The following article appeared in The Australian newspaper 08 May 2012. PR for the show is pretty quiet so it's good to see something in the Australian media.
Sword and Sandals Epic
The Australian 08 May 2012
The effects are spectacular, the battle scenes terrifically choreographed, and you'll see more exposed male flesh here than on any other program bar the wrestling. The setting is quite obviously New Zealand and a great many handsome Maori are knifed and dismembered as extras. There is, as well, the odd "fush and chups" accent moment, which is odd but not unforgiveable in a rendering of ancient Rome. The main reminder of the great city is in the candlelit bath scenes, where tonight Gaius Claudius Glaber (Craig Parker), the man who enslaved Spartacus in the first place, is seen chillin' wid his bitches. Or at least he would have been a couple of thousand years later.
In the manner of these things, the women, generally wives and lovers and occasionally beautiful slave girls, have a bitchy, conniving world all their own, a bit like an ancient setting of Revenge. Glaber's wife Ilithia (Viva Bianca) storms about the place managing intrigues and the occasional tryst with a gladiator on the side. Tonight she gets to act out her Electra complex when she catches Daddy at it with that bitch Lucretia (Lucy Lawless). Meanwhile, Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) and a few scantily clad rugby forwards are clomping through the forest, their numbers ever dwindling as they are bumped off by sneaky Roman soldiers.
Spartacus: Vengeance, Monday, 9.30pm, Go!
For more about Lucy's role as Lucretia on Spartacus visit the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Spartacus subsite or the AUSXIP Spartacus News and Multimedia Site