i agree with some of that, but its still really good stuff overall for me. I do think the sex scenes could be better instead of going back to the whore house over and over like they did.
Maybe I'm not in the right mindset for it. I was drawn to it because I love gladiators and their cool outfits, but I stayed for the fantastic Andy and the rest of the great cast and the intrigues that really gripped me. I knew that I'd like it less outside of the ludus/arena. That I'm watching S1 at the same time probably doesn't help.
The pure hatred when Spartacus tries to rip out his chains and strangle Glaber, Solonius' slimy smile that makes you hate him in an instant, the Spartacus-Varo dynamic, the unforgetable "Eat. Rest. Etc" speech by Crixus, Gnaeus raping Pietro, seeing Ashur fucking someone over for the first time and making Batiatus kill Barca, the way Spartacus flips out when he hast to kill his best frien (and more than less the only human contact he has) after having his wife die in his arms...that stuff was really, really good. S1.5 was almost everything that made S1 great (minus Spartacus) condensed into six breathtaking episodes.
In S2, nothing really touches me emotionally (except for the killing of super cutie Aurelia) and half the actors annoy me to no end, topped off with more
but worse action, sex and violence. It feels like somebody tried to emulate Spartacus but make it more edgy and turn it up to eleven while COD-fying it. At the same time.
Worst thing is that it's not shockingly bad. I could've written it off after the first few episodes (like lots of people did with Blood and Sand), but beneath all the bad CGI faces cut off, the silly looking "outdoor" environments, the shrieking Naveah, unkillable Egyptian ZOMGninjas and all that bad stuff are chunks off a really good story and characters that still interest me, so I have to force myself through the rest at least once.
Should've just made a bad guys spin off after Spartacus was already defeated with Lucretia, Ilithiya, Glaber and Ashur backstabbing each other, with some off the gladiators on the run or whatever.
Edit: Glaber and wife monster show was really, really good, for example.