It’s a show that really deserves to be watched by so many more people than followed it while it was on the air. It doesn’t help that when Spartacus: Blood and Sand premiered, it was quickly dismissed as full of nudity and bloody violence without any substance. It has subsequently proven itself to have more substance than almost any other show on television while maintaining the levels of exposure and gore displayed in its opening episodes but justifying them as distinctive elements of the world that it is set in.
No matter what some reviewers will still say, there is very little that is gratuitous in Spartacus. It is an exceptionally well-crafted series, with the very complete structure of each season and the series as a whole being one of its main selling points. Every plot thread is connected and seemingly small details always have significance further on down the line and are recalled in later episodes.
Spartacus: War of the Damned, the show’s tremendous final season, is an excellent distillation of everything that it is able to do so well. These ten episodes are almost faultless, bringing the show to a conclusion sooner than many expected but in such a fitting way that those who wanted extra seasons won’t be able to imagine what they’d have been filled with. This is a season that leaves you wanting more, the only real problem being that it makes you want to spend more time with these characters.
The great cast has been one of the show’s most obvious strengths for much of its run and in the final season all of the actors we’ve come to know only get better and more assured in their portrayals of their characters. Everybody gets a story arc to tie things up and Liam McIntyre really steps up his depiction of the titular hero to raise the quality at the centre of this show as it storms towards the finale. There are also new characters in Marcus Crassus (Simon Merrells), Tiberius Crassus (Christian Antidormi) and Julius Caesar (Todd Lasance); it’s a shame that they don’t get as much characterisation as the Romans of previous seasons but they provide compelling foes to the rebel army.
Visually, War of the Damned is even more astounding than the season that it follows, Spartacus: Vengeance. That’s no simple thing, considering that the arena was burned to the ground before Spartacus and his defiant cohorts fought a large battle at the foot of Vesuvius in those episodes. This season, though, the show pulls off the type of battles that make Game of Thrones’ Battle of the Blackwater look small on a consistent basis. The very last one rivals and bests what some films are capable of and does so with multiple seasons’ worth of emotional resonance and impact.
Some may think it’s ridiculous to compare Spartacus with The Wire but both are shows that didn’t have their excellence fully recognised while they were airing. Like the HBO drama, this is a show that teaches the viewer how to watch it and it’s a shame that a number of viewers won’t have stuck with Spartacus long enough to discover what is so uniquely incredible about it.
The ten episodes of War of the Damned build a crescendo towards what is one of television’s truly great series finales. This is a season full of memorable moments, glorious battles and meticulously constructed story and character arcs. It’s unmissable television.
Released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 29 April 2013.
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> Buy Spartacus: Vengeance on DVD on Amazon.
Watch the trailer…