This is big budget trying to make up for poor writing. The visuals are on point. The fight scenes are what you'd expect with a few intriguing and "whoa" moments regarding war. Maybe I'm just having problems focusing, but I find the show a little confusing. I read a few reviews from this show and a line that stuck out was "not sure who really wants who dead." The characters aren't terribly rounded out and I find the myriad comparisons to GoT utterly confusing and uncompelling. It's a "period drama" insofar as it is in fact dealing with a previous era, but the drama comes in spurts. There are solid acting portrayals forced to exist next to generalized "strong man" or "schemer" tropes. It's a series that makes me wonder how people draw up a page or two worth of things to say about it. My attitude towards it is summed up entirely by the knowledge that as I type this, I'm 1 episode away from completion after having watched most of the second season in 1.8x the speed. There isn't dialogue I need to hear that clearly, the plot isn't subtle enough to be deeply appreciated over time. The visuals are cool, but I'm not particularly moved by aesthetics in general. The historicity is wonky enough that I can just return to Dan Carlin's Wrath of Khans podcast if I want a refresh on what really happened. There's enough people who deeply appreciate "good enough" television that you'll hear any number of raving professions and apologetics, but there's 10 shows I'd point you to watch before this if you're budgeting your time or looking for something historical that's more compelling.
Review by dogg724VIP 3BlockedParent2016-09-12T11:39:34Z
This is big budget trying to make up for poor writing. The visuals are on point. The fight scenes are what you'd expect with a few intriguing and "whoa" moments regarding war. Maybe I'm just having problems focusing, but I find the show a little confusing. I read a few reviews from this show and a line that stuck out was "not sure who really wants who dead." The characters aren't terribly rounded out and I find the myriad comparisons to GoT utterly confusing and uncompelling. It's a "period drama" insofar as it is in fact dealing with a previous era, but the drama comes in spurts. There are solid acting portrayals forced to exist next to generalized "strong man" or "schemer" tropes. It's a series that makes me wonder how people draw up a page or two worth of things to say about it. My attitude towards it is summed up entirely by the knowledge that as I type this, I'm 1 episode away from completion after having watched most of the second season in 1.8x the speed. There isn't dialogue I need to hear that clearly, the plot isn't subtle enough to be deeply appreciated over time. The visuals are cool, but I'm not particularly moved by aesthetics in general. The historicity is wonky enough that I can just return to Dan Carlin's Wrath of Khans podcast if I want a refresh on what really happened. There's enough people who deeply appreciate "good enough" television that you'll hear any number of raving professions and apologetics, but there's 10 shows I'd point you to watch before this if you're budgeting your time or looking for something historical that's more compelling.