Thracians without Horses

Returning home from my first day of indentured servitude - the first of many Saturdays full of manual labor (and a free lunch) that I owe my parents, I turned to my DVR to watch last night's recorded premiere of "Spartacus: Blood and Sand". I was somewhat disappointed, but not so disappointed that I won't continue to watch the series.

Let me begin by disclosing that I've never watched an original series on Starz, so I don't know how their shows generally rate against, say, the shows on HBO. Right before the episode started, I got a bad taste in my mouth from this statement that both appeared and was announced on my screen:

"Spartacus is a historical depiction of ancient Rome's society and culture. The intensity of the sensuality, brutality and language is to suggest an authentic representation of that period."

Now, as someone who watched and absolutely loved HBO's "Rome", I thought, Wow! If they're making a point to tell us that from the outset, the sex, violence, and bad language must be pretty graphic because HBO never did anything like that for "Rome". I braced myself, but I needn't have bothered.

The cinematography seems like a cross between "300" and "Xena: Warrior Princess", and I mean that in the best sense. It is very similar to a moving graphic novel, and the colors of blood and sand figure prominently.

On the whole, I enjoyed the story very much, but I felt like the balance between action and character development was off. It seems that they sacrificed the characters background stories for the sake of the plot. Though I realize I was watching an episode of a show on TV, it felt too episodic; it was like watching an episode of a drama on network TV. I can't explain the mechanics behind that - it's just a feeling I got while watching it.

Finally, though the episode only spent a few minutes in Thrace, I found the lack of horses curious. I mean historically, Thracians were horsemen and, in times of war, renowned for their cavalry. However, the only horses I saw belonged to Roman soldiers. Eh, it's probably nothing that anyone else would notice. I'll give it another go next week. "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" airs on Starz Fridays at 9 PM CST.