Man, all respect to Spartacus, the show is working without him. This might be nitpicking, but I think they’re failing to show how BIG Gannicus is. Dude’s the size of Barca.
After Roman dude says the ludus will fight in the games, Batiatus is all, “Hey, we’re all gonna get laid!”
I agree that before I watched, I had my doubts about season two, but so far the 1st two episodes in this show have kicked some real sBarb. It took all of about 5 minutes to see that we had no worries. Spartacus is back! Granted, without, uh, Spartacus…
Awesome to see a couple of new but familiar faces here:
Jaime Murry (who our Warehouse 13 fans will recall as H G Wells) has joined the cast as Gaia, a VERY hedonistic (even by series’ standards!) visiting friend of Lucretia’s. They’ve already become, uh, even closer thanks to a few bottles of wine and a pinch of opium.
Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett from SW) is here playing an aging but arena-hardened (and scarred) Doctore for House Batiatus. He’s the guy that trained Peter Mensah’s Oenomaus (the S1 Doctore) so you know he’s as badass as they come.
In the OMGs Look! category:
Check out the writing credits. Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon are there, listed as co-writers! Who knew?!
In short if you’ve been afraid to check out the new season, don’t be. The show has still got it. Action, intrigue, boobs, blood, and blood. And boobs.
One of the best and shortest summaries. 
The 2nd episode made me like Gannicus a lot more and the season premiere. Especially when how bad he felt during his task to frak Melitta. Seeing TM go was sad, but it had to be in this Prequel so that Oenomeus could take over the title of Doctore.
And since Gaia will most likely be the catalyst of Lucretia being unfaithful to Batiatus with sleeping with Crixus, maybe we’ll see how Naevia gets interested into him.
John Hannah really does on fantastic job portraying Batiatus as a beaten animal which will do whatever to get his honor and so on back.
Where is your money on how Gannicus will bite the dust? I believe maybe Crixus will beat him in the new Arena to become the Champion of Capua.
I think you’re probably right regarding Crixus and Gannicus. Wasn’t it a shock to see how well Crixus did against him in the demonstration battle? Of course knowing this show, Gannicus could just as easily be knifed in the back while he’s having dinner or shagging one of his women.
I’m enjoying Batiatus more this year. He hasn’t become quite the corrupt schemer yet that he was in S1, and seeing how he’s being beset upon by the richer and sneakier almost makes you feel badly for him. Of course as we know, he’s got a mile-wide streak of ambition and a mind for intrigue just waiting to let loose.
Ashur’s a prick, but a good character. Nice to see him in action.
I bet Gannicus buys his freedom and walks off into the sunset… not.
I’m interested to see how the Gannicus/Mellita/Oenimaeus relationship will fare through what happened in ep2. It seems Oenimaeus will need his wife now more than ever with becoming Doctore but she’s got some baggage too.
I like Gannicus more as well, he’s showing that he does care more than he seemed to in ep1 but I wonder how loyal he will stay with learning he’s intended to be sold. But he did say he would do what he must… and he did :eek:
Thanks to Netflix, I caught the first two eps of Gods of the Arena this weekend.
Holy craaaap! They haven’t lost a step!
I have to mention, though, I was a bit confused at first regarding Melitta, Oenomaus’ wife. I noticed Gannicus looking for her after his two big fights (the arena one and the blindfolded one), and thought there was something between them. Which seemed in character for the swaggering d-bag he appeared at first. But then after the events of episode two, I realized it was honest-to-god friendship. I’m starting to think that Gannicus may be a bit deeper than he originally seemed.
Knowing how ambitious Crixus is as well as you’ve mentioned Gannicus work ethic, it was not that big a surprise. But it was still fun to see that for a moment Crixus had the upper hand. And I agree completely that Gannicus death could be an unglamorous stabbing.
He’s beginning to show his first ruthless traits. So sad to know that he won’t be in season 2. 
I believe that in this prequel we’ll see more of how the Roman high society is using their slaves to follow outrageous orders. This short teaser shows what more will come. :eek: b[/b]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdhFOREaO50
You had me there, for just a millisecond!
If they are really friends as was shown in their scene in Gannicus quarters, it all the more sad that the orders of the Roman d-bag will have bad repercussions for all of them.
While it does look they are all three friends before this, I also had the impression that Melitta was having occasional inappropriate thoughts when she looked at Gannicus. At least, she did a sort of double-take several times upon seeing him that I thought was intended to signify… well, something. Probably nothing she would have ever acted on. But enough to fuel the fires of jealousy when Oenomaus finds out what happened, as he inevitably will.
I guess when it comes down to it, all they are is slaves. We’re used to seeing them treated better which is why it is and will be a bigger shock when they begin to be treated as what they are, pawns to make their masters gain power by using them in whatever way they see fit.
Doesn’t make it any less sad or startling to see how it all goes though. Poor slaves, it’s almost like they don’t have any rights of their own… oh wait.
Dad’s back and he’s pissed!
While the ep title gave it away a little bit, I certainly didn’t expect to see the old man arrive in the middle of THAT scene! (and neither did Batiatus I bet…altho everyone is pretty much shameless in this series :)) And what a scene. Wow!
Lucretia’s quick thinking managed to keep poor Melitta out of the live porn action theater this time. Looks like the House is garnering a reputation as the place to come and get your kink on among the local Roman gentry. That can’t last forever. At some point somebody is going to have to say no to somebody, and that is going to be bad for House Batiatus, no doubt.
Loved the dynamic between Batiatus and his father. It’s too bad that the old man now respects and seems to be warming up to his son after Crixus’ win in the arena. I don’t see him being around too long, judging by that final look Batiatus gave him at the end of the show. If I were him I’d stay away from that cliff in the training area, IYKWIM. :rolleyes:
None of them were expecting him to appear in THAT scene. Lucretia was almost embarrassed I think… and insane Gaia loved the awkwardness of it.
Batiatus Sr. better watch out for that cliff and I have a feeling he might need to watch out for the honey-ed wine too. A pleasure he likes to partake that could be made to exterminate him with no one the wiser.
It’s so interesting watching how Lucretia seemed to be so innocent and only want her husband and to think of how she behaves in season 2 with Crixus. I think a lot of that change comes from being around Gaia and the House of Batiatus becoming a little bit more fun then just a simple ludus IYKWIM and we’ll see that in the next episode apparently
Seeing Lucretia offering the Paterfamilias some wine, I predict that she’s gonna poison him with it.
Yeah, artistically this series shows everything in its pure and rare form.
Batiatus and Lucretia both desiring to climb the social ladder, are accepting to “pleasure” their guests as much as they are demanding it. Watching that creepy looking dude essentially rape Diana even for me was to much and I was surprised to see that Navea didn’t feel more shocked and disgusted. I’m also looking forward on where the final line will be crossed.
WKWYM. I really believed that the wine would be deadly, but it should only make him feel worse to return to Scillia. But how the old man behaved and as they would say it “spread his cheeks and bend”, I’m completely with Batiatus that there could only be one in control of the ludus, and it sure as hell shouldn’t be an old uninspiring grandpa.
I really begin to like the character of Crixus who only wants to prove himself to be worthy as a gladiator. And now the friendship between him and Barca seems to start since Barca judges him more in regards of skill power than pleasing him.
I second! It’s interesting to see the respect grow and i hope they keep it realistic in how it continues to develop.
After they pimped out the staff, more than ever, I don’t feel bad for Mrs. & Mrs. Batiatus meeting the end they do. Euuughh.
You know the actress playing Spartacus’ unrequited girlfriend - Katrina Law - she’s half-Chinese 
If you were wondering about the audition process :
Spartacus workout training comes close to the Spartan 300 training
Hear Hear!
I don’t wanna just do the workout. I would like to attend Gladiator Camp
GAIA !!! :eek:
Did you see the look on Lucy Lawless’ face at the episode’s end? Watch your skeevy back Tullius. Lucretia’s coming, and hell’s coming with her.