Spartacus: House of Ashur 1.01 and 1.02
Dec. 7th, 2025 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakMore than a decade ago, the tv show Spartacus was a guilty pleasure of mine. I started watching because BtVS and AtS alumnus Steven DeKnight was the showrunner (since then, he's also gathered additional geek cred with the first season of the Netflix Daredevil), and kept watching because as gory and pulpy and trashy as it was, it (after a bad pilot) turned into something compulsively watchable, with interesting characters galore, complicated relationships and good acting. You can read my review of the first season and the prequel season here, of the second season here, and of the third and final season here.
Now a spin-off of said show has just started (in my part of the world, you can watch it on Amazon Prime, but this seems to be different in different countries - like the original show, it gets shown on STARZ in the US) with the first two episodes released. I was alerted to this a few months ago when Steven DeKnight entertainingly shot down the whiny "Woke!" complaints by the usual suspects that started as soon as the first pics were released, showing, OMG, a black woman in a central role among the cast. (Given the original show had several prominent female characters, some of which were poc, and also had canon on screen important m/m relationships, and of course had at its central subject a slave revolt, it beats me why anoyne familiar with said original show should have assumed the show creators being inclined towards the Orance Menace type of entertainment and (lack of) ethos beats me, but there we are. Anyway, the premise of the show per se didn't feel like a must watch to me (more about this later), and I might have hesitated given all the Darth Real Life stuff dodging me, but all the indignation of ignorant fanatics definitely worked as great advertisement. What is the premise? Basically a canon AU, with the title of the spin-off: "Spartacus: House of Ashur" being a giveaway. I.e. it shows what would have happened if one of the original show's villains hadn't met his well deserved ending at the end of the second season - what would have to Ashur, personally, that is, since everything else that happened in the third season of the original show still did happen in the canon AU which starts in what sounds like not even a year after the original show ended. While Ashur had been a good and entertaining villain, I hadn't exactly yearned for a "What if?" about him, yet, see above, external circumstances plus the fact the show really HAD been compulsive watching for me made me tune in and check out the first two episodes.
What surprised me was that the show bothered with an intro segment to ease us into an AU what was basically "Naevia kills Ashur as per s2 finale, then Ashur in the Underworld is met by Lucretia - Lucy Laweless cameo alert! - who mindmesses with him by presenting him with the "what if?" scenario in which Ashur didn't take that fatal climb up Vesuvius but stuck around to become Crassus' sidekick and the person to throw the spear that kills Spartacus in the s3 finale, thus earning enough financial gratitude from Crassus to fulfill his dream of becoming Dominus to the former Ludus of Batiatus. Ashur wakes up in the old Batiatus house from what he decides was a nightmare, and we're off into the AU.
Said AU in the first two episodes has definitely more in common with the old show than just the setting and the actor playing Ashur as well as he used to. One of the ways in which the OG made Batiatus and Lucretia into such compelling villains in the first seaosn and in the prequels while also showing their awfulness and deserved comeuppance was by presenting them at a disadvantage towards the Roman elite they aspire to belong to and which is shown to be worse than them while sneering at them. This technique works for Ashur as well, who as a former slave and gladiator is even more despised than Batiatus was and even more determined to climb to the top regardless. Like Batiatus, he has the problem of being champion-less and stuck with a ludus that no one respects in its current state (because the original star gladiators all are currently rotting in a crucified state at the Via Appia and the newbies Ashur bought don't have any names or real star potential yet), gets humiliated by his first attempt to build up a new star, and then hits upon the solution in the form of a loner recently enslaved person who the other gladiators initially resent, and whom he persuades will be able to win their freedom in the arena if they play along, and whom he then renames. Only in Ashur's case, it's a (black) woman (the original name, Neferet, sounds Egyptian/Nubian, but he renames her Achilleia - subtle, Ashur, subtle).
All this said, there are also enough differences so it doesn't feel like just a remix of the original. Starting with Ashur as a freedman; the original show, with the exception of Gannicus in the third season, more or less ignored the existence of freedmen (and the way most of them then went on to own slaves themselves) to make the slaves/enslavers issue more clear cut, but here it's central, both with Ashur himself, and the guy he hired as Doctore, who like the late Gannicus is a former arena champion who made it out alive, victorious and free. Also, where Batiatus' main foe/competition in the first and the prequel season was another man, here it is a woman, the Aedil's wife, Cossutia - and she's played by Claudia Black, which warms my Farscape-loving heart. (So far, she's visibly having fun with the disdaining, sneering and outwitting.) While she claims her hostility towards Ashur is solely out of principle (that would be the "no freedman should dare to behave like my social equal principle") when her daughter questions her about it, it is so pronounced that I'm pretty sure she's lying and we'll get a later backstory reveal. (The daughter, btw, already brings in some backstory, since her husband was one of the Romans killed in the Spartacus revolt. While there is some tension between Cossutia and her husband, they're both depicted as tender parents, which is the type of thing this show is always good at - giving its villains human emotions, I mean, wtihout confusing that with a redemption story.) Speaking of feelings, Ashur so far seems to be closest to the female slave working as his steward/head of his household, who might actually be in love with him (or saying the truth when her fellow slave challenges her on her concern for Ashur and she says it's simply that they rise and fall with him - but if she is, that would be a first, since in the original Ashur was notoriously bad making someone of either gender actually care about him.
On the enslaved side of things, we have of course Achilleia, who the show is careful to present as good at defending herself and clearly with some fighting experience, but not yet on a trained gladiator level; other than wanting her freedom and having issues with her gods, one of whom she nonetheless starts engraving into the wall of her cell, we don't know yet what makes her tick, but she's clearly set up for some sort of protege/mentor relationship with the current Doctore. (Ashur sees her so far mainly as his chance to finally create a star in the arena.) The other gladiators that get characterisations in the first two episodes and aren't killed off as plot points are a father and son team, which we didn't have so far; and as gladiators from the opposing ludus who beat Ashur's first attempt at a champion and thus humiliate him we have the Ferox brothers, all three dwarves, which was a Roman thing, and I do hope they won't just all three be killed off by Achilleia once she has mastered gladiator type fighting because they could be interesting.
Nods to history: Crassus and Pompey are still glaring at each other and haven't disbanded their respective armies yet, plus Pompey is off to deal with a pirate. (I thought that was before the Spartacus revolt rl, but don't take my word for it - just the way I vaguely remember it, Pompey was en route back from dealing with the Pirates when he ran into the remains of Spartacus' army and thus was able to claim co-credit from Crassus, which the later never forgave him for. And there's a haunting scene where Ashur and his gladiators have been ordered via letter to take down the corpses from the crosses on the Appian Way, during which the Doctore is able to identify Gannicus, and everyone is reminded how much their current choices suck (be a rebel, end up crucified; try your best in the arena, get defeated by dwarves). Given that the bit with the corpses underlines not much time has passed, I do wonder whether they're going to recast Crassus and Caesar or will continue to keep them off screen. I mean, our main lead has aged amazingly little, but surely not everyone can have that luck? Anyway, since there is no more slave revolt on the horizon, I had not expected them to tackle Roman politics at all (as oppose dto sticking to personal storylines), but the first two episodes actually bring up the Crassus-Pompey rivalry a lot, so presumably it will become relevant for overall events.
In conclusion: a good start for what it is aiming at - t hough not for the squeamish or easy to trigger, because the gore quota from the original show is definitely reached, and there is a rape attempt before the second episode is over.
Now a spin-off of said show has just started (in my part of the world, you can watch it on Amazon Prime, but this seems to be different in different countries - like the original show, it gets shown on STARZ in the US) with the first two episodes released. I was alerted to this a few months ago when Steven DeKnight entertainingly shot down the whiny "Woke!" complaints by the usual suspects that started as soon as the first pics were released, showing, OMG, a black woman in a central role among the cast. (Given the original show had several prominent female characters, some of which were poc, and also had canon on screen important m/m relationships, and of course had at its central subject a slave revolt, it beats me why anoyne familiar with said original show should have assumed the show creators being inclined towards the Orance Menace type of entertainment and (lack of) ethos beats me, but there we are. Anyway, the premise of the show per se didn't feel like a must watch to me (more about this later), and I might have hesitated given all the Darth Real Life stuff dodging me, but all the indignation of ignorant fanatics definitely worked as great advertisement. What is the premise? Basically a canon AU, with the title of the spin-off: "Spartacus: House of Ashur" being a giveaway. I.e. it shows what would have happened if one of the original show's villains hadn't met his well deserved ending at the end of the second season - what would have to Ashur, personally, that is, since everything else that happened in the third season of the original show still did happen in the canon AU which starts in what sounds like not even a year after the original show ended. While Ashur had been a good and entertaining villain, I hadn't exactly yearned for a "What if?" about him, yet, see above, external circumstances plus the fact the show really HAD been compulsive watching for me made me tune in and check out the first two episodes.
What surprised me was that the show bothered with an intro segment to ease us into an AU what was basically "Naevia kills Ashur as per s2 finale, then Ashur in the Underworld is met by Lucretia - Lucy Laweless cameo alert! - who mindmesses with him by presenting him with the "what if?" scenario in which Ashur didn't take that fatal climb up Vesuvius but stuck around to become Crassus' sidekick and the person to throw the spear that kills Spartacus in the s3 finale, thus earning enough financial gratitude from Crassus to fulfill his dream of becoming Dominus to the former Ludus of Batiatus. Ashur wakes up in the old Batiatus house from what he decides was a nightmare, and we're off into the AU.
Said AU in the first two episodes has definitely more in common with the old show than just the setting and the actor playing Ashur as well as he used to. One of the ways in which the OG made Batiatus and Lucretia into such compelling villains in the first seaosn and in the prequels while also showing their awfulness and deserved comeuppance was by presenting them at a disadvantage towards the Roman elite they aspire to belong to and which is shown to be worse than them while sneering at them. This technique works for Ashur as well, who as a former slave and gladiator is even more despised than Batiatus was and even more determined to climb to the top regardless. Like Batiatus, he has the problem of being champion-less and stuck with a ludus that no one respects in its current state (because the original star gladiators all are currently rotting in a crucified state at the Via Appia and the newbies Ashur bought don't have any names or real star potential yet), gets humiliated by his first attempt to build up a new star, and then hits upon the solution in the form of a loner recently enslaved person who the other gladiators initially resent, and whom he persuades will be able to win their freedom in the arena if they play along, and whom he then renames. Only in Ashur's case, it's a (black) woman (the original name, Neferet, sounds Egyptian/Nubian, but he renames her Achilleia - subtle, Ashur, subtle).
All this said, there are also enough differences so it doesn't feel like just a remix of the original. Starting with Ashur as a freedman; the original show, with the exception of Gannicus in the third season, more or less ignored the existence of freedmen (and the way most of them then went on to own slaves themselves) to make the slaves/enslavers issue more clear cut, but here it's central, both with Ashur himself, and the guy he hired as Doctore, who like the late Gannicus is a former arena champion who made it out alive, victorious and free. Also, where Batiatus' main foe/competition in the first and the prequel season was another man, here it is a woman, the Aedil's wife, Cossutia - and she's played by Claudia Black, which warms my Farscape-loving heart. (So far, she's visibly having fun with the disdaining, sneering and outwitting.) While she claims her hostility towards Ashur is solely out of principle (that would be the "no freedman should dare to behave like my social equal principle") when her daughter questions her about it, it is so pronounced that I'm pretty sure she's lying and we'll get a later backstory reveal. (The daughter, btw, already brings in some backstory, since her husband was one of the Romans killed in the Spartacus revolt. While there is some tension between Cossutia and her husband, they're both depicted as tender parents, which is the type of thing this show is always good at - giving its villains human emotions, I mean, wtihout confusing that with a redemption story.) Speaking of feelings, Ashur so far seems to be closest to the female slave working as his steward/head of his household, who might actually be in love with him (or saying the truth when her fellow slave challenges her on her concern for Ashur and she says it's simply that they rise and fall with him - but if she is, that would be a first, since in the original Ashur was notoriously bad making someone of either gender actually care about him.
On the enslaved side of things, we have of course Achilleia, who the show is careful to present as good at defending herself and clearly with some fighting experience, but not yet on a trained gladiator level; other than wanting her freedom and having issues with her gods, one of whom she nonetheless starts engraving into the wall of her cell, we don't know yet what makes her tick, but she's clearly set up for some sort of protege/mentor relationship with the current Doctore. (Ashur sees her so far mainly as his chance to finally create a star in the arena.) The other gladiators that get characterisations in the first two episodes and aren't killed off as plot points are a father and son team, which we didn't have so far; and as gladiators from the opposing ludus who beat Ashur's first attempt at a champion and thus humiliate him we have the Ferox brothers, all three dwarves, which was a Roman thing, and I do hope they won't just all three be killed off by Achilleia once she has mastered gladiator type fighting because they could be interesting.
Nods to history: Crassus and Pompey are still glaring at each other and haven't disbanded their respective armies yet, plus Pompey is off to deal with a pirate. (I thought that was before the Spartacus revolt rl, but don't take my word for it - just the way I vaguely remember it, Pompey was en route back from dealing with the Pirates when he ran into the remains of Spartacus' army and thus was able to claim co-credit from Crassus, which the later never forgave him for. And there's a haunting scene where Ashur and his gladiators have been ordered via letter to take down the corpses from the crosses on the Appian Way, during which the Doctore is able to identify Gannicus, and everyone is reminded how much their current choices suck (be a rebel, end up crucified; try your best in the arena, get defeated by dwarves). Given that the bit with the corpses underlines not much time has passed, I do wonder whether they're going to recast Crassus and Caesar or will continue to keep them off screen. I mean, our main lead has aged amazingly little, but surely not everyone can have that luck? Anyway, since there is no more slave revolt on the horizon, I had not expected them to tackle Roman politics at all (as oppose dto sticking to personal storylines), but the first two episodes actually bring up the Crassus-Pompey rivalry a lot, so presumably it will become relevant for overall events.
In conclusion: a good start for what it is aiming at - t hough not for the squeamish or easy to trigger, because the gore quota from the original show is definitely reached, and there is a rape attempt before the second episode is over.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-09 06:34 am (UTC)It's awesome to hear that some of the original characters make an appearance; I was worried this spinoff might ignore everything that happened in the original show, but doesn't sound like that's the case. I'm excited for this.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-09 08:14 am (UTC)And like I said, timeline wise, everything that happened in the original show EXCEPT for Ashur's death still has happened in this AU, and from the new gladiators being not so hidden Spartacus fans (and thus doubly not keen on their current owner) and the haunting scene of them having to take down the corpses from the crosses at the Via Appia, there is plenty of homage being paid without it overwhelming the current story.
no subject
Date: 2025-12-10 01:51 am (UTC)