Catching up with Spartacus

Working on my never-ending quest to catch up with what was popular a few years ago, my wife and I have recently begun to watch teh Starz series Spartacus.

For years now I've been a pretty big fan of the classics, whether the stories of mythology, the actual history, or many of the fascinating novels, films, televison and games that have used Ancient Greece and Rome as a resource.

Spartacus was a bit of a hard sell for me - when I initally looked at the advertisements for the series it all looked pretty fake - both the sets looked a little too computer generated, and the actors looked far more muscularly toned than any ancient gladiator would ever have been (they preferred bulk over tone).  But as the guy who owns more than a few series set in the ancient world, eventually I was going to give it a try.

Honestly?  I'm really liking it!  Even though I'm familiar wih the story of the historical Spartacus, and therefoer aware of most of the broad strokes of the story, I was very quickly drawn into the drama and action of the series, and as we are now almost halfway through season 2 (which is technically season 3), I'm pretty sure I'm going to be championing this show for a while - it's relatable, filled with good characters and a lot of sex and violence (so definitely not for the kids), and is completely, almost addictively watchable.

If you've never given it a shot, it is worth a look - although to be fair, once you start you may find it hard to stop.