it has been four hundred years since the founding of the Republic, and in that time Rome has grown into a mighty power. But military might, and subjugated lands don’t mean everything is happy at home. While Gaius Julius Caesar has been off subduing Gaul, the senators back home have been growing more discontented. And […]
Double episode tonight, so I’m guessing that the BBC have cut a few scenes out of both episode 11 The Spoils and episode 12 Kalends of February. Ah well, we’ll just have to wait for dvd releases and find out if we missed any fun stuff.
How better to start an episode than with forgiveness and a threat? As he takes his seat as dictator Caesar tells everyone that he forgives them, isn’t he a nice boy? But he also makes it very clear that if you do anything wrong again I’ll chop your head off, not in so many words no, but you more than catch his drift. We also get to catch up with poor old Brutus. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. His mother may have been stripped, beaten and had her hair chopped off, but somehow it is so very hard to find any sympathy for her.
Last week we had a quick year, and between that one and this it appears yet another has gone by. Caesar and all our soldier-boys have come home to Rome. A fact that prompts much luvy-dovy tween Lamb and Niobe, and much yearning glance from Chicken.
Presumably because skraggy-shoulder man and friends[1] have been defeated and the army is being demobbed Lamb and Chicken are no longer soldiers. At first they lounge around, Lamb re-enacting battles and upsetting his supposed grandson, and Chicken watching Eirene. Niobe gets a little fed up with having them underfoot, and suggests they become butchers. Lamb protests a little, but eventually gives in and becomes a hauler of pig carcasses and chopper-off of swine heads. Lovely.
Read more about Rome 1.09 – Utica …
As viewers we may know Pompey’s fate[1] but Caesar is still in hot persuit, and turns up in Egypt, and is, well, lets just say a little upset to discover that what has happened the Former Consol Of Rome! Shame on the egyptians. Shame!
But there is also the fact that Egypt may be on the verge of a civil war, and since Rome needs the Egyptian grain, war is something that Caesar is determined to prevent. So he sends Mark Anthony home with half the legion, while he will stay to arbitrate between Ptolemy and his sister/wife Cleopatra.
Read more about Rome 1.08 – Caesarion …
Well if Chicken has learned anything it may be not to curse the gods, but somehow I doubt it. After the storms of the last episode he and Lamb are left castaway on a desert island. But there are no polar bears here, only sand. Actually it is more of a sand bunker than an island. Although they do have the company of a whole heap of dead men.
Turns out that quite a few of Anthony’s ships ended up at the bottom of the sea, but Mark himself managed to make it to Caesar’s side. Caesar is out numbered and at a disadvantage, and Pompey thinks he can starve his army to death and defeat. But his supporters disagree. He is the great Pompey Magnus. Surely it is more honourable to engage and destroy the enemy.
Forgot to do last weeks cause I headed home last Thursday.
Caesar is off busy chasing down Pompey, but Pompey has been busy himself. He is gathering his legions to him, and now his forces outnumber Caesar’s. So Julius writes home and asks for supposrt from Mark Anthony and the 13th Legion. Which leads to dear old Mark having a very good think about things.
Episode: 1.04 -because I’m sticking with the HBO episode numbers from now on, although this is the third shown on the Beeb.
In this episode Julius finally makes it back to Rome, and although he does put the city under martial law he is careful to announce that if everyone supports him he won’t be too concerned with killing people. We also meet up with Vorenus, who is trying to become a businessman (roots in the community see), or as Mark Anthony calls him a grocer. And speaking of Mr. Anthony… well indeed. Lots of nakedness there wasn’t there?
There are various political manoeuvres as Julius begins to consolidate his power. Mainly through bribery, and speaking of money where is our little Chicken[1] eh?
Read more about Rome – 1.04: Stealing from Saturn …
I haven’t mentioned the episode’s title in this post as I’m not sure what it is. You see, the BBC have decided to cut the first three episodes shown in American to make two. Their reasoning seems to be that British people know their history and don’t need to have it spelt out to them. […]
Publicity for this has certainly been building up the sex and the violence, and this first episode did live up to that. Then again, opening with Julius Caesar in Gaul there was bound to be more than a little death and bloodshed. The opening battle shows the disciplined manner of Roman fighting, all the legion fighting as one, effeciently and in concert. But there is always one, isn’t there, and in this case it is Titus Pullo. Drunk, he fights his way through the line and into the midst of the Gauls, forcing his commander Lucius Vorenus to mount a rescue. Don’t think that Pullo is grateful, instead he is insulted when Vorenus orders his “drunken soldier” back into line and decks him. Thereby earning himself a whipping and some time in prison, only being released when Mark Antony sends Vorenus to find Caeser’s stolen eagle, the symbol of the glory of Rome. Read more about Rome – The Stolen Eagle …