Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Short TV Blog
The second to last Rome of the season was pretty darn good. I hope I get to see the season finale. It can't be a surprise to you all that Caesar will be knifed to death by Brutus, Cassius and others in the Senate next to the statue of Pompeii Magnus. The only real question is whether the conspirators were right to do it? We see Brutus moving slowly towards it with Cassius' prompting and because of Caesar's otherwise prudent move in self-defense ( sending Brutus to Macedonia). Brutus won't go.
Atia and Mark Anthony are reunited after a rather strange Roman mating dance. I still like Atia or at least I still find her very interesting. She's the smiler with a knife, to use Chaucer's term. She criticizes beautiful Niobe's unsubtle dress out of her hearing and then seems to praise it in her presence. I'm still trying to figure out how Mark Anthony will be able to wed Atia's daughter, the poor Octavia, by the end of next year's episodes. Would she willingly give up Mark Antony?
In our time, war is politics carried out by other means, to paraphrase von Clauswitz. It appears that in Rome, politics was war carried out by other means. And one of the casualties of the Roman style of politics is straight-laced Vorenus, who must obey Caesar and bribe an old friend from the 13th legion into leading other ex-soldiers into accepting land in a rough and inhospitable place on the edge of the Empire. He must also obey Caesar and do nothing to help his old friend Pullo who has become a murderer for hire; and Vorenus even prevents an attempt to break Pullo out by old 13th mates.
What happens to Pullo is one reason I think most people could never become murderers--overcome with the weight of his guilt, he collapses under imagined 'harpy' attack and just sits waiting for arrest (like Ziggy in the second season of The Wire). We still like him though with his prayer for Eirene and Vorenus' family before he sacrifices the giant cockroach and his pathetic defense counsel (what sort of trials did they have? it was like a High School debate); and we root for him in a big way as he snaps out of it and fights and beats the swordsmen (gladiators) in the sand of a space far less impressive than the not yet built Coliseum. The guilt is too much for Vorenus too and he comes to his friend's defense at the last moment. I think you can see why the execution of criminals by sword fight with big slaves was a popular thing in Rome. I loved the reactions Timon (the Jew) had to the fight--eager worry to joyful triumph back to apprehension. As popular as the sword fights were, the chariot races were even more popular (like pro-wrestling versus NASCAR nowadays), but that's a blog for another day.
The end scene was the kicker. Although we strongly suspected it, the payment to Vorenus' nemesis Erastes Fullmen by Caesar's brilliant slave Posca confirms that Caesar is, despite his denials, becoming a tyrant who pays to have his enemies killed and smiles and smiles and still is a villain. I'm still going to miss the old guy, though.
Atia and Mark Anthony are reunited after a rather strange Roman mating dance. I still like Atia or at least I still find her very interesting. She's the smiler with a knife, to use Chaucer's term. She criticizes beautiful Niobe's unsubtle dress out of her hearing and then seems to praise it in her presence. I'm still trying to figure out how Mark Anthony will be able to wed Atia's daughter, the poor Octavia, by the end of next year's episodes. Would she willingly give up Mark Antony?
In our time, war is politics carried out by other means, to paraphrase von Clauswitz. It appears that in Rome, politics was war carried out by other means. And one of the casualties of the Roman style of politics is straight-laced Vorenus, who must obey Caesar and bribe an old friend from the 13th legion into leading other ex-soldiers into accepting land in a rough and inhospitable place on the edge of the Empire. He must also obey Caesar and do nothing to help his old friend Pullo who has become a murderer for hire; and Vorenus even prevents an attempt to break Pullo out by old 13th mates.
What happens to Pullo is one reason I think most people could never become murderers--overcome with the weight of his guilt, he collapses under imagined 'harpy' attack and just sits waiting for arrest (like Ziggy in the second season of The Wire). We still like him though with his prayer for Eirene and Vorenus' family before he sacrifices the giant cockroach and his pathetic defense counsel (what sort of trials did they have? it was like a High School debate); and we root for him in a big way as he snaps out of it and fights and beats the swordsmen (gladiators) in the sand of a space far less impressive than the not yet built Coliseum. The guilt is too much for Vorenus too and he comes to his friend's defense at the last moment. I think you can see why the execution of criminals by sword fight with big slaves was a popular thing in Rome. I loved the reactions Timon (the Jew) had to the fight--eager worry to joyful triumph back to apprehension. As popular as the sword fights were, the chariot races were even more popular (like pro-wrestling versus NASCAR nowadays), but that's a blog for another day.
The end scene was the kicker. Although we strongly suspected it, the payment to Vorenus' nemesis Erastes Fullmen by Caesar's brilliant slave Posca confirms that Caesar is, despite his denials, becoming a tyrant who pays to have his enemies killed and smiles and smiles and still is a villain. I'm still going to miss the old guy, though.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:39 PM 
