So, her name has two L's huh? I can never spell her name right!

What truly made me feel for the guy is in the finale, on his knees, about to be ended by Oenomaus. There was sheer pain in that man's eyes. My empathy for Ashur is perhaps on the level of my empathy for Batiatus, since then.

I think having only six episodes to work with hurt it. I think if they added even just one episode more, dedicating a more epic demise for Tullius or something, that would have been splendid.

I don't know. Personally, I didn't feel his death was all that satisfying. It seemed like he was pushed aside by the writers in favor of dedicating time to the primus battle later in that episode. I felt like the prequel season, as a whole, kind of needed more time to really establish the characters that make it into…

Tullius is probably a good person to nominate for 'worst villain.' I mean, he beat a man and pissed on him just because he was denied the sale of a slave. Show gave no real background on him, so we're forced to see him as pure evil. It's not hard to imagine that he's simply another overprivileged prick though.

Simply a woman born of high privilege. Not used to the thought of not having her way, being spoiled to putrid levels by her powerful father.

Funny when Numerius interrupted them just when Batiatus was about to breach fucking subject while playing that board game. If Numerius hadn't interrupted, I assume the magistrate's answer would be the same. Wonder what Batiatus would have done after getting the snub mid-party.

Double whammy on both the scumbags that scoffed at his political dreams. I don't think I've felt so schadenfreude-y about such villainy.

I wonder if having the "breeding" for politics was like a belief taken seriously back then, or if the magistrate really just thought that low of Batiatus. I suppose it could be both. The magistrate makes that "You are beneath me!" speech in the next episode when being held captive. Such pompous entitlement.

If "Whore" didn't catch your attention, then Party Favors swallows it whole. I don't think it's farfetched to say that this is the episode that made patient viewers everywhere fall in love with the series. It wasn't just a historical drama anymore overloaded with blood and tits, but a remarkable piece of storytelling.…

I really disliked that magistrate. You can just tell he's reaping in the benefits of being a man in power in the most smug manner possible. Of course, he's just operating within the times though, just like every other Roman during that era. Everyone's just so pompous back then.

Great breakdown, dude.

It's where Andy Whitfield cements his legend in the show for me. It was his best and most magnificent acting in the show.

GOOMBA

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Back to back?? How were you able to catch your breath? These episodes were AMAZING!

@avclub-a6a946fbaecb91e1673d370aa16d3043:disqus  Yeah, I had the luxury of having episodes 5-8 of Blood and Sand be the first episodes I watch of the show. And that batch of episodes happen to be where the show picks up a bit.

Oo, I forgot this beautiful exchange.

@shewasthesun This show's just sadly under-exposed, apparently. Which I really don't get. I guess a good pilot is everything for viewership?

Wow, great post! I hadn't even considered most of the characters you listed.