‘Spartacus: House of Ashur’ has plenty of fan appeal
Everything is a matter of taste and largest part people know what they like If you are not already aboard the Spartacus express of which Spartacus House of Ashur is the fifth installment and the first since you should know in short order whether its mix of soft porn graphic violence and scrabbling for power is your goblet of wine In this reboot piloted again by Steven S DeKnight which just premiered on Starz Ashur Nick E Tarabay who was a bad guy in the previous series killed by Spartacus on Mount Vesuvius finds himself in the underworld facing Lucy Lawless returning for a cameo as Lucretia who recaps the story and sends him back to Earth in a timeline where he killed Spartacus instead no reason given or how it s being managed And presto Ashur wakes up in bed with body slaves Hilara Jamaica Vaughan and Messia Ivana Baquero as the boss of the ludus a school for gladiators where he once was employed by Lucretia s husband And not a very pleasant boss either All that business with Spartacus and his slave rebellion is done There is various political backdrop to the show with Pompey and Crassus going at each other off-screen and an amusingly narcissistic Julius Caesar Jackson Gallagher dropping in to draw attention to himself But at least for the five episodes out of available to review House of Ashur is mostly a sort of show business story as Ashur attempts to get his troupe into the big time while banking on an untested newcomer Call it Gold Diggers of BC With sex and blood The newcomer is Achillia Tenika Davis a newly enslaved Nubian Ashur finds down at the docks taking apart her guards In her lust for freedom she s the Spartacus of this Spartacus But the boys at the ludus whose ranks notably include decent guy Celadus Dan Hamill and his hotheaded son Tarchon Jordi Webber are not keen to admit a woman to their ranks and are doubly peeved that Ashur is skipping her into a headlining role For her part she s got a lot a lot of learning to do trainer Korris Graham McTavish the person here you d bulk want on your side may be of help Ashur doesn t truly tell her You re going out a youngster but you ve got to come back a star as Warner Baxter commented to Ruby Keeler but the idea is roughly the same Ashur s juggling for a spot on the bill at the big arena brings him into contact with the hoi polloi of Capua the town where the story takes place they generally regard him as something to avoid stepping in That he s an ex-slave and a Syrian whom people call the Syrian doesn t help This gang includes rival Proculus Simon Arblaster and his trio of deadly little people Senator Gabinius Andrew McFarlane Real Housewife of Capua Cossutia Claudia Black and their lovely young daughter Viridia India Shaw-Smith who has been holed up at home since the death of her husband in the Spartacus wars The dialogue appears crafted to set a world record for profanity practically the only adjective these people use begins with F At the same time there is a sort of Shakespearean lilt to much of of it a multitude of lines in my random examination resolve into iambic pentameter The greater part notably there s an attempt to mirror Latin grammar by omitting articles and possessive pronouns We stray from point What do eyes behold It s a cute but nonsensical idea that just makes the characters come off as comical The series takes its melodrama seriously with evident dedication to its staging its complicated fight scenes of which there are various and its financing in sets and costumes and effects the fake blood budget alone must be staggering And yet so extreme is it in its violence and so resolute in its naughtiness that I also find the series kind of hilarious It possibly doesn t help that whenever I hear the name Spartacus I think of Tom Everett Scott declaring I am Sparta-coos in That Thing You Do and sometimes of Magnus Scheving as Sportacus the athletic superhero of the kids show LazyTown But that s on me Tribune News Provision SPARTACUS HOUSE OF ASHUR Rated TV-MA On Starz Grade C
