Starz

A lot has been made of Ashur's suitability as the protagonist of a Spartacus spin-off, but as of Episode 4 of Spartacus: House of Ashur, I'm starting to see the logic.

The ironic thing about a title like "Unworthy" is that it's a reminder that pretty much nobody in Spartacus: House of Ashur is all that worthy of the positions they find themselves in.

Spartacus: House of Ashur is a story about second chances. For one thing, it’s a return to Starz’s beloved, ridiculous historical epic, one of the shows on which the platform built its reputation for blood by the bucket-load and boobs by the barrel.

After the premiere of Sweetpea, I made a pretty long list of Rhiannon’s potential victims. For now, that list may still be accurate, and there are...

The premiere of Sweetpea, “Sorry for Your Loss”, has a pretty simple mandate – justify why Rhiannon Lewis would stab a man to death for...

The reason the Red Wedding became such a cultural phenomenon is that nobody really saw it coming. Sure, anyone who had read the books –...

It’s fair to say that Episode 7 of The Serpent Queen Season 2, “A House Divided”, is not a pleasant one for Catherine de’ Medici....

I have little hesitation in declaring Episode 6 of The Serpent Queen Season 2, “Courting the Valois”, the best thus far. Most of the problems...

One of the appeals of historical fiction is that knowledge of real-world events can do a lot of dramatic heavy lifting. It’s easy to fret...

“Death of a Prince” finally introduces Minnie Driver’s Queen Elizabeth I, which is a big-ish deal since The Serpent Queen Season 2 has in large...

Season 2 of The Serpent Queen got off to a wild start by burning down a Protestant church that may or may not have contained...

Blessedly, Season 2 of The Serpent Queen opens with a minutes-long recap of the first season. Episode 1, “Grand Tour”, is a reminder of two...

The Season 1 finale of The Serpent Queen pulls one final trick with the show’s narration device — in Episode 8, “A Queen Is Made”, Rahima...

As The Serpent Queen’s framing device gets closer than ever to its present-day shenanigans, Season 1, Episode 7, “An Attack on the King” switches perspectives....

Throughout its first season, The Serpent Queen has toyed with the supernatural, but only as a metaphor for a notorious monarch’s complicated legacy. Many imagined...

In The Serpent Queen episode 4, a welcome time jump knocked the narrative forward 15 years and welcomely cast Samantha Morton as Catherine de Medici...

If I’ve had a persistent complaint about The Serpent Queen thus far, it’s that there hasn’t been enough Samantha Morton. Season 1, Episode 4, “A...

Things are, I think it’s fair to say, looking up for Rahima. After maiming the cook who was rude to her with the help of...