Rome, episode 4
Sep. 26th, 2005 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaznettiSpoilers under the cut,
I liked that much more than last week, for a number of reasons.
First of all, Caesar -- yes, that's the man who destroyed the republic to avoid a blow to his dignity. It's not that he doesn't feel anything for Servilia, it's just that he values his public image over his private life. Very Caesar.
Octavian was also very much in character -- I loved the bit where he said something like, "Oh, I'm sure I could kill vast numbers of people, so long as they weren't fighting back." Yep, that's Octavian. Bloodthirsty little thug. His scenes with Pullo were marvelous, although BH did refer to him as "Pullo's portable brain." I suspect Pullo would be better off with Vorenus as his brain, since Vorenus does have a few scruples, whereas Octavian is... well, you know. Octavian.
I'm a little worried about why Octavian decided to keep the information about Niobe between him and Pullo. Possibly sentiment, but more likely he's holding it back for a moment when it will be really useless.
(Since I presume that this season will end with the Ides, I'm guessing that the next will concern the rivalry between Octavian and Antony, and this episode set up that part of the story for Vorenus and Pullo quite nicely. Poor Vorenus! Now he's bound to Antony. But it was quite obvious that his business was never going to work out.)
(And you know, I just can't be bothered to talk about the ancient slave trade.)
(But Vorenus shouldn't have made Pullo give all that money back, is all I'm saying.)
OK, I do admit that I was hoping the episode would end on an action scene -- Caesar riding up with his troops just as the last ship set out from Brundisium -- complete with a cast of thousands of extras, or at least some CGI warships. I'm still a little bemused by the issues the show's producers have decided to focus in on, because that could have been a much more dramatic moment than it was. It felt a little flat to me, at least.
The problem with commenting the next day is that I'm sure there were plenty of other things I wanted to comment on. Oh, I did like the little moment of doubt Cicero expressed, waiting on the beach at Brundisium. I mean, they couldn't have him stay behind in Campania, because of the way they're simplifying the early stages of the war, but that was a decent sop.
I do wonder how easy it is to follow the political plot, if you don't know the historical outline, but maybe the personal stuff is engaging enough as it is. I mean, I'd watch just for Titus and Lucius/
I liked that much more than last week, for a number of reasons.
First of all, Caesar -- yes, that's the man who destroyed the republic to avoid a blow to his dignity. It's not that he doesn't feel anything for Servilia, it's just that he values his public image over his private life. Very Caesar.
Octavian was also very much in character -- I loved the bit where he said something like, "Oh, I'm sure I could kill vast numbers of people, so long as they weren't fighting back." Yep, that's Octavian. Bloodthirsty little thug. His scenes with Pullo were marvelous, although BH did refer to him as "Pullo's portable brain." I suspect Pullo would be better off with Vorenus as his brain, since Vorenus does have a few scruples, whereas Octavian is... well, you know. Octavian.
I'm a little worried about why Octavian decided to keep the information about Niobe between him and Pullo. Possibly sentiment, but more likely he's holding it back for a moment when it will be really useless.
(Since I presume that this season will end with the Ides, I'm guessing that the next will concern the rivalry between Octavian and Antony, and this episode set up that part of the story for Vorenus and Pullo quite nicely. Poor Vorenus! Now he's bound to Antony. But it was quite obvious that his business was never going to work out.)
(And you know, I just can't be bothered to talk about the ancient slave trade.)
(But Vorenus shouldn't have made Pullo give all that money back, is all I'm saying.)
OK, I do admit that I was hoping the episode would end on an action scene -- Caesar riding up with his troops just as the last ship set out from Brundisium -- complete with a cast of thousands of extras, or at least some CGI warships. I'm still a little bemused by the issues the show's producers have decided to focus in on, because that could have been a much more dramatic moment than it was. It felt a little flat to me, at least.
The problem with commenting the next day is that I'm sure there were plenty of other things I wanted to comment on. Oh, I did like the little moment of doubt Cicero expressed, waiting on the beach at Brundisium. I mean, they couldn't have him stay behind in Campania, because of the way they're simplifying the early stages of the war, but that was a decent sop.
I do wonder how easy it is to follow the political plot, if you don't know the historical outline, but maybe the personal stuff is engaging enough as it is. I mean, I'd watch just for Titus and Lucius/
