Review: With no shortage of blood and lust, 'Spartacus: House of Ashur' is exactly what fans expect

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Everything is a matter of taste, and most people know what they like.If you are not already aboard the “Spartacus” express, of which “Spartacus: House of Ashur” is the fifth installment and the first since 2013, you should know in short order whether its mix of soft porn, graphic violence and scrabbling for power is your goblet of wine.In this reboot, piloted again by Steven S.

DeKnight and premiering Friday on Starz, Ashur (Nick E.Tarabay), who was a bad guy in the previous series, killed by Spartacus on Mount Vesuvius, finds himself in the underworld, facing Lucy Lawless, returning for a cameo as Lucretia, who recaps the story and sends him back to Earth in a timeline where he killed Spartacus instead — no reason given, or how it’s being managed.

And, presto, Ashur wakes up in bed with “body slaves” Hilara (Jamaica Vaughan) and Messia (Ivana Baquero) as the boss of the ludus — a school for gladiators — where he once was employed by Lucretia’s husband.(And not a very pleasant boss, either.)All that business with Spartacus and his slave rebellion is done.

There is some political backdrop to the show, with Pompey and Crassus going at each other offscreen and an amusingly narcissistic Julius Caesar (Jackson Gallagher) dropping in to draw attention to himself.But at least for the five episodes, out of 10, available to review, “House of Ashur” is mostly a sort of show business story, as Ashur attempts to get his troupe into the big time while banking on an untested newcomer.

Call it “Gold Diggers of 71 BC.” With sex and blood.The newcomer is Achillia (Tenika Davis), a newly enslaved Nubian Ashur finds down at the docks taking apart her guards.(In her lust for freedom, she’s the Spartacus of this “Spartacus.”) But the boys at the ludus, whose ranks notably include decent guy Celadus (Dan Hamill) and his hotheaded son Tarchon (Jordi Webber), are ...