The Guardian UK newspaper has a great review of Spartacus...don't you just love it when they fully expect to hate it and they turn around and love it? All they need to do is give the show a fair go. Off my soap box...here is part of the review:
Have you been watching … Spartacus: Blood and Sand?
The gore is ludicrously OTT and the characters unlikable, but this is a terrific show – compelling, smart and funny
"The real acting honours are nabbed fair and square by John Hannah and Lucy Lawless as decadent, conniving couple Batiatus and Lucretia. Former Xena Warrior Princess Lawless is back on familiar turf: a TV show shot in New Zealand with a lot of swordplay and produced (along with Sam Raimi) by her husband Robert Tapert. Both Lawless and Hannah sink their teeth into some meaty dialogue while chewing up as much scenery as possible. It's no surprise that the pair are booked for a spinoff prequel show."
The friction between the cellar-dwelling gladiatori slaves and their Roman masters living above gives Spartacus a weird bloodsoaked Upstairs Downstairs feeling. It's amazing just how compelling this show is. It started to gain pace around episode four and the final episode, with the title Kill Them All, is a real stunner, a hellish ending to a show that offers more than just gore.