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 this week 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 off-screen 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 not keen to admit a woman to their ranks and are doubly peeved that Ashur is skipping her into a headlining role. For her part, she's got a lot a lot of learning to do; trainer Korris (Graham McTavish), the person here you'd most want on your side, may be of help. Ashur doesn't actually tell her, "You're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star," as Warner Baxter said to Ruby Keeler, but the idea is roughly the same.

Ashur's juggling for a spot on the bill at the big arena brings him into contact with the hoi polloi of Capua, the town where the story takes place; they generally regard him as something to avoid stepping in. (That he's an ex-slave and a Syrian, whom people call "the Syrian," doesn't help.) This gang includes rival Proculus (Simon Arblaster) and his trio of deadly little people, Senator Gabinius (Andrew McFarlane); Real Housewife of Capua, Cossutia (Claudia Black); and their lovely young daughter Viridia (India Shaw-Smith), who has been holed up at home since the death of her husband in the Spartacus wars.

The dialogue appears crafted to set a world record for profanity; practically the only adjective these people use begins with "F." At the same time, there is a sort of Shakespearean lilt to much of of it; many lines, in my random examination, resolve into iambic pentameter. Most notably, there's an attempt to mirror Latin grammar by omitting articles and possessive pronouns: "We stray from point." "What do eyes behold?" It's a cute but nonsensical idea that just makes the characters come off as comical; there are no articles in Russian either, but we add them when we translate Chekhov, or else Vanya and Yelena would sound like Boris and Natasha. (The original "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" didn't bother with this device, though it did have characters saying "gratitude" for thanks and "apologies" for sorry.)

The series takes its melodrama seriously, with evident dedication to its staging its complicated fight scenes, of which there are many, and its investment in sets and costumes and effects; the fake blood budget alone must be staggering. (The domestic architecture accords with the Life in Ancient Rome videos I've been known to watch, minus the wall paintings, which would, of course, cost more money, and distract the eye from the orgies.) And yet so extreme is it in its violence, and so resolute in its naughtiness, that I also find the series kind of hilarious. It possibly doesn't help that whenever I hear the name Spartacus I think of Tom Everett Scott declaring "I am Sparta-coos" in "That Thing You Do," and sometimes of Magnus Scheving as Sportacus, the athletic superhero of the 2004 kids show "LazyTown." But that's on me.

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'SPARTACUS: HOUSE OF ASHUR'

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: 9 p.m. ET Fridays on Starz

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