Rome 2x05: Heroes of the Republic

[vaznetti]

I liked this Octavian because he is so clearly evil in all his scenes, but especially with Octavia and Cicero. He appears to be quite soulless, which strikes me as quite right, especially at this point in his life. Was that just me? It's hard for me to tell, because I really do despise Octavian, so he always seems a little loathsome to me. But tonight it seemed like other people might have thought he was loathsome too.

The rearranged a bunch of events here, but that's OK: 43 was a busy year, and they're just trying to tell the story, more or less. I kind of liked the sense that Octavian was pressured into the alliance with Antony, and am pleased that they remembered that Lepidus existed. Except that really, I am very sad that this will not be the miniseries with the two-man triumvirate, which would never have stopped being funny.

Oh, Cicero. I love that you never give up on the Republic, even long after everyone else has given up on it, and on you. I hope you get your death scene.

And TIRO! They put in TIRO! I had a little moment of happy geekery, right there.

The thing with the orgy totally cracked me up. AN ORGY!!!! Just when you think that the show might pass on a cliché, it goes for the throat. Next, I suppose we'll have people vomiting in a vomitorium!

So yes, the orgy was hysterical, and the writers have decided that Octavia can stand in for Julia as well, since she ended up married to Marcus Agrippa and ran afoul of her father's moral legislation. Which dates to 18 BCE. Really, the moral legislation wasn't even a gleam in Octavian's eye in 43 -- he was too busy committing adultery himself, according to report. I don't really care about Agrippa's crush on Octavia, and am rather sad that the writers have decided to make her a drug-addicted incestuous lesbian. The real Octavia is laughing in the afterlife about it, I'm sure. Well, not about the lesbianism, which probably seems like a good idea after Marcellus and Antony.

So, Vorenus. I think that queenofthorns put it best then she described his as the most embarrassing father ever. And also, the extent to which he has no idea of what's going on around him is quite impressive. I really do like the fact that his children hate him -- of course they blame him, not only for their mother's death, but also for what happened to them. And Vorenus has no idea that he needs to do more than simply say that the past is past, and can't really explain that he didn't exactly kill their mother, just because she threw herself off the ledge before he could do it himself. All of a sudden, the elder Vorena is becoming an interesting character, too -- it's her doing, I suspect, that the other two are alive, and I wonder what she had to do to keep them all together.

Last year, around this time, I predicted that Vorenus would make it into the Senate (although I didn't expect it to happen quite so fast, or end quite so badly); this year I suspect that he'll die at the end of the season. I do love the message he made Pullo carry to Octavian, although it makes me wonder how on earth a man with so little common sense survived to adulthood.

I also really liked the scene with Vorenus and Pullo's discussion of Octavian -- "your boy"! But not only do Vorenus' own children want him dead, but he's pissing off everyone else around him, and he won't want to live in what Octavian will make Rome into.

Pullo, as usual, is entirely wonderful. "You're half his weight," indeed! But Eirene's not wrong -- he does love her, truly, but he's bound to Vorenus.

To be honest, the episode felt slow -- alliances forming and re-forming, families being patched together (and whether or not the patches will hold, who knows) -- and everything in that moment of silence before the storm of triumvirate and civil war.


It occurs to me, as I type this up, that I'm not sure who the title refers to -- Octavian? the fallen consuls, Hirtius and Pansa? Brutus and Cassius, waiting in the wings? Pullo and Vorenus? Antony and Lepidus? Not, ironically, to Cicero himself -- the singular hero, not the plural. After Mutina, one can't really speak of heroes or of the republic, I suppose.

Comments

[vaznetti]

I totally love Agrippa! Well, I love the historical Agrippa, and this one is not at all bad. It's just that I read a comment pointing out how much he looks like Sam Gamgee, and now whenever I see him I think, "nasty fat hobbit," which is really kind of unfortunate.

I wonder if that's why they've decided to shift Octavia into the Julia role because at this point the tension will be greater when MA runs off with Cleopatra (I am assuming Atia lives). I mean, they already jacked up Octavia's story so much that what difference does it make if they marry her to Agrippa and have her be a drug-addicted whore who gets exiled?

This is very clever! I like it a lot, at least from a storytelling perspective. Plus, it means that they don't have to worry about the marriage to Scribonia. (Part of me really wishes that the writers had more respect for the political history and for the audience's ability to follow the political history, and the rest of me is rolling around saying things like "HAHAHAHAHA! ORGY!")

I guess it's a little weird to me that they've decided to add a bunch of stuff into the drama, considering how much they've decided to cut. But if it makes a good drama, then I'll be happy with it.

What the hell is up with the African (assuming) serving girl?

The girl Vorenus sleeps with? Or someone else?

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the girl Vorenus sleeps with. I think she's african and the whole elephant thing was some kind of ruse on her part. I don't think there's any reason to introduce that into the narrative elsewise. I wonder if she's somehow involved with Cleopatra and will become far more important to the story soon.

I think with the Octavia/Julia plotline it's probably a matter of managing the size of the cast. They have so many main characters already that from a media perspective they were probably trying to limit their entanglement issues. A lot of big historical pieces have tanked because they didn't minimize their cast issues (internal dialogue of the makers, personally, I am neutral on the topic). It's probablly an issue of tv/movie making convention. HOWEVER, that being said, I will ADORE Octavia if she becomes Julia and takes on Augustus in full pomposity. I wonder if that's where they're going. I suppose it depends on if they get a third season.