Rome 2x07:Death Mask

[vaznetti]

First of all, I feel the need to ask -- does everyone else shout "Yay for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Judaea!" whenever Timon and his brother come onscreen now? No? You're all shouting for the Judaean People's Liberation Front, aren't you? Scum - you'll be first up against the wall when the revolution comes!

Just me, then.

I would have thought Herod would be more Greek, but whatever. And I was more shocked by Levi's death for Timon's sake than for itself. I mean, I never really cared about Levi, at all, although Timon is kind of interesting.

I LOVED the way Servilia's storyline worked out -- I thought it captured something of the aggressively public nature of Roman life, the way she wasn't shaming herself by kneeling on the ground with ashes poured over her head -- that it was Atia she was shaming. And then the curse, sealed with her own death, and then her freedwoman's. Wow. And Atia's expression, because she knows that this is for real. (The contrast to the first curse Servilia makes -- the curse tablet -- was really striking, at least to me.) It was just beautiful, the way Servilia wears her down and destroys her. And so well shot, because the point isn't just what Servilia does, but that everyone sees her doing it.

That is exactly the kind of thing Romans did to each other, by the way.

And the marriage to Octavia... well, I guess we knew it was coming, although it was handled rather oddly. They kind of wrote themselves into a corner, I guess, with the affair, and then had to come up with some kind of crazy world where Roman women don't control their own marriages, or their daughters'. Ha! I don't know why they didn't just kill Atia off before the wedding, frankly, except that this was Octavian seems even more cold-blooded. And you know they've gone over the top when I think they're making Octavian too much of a monster!

Moving on from the history... I find that I cannot care about Vorenus' domestic troubles any more. Although now I kind of want Vorena to realize that she's being played and reconcile with him, rather than being Memmio's pawn. Or possibly use Memmio against Vorenus. Will we have in her a small-scale version of the ruin Atia and Servilia brought to the republic? If so, I might get interested in that plotline again. And I am sadly, sadly disappointed in Pullo. And worried for Eirene!

Of course, Pullo hasn't really done anything wrong by Roman standards, but Eirene will see it as an insult. There's a sense in which Gaia has to get rid of Eirene, before Eirene demands that she be sold, disfigured or even killed. I'm disappointed in Vorenus, frankly, too, but it's just typical of him not to realize that yes, he should have administered the beating, just to avoid trouble with Maschius.

I really want to see Posca's domestic life with Jocasta, by the way. (I do wish they'd stop giving freeborn Roman women Greek names, though. It's so confusing: I never know who's a slave and who isn't.) That amused and pleased me so much -- and this time they actually looked up something about Roman marriage ceremonies, rather than whatever they were thinking with Pullo and Eirene and the dirt-smudging thing. At least, it pleased me on a dramatic level -- for Jocasta it really is horrible to end up married to a freedman, but I suspect that Posca is just what you want in a husband, in some ways.

So it was all marriage and death, or sex and death -- Servilia and Levi, one death meaningful and one death not. And then Octavia and Antony and Jocasta and Posca, two marriages more about necessity than affection, and Vorena and her lover, where she doesn't even know it's a sham. Possibly the two sets don't have much to do with each other, now that I look at it.

Anyway, it's all a big soapy mess now.

Comments

[maidenjedi]

I kinda liked the way the Antony/Octavia thing came about (since it had to, in order for the show not to totally jump off the historical ship), except for the part where Antony didn't tell Atia until she had gone on and on about plans for their life together. I thought that was a little needless, especially since we all knew it was coming when Octavian got that evil glint in his eye at the mention of marriage. Way to solve all of his problems in one go.

And it's definitely the Popular Front for the Liberation of Judaea!! (I could not stop thinking that!!)

[vaznetti]

Yeah, I agree -- the weird part was that Atia didn't know about it from the beginning, which is just crazy. I can see that Antony and Octavian cooked the whole scheme up between them, but the way they played it made it sound like that was all that was necessary -- that it didn't need Atia's approval from the outset.

And it's definitely the Popular Front for the Liberation of Judaea!! (I could not stop thinking that!!)

I am so relieved to learn this!

[maidenjedi]

From a historical sense, the Atia thing is even more boggling. Strictly from the show's sense, it's killing me - she's far more clever than that and it seemed to me that she'd pick up on the scheme and claw their eyes out for thinking it. Then again, maybe Servilia's curse has doomed Atia to blindness.

[vaznetti]

I know -- it was just poorly set up, at least for Atia and Antony.

[jood.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't listening. I was over here, gestating this fetus in a box.

[vaznetti]

It's my right as a man to have a baby!

Seriously, were they reading bad fanfic, back in the day?

[tabula-x-rasa.livejournal.com]

I would totally marry Posca. I loved the final Servilla vs. Atia. Pullo made me sad and I hope Gaia's evil plot gets foiled because I've come to really like Eirene.

But I definitely felt the way they handled Antony and Octavia's marriage was bizarre. I mean, I've been waiting for it for ages, but I still don't think it was satisfactorily explained for the show.

[vaznetti]

I am very worried for Eirene: I like her too. And I completely agree about the Antony/Octavia wedding; it was just so very oddly handled, even though we all knew it was coming.

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

About the only thing I liked about this episode was the Servilia suicide and curse, because it anticipates all those lovely spectacular suicides of the empire so well. Well done her - it was about all she had left and she played her hand very well.

But mainly I remain astonished that any of these people have any energy left over for running an empire with all the bedroom antics. Maybe that's the real reason why Octavian won: he was the one with all the free time to plot.

I find it hard to get worked up about the Jewish subplot especially when there's no one selling wolf nipples in the background.

[vaznetti]

Maybe that's the real reason why Octavian won: he was the one with all the free time to plot.

Ha! Well, it's as good an excuse as any, I guess. It is all very soapy.

I really loved the Servilia scene, and yes, you're right, it does look ahead to the later suicides, which have the same ability to damage the person they're directed at.

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

I really thought that the whole way they played the Octavia/Antony marriage was to show that Octavian is a raging psychopath who can't stand his wimmin to be happy. It was so out of control I was both lead by the nose by it and not buying it at the same time. I think it's the way they shoot his scenes focusing on his deadlike eyes. He seems very vacant and serpentine.

[vaznetti]

There is something reptilian about Octavian, isn't there? The whole thing was just so over the top and messed up from a historical perspective that I just ended up waving my hands. Apparently next week we get the moral legislation, twenty years ahead of schedule. Crazy!

[ethrosdemon.livejournal.com]

He is definately yhe villain of the piece, clearly. I thought they might end up being even-handed about taht since MA has been shown in a not exactly flattering light all along, but I suppose not.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

There's a sense in which Gaia has to get rid of Eirene, before Eirene demands that she be sold, disfigured or even killed.

Well, buying an abortifacient for Eirene when her pregnancy is that far advanced is probably going to do the trick - and now I officially LOATHE Gaia. I totally don't blame her for resenting that Eirene, also formerly a slave, is now giving her orders and as much as I am very, very disappointed in Pullo for sleeping with Gaia, I also don't blame Gaia for preferring seduction to a whipping, but now she's setting out to kill Pullo & Eirene's child and probably Eirene as well. (Isn't the penalty for that death? Unpleasant death?? I hope she gets it!)

[vaznetti]

I think that a slave (and Gaia is still a slave, isn't she?) who murders a woman by poisoning would probably be crucified -- if Eirene is her mistress, which I don't think she is, all the other slaves in the house would have to be killed as well. And I think that even if all that happens is that Eirene loses the baby, Gaia would still be killed, if anyone realized what had happened.

I thought of you during that scene, actually -- that is, I thought, "Oh no! QoT will be so disappointed in Pullo now!" I mean, I agree that I don't blame Gaia for preferring sex to the whipping, but I really don't like her now.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

I think that even if all that happens is that Eirene loses the baby, Gaia would still be killed, if anyone realized what had happened.

Given what looks like berserk and blood-drenched Pullo, I'm suspecting that Eirene dies too (if she's feeling the baby kicking, she's at least 5-6 months pregnant, and basically, having a miscarriage at that point is pretty awful - particularly without antibiotics, etc.) I'm kind of steeling myself for this, especially since I LOVED THAT FIRST SCENE WITH EIRENE AND PULLO SO MUCH!

I thought of you during that scene

HEEE! I'm so glad you clarified what exactly you were thinking about me :P Pullo is kind of dead to me now :( Well, OK, maybe not dead. But it's going to take a lot to get him back into my good graces. Like, endless guilt and remorse!

agree that I don't blame Gaia for preferring sex to the whipping, but I really don't like her now.

I blamed Pullo for the sex more than Gaia - she was using the "weapons of the weak" as she knew how. Where I completely hate Gaia is for getting the abortifacient. This goes beyond survival tactics for her - now she's being actively malicious. So I will not be a bit sorry if she dies now.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

Oh, my gosh - I just realized that maybe you don't see the previews? If so, there's a spoilery-ish line in my comment, and I really, really apologize for that.

[vaznetti]

For some reason Canadian television doesn't believe in showing previews -- it's very odd. I miss having the scenes from next week! But don't worry -- I don't consider that kind of thing real spoilers. And I saw something on the HBO website that made me think she would die, as well.

I completely agree about hating Gaia now; I do want her to be crucified. And I am so sorry to hear that Pullo is dead to you! because I know how much you (used to?) care for him. It does look like he'll suffer something awful, and probably will feel endless guilt and remorse for it.

I really did love the opening scenes with Eirene and Pullo, too -- I like the way her affection for him has been growing kind of slowly over the course of their marriage, despite the fact that he killed the guy she was intending to marry. It's one of the points where Rome captures something very alien about the way people in that culture see the world and the kind of responses they were open to.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

It's one of the points where Rome captures something very alien about the way people in that culture see the world and the kind of responses they were open to.

Oh, I really like that too (I think the idea that Eirene marries Pullo for security because she doesn't have this luxury of romantic love/being faithful in her heart, etc., is just such a great one - and then she comes to love things about him and even him.)

I have seen some pictures of Pullo in a leather armor-type thing from the next episode, and I am considerably mollified :P (What? I'm shallow!) But I do think he's up for endless guilt and remorse now - even if he never intended for anything bad to happen to Eirene or the baby. I just wish he'd been better able to see through Gaia just as he did previously. Sigh!

[vaznetti]

I agree that Eirene married Pullo because she didn't really have any other choice -- I mean, what was she going to do, turn him down and starve to death? She might even have wondered whether he'd kill her too, if she did. But then I think she got used to him, and she does expect him to treat her well -- I mean, her attitude toward him is not at all that of a woman who is afraid of her husband. Which is rather interesting, when you think about it.

I'm wondering how often Pullo and Vorenus' roles will reverse here -- I mean, it was Pullo who held Vorenus after he lost Niobe and the children, and if Eirene loses the baby, and worse if she dies, Pullo is just going to fall apart, and will need Vorenus so badly. And Vorenus is such an idiot that I worry he won't be up to the job. But both of them have done something terrible that destroyed their families, haven't they? And then had to learn to live with the consequences.

[reginaspina.livejournal.com]

I think she got used to him, and she does expect him to treat her well -- I mean, her attitude toward him is not at all that of a woman who is afraid of her husband

Yes, absolutely! And Pullo doesn't, at least in the brief interactions we've seen, have any of that "ordering about" quality that Vorenus displayed in the beginning with Niobe - so I guess Pullo is way less the stern paterfamilias than Vorenus tried to be. OTOH, that sort of makes his fateful tryst with Gaia that much worse!

both of them have done something terrible that destroyed their families, haven't they? And then had to learn to live with the consequences.

I have to say, though, that Vorenus's something terrible was a lot more terrible than Pullo's - Pullo made a bad mistake by sleeping with Gaia, but he couldn't have known she would take this as license to try to kill his unborn child. Whereas Vorenus, although crazed by grief, certainly, really did at least contemplate killing Niobe and also cursed his children (again, I know he was out of his mind with grief, but he was a lot more culpable, IMO, for what happened to his family than Pullo is for whatever is going to happen to Eirene and the baby. It's not GOOD that he slept with Gaia, but it's also not, well, homicidal :P)

Also, no, I totally think Vorenus will not know how to deal with Pullo's grief, because he's not very good at dealing with ANYONE'S emotions. Sigh!

[se-parsons.livejournal.com]

So, am I the only one who has been calling Levi Loretta this whole time? Oh no! Loretta has been stabbed!

[vaznetti]

Ha! You may be. I was humming "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" after the stabbing.

[rosekay.livejournal.com]

I think my upstairs brain left me at some point during this episode, so I hiked over here for the vaguely historical and still reasonable reaction. ;)

I am so scared for Eirene I'm sick with it! I don't really watch BSG, but I think this Octavian is a cylon.

And really, with all the melodramatic flipping of fortunes that's constantly going on, I think Jocasta got the sweet deal.

[vaznetti]

I'm terrified for Eirene as well. I don't want anything bad to happen to her!

You're theory about Octavian amuses me, but I think Cylons are actually a little more human than he is.

It's hard to say what will be going on with Posca and Jocasta -- I mean, he is a freedman, even if presumably he's now C. Julius Posca C. l. But Jocasta is still so traumatized, and I think Posca might be capable of being gentle with her.