This is one of the most fun series I've watched. I knew of this series, but was unwilling to get a Starz subscription in order to enjoy it. Once I heard that the Season 1 DVD set was on sale at Amazon, I immediately ordered them and have absolutely no regrets. There is a lot of nudity, graphic sex scenes, numerous expletives and very stylized blood & gore, but the characters are so interesting that this series could be equally interesting to a reader looking for a period romance or someone looking for a testosterone-laden violence-fest.

Unfortunately, the actor playing the main character is fighting cancer, so Season 2 will likely have a replacement for him, but it should be said to his credit that his performance is amazingly good, imbuing the main character with good and bad qualities, including lying, cheating and stealing well-balanced with his romanticism, loyalty and independence. It is usually a struggle for writers to make a protagonist with gray-shadings of morality since the audience typically tries to identify with a clear-cut hero, but they do this very well.

Please see this series. And Lucy Lawless gives a great turn as Lucretia. For those who doubted her acting chops, her performance here reminds us why a relative unknown ended up being chosen to carry a series that eclipsed the show it originated as a spin-off from.