Spartacus: Blood and Sand - The Red Serpent, Pilot, S01E01

Spartacus: Blood and Sand as been called 300 + Gladiator, and that isn't wrong given that the filmography takes after the first, and the plot is not so very different from the second. Still, I think I will enjoy the story at least as much as Gladiator, even if the imagery misses the 300 standard.

Blood and Sand is an appropriate title for this show, where gallons of computerized red blood splashed across the screen from every sort of injury. Though some of the fights were pretty cool, and I particularly enjoyed the face that Spartacus (Andy Whitfield)'s wife, Sura (Erin Cummings), also knew how to wield a weapon, I could not help laughing in the final battle as Spartacus used a gladiatorial short sword to lop off the limbs of his adversaries as if their bones were made of butter.

I know, we've seen if for years and both the silver screen and the small one, but you need a really, really sharp blade with a whole lot of force behind it to accomplish that task. And once you've done it once, your blade will have dulled enough to make doing it a second time rather difficult.

But I will not dwell on the fighting or the graphics, which varied between cool and cheesy, or the plot, which varied between the two as well. Enough people have weighed in with the contrasting opinions that they really like it or they really hate it. Instead, I want to examine the relationships between the husband and wife pairings of the three main couples.

Spartacus and Sora are, as expected, the perfect couple. They love each other, both with a violent physical passion and with a terrible depth of emotion. And though their sex scenes did not quite meet the 300 standard of Gerard Butler and Lena Headey, it was pretty intense.

Still, all they want is to be able to love a quiet life together, undisturbed by violence, raising crops and children.

Glaber (Craig Parker, whom you might recognize as Haldir from Lord of the Rings), a Roman commander, has an equally passionate relationship with his wife, but they, as a couple, have a far different goal. They both seek glory. Glory for him means glory for her, and that goal supersedes any other driving factor in their relationship. Not that Ilithyia (Viva Bianca) does not love, or at least lust, for her husband. I very much get the impression that she had a great deal of choice in her husband, and she picked Glaber over any already successful man because she did have affection for him, physical or otherwise. Still, she expects him to deliver that success, and his recent failure, which both blame on Spartacus, hurts them.

Despite the greatest amount of affection, their relationship is undermined by their inability to achieve their goal, and Ilithyia will likely continue to hurt their chances of success because she undermines her husband rather than supporting him.

Finally, Batiatus (John Hannah!!!) and Lucretia (Lucy Lawless) are a Roman couple who actually understand the nature of their marriage. It may be that there is also physical passion there, or that Batiatus would be jealous of any dalliance of Lucretia's, but that was not apparent in the premiere. Instead, they seemed as business partners, both intent on the success of the Gladiators and thus their livelihoods. Lucretia, unlike Ilithyia, understands that any power and standing that she has comes from the success of her husband; therefore, she wants to build him up, as well as his business. This marriage may not be based on the love and affection of the previous two, but in the face of adversity, unlike Ilithyia and Glaber, and much like Spartacus and Sura, they aren't likely to self-destruct.

So what were your thoughts on the premiere itself? And on these three couples?