I just watched episodes 2 and 3 tonight, having missed everything up to this point. A friend filled me in on the first episode, and we watched the other two on the DVR.
Holy shit, this show kicks ass, in a very visceral sort of way. Fighting, drinking, fucking, killing, plotting, betrayal... oh, so much to sink one's teeth into. It's like Gladiator meets Dynasty, with a dash of The Sopranos. Not as good as a the best HBO shows, but really engaging. It's just high-octane plot-driven drama.
(spoilers)
There are already a few standout characters for me. Atia, obviously - Sluttius Maximus of the Julii - with all her plotting and fucking and plotting about fucking. She whored out her own daughter in the first episode, for Christ's sake! And the way she played the overnight reversal of fortune with Pompey leaving town - she goes from arguing with her daughter about who gets to mercy-kill whom when the mob breaks down the door to having the remaining Roman aristocracy grovelling at her feet the very next day, and she handled it with such panache.
Then, of course, Octavian. The boy political genius totally gets what's going on, and no one listens to him. I heart him.
Titus Pullo. He just likes to drink, and fuck, and kill people, and it works for him. The best part is that he's not all grim and cynical - he does it all with such humor and gusto. He stabbed someone through the throat for cheating at dice. He got brain surgery without anaesthesia. He's stolen the fucking treasury. He's like Han Solo, except with no regard for human life.
Plus, he has one of the best speeches so far, which I'm going to paraphrase. Lucius has asked him for advice about women:
"The best way to win a woman is to bring them the beating heart of your enemy. Oh, sure, they all claim they're not impressed by that sort of thing, but then you actually do it and they're as wet as October.
Failing that, though, you can always talk to them."
Mark Antony, who in this show is basically the upscale Titus Pullo, but with more fucking and less killing (so far).
Niobe is refreshingly complex. You very much get the feeling like she's a bit out of her depth and is making it up as she goes along, and has been doing so for eight years now.
My favorite moments from the show so far:
- The legionnaires waiting politely for Mark Antony to finish banging the shepherd girl.
- Brain surgery. Yowtch. Holy goddamn motherfucking shit, I can't believe I saw that on TV.
- Mark Antony going in to meet with Pompey and Cato, where they're expecting to dictate the terms of Caesar's surrender, and he walks in, nonchalantly slaps them around some with his giant political dick, then goes and fucks Atia.
- Pompey going over the situation with the defense of Rome, and realizing that he has no choice but to retreat. Not only is Caesar going to take Rome, he's effectively already done it, and he's totally boned.
- The aforementioned bit where everyone has to come to Atia begging for protection
all in all, i'm hooked. |
