Liam McIntyre is excellent as Spartacus. He replaced Andy Whitfield.

The opening sequence is four gladiators fighting eight roman horse soldiers and it does not disappoint in bloodlust or action.

And then about ten minutes later there is a raid on a brothel that left me speechless and wide-eyed. Now I'm not a virgin nor am I easily startled by latex marital aids... WOW!

Not for the squeamish or faint of heart.

Something is missing.

Like the difference between a Hollywood and Euro production

I believe HBO could have done it better. I cannot get into Spartacus although I almost always like that Rome stuff. Almost as good as Nazi or Papal inspired stuff.

Moi

Last Friday's Spartacus ended with the gladiator arena being burnt to the ground quite spectacularly.

It's got so much in the story and it leaves everyone who wasn't killed in the first series finale hanging and twisting in the wind.

Remember, this was the arena that inspired Lentulus Batiatis and his wife Lucretia to take control of his Ludis and that was the Ludis where Glaber placed Spartacus and the Ludis.

And now it is in ashes and Spartacus is once again free.

I was screaming and cheering the blood and destruction.

i really love this show, but i miss the old actor

A fateful sentence:

"I would have the life of Caius Claudius Glaber"

Sacramentum

I came back to say that there was lots of guts in this episode...

And I'm not using the colloquial for courage but guts, squirmy, bloody guts and one fight seen that you shouldn't be eating or drinking when you see. (oh yes, that nasty).

I have enjoyed this Spartacus: Vengeance very much ....Spartacus body was never found by the romans when he and the rest of the slave army was wiped out by the roman legions it says in the history books so hopefully they can use that piece of history when they end the series.

I cant get cable so I watch the show online on my computer.

From what I know of the Spartacus story, I think that he defeats Glaber and goes on to bigger and better battles.

TV Guide has a page about each episode and it includes a plot rehash, a body count and an "icky" moment or two or three or maybe four and five and six. Last night I counted six crucifixions...

It's the next to last Spartacus episode... There are flaming fireballs in this one. Big, ugly flaming fireballs fired from catapults for the glory of Rome. IT so much fun to watch. So far we have only seen the Roman legions but now we see the real might of Rome and why its armies conquered the known world.

However, before that:

a) Glaber the Roman Praetor who captured Spartacus and sold him in to slavery is revealed to all as the bloodthirsty monster that he has become.

b) there is surprisingly little blood in the first half of the episode but when the blood comes, the set takes a bath in red. I've never seen blood spurt like that except in Kurasowa's film RAN (chaos) and possible Kagemusha. Glorious red blood spurting from sliced neck. One of the main characters dies.

c) This is a spoiler but you can read it in any HISTORY of the Punic wars and Spartacus's slave rebellion. Spartacus is forced up to a plateau on Vesuvius and Glaber is sure that he can stave the slaves out. However, next week, History repeats itself and Spartacus defeats Glaber by a rear entry...

Like I said, history books are the spoiler here.

Is this a bad time to say History repeats itself?

River