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"I would follow you into Hades – or even to Britain!"
Man, they crammed a lot into this episode. We're getting so near to the end now, I feel nervous going into every episode, wondering who is going to die this week.
Poor Eirene! :( Such a tragic end for Pullo's little mouse, the slave girl he rescued, freed and married, risen to become the 'domina' of the Aventine Collegium, only to be assassinated by the vengeful Gaia, for no good reason beyond personal dislike and envy. I so hope Gaia gets her comeupance and soon – I want Pullo to find out what she did and unleash his wrath on her. Poor Pullo. Eirene and the family they hoped to raise together were his sollace in what for him were the uneasy waters of peacetime. Still, the battle of the Collegia should provide a good outlet for his emotions. He is, after all, a soldier at heart – violence is what he knows best.
The scenes of Vorenus supporting Pullo after Eirene's death so closely mirror the scenes of Pullo supporting Vorenus in the aftermath of Niobe's death, no doubt intentionally so. These two men have been through so much together, and understand one another in ways that the women in their lives have never stood a chance of understanding – brothers-in-arms in the truest sense. They've been through some enormously difficult times together.
The basic plot for this episode was pretty simple – the theft of a shipment of gold – but provided a catalyst for an enormous amount of change in the lives of the characters and the political status quo, with Pullo and Vorenus moving back toward the centre of the political action. It has been rare this season for the varying strata of society to be so closely intertwined in the same complex set of circumstances, and the show has felt weaker for that. So, although this was in many ways a filler episode – moving the characters into position for the final two episodes – it was always gripping to watch because, rather than various entirely disconnected sequences of events, we were seeing several sub-plots coming together all at once, as this one specific incident set off a ripple effect affecting just about every character on the show, for better or for worse.
For Vorenus, the eventual fallout was devastating, the circumstances of Niobe's death coming back to haunt him yet again, as he learnt of his daughter's betrayal and the depth of her hatred for him. Under Roman law, he could and maybe should have killed the girl, but what would that achieve? It could only perpetuate the cycle of violence, anger and hatred already poisoning his family. His devastation was so plain to see, he just didn't know what to do, couldn't see any way of fixing this. So his reaction was to cut and run, to remove himself from the situation he was in and return to a situation that felt more familiar – military service with Mark Antony's retinue as they departed for Egypt. Just as Pullo is a man of violence above all else, so Vorenus will always be a soldier at heart. He knows how to be a soldier – he has always struggled to understand how to be a husband and father. It seems strange, looking back at the early days of their partnership, when they were thrown together so reluctantly, and yet oddly fitting, that Vorenus should leave his children in Pullo's care, trusting his friend to be able to provide them with everything that he could not.
The short little goodbye scene between Vorenus and Pullo was really touching. I just hope, with two episodes still to go, that it wasn't the last time they will see one another. It can't be, surely. Those two have always been the heart of the show, and are stronger together than apart. But Vorenus is Antony's man, and Pullo Octavian's. That's not a comforting thought, as history places them on such opposing sides. I don't want to see them facing one another on the battlefield, and that has been avoided so far this season. It remains to be seen how things play out in the next couple of episodes – history gives only the broadest framework with which to anticipate events, since the show is using such enormous dramatic licence this season.
I've always been fond of Posca, more so than ever the last couple of episodes when we've seen more of him. That probably means he's going to die soon. It's cute that his marriage to Jocasta seems to actually be working out pretty well so far, despite the circumstances in which it came about. He's indulgent of her, and she's lapping that up.
The whole sorry, sordid Atia-Antony-Octavia-Agrippa scenario came to a head in this episode, and honestly, for all Octavian's outrage, he's got no one to blame but himself. He knows how attached his mother and Antony are to one another – and despite all their many faults, they do seem to be genuinely attached to one another – so did he really think that enforcing a marriage between Antony and Octavia would change anything? It's too easy to write Antony off as addicted to sex, which he totally is and always has been, he'll sleep with just about anyone…but if it was just about the sex, he really wouldn't have made that determined attempt to see Atia one last time before leaving Rome, just to talk to her, and offer her a crumb of comfort and hope. There is a genuine connection there, albeit a warped and twisted one. There's not much chance that he really will send for Atia, or that she will be able to go to him if he did, but he cared enough about her to want to make the offer. Theirs is a very odd relationship. Amusing, though, to see how quickly her anger with him for going through with the marriage to her daughter wore off.
Antony and Agrippa don't have much in common on the surface, but they do have one huge point of similarity – they both put their own lives and careers ahead of the women in their lives. In a sense, so do Vorenus and Pullo. It's a sign of the times, I suppose. Men were men, and did manly things, and the women just had to stay at home and wait for them. And so, after all the twists and turns so far, Atia and Octavia find themselves prisoners in their own home, kept under armed guard by son and brother, with only one another (and the slaves, of course) for company and comfort, and with Octavia expecting a child whose paternity she neither knows nor cares in her current mood: Antony the husband she never wanted, her mother's lover, or Agrippa the lover who let her down, choosing his career over her.
With Antony exiled to Egypt, we've finally hit the true beginnings of the famous Antony and Cleopatra saga. That should end well…. And in this episode Livia made her first appearance, and with her the first mention of Tiberius and Claudius Nero; fast approaching 'I, Claudius' territory now, with the Republic in its final death throes and the Roman Empire about to be truly born.
Only two episodes to go before it's all over for good. :( Even though this season hasn't been as strong and consistent as the first, I shall miss it.
Poor Eirene! :( Such a tragic end for Pullo's little mouse, the slave girl he rescued, freed and married, risen to become the 'domina' of the Aventine Collegium, only to be assassinated by the vengeful Gaia, for no good reason beyond personal dislike and envy. I so hope Gaia gets her comeupance and soon – I want Pullo to find out what she did and unleash his wrath on her. Poor Pullo. Eirene and the family they hoped to raise together were his sollace in what for him were the uneasy waters of peacetime. Still, the battle of the Collegia should provide a good outlet for his emotions. He is, after all, a soldier at heart – violence is what he knows best.
The scenes of Vorenus supporting Pullo after Eirene's death so closely mirror the scenes of Pullo supporting Vorenus in the aftermath of Niobe's death, no doubt intentionally so. These two men have been through so much together, and understand one another in ways that the women in their lives have never stood a chance of understanding – brothers-in-arms in the truest sense. They've been through some enormously difficult times together.
The basic plot for this episode was pretty simple – the theft of a shipment of gold – but provided a catalyst for an enormous amount of change in the lives of the characters and the political status quo, with Pullo and Vorenus moving back toward the centre of the political action. It has been rare this season for the varying strata of society to be so closely intertwined in the same complex set of circumstances, and the show has felt weaker for that. So, although this was in many ways a filler episode – moving the characters into position for the final two episodes – it was always gripping to watch because, rather than various entirely disconnected sequences of events, we were seeing several sub-plots coming together all at once, as this one specific incident set off a ripple effect affecting just about every character on the show, for better or for worse.
For Vorenus, the eventual fallout was devastating, the circumstances of Niobe's death coming back to haunt him yet again, as he learnt of his daughter's betrayal and the depth of her hatred for him. Under Roman law, he could and maybe should have killed the girl, but what would that achieve? It could only perpetuate the cycle of violence, anger and hatred already poisoning his family. His devastation was so plain to see, he just didn't know what to do, couldn't see any way of fixing this. So his reaction was to cut and run, to remove himself from the situation he was in and return to a situation that felt more familiar – military service with Mark Antony's retinue as they departed for Egypt. Just as Pullo is a man of violence above all else, so Vorenus will always be a soldier at heart. He knows how to be a soldier – he has always struggled to understand how to be a husband and father. It seems strange, looking back at the early days of their partnership, when they were thrown together so reluctantly, and yet oddly fitting, that Vorenus should leave his children in Pullo's care, trusting his friend to be able to provide them with everything that he could not.
The short little goodbye scene between Vorenus and Pullo was really touching. I just hope, with two episodes still to go, that it wasn't the last time they will see one another. It can't be, surely. Those two have always been the heart of the show, and are stronger together than apart. But Vorenus is Antony's man, and Pullo Octavian's. That's not a comforting thought, as history places them on such opposing sides. I don't want to see them facing one another on the battlefield, and that has been avoided so far this season. It remains to be seen how things play out in the next couple of episodes – history gives only the broadest framework with which to anticipate events, since the show is using such enormous dramatic licence this season.
I've always been fond of Posca, more so than ever the last couple of episodes when we've seen more of him. That probably means he's going to die soon. It's cute that his marriage to Jocasta seems to actually be working out pretty well so far, despite the circumstances in which it came about. He's indulgent of her, and she's lapping that up.
The whole sorry, sordid Atia-Antony-Octavia-Agrippa scenario came to a head in this episode, and honestly, for all Octavian's outrage, he's got no one to blame but himself. He knows how attached his mother and Antony are to one another – and despite all their many faults, they do seem to be genuinely attached to one another – so did he really think that enforcing a marriage between Antony and Octavia would change anything? It's too easy to write Antony off as addicted to sex, which he totally is and always has been, he'll sleep with just about anyone…but if it was just about the sex, he really wouldn't have made that determined attempt to see Atia one last time before leaving Rome, just to talk to her, and offer her a crumb of comfort and hope. There is a genuine connection there, albeit a warped and twisted one. There's not much chance that he really will send for Atia, or that she will be able to go to him if he did, but he cared enough about her to want to make the offer. Theirs is a very odd relationship. Amusing, though, to see how quickly her anger with him for going through with the marriage to her daughter wore off.
Antony and Agrippa don't have much in common on the surface, but they do have one huge point of similarity – they both put their own lives and careers ahead of the women in their lives. In a sense, so do Vorenus and Pullo. It's a sign of the times, I suppose. Men were men, and did manly things, and the women just had to stay at home and wait for them. And so, after all the twists and turns so far, Atia and Octavia find themselves prisoners in their own home, kept under armed guard by son and brother, with only one another (and the slaves, of course) for company and comfort, and with Octavia expecting a child whose paternity she neither knows nor cares in her current mood: Antony the husband she never wanted, her mother's lover, or Agrippa the lover who let her down, choosing his career over her.
With Antony exiled to Egypt, we've finally hit the true beginnings of the famous Antony and Cleopatra saga. That should end well…. And in this episode Livia made her first appearance, and with her the first mention of Tiberius and Claudius Nero; fast approaching 'I, Claudius' territory now, with the Republic in its final death throes and the Roman Empire about to be truly born.
Only two episodes to go before it's all over for good. :( Even though this season hasn't been as strong and consistent as the first, I shall miss it.