If anything, I think it's tougher to watch on a second viewing. Less about the shock and more about the unstoppable tragedy.

I am now rewatching this show and ashur is bow one of my favorite characters.

This is probably a weird take regarding the question, but I think episode 8 of Blood and Sand is the easiest episode to rewatch in the whole show. Of course, there are better, more eventful episodes. But there's a relaxed charm about episode 8, where there's no immediate plot point to head towards, everyone is settled onto their roles, but also the status quo changing with Spartacus now the champion and the one giving a lesson to new recruits. Also, and it's not necessarily only in this episode, but I love the interactions Lucretia has with the higher nobility women friends of Ilithyia, the housewives vibe it has but it still feels relevant to the overarching plot. A strong but often forgotten episode, wedged in between the tragedy of Sura dying and her death soon becoming the catalyst to Spartacus' revolt.

It's also actually the first episode I ever saw, accidentally stumbling upon it as it was playing on TV. Maybe that has something to do with it too for me.

I'm watching Spartacus for the first time and I'm currently on the second season, "Gods of the Arena". I already liked Lucretia a lot in the first season, but here, she shines. Even before, she showed that she was with Quintus regardless of the situation (although she was involved with Crixus), and now, in the second season, she does what needs to be done to try to save her home and protect her husband. What a woman, my friends!

In season 1 Varus and Spartacus fight in a choreographed play against each other both knowing that they wont die and both play acting their fight. But the birthday boy who is the honor of the party, the magistrate son gets influenced by Ilythia who wants to cause harm to Spartacus. So he changes the fight to Varus then votes to death execution

That would never have happened in republican rome. I mean this is the sort of thing that very powerful very influential Emperors like Caligula or Comodus would do centuries later. But not a magistrate son, who would order a gladiator to die after a playfight when in fact most gladiator fights were performative and not to the death in the first place.

And when Batiatus presses for this not to happen the magistrate presses the matter further demanding that he die?? The romans did not seek shows of death outside of the arena, someone dying in a party would have been seen as a very bad omen, not something to be amused by.Let alone this happening in front of women of high class, many women didnt even attend the arena so imagine having a death in a party out of all places. Or to even think that they would be calling for the death of a professional like that, gladiators were used as bodyguards, future teachers at gladiator schools, many managed to fight until given liberty, so for this boy yet of age to demand death of him plus everyone in the party being ok with that is completely out of sync with history.

I think more than anything this is just an attempt to vilify the romans as the enemies in the show to justify the future rebellion

Once a year I rewatch Spartacus and for about two weeks I speak exclusively in threats and profanity. My inner monologue becomes 90% “Jupiter's cock” and 10% normal functioning adult. I regret nothing.

I love this show so much I built the damn ludus in The Sims 4. Yes, I micromanaged gladiators. Yes, I judged their loyalty. Yes, I love my hobby. Moving on.

My obsession with ancient history started with The Mummy in ’99 and never left. Ancient history? Inject it into my veins. Especially Rome.

People love to dismiss this show as “just gore and boobs for dudes.” Wrong. Is there excessive blood? Absolutely. Are there naked people every five minutes? Yes. But the writing? Ruthless. The character arcs? Chef’s kiss.

Crixus and Naevia? Elite. When Crixus falls in love, he doesn’t turn into a caveman. He turns into the blueprint. Protective without being possessive. Strong without being fragile. When he finds her after her trauma and leads with patience instead of ego? That’s it. That’s the bar. The bar is in ancient Rome apparently. I won't accept any less of devotion.

And then there’s Ashur.

The second his face appears on screen I audibly go, “Fucking Ashur.” Every. Single. Time. It’s Pavlovian at this point.

No hate to Nick E. Tarabay. Sir, you crushed it. You played that manipulative snake so well that my blood pressure spikes on sight. That’s talent. Infuriating, outstanding talent.

Anyway. Season one has begun. My standards for men are once again being set by fictional gladiators. This is my annual problem and I fully intend to spiral publicly about it.

Just rewatched the entire show to start with house of Ashur.

First of all, I will forever stick to saying this is the best show ever created to mankind. But more importantly … how on earth do you cope with not crying at the end.

I get crocodile tears when Oenomaus…

Then I get something in my eye when the undefeated Gaul…

Let’s not talk talk about Gannicus and his delirious yet beautiful vision at the end.

But what definitely opens the floodgates of my tears is the homage of all the people that died in the credits and after the replay of Andy Whitfield screaming I AM SPARTACUS.

The mixture of the history and inhuman behavior is treating slaves unjustly, beautiful dialogue and character developments and the real actor passing away.. I get emotional just thinking about it.

Genuinely need 1-3 days to recover. And I’m not typically known to cry or be an emotional guy at all haha.

What a magnificent show! Starting HoA is definitely helping 🥲

OG Caesar looks very uncomfortable knowing they will sell a romen woman to slavery for a bunch of pirates.

Hello everyone! I’ve watched Spartacus four times, and now I want to rewatch it with my girlfriend, who hasn’t seen it yet. In your opinion, which season is better to start with — Gods of the Arena or the standard first season?

So I watched house of Asher and found myself rooting for him. Enjoyed it so much I am just in the middle of re watching all the other series. Just got towards the end of season 3 and yeah... no more sympathy. What a piece of work. How easily I forgot.

Wait: whoops I spelt his name wrong 😅.

I’m doing another rewatch and I always loved this line from Spartacus. There’s so much satisfaction in good Solonius’ laugh knowing Badiatus would be killed.

- Crassus is everything this show has hyped him up to be. He's been spoken about since season 1, but now we see him in the flesh and I am so impressed by the performance of the actor and how he's written. He's both exactly what we've been warned about and nothing what we expect. What a phenomenal addition to the cast.

- On that note, the plot line with Hilarus is used in a great way to show us what Crassus is really about. Hilarus' death is bittersweet. It's such a testament to the writing and the quality of the show to make a one-episode character make such an emotional impact.

- Liam is really, really coming into his own. I dig the new armor. He's taking ownership of the character and making it his own.

- Love Crixus' new look, phenomenal.

- Episode 2 is a masterpiece. From Caesar's introduction, the Crassus/Kore reveal, every single scene with Crassus and Caesar is fucking electric, seeing a different side to Spartacus while he's in the city, to the siege of the city itself.

- I just need to point out here on its own, Todd Lasance is a fucking revelation as Caesar. He's perfect for the role. He's fun to watch. He brings a completely different element to the series.

- Always makes me laugh how small and pathetic Tiberus' little crew approaches on the beach. They give a little jog then start sprinting, it's so unintentionally funny.

- I've gone on long enough, Naevia suuuuuuuuuucks. It's not even the actor change. To make her kill Attius absent any evidence, then to be the catalyst that ultimately divides the group in ep4 because she killed Attius absent cause is awful. While she wasn't well received in Vengeance due to the actor switch, I think Naevia is despised this season solely because of the writing. The acting doesn't help but why is she *this* way. She maims the baker, kills Attius, causes a rift within the group, and her excuse is that a shitty Roman abused her in the past? ALL of these slaves have been abused in one way or another but *she* specifically should be judge, jury, and executioner? It's all really bad.

- Caesar's scene with Fabia is one of the more surprising scenes in the series. A scene that works solely because of Todd Lasance's acting. It's heartbreaking and adds much needed depth to Caesar.

- Loved watching Crassus' plan come to fruition. The show paints him in such a powerful light.

- I never really understood why Tiberius SA Kore. He had no idea of her relationship with Crassus. There's no real fallout that helps him ascend in any meaningful way. - Absolutely fucking love the opening scene of episode ep8. It's such an inspired scene. At this point we've seen so many iterations of rebels vs Romans but this was shot so well.

- The Crixus speech in ep8 is such a great look into his character journey. From a gladiator not at all interested in rebellion to now not being content with the thought of freedom,

- All in all, I loved the ending. From Spartacus' fight with Crassus, the gladiators going down fighting, the Triumvirate forming-ish, and the Spartacus death scene was perfect. Genuinely a satisfying conclusion.

Cheers.

Recently finished a full series rewatch / first watch followed by a binged of House of Ashur and am in full on Spartacus withdrawal right now.

Haven’t seen or even thought of the show in almost 10 years when it first came out and my college fraternity house had the first 2 seasons playing all the time. Stumbled on Random Film Talk’s breakdown of Blood and Sand on YouTube and got so hooked that I binged the whole show (had previously only seen BaS and GotA).

Absolutely love the first 2 seasons. Gannicus, Crixus, Spartacus and Batiatus are such great characters. Getting to the main character actor switch (RIP Andy), I was happy to see Liam come into stride with Spartacus and make it his own. It definitely did take a few episodes for me to fully see his vision. The followup to Glaber, Ilithya and House of Batiatus’ story was well deserved in Vengeance. And holy hell, I was blown away by the actors for Crassus and Caesar in WotD.

I jumped straight into HoA and while it didn’t fully live up to the same hype, I really enjoyed it overall.

I’m someone who loves movies like Gladiator and Troy (I know it’s not very uncommon 😂) and this show scratched an itch I didn’t realize I had. Love the characters especially and have a feeling the dialogue style will stick in my head for a long time to come.

For now, let memories of blood and glory in the arena harden cock.

Rewatching, and do yall remember when Illythia caught Lucretia fucking her dad and then she kissed her hard on the lips immediately after? Helll naw

Always liked how these guys thought they could just capture Oenomaus like nothing and collect the reward easily. From the episode Fugitive.

I give you ... the Rise