Now there’s something you don’t get to see very often on CBS. Lucy Lawless, as Lucretia, is less frequently nude now that her character is apparently crazy, but her madness means that she gets to dig around in the entrails of a goat. In the meantime there are still touches of the unbridled campiness that made the first season amusing. On the heels of the bloody escape from the House of Batiatus that concluded Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the gladiator rebellion continues. McIntyre, who’s a bit lightweight at this point, may grow into the central role. The writers may work their way out of this corner and Mr.

Lacking the structure provided by the gladiator school and the arena, the producers appear to have jacked up the violence and depravity even further one example, in the second episode, is a battle scene inside a brothel, where coitus interruptus takes on grisly new aspects. “Blood and Sand” was able to exploit the clichés of sports movies, including the double-dealing team owner the hubristic rookie and the aging, injured veteran, to add some dramatic texture between the graphic-novel-style battle scenes and studiously kinky sex. With the success of the slave revolt at the end of Season 1 it’s no longer a gladiator show - it’s more of a war story and political allegory, with Spartacus and his mates campaigning around the Roman countryside - and we miss the framework of training and battle. “Spartacus” is fueled by debauchery, extreme violence and soap-opera plotting rather than special effects, however, and those elements aren’t as clearly in focus as the new season begins.

Spartacus vengeance