vaznetti | Rome 2x10: About Your Father

Oh, Vorenus. It's been an honor serving with you, too.

Pullo, however, is literally MADE OF WIN! Not only does he rescue Caesarion, he even gets rewarded for it! And I'm not sure it even occured to Octavian that Pullo might have lied to him. (I did, however, want the last words of the series to be a shrieked, "WHAT?" from Caesarion.)

Atia is also made of win, even if it's a bitter victory; I am perpetually surprised by her survival, and loved that final exchange with Livia. All so completely ahistorical, but deeply satisfying in it's way, and the triumphal montage only underlined the way the show really has belonged to the women in it, and to Atia most of all. (As an aside, that was another point at which this episode looked back at an earlier one -- to Caesar's triumph -- most strikingly, of course, the battle by the wagon, which brought back the very first episode, with Octavian in the Caesarion's place here.)

Oh, Vorenus. I know I said that already, but still. And anyway, we never saw the body: maybe he's living somewhere outside Rome with his children.

And Antony, dying like a Roman, the way Cleopatra died like a queen. I have to admit that I found their romance unconvincing, and thing that this is where the abbreviated season really hurt the story -- even two more episodes might have helped, there. Part of that may just be me -- I've never found their story particularly engaging -- but I just didn't really buy their sudden love, especially after Antony's scenes with Atia. I felt the connection between Antony and Vorenus more deeply than that between Antony and Cleopatra, here. I mean, that final scene with Vorenus holding the sword, and the embrace as Antony died, and then Vorenus washing and dressing his body -- in his armor, note. Whereas Cleopatra seemed weaker here, at least until the very end. (I didn't help that although something like 16 years have passed between her first appearence in the series and her death, she hasn't aged -- of course, none of them have, but it mattered more in those scenes. And actually, it isn't clear how many years have passed in the show -- not as many as in history, judging by Caesarion's age.)

Octavia is becoming colder, which is not a great surprise -- somewhere between her mother and her brother -- the years since her marriage to Antony can't have been easy for her.

I'm sure I had more to say, but I've been overwhelmed by love for Pullo and Vorenus. Of course Pullo knew where to find them, because Vorenus was waiting for them. And of course Pullo brought him home. There was never any other option.

Oh, Vorenus.

I'm going to post this, now: I think I may have more to say, later, about the show as a whole.

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The doubling of Octavian and Caesarion killed me, and that scene, down to the spear/sword throw. Antony, in his way, as the focal point of their mothers' lives. I was tearing up even before the big death scenes (Vorenus! I can't even talk about that yet.) Caesarion is possibly the most adorable little chub ever, imperious, but like a real kid in every way Octavian was not. "OH BROTHER OSIRIS" and Pullo's saintly bitchface.

I'm still wibbly and half in tears and entirely incapable of writing something more coherent, except that Octavian still scares me, and Atia really deserved that send off.

Looking forward to your series review.

I liked the way they brought things together at the end -- especially for Atia, who yes, totally deserved that ending. That was her triumph. And I loved that everyone has started to see through Octavian -- Octavia's omment about the children, and Maecenas' about his scariness, were both amusing.

The scene in the wagon, as the fight broke out, was just wonderful -- the way Pullo and Vorenus just look at each other like, "well, here we go again!" and "I told you this would happen!" And they are just that good.

Vorenus really owned this episode, and rightly so.

It will take me a while to gather my thoughts. I'm just sad that it's over.

I have to say, I think the giveaway about the cart was not His Imperial Highness but Vorenus' failure to procure a single sack of camoflauging grain with all that gold from Cleopatra.

What would have happened to Vorenus' status as a senator? Did that disappear with Caesar's death? That's been bugging me all season.

And Gaia was a slave who worked for the Collegia (or maybe just Vorenus personally), but who owned her? Were slaves able to go out and drum up independent employment?

There were wonderful moments in the final episode, but it had a Hollywood ending feel to it for me. Vorena bent too quickly at the end, but that was required for Vorenus' arc.

Atia surpassed anything I expected.

Cleopatra and Antony were way too much the last episode. All that fighting and sex just to have Antony sent Atia and Octavia away (and thereby saving their lives) bored me. Antony's debauchery, was he really noted for it?

Thanks for all the commentary over the two seasons. It really helped provide insight.

I think that a lot of Caesar's senators were removed from the rolls eventually -- Caesar's Senate had something like 900 men in it, whereas the normal number was between 400 and 600. Many of them died, of cursem but it didn't strike me as odd that Vorenus would essentially resign the position.

Were slaves able to go out and drum up independent employment?

Yes, if their owners agreed to it. I'm not really sure who did own Gaia, of course -- it's possible that she was originally part of the property of a brother under teh control of the Aventine collegium -- slaves could be owned by corporations, in Rome.

Antony's debauchery, was he really noted for it?

Oh, yes, very much so. That and his sheer military talent.

Antony & Cleopatra bored me too until this last episode. I'm a sucker for non-noble characters dying nobly, and James Purefoy pulled it off beautifully. Even Cleopatra improved -- the crack about Octavian's rotten sould was a nice touch.

Even Cleopatra improved -- the crack about Octavian's rotten sould was a nice touch.

Yes, she was great at the end -- up to then, her character didn't seem entirely consistent to me, though -- there was a point earlier on where she seemed to be handing the decision over to Antony, which seemed out of character.

I loved Agrippa's response to the "rotten soul" line, too -- you expect him to deny it, and he's just "oh, OK."

Oh, I don't know; I thought it was more like, play the weak girl so that she could manipulate Antony better...

I do like that line. Even at her death, she managed to get one last poke at Octavian..

I just loved the ending – I think Vorenus was basically a dead man, sleepwalking through life, after Niobe’s death, so his death just felt RIGHT somehow. And I love that Pullo gets the happy ending, because … that’s just who he is. Vorenus is Tragedy; Pullo, Comedy. And keeping Atia alive was all worth it just for the Triumph scene!

I do agree about Pullo and Vorenus -- but the highlight was Atia, getting her triumph in the end.

It does shock me, a little, that nothing came of Servilia's curse, in the end, though. But that's Atia's strength, I suppose: she looked lost for a while, and then she came through.

I don't know - I think we were definitely meant to see Atia's final appearance as a sort of brave keeping up of appearances but the triumph really was ashes in her mouth. She got everything she always thought she wanted, but in the end, it didn't mean anything.

I think I still have the image of Max Pirkis as Octavian in my head, 'cause all I thought when Pullo was lying to him was that, poor boy has forced everyone's hand. even Pullo lies to him now and that's just painfully sad.

I actually don't know if Octavian really believed him...

Rome 2x10: About Your Father

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