It was more of a “If you are going to be bleeding from the mouth and dying, you should really be cramping up terribly and having a lot more nasty symptoms before expiring” sort of thing. She difinitely shouldn’t have been able to go on singing until 90 seconds before craoking.
It appeared to me that storyline was resolved this episode. It may have been leading to nothing more than Timon getting shamed into standing up to Atia in not killing Servilia. Without his brother’s religious pressure, would we have found Timon’s refusal to kill Servilia believable?
It was Maecenas, as Octavian specifically called him that when entering the tent. And I liked the attention to detail. I was curious who Maecenas was, so I read the Wikipedia entry on him. It mentioned that Horace wrote something “to imply that Maecenas was deficient in the robustness of fibre characteristic of the average Roman” and if you remember, he complained that the noise from the horns used to call the soldiers to order upset him.
I wonder if any high school teachers recommend that their students watch it? On the one hand, it’s a great historical drama, but on the other hand, there’s a lot of adult content. I just wish they were continuing past this season.
I’d recommend it to my students, except Roman History is usually covered in the lower grades, where the treatment would definitely be too adult for the students. We don’t even get a whole season this year, either. Bummer!
To tell you the truth, I didn’t find it all that believable anyway. So, he’ll hold a woman down to have her raped and will whip her until she bleeds and do other (unseen) tortures which make her scream like an animal but he draws the line at cutting her face?
I think Atia told Timon to cut off her face. It’s hair-splitting, but there’s torture and then there’s torture. I think Timon was a bit reluctant from the start, and after hours of hearing Servilia scream and Atia still unsatisfied – enough was enough.
I have a nitpick about Lydie saying to Pullo “the children are alive.” Why would she say that? She didn’t know that Pullo thought they were dead.
But he would know that they were missing. Better to tell him they’re alive so someone will start looking for them.
But Lyde doesn’t know that Pullo thinks the children are dead. The only way she’d think that is if Erastes told her, but we didn’t hear that.
Lyde should assume that the neighbors told Vorenus that Erastes kidnapped them, but she wouldn’t know that Erastes told Vorenus he’d murdered them.
The way the scene was written, it’s like she was telling us, the viewers, that the kids were alive.
In my nitpicky state of mind, it would have been better for Lyde to just tell Pullo that she knew where the children were.
I think you’re right. For all the children knew, Vorenus himself had decided to turn them over to be sold into slavery, or that he knew what had happened and wasn’t particularly interested.
It makes sense for Lydie to say to Pullo: “The children are suffering! You have to help them!” because all she’s seen from Pullo is courtesy and probably thinks he’s a good man.*
“The children? They’re alive?”
There. Scene accomplished.
*That opinion would change, of course, if she knew the truth about her husband’s death.
I cut off the first part of your post. Sorry.
I see your point, but what I’m wondering is if Rome was one of those cultures in which rape was considered a fate worse than death. (Socially, that is.) If so, Timon had just participated in the worst thing possible to do to a woman.
It’d make more sense for him to just slit Servilla’s throat and say, “I’m done with torture” if he’d suddenly developed a conscience. He has to know his own life is forfeit, along with Atia’s. Letting Servilla live after what had happened was an incredibly stupid thing for him to do, so much so that it seems out-of-character. At least leave the woman locked up until something else can be arranged.
Why didn’t Atia make more than a half-hearted effort to get Servilla back? Yeah, the men in the chamber were Timon’s bt Atia has her own servants. That old woman in the black robe would have cut Servilla down in a heartbeat if Atia commanded it. Instead, she just made some futile little dashes toward Timon and the door. Even if Timon did have a change of heart, he’s not going to be willing to fight Atia’s servants and possibly have to hurt Atia herself.
But I’m over-analyzing, I’m sure.
Good point. I don’t know. Death wish? To serve the plot? She was disgusted with herself? It’s unbelievable that a patrician woman would order another patrician woman to be treated like that. Doesn’t it weaken both of them?
I’m a bit reluctant to say this, but when the guy approaching Servilia was hiking up his toga, I didn’t think he was going to rape her. I thought he was going to defecate on her, and at the end, Servilia had this brownish crusty stuff on her forehead. It didn’t look like dried blood. Ew.
Servilla was acting pretty high and mighty for someone who just tried to poison someone.
Lots of whipping this episode. Mel Gibson would have liked it.
I liked the new Octavian. I thought he even adopted some of the speach patterns of the younger version. Pretty well-done switchover IMO.
Timon strangled Atia a little as he (ironically) declared he was not an animal. They showed her after he left, trying to get her breath back. So presumably she was most concerned with the oxygen flow to her own brain at the time Servilia escaped.
By the way, have I mentioned lately how hot Pullo is? I don’t know if it’s the excellent writing, or Ray Stevenson’s charisma, or a combo, but I find myself thinking, “Sure, he tortures people and even occasionally murders an innocent person in a fit of rage, but I’d totally date him.”
Also, is everyone else now taking it for granted that Pullo and Vorenus will kick righteous ass in whatever situation they find themselves? Last week I actually expected Pullo to go to take on the entire slave camp by himself, and just deliver the kids to Vorenus. They are that badass.
How did this feud get started? I can’t remember. Did Servilia blame Atia when Caesar dumped her?
In the first season, Servilia seduced Octavia. I don’t remember if Atia ever found out about that or if she even cared.
Atia arranges for Servilia to be humiliated in the thoroughfare.
Servilia conspires in Caesar’s assassination.
Servilia tries to poison Atia.
Atia has Servilia tortured.
It’s hard to keep score, but I think Atia’s ahead.
Yes, Servillia (correctly) blamed Atia for Caesar dumping her. Atia had Timon graffiti the town with pictures of Caesar and Servillia to humilate Caesar’s wife, so the wife forced Caesar’s hand. Servillia was so pissed that she did that nifty curse in the temple.
And my impression was that Atia knew about Octavia and Servillia’s affair, but just didn’t care.
I think Atia is way ahead if keeping score. Servilia was only up for the brief period after Caesar’s assassination.
I’m certain Servilla was raped. When she ran out into the street she had large bloodstains on the front and back of her dress. She was gang raped. And to add to all the pain and humiliation of the torture she wouldn’t had to make her own way back to her house like that. Somehow I doubt she would’ve gotten much help from passers by. The first time she was attacked it was pretty clear to anyone who saw that she was rich and had status, this time onlookers probally would’ve assumed she was a whore or something.
I liked the episode but i didn’t understand the need for a new Octavian. How much time is suposed to have passed since he fled Rome? it didn’t seem to be more than a few months.
Yeah, i love how they go around basically killing whoever pisses them off.
It seems to me like about 4-5 years have passed in Octavian’s life, but only 2 months have passed in the lives of Pullo and Vorenus.
Does anyone know what the poison likely was? It looked sort of like a blue oil, which may have just been for dramatic effect. But what would it have been? Would it have been tasteless? What did they use for poisons back then, and how did they get/make them? Not looking for specific recipes, of course. 
I agree Atia is definitely ahead in the Atia vs. Servilla war. I really don’t get the legalities of all the nasty stuff they do to each other though. How was Timon able to just stroll in and grab Servilla? Where was she that she was so unprotected?
“I am not an animal!” Whatever dude. Yes, you are. Murder after murder, hours of rape and torture, and now you’re not an animal? Sorry, but yeah you are.
Pullo has definitely stolen the show. I don’t know if that was intentional, but he has. Vorenus occasionally has his moments, when he’s not being a petulant little weenie.
Why did Pullo and Vorenus have to pretend they were looking for escaped slaves? If your kids are stolen and sold into slavery, don’t you have a right to go get them back since they’re not really slaves?