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Darko
Dec 23, 2004

STAC Goat posted:

I cracked up when the overly long 4 way immediately cut to two dudes making out. I will not be convinced that wasn't intentional to make a ton of dudes get super uncomfortable about their wood.

Crassus was so cool I had to keep reminding myself he was a bastard, slave owning, (homophobic?)

Movie Crassus was highly bi (so much so that Kubrick had to cut the "I like oysters and snails" speech from the original release because of how offensive that was at that time). One of the coolest things about the film was how it pushed the boundaries, which the show takes and runs with.

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DarkCrawler
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin
We are talking about a guy who did all this stuff to get one of the most massive fortunes in history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crassus#Rise_to_power_and_wealth

He's not a nice dude.

Irish Joe
Jul 23, 2007

by Lowtax
^^Yes, but is he a bad enough dude to save Rome from Spartacus's ravaging hordes?

Loved the cheesy sound effect when Sparty raised the Roman standard. This is shaping up to be a great season.

Scuzzywuffit
Feb 5, 2012

I guess the cool part of Crassus is that all of the villains on the show have been full of bluster, and he seems like the first one who might actually be some kind of competent. It's pretty refreshing, actually.

Also, I don't know if everybody has already seen this, but I was watching the episode on the Starz site and saw that apparently they're making a free-to-play fighting game on Xbox Live Arcade/PSN called Spartacus Legends. I have no idea if it'll be any good or not, but it's also free so I'll probably play the poo poo out of it either way.

Sober
Nov 19, 2011

First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

DarkCrawler posted:

Oh, also, that 4way was like, literal porn. :stare:
Yeah I wasn't surprised at what was going on (considering last season we had that chunky lady with the strap-on in that sex den) but yeah that went on longer than it should've, so not sure if they just let Dustin Clare and Ellen Hollman just literally have sex with two extras or something.

Also if I had a stupid cocky son like Tiberias no wonder Crassus had to keep teaching him to stop relying on money and fame to make it in the world. I like how Crassus just regards being the most wealthiest man in the world only as a means to an end, but doesn't want to completely buy his way to the top seat.

Asbury
Mar 23, 2007
Probation
Can't post for 6 years!
Hair Elf

Babe Magnet posted:

Gonna unspoiler this quote since it aired:
Re: New Spartacus Episode

Crassus' final duel with Gallarus is my new single favorite moment in the entire series so far.

Yeah, I watched the episode again this morning, and it's one of the best scenes in the series.

In both the first season and GotA, almost every fight had weight behind it, a kind of second meaning that made the fights more than just cool choreography, e.g. Batiatus against Solonius, Batiatus against his father, Lucretia against Illythia. The second season, while still good, was missing a lot of that second layer.* The fights were, with a few exceptions, pretty straight-forward affairs.

But man, the writers are firing on all cylinders again. In one sequence we get a great bit of characterization for Crassus (he's willing to be hurt), learn that he has his position for a reason (he's more than just a Roman Mitt Romney), and discover he's a great political animal and an equal to Spartacus (he understands that the war isn't about strength but about patience). If the rest of the season follows suit, it's gonna be a fantastic sendoff to the series.

edit: A little more about season two: I liked it, don't get me wrong (the fall of the arena was a great sequence, and Glaber stepped up to be a pretty great villain), but it felt different from the rest of the show. Most of that was losing Andy Whitfield and Leslie Ann Brandt and trying to get used to new people in the roles, but there was also a huge geographic disconnect between the slaves and the Romans, and it cost the show a lot of its intimacy.** We still have that split, but the writing with Crassus is closing it up. Or maybe I'm just getting used to Liam McIntyre and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, I dunno.

Either way, episode fuckin owned.








*I feel like an rear end using a word like that concerning a show where the theme song is My Cock Rages On but whatever

**Not talkin cocks and boobs here, but more how one choice in the villa affected both upstairs Romans/house slaves and downstairs gladiators.

Asbury fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jan 26, 2013

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Anyone know who the actor was who plays the Senator (Martellus?)

Mercrom
Jul 17, 2009
Well, this is already way better than the second season, and Crassus is already the best character in the series. The best villains are just like heroes, but evil.

As Nero Danced
Sep 3, 2009

Alright, let's do this
Sorry to continue the fawning over Crassus, but god drat what a good job. Only one episode and we know so drat much about him. I liked that he was training with two swords, same as Spartacus. And later, he was literally fighting for his life. He wasn't trying to learn to fight like a Roman, he was learning to fight and think like Spartacus.

It's interesting that Crassus, the man who probably most embodies what Spartacus and the slaves are rebelling against, is the only Roman that realizes a slave can equal or best a free man.

Science
Jun 28, 2006
. . .
I love how they've characterized Crassus when they could have just made him a rich man with ambition. Did anyone else get reminded of the Varro/Spartacus fight during the Crassus/Ilarus fight?



etalian posted:

Also I pray to Gods to finally offer Gannicus brand hair shampoo at the merchandising store.

They just need to make something with the name Gannicus' Cock Enrager™.

Scuzzywuffit posted:

This was also not a good episode to be a horse.

Horses never do well in this show. :(

Science fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jan 26, 2013

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Scuzzywuffit posted:

I guess the cool part of Crassus is that all of the villains on the show have been full of bluster, and he seems like the first one who might actually be some kind of competent. It's pretty refreshing, actually.

It's a similar effective concept to how Glaber was changed in season 2 to be a more direct threat since every episode you could say his latest schemes instead of being a distant threat.


The 4 way bait and switch was brilliant too.

Asbury
Mar 23, 2007
Probation
Can't post for 6 years!
Hair Elf
etalian what happened to your avatar, dude? A Spartacus thread isn't complete without that chick holding a hand against her head.

Chef Bromden
Jun 4, 2009
I loved the fight scene choreography, and just how over the top everything was. Did anyone else see Spartacus do his little whirly-sword maneuver?

VDay
Jul 2, 2003

I'm Pacman Jones!
Completely forgot when this show was coming back and was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was yesterday. Love the bigger budget CGI of Rome and the battles, gives a great sense of the scale of the rebellion and how far they've come since Vesuvius. Really excited for the rest of the season, meeting Caesar, and the (hopefully?) somewhat loose interpretation of the ending of the rebellion.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

I was pleased to see Lugo being listed on the main site as a main character.

richardfun
Aug 10, 2008

Twenty years? It's no wonder I'm so hungry. Do you have anything to eat?

DarkCrawler posted:

Crassus is awesome. I thought they would have made him more of a manipulative bastard because that's what he's known for but I like this depiction of him as well.

"You ask me to kill you?"

"I command you to try."

:black101:

Oh, also, that 4way was like, literal porn. :stare:

At one point during the 4way, I felt like I was actual porn for a second and expected to see them actually having sex...

That being said, awesome premiere. So much happened. This is the only show that makes me comment on poo poo out loud. When Spartacus ran into that room at the end, I said (to the two commanders) "Oh, you are so hosed!".

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Aww, I just realised what's going to happen in Decimation (besides the obvious): Crassus is going to have Tiberius beat his childhood friend to death. Or vice versa. Either way one of them's dying at the hands of the other.

Henrik Zetterberg
Dec 7, 2007

So I guess a couple people died this episode, huh?

Gonz
Dec 22, 2009

"Jesus, did I say that? Or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?"

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

So I guess a couple people died this episode, huh?

That would be an accurate statement.

Irish Joe
Jul 23, 2007

by Lowtax

richardfun posted:

At one point during the 4way, I felt like I was actual porn for a second and expected to see them actually having sex...

I was kinda disappointed we didn't get to see Gannicus's cock. This show usually isn't shy about nudity, but the menage a quatre had next to none.

Boogoose
Oct 5, 2003

GIVE ME THE CASH !
They have to build up Crassus. He's the man who defeats Spartacus, he had to be at least half cool.

Plucky Brit
Nov 7, 2009

Swing low, sweet chariot

Boogoose posted:

They have to build up Crassus. He's the man who defeats Spartacus, he had to be at least half cool.

I always saw him as more of a Zapp Brannigan commander:

"I will simply send wave after wave of my own men at them"

Mainly because he failed so spectacularly at Carrhae.

Alchenar
Apr 9, 2008

Plucky Brit posted:

I always saw him as more of a Zapp Brannigan commander:

"I will simply send wave after wave of my own men at them"

Mainly because he failed so spectacularly at Carrhae.

He's interesting because he's a ruthless self-made man, yet desperate for the power and adoration that in the Roman system comes largely from winning great military victories - but he's not a very good general. His solution for being bad at generally is to bring back decimation. He also has the misfortune to live in the age of Caesar and Pompey, so he's completely in their shadow.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Alchenar posted:

He's interesting because he's a ruthless self-made man, yet desperate for the power and adoration that in the Roman system comes largely from winning great military victories - but he's not a very good general. His solution for being bad at generally is to bring back decimation. He also has the misfortune to live in the age of Caesar and Pompey, so he's completely in their shadow.

Yeah even after all his work in dealing with the uprising he still didn't get the highest honor, only the lower ranked ovation recognition instead of being able to do the full triumph ritual parade.

It's being in the shadow of more successful and also better PR spin leaders like Pompey that drove him to his end in his misguided eastern adventure.

hump day bitches!
Apr 3, 2011


Unrelated to spartacus but in the end of the forbes' article you have this:

DeKnight: “I’m working on a tiny little drawing-room drama for Starz called Incursion. About a year and a half ago I went in and I pitched them a bunch of stuff, and one of them was this crazy idea. I said, ‘Hey, how about Band of Brothers meets Halo, whaddya think?’ And they said yeah, let’s do that one. So we’re working on that one right now. We hope to start shooting some time in May, and it’s a military show set on other planets, and it’s basically human military versus aliens, R-rated like Spartacus, and hopefully you’ll see it in 2014.”


:aaaaa::fh:

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

Darko posted:

Movie Crassus was highly bi (so much so that Kubrick had to cut the "I like oysters and snails" speech from the original release because of how offensive that was at that time). One of the coolest things about the film was how it pushed the boundaries, which the show takes and runs with.

I was just basing the "homophobic?" thing on something his wife said to his son. The son is talking about his father with his friend who says he'll fight by his side to his death. The son puts a hand on his shoulder and they exchange a short glance when mom comes in. The friend quickly excuses himself and the mom gives the son a little speech that includes "don't give your father another reason to doubt you." I sort of took that to be "Don't let your dad know you're gay or he'll think you less of a man." But if it happened it was very subtle so I may have just been reading too much into it.

VDay
Jul 2, 2003

I'm Pacman Jones!
I think you're reading way too much into it. The kid and his friend are definitely very close, but I don't know if there's anything more there or if they meant to imply anything other than just a lifelong friendship. And the speech his mom gave him seemed like just a general "Don't screw up cause it's important that you're successful" one rather than talking about his friend.

LLJKSiLk
Jul 7, 2005

by Athanatos
I also love how they trick you into popping a boner right before you see the guy apparently unloading into the other guy's rear end in a quick switch.

Awesome opening episode. My mouth was dropped most of the way through. If they can keep up that kind of pacing/story through the entire season we are definitely getting treated to something you don't get often with a show.

Alfred P. Pseudonym
May 29, 2006

And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss goes 8-8

The premiere was better than I could possibly have hoped for and Crassus loving owns.

Officer Sandvich
Feb 14, 2010
With Lucretia and Ilithyia gone we definitely need a new female villain. And Gannicus' grin during the double decapitation was so :haw:

STAC Goat
Mar 12, 2008

Watching you sleep.

Butt first, let's
check the feeds.

VDay posted:

I think you're reading way too much into it. The kid and his friend are definitely very close, but I don't know if there's anything more there or if they meant to imply anything other than just a lifelong friendship. And the speech his mom gave him seemed like just a general "Don't screw up cause it's important that you're successful" one rather than talking about his friend.

Yeah, like I said, I might have been. If it was there it was very deftly handled foreshadowing, but its totally possible I just saw something that wasn't there.

Although, isn't that an aspect of Roman Culture they have yet to explore? Someone once told me homosexuality was ok in Rome for people low on the status hierarchy but the higher up you get you had to conceal it. We've seen a ton of gay and bisexual sex but its all been in the shadows or amongst slaves. Actual, proper Romans having to conceal it in the name of status would be a new B plot to tell. Which is probably why I saw it since I had that idea in the back of my head.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

LLJKSiLk posted:

I also love how they trick you into popping a boner right before you see the guy apparently unloading into the other guy's rear end in a quick switch.


Or going from a Lord of the Rings-esque massive battle scene with a lots of over the top violence to doing a quick switch over to naked slave girls giving some hyper-toned guys a sponge bath.

Sober
Nov 19, 2011

First touch: Life.
Second touch: Dead again. Forever.

Plucky Brit posted:

I always saw him as more of a Zapp Brannigan commander:

"I will simply send wave after wave of my own men at them"

Mainly because he failed so spectacularly at Carrhae.
Unless they go with the Caesar spin-off, it was a nice bit of historical foreshadowing of them talking about the Romans constantly losing their standards and then they start talking about Crassus.

STAC Goat posted:

Yeah, like I said, I might have been. If it was there it was very deftly handled foreshadowing, but its totally possible I just saw something that wasn't there.

Although, isn't that an aspect of Roman Culture they have yet to explore? Someone once told me homosexuality was ok in Rome for people low on the status hierarchy but the higher up you get you had to conceal it. We've seen a ton of gay and bisexual sex but its all been in the shadows or amongst slaves. Actual, proper Romans having to conceal it in the name of status would be a new B plot to tell. Which is probably why I saw it since I had that idea in the back of my head.
I think it would've been okay in higher Roman society if you were the pitcher and not the catcher. I might be remembering it wrong, but it sounds about right since you would prefer to be seen as the dominant of the pair.

achillesforever6
Apr 23, 2012

psst you wanna do a communism?

Plucky Brit posted:

I always saw him as more of a Zapp Brannigan commander:

"I will simply send wave after wave of my own men at them"

Mainly because he failed so spectacularly at Carrhae.
To be fair no one could really beat the Parthians because of their Horse Archers.


Alchenar posted:

He's interesting because he's a ruthless self-made man, yet desperate for the power and adoration that in the Roman system comes largely from winning great military victories - but he's not a very good general. His solution for being bad at generally is to bring back decimation. He also has the misfortune to live in the age of Caesar and Pompey, so he's completely in their shadow.
Would you consider Caesar an even more ruthless self-made man? I really want the Caesar spinoff because his story is so interesting and awesome. I mean acting all :smug: when captured and held ransom by Pirates, then the Gaul Campaign where he go into battle wearing a crimson cape, then having his army make a bridge over the Rhine, go in and kill some German, return, and tore down the bridge just to show how they shouldn't gently caress with him. If he wasn't such a genocidal mass murderer I wouldn't feel bad for looking up to him.

DarkCrawler
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin

achillesforever6 posted:


Would you consider Caesar an even more ruthless self-made man?

Caesar was the ultimate badass, way more then Crassus, but he was hardly a self-made man. He had to live up to his name - and he did that with massive overload, but he had the name and status to begin with.

Crassus had nothing when he started out (Sulla had proscribed all his family's money) and he became the richest man in Rome.

Of course, Octavian surpassed them both in both so it's really a shame that the show never explores his rise to power. :(

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?

DarkCrawler posted:

Caesar was the ultimate badass, way more then Crassus, but he was hardly a self-made man. He had to live up to his name - and he did that with massive overload, but he had the name and status to begin with.

Crassus had nothing when he started out (Sulla had proscribed all his family's money) and he became the richest man in Rome.

Of course, Octavian surpassed them both in both so it's really a shame that the show never explores his rise to power. :(

Rome already did.

Orange Carlisle
Jul 14, 2007

Crassus turned out far more interesting and badass than I expected him to be and that made the first episode a great start for the season. As someone else said no one is going to be able to out-do Batiatus but it's a good start. His balls out tempting the fates move with his gladiator training was exciting to watch and the editing between the two action scenes was cool as well.

Gannicus seems to be back to his GOTA self after being a bit weird last season too. Should be a good final run.

Cry Havoc
May 10, 2004

This cyberpunk cartoon avatar is pretty dang ol' good, I tell you what.
Enjoyable season opener. Lots of gore in that opening scene alone.

There's really no such thing as a self-made man, as no man is an island.

etalian
Mar 20, 2006

Mr. Carlisle posted:

Gannicus seems to be back to his GOTA self after being a bit weird last season too. Should be a good final run.

Clair has some really great off set quotes

“I also enjoyed the scenes when I was in the background and drunk. If you really go in and have a hard look, there’s some naughty things that Gannicus gets up to in the background in shots.”

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Democratic Pirate
Feb 17, 2010

I know WotD just started, but my roommates and I just binged on Vengeance today and :stare:. I think Blood and Sands will always be my favorite, because of Batiatus and the fact that the good guys and bad guys were holed up in one place for the scheming. In Vengeance the politicking was between the villains of the show, so much so that I ended up wanting the villains to kill the other villains more than I wanted Spartacus and his crew to do anything.

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