ayonijaprithuvainya

Pros: 1. Science fiction that feels relatively plausible, if not quite up to the level of The Expanse.

2. Beautiful minimalist aesthetics, and excellent production values.

3. Likable cast of characters headlined by the brilliant Alexander Skarsgard.

4. Fascinating premise of a far future space opera viewed through the lenses of a killer robot beginning to understand humanity.

5. The world seems to have a grand scope from space colonization to sentient AI, and a lot of depth, but sadly this is barely explored due to the short runtime.

6. Unexpected amount of wit and humor, rarely seen in hard scifi.

Cons: 1. One of the major recipes for great space opera is to allow the audience to immerse themselves into a far future world unlike their own. The show largely fails in this regard. We see glimpses of these unique space "nations" with diverse ideologies that are barely explored before the story jumps into a crisis. Same goes for the alien planet much of the show is set on.

2. This is mostly due to insanely short length and number of episodes. Waiting a whole week for drip feed is not a good feeling, no matter how delicious the food is. The screenwriters have the entire series of books at their disposal. They could delved deeper and longer for each season to be more substantial.

Overall, I highly recommend this new exceptionally well made and written witty space opera to any fans of scifi, and especially for fans of The Expanse like me who are starved for productions that come anywhere close to it. Hopefully its only real problem - short length and resulting inaccessible world-building will be addressed in future seasons.

TLDR - A silly but entertaining pulp fiction ride through the bloody underbelly of Ancient Rome, with surprising amount of historically authentic details, marred by quaint CGI and hodgepodge of fake accents.

While this does not come anywhere close to matching the gritty genius of HBO's Rome or dramatic splendor of I, Claudius, this however is the distant third best series about Ancient Rome I have seen, not counting comedy like Plebs. Significantly better than atrocities like The Baribarians or Domina, and much less nonsensical than Spartacus.

The good -

1. Some details aside, the show is remarkably accurate to broad historical events. Vespasian, a great general from humble background who rose to become Caesar and rescued Rome from destruction after the year of the four emperors. His sons, Titus the warrior, and Domitian the statesmen, both efficient in their own ways. Together the Flavians restored Rome to glory, engaged in massive public building projects including the Flavian Amphitheater (also know as the Colosseum). There are other bits that follow history such as Titus' scandalous affair with Queen Berenice of Judea, and his untimely demise under dubious circumstances. All this is portrayed in the show with relative accuracy.

2. Now I am no expert on gladiatorial combat or chariot races, so I can not verify how accurately all that was portrayed. But it certainly felt exhilarating, authentic, and meticulous. The races were particularly well executed. The roaring of the crowd, the sound of the metal chariots, the raging horses, the wheels skidding on the sands, the Imperial family seated in with a row of statuesque Vestals in front - audio-visual extravaganza.

The questionable -

1. Roman empire during the Flavian dynasty stetched from Hispania to Syria, from Britannia to North Africa. This immense ethnic diversity was especially prominent in the underbelly and arenas of Rome. This presents a massive challenge for casting in a TV show especially these days. The show largely tries to do right, casting English speaking actors with ancestry matching that of their characters, along with an Italian supporting cast. They did cast black actors as Numidians (historically North African Berbers), a widespread error in Western productions about Ancient Rome, but at least they had enough respect for history to clarify that these characters were of Nubian descent despite coming from Numidia, which made a lot more sense.

It does however create a hodge-podge of accents. Some Roman characters speak in English accents. Others in Italian accents. Some English actors try to imitate the accents of their characters, others don't. It is jarring and distracting.

2. The acting is a mixed bag. Some like Anthony Hopkins and Iwan Rheon are excellent. Others like the Flavian brothers are mediocre. Many other non-English actors clearly struggled with their dialogue.

3. For better or worse. The amount of flesh and blood in the show will put Game of Thrones to shame, bringing to mind the pulp fiction genre referred to in my title.

4. The story was simplistic and predictable, but engaging. I was still eager to see it unfold. Silly but entertaining, very Roland Emmerich.

5. Visual effects range from spectacular (Rome and its architecture, chariot races) to cartoonish (CGI animals).

The ugly -

1. I mentioned earlier that some historical details are sketchy. Foremost among these is the character of Domitian. He is already a controversial figure with two distinct legacies. He was much maligned by his contemporaries led by the Roman senate due to his autocratic rule and increased centralization of power. But most modern historians agree he was a highly efficient and effective ruler, with the longest reign since Tiberius. His policies paved the way for the Five Good Emperors - the longest period of stability of the Roman Empire.

This show creates a third version of Domitian. While still clever, he is shown as an overambitious decadent violent sociopath, with no interest in the ladies. None of this corresponds to history, and detracts from the otherwise overall historical authenticity of the show.

2. Kwame the Lion-killer and his family have plot-armor thicker than Jon Snow's at the Battle of the Bastards.

If, like me, you are fan of Guy Ritchie (or Quentin Tarantino for that matter), you will love this. It is his trademark dark comedy mixed with crime drama, which fits in perfectly with core premise of British nobility mingling with organized crime. The show thrives on this theme of contrasting ingredients that create an entertaining blend.

Much like the show's the two leads - one the head of a dukedom (i.e the Duke), another the de-facto head of a crime family. They have superb chemistry, which is like the engine that drives this show. Kaya Scoledario is perfection as the Cockney Comtesse of Crime. Vinnie Jones is shockingly good in a role very different from what he is used to. Michael Vu has a memorable break-through. Giancarlo Esposito is Giancarlo Esposito.

The story itself continues that theme of contrast, mixing absurdity with actuality, humor with harsh reality. The downside is that sometimes characters do crazy things which make no sense. But the end-product is always funny and entertaining.

A note for the fans of the original film - this show takes one of the sub-plots of the film and expands on it. However all the characters involved, despite some of them sharing the DNA as the originals, are different ones.