it as a way to have Kore (had to look up her name) betray Crassus in some meaningful way during the finale in a moment between Crassus and Spartacus.


Maybe. But that's why I mentioned historical restrictions. We know Crassus lives and Caesar lives. And those are the only two named characters she's likely to interact with in the time remaining. So it's hard to see what significant act of betrayal she could achieve. Maybe somehow use her position to help some of Spartacus' folks escape? I guess it's possible. I assumed the Roman former noble now slave (can't remember her name either) would be involved in that somehow, so maybe she helps out as well. Dunno. I suppose we'll find out tomorrow night.
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#23 Apr 12 2013 at 10:01 PM Rating: Good
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Turns out Crassus loved Kore more than he loved Tiberius. But less than he loved his reputation. Couldn't allow her to live. (At least, that's how I saw it).

I missed some dialog or scenes between blonde German chick and Gannicus. I hadn't realized they had separated. But at least we got to see tiny dark haired chick get banged one more time. Of course they did the whole I am Spartacus! scenes. And the last image during the final credits. That was Andy Whitfield's Spartacus, right? The whole time they were doing Spartacus' flashbacks to his wife and previous friends who fell, I kept thinking "They gotta make sure not to show Spartacus in these Season 1 flashbacks". I think it'd be a nice shout out to the actor to have his image be the last one in the series, if that was him. I couldn't tell 100%.


I was happy with it. But I still miss Viva Bianca...
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#24 Apr 14 2013 at 5:57 AM Rating: Excellent
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TirithRR wrote:
And the last image during the final credits. That was Andy Whitfield's Spartacus, right?


Yes that was him. The ending credits were pretty awesome and putting him in was a nice touch.

They managed to end this series very well if you ask me.
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