Other TV 21 - 27 Feb 2010

Posted by The TV Critic on 22 February 2010 | 4 Comments

Tags: Spartacus, How to Make it in America

Spartacus: Blood and Sand – 105 – Shadow Games

Sign me up as a fan, this was one of the best pieces of television I have seen all season (stretching back to September). No it’s not complex, it’s not clever, it’s not deep but it’s becoming a lot of fun to watch.

Once more the professional wrestling storytelling was firmly in place as arch rivals Spartacus and Crixus are forced to team together to take on the legendary Theocoles who was wisely alluded to two episodes ago. You could see where the story was going, Spartacus is destined to lead a rebellion from this Gladiator school and lead an army that will threaten Rome itself. So he was going to need to deal with Crixus the Champion of Capua. The plot set them up perfectly to find a reason to finally put aside their differences and work together.

From those promising beginnings things got even better than I might have expected. Finally Spartacus began to show some brains and tact rather than just his indomitable spirit. He wisely humbled himself before Crixus and asked him if he could remember what it was like when he was first enslaved. Then we finally got to feel sympathy for the arrogant Crixus as he had two wonderful scenes which drove home his emotional state and the fear he was feeling. The first saw him stripped and fondled by Ilithyia in front of both his lovers, Lucretia and Naevia. The double discomfort was wonderfully played out and made you really feel for Crixus and how humiliated and objectified he must feel. Then even better Lucretia calls him in to have sex and he asks to be spared in order to conserve his strength. A teary eyed Lucretia agreed to spare him because she wanted him to live. Not only was this amazing break of protocol touching in itself but of course we knew that she was also sacrificing her “chance” of becoming pregnant too.

The pregnancy storyline allowed for Lucretia to draw more sympathy from the viewer and become a better rounded character. One of the pleasing aspects of her presentation is that she seems to love her husband and Crixus. She doesn’t view either as a body or a wallet, she seems to genuinely feel for both and it makes her a fascinating character. Particularly if she ends up at the wrong end of Crixus’ sword when the inevitable rebellion breaks out.

Everything was built superbly for the fight; you had Doctore with the old grudge to settle and Ashur with his money on the line. His words of caution to Spartacus about trusting Crixus was a particularly clever bit of scripting as it planted that seed of doubt about Crixus’ true motives. With all that in place, out came Theocoles. As silly as his 300 style disfiguration and Super-Man comebacks were they still made for one of the more gripping fight scenes you will see on TV. The stories had built so well that every glance up to the box to see the reactions of those watching added to the tension of what might be about to happen. In the end Crixus took a nasty slashing and helped Spartacus steal all the glory. I look forward to the repercussions.

The ongoing drought story was wonderfully built up for this ultra-dramatic moment as well. Despite my reputation for wanting rigid logic in everything from the silliest Family Guy to the most serious Lost episode, don’t mistake logic for reality. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is about as far from reality as any show I have ever seen. But that doesn’t matter; it’s telling a good story and fleshing out its characters just fine. What this episode proved is that if you can make a viewer care about characters then you can have them do anything you like, including having a fight with a demonic human or shamelessly bearing their junk to the world and it can still make for good TV.

How to Make It in America - 102 - Crisp

This was a slow episode but it stuck to real feeling developments and at this stage it’s difficult to know how important certain characters will become. They are doing a fine job of establishing Ben as the guy with talent who doesn’t follow through and Cam as the guy with relentless enthusiasm. The best part of this was Mike Heller telling them point blank to give up on their idea of going into the jean business. It’s the advice which you get in the real world and he does it in a pleasant and kind way. Now the challenge is set, do they defy the odds; learn a valuable lesson or fail.