[ROM] How Titus Pullo Brought Down The Republic

TV Programme: Rome
Season: 1
Episode: 2
Date I watched this episode: 18/10/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 1 day.

The epicness of this show only increased during this episode. It certainly didn't suffer from any kind of letdown after the stunning pilot. The authentic feeling is still there, with open surgery and sex, talking of offerings to gods, and the amphitheatre. Another thing I didn't mention last time is the language of the show - which is just brilliantly crafted; the turn of phrase is beautiful and almost Shakespearian.

The story of the episode progressed things quite quickly - quicker than expected - from the bickering of two former friends to open war. The clash of these two titans was beautiful to see - Caesar sitting there on the edge of Gaul with a huge army camp, showing his leadership and strategy skills, while Pompey sits in Rome, wondering what to do with it all. Pompey's eventual plan double-backfired on him - the ultimatum was issued and the attack on Mark Anthony just served to further annoy Caesar. The previous negotiations simply were never going to achieve anything permanent.

With our different characters converging on Rome itself, we got to see the class struggle highlighted more strikingly than in the pilot. The dichotomy between Octavian, Titus, Lucius and Atia is quite apparent - Titus being the everyman looking out for number one, Lucius and Atia being the traditionalists on opposite sides of the table, and Octavian the progressive politician. We almost see the situation through the eyes of Octavian, a small and relatively innocent boy who is not restrained by his upbringing.

We had a bit of a soap opera going on with some of the characters in this episode. Lucius and Niobe have a bit of a fractured relationship now; Niobe is forthright and not the typical doting wife, while Lucius finds it hard to express his true emotions. The final scene reveals that the baby does belong to Niobe in quite a subtle and intelligent way which actually escaped me at first!

Meanwhile on the other side, Octavia is completely devastated, while ironically Atia fusses over Octavian, who doesn't need fussing over. Octavia is just spiteful of Atia now, and her constant jibing at Atia is quite humourous and not altogether unjustified.

Another humourous element to the ep was Mark Anthony's behaviour in general. To have a tribune who doesn't really understand what a tribune is, and just there for the ride, makes for some quite funny moments. But on a deeper level it's symbolic of the lack of traditional values in Caesar's methodology, and the inevitable changes to come.

As Mark quite rightly said, "snow always melts", but until it does, Pompey will have just a minor offensive on his hands. The end of the episode, where Niobe simply says "war is going to happen", is an epically stark depiction of the storm brewing ahead. It's going to be an amazing journey.