Well, Rome the series is over. Last episode was almost low-key. No wild and over-the-top liaisons, no torture scenes, no vituperative language (or hardly any, anyway). In place of aforementioned, lots of mewling (by Cleopatra, Marc Antony). Son, who watched replay with us last week, declares it is kibbosh: “Cleopatra was a strong woman, nothing like that whiner!” Well, had to admit, on second viewing, quite a number of scenes with Cleo clutching stomach, falling on floor, etc. etc.
Anyway, Marc Antony (of course) dies. Cleopatra has deliciously tacky death scene in which she has to make up her mind between death by belladonna and death by asp, decides on asp because it is quick (”no more than 40 breaths”, provider of asp swore, but dear Cleo still alive and able to curse Octavian when he enters her palace with his soldiers the next morning).
Atia survives but the late Servilia’s curse, that she eat nothing “but ashes and iron” seems to have become self-fulfilling prophecy.
Octavian now emperor; if history books are to be believed, had a long and illustrious reign.
Best scene in last night’s episode, IMHO, was the coronation. No, not because of the pomp and gathered assemblage, but because camera focused on intimate details, such as Octavia catching the eye of Marcus Agrippa; Atia looking around at the gathered crowd, all her sadness and loneliness seeping from her eyes.
Lucius Vorenus died. He lasted a whole month in the back of a wooden cart while faithful Pullo trekked (with little Caesarion in tow) from Egypt to Rome, just so that his old friend could see his children before he died.
And guess who turned out to be the REAL father of little Caesarion. No, of course not Julius Caesar. Let me give you a hint, dear blog reader: it’s one of the two truly comic characters in this vast and richly hued canvas. One of those two friends, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. You try and guess which one.
Now self will have to find another way to fill in Sunday nights, was so totally addicted to Rome’s weekly dose of history and intrigue. There is always, of course, good old Battlestar Galactica, which, in its latest season, is dark, dark, dark, and seems to be making increasingly pointed political commentary about current events.
Of course, there will be other occasions to watch such fine actors as Polly Walker (Atia), James Purefoy (Marc Antony), Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus), and Ray Stevenson (Titus Pullo). But they won’t be in Rome, and things just won’t be the same.
Who, who was my favorite character of the whole series? Well, Lindsay Duncan was damn magnetic as Servilia, and I was truly sorry to see her go. Brutus was not bad. Octavian’s just a stick (sometimes I thought I preferred little young Octavian, the Doogie Howser look-alike). Titus Pullo was amusing. Lucius Vorenus was flawed and heroic. Cleopatra made my hackles rise (That ick-y voice! Those boobs always on display!)
But my favorite characters have to be the mother-daughter team played by Polly Walker and Kerry Condon. I’ve never seen such a magnetic duo in my entire life. In the end, I felt, Rome was about the women. Particularly these two women.
