Okay, there’s dramatic license, then there’s veering off into La-La Land. Caeserion was Caeser’s son, let’s not throw in a wink wink nudge nudge that Cleopatra had a one night stand with a lowly soldier…she considered herself a god; she would never stoop to that level.
I presume Caeserion’s death was confirmed IRL, and wasn’t he actually older, a young man, not a pre-teen, when he died? And did Octavia really raise Antony and Cleopatra’s children?
I did like the handling of Antony’s and Cleopatra’s death. It’s almost like Antony died out of love for Cleopatra, while Cleopatra died for political reasons. That ties into the reports that she was sober, while Antony was drugged out of his mind.
I liked the chipper way that Pullo told Caesarion his mother had killed herself.
I liked Atia pulling herself together for the triumph and her defiant words to Livia.
I liked seeing Vorenus and Pullo fighting back to back one last time (even thought it was kind of cheesy and contrived).
I did feel a twinge of sadness as Pullo walked off into the sunset with Caeserion. This wasn’t a perfect show but I’ll miss it. Purefoy owned this show as Antony.
In another aside. . .at that same museum I saw Octavian, they had a painting of the “real” Diogenes the Cynic. They showed him living in a big jug with a lantern, and dogs. But, it’s not the same painting they have at the wiki page.
It might ahve been this one, but I remember him looking older and crazier.
I’m pretty sure if he was around today, he’d be trying to clean my windshield at stoplights.
As I remember according to the history books I’ve read, Cleopatra kept a stable of slaveboys for sexual practice. So are you telling me that the Book of Lists was incorrect?
I have to say that I’m surprised at the negativity. As far as series finales go, I think this is the best that I’ve seen HBO do. It may not have been blow away good, but it did a very satisfying job of tying up the loose ends.
Vorenus gets to die as a hero with his only friend and his family at his side. Pullo gets the son that he missed out on with Erene (spelling?). Atia shows that she isn’t defeated. Octavia and Agrippa (two of the more likeable characters) are free to hook up on the side again. Sure it wasn’t historically correct. I can’t say that I care.
At least they didn’t leave it unfinished like Carnivale or end with a stare down in the street leading to nothing like with Deadwood. I was quite happy with the ending and the series in general.
Absolutely. I read somewhere (Wikipedia?) that he was considered for the new James Bond before Craig took the role, and after seeing him in this role, I could definitely see it.
And his partner-in-crime, Atia, also tore up the place. I like how even Octavia smiled at the end when it was revealed that the Bitch is Back. (I didn’t get the hate for Livia, though… were we supposed to know that she was a no-good schemer, or was it just motherly jealousy on Atia’s part? From what I could tell, Livia was fairly sympathetic from the few episodes she was in.)
I also like how Octavian was, to put it bluntly, the “bad guy” at the end of the series, whereas we were supposed to like (and did, in my case) the sybaritic gluttons Antony and Cleopatra. I guess it didn’t help Octavian case that he was so blase about murdering Caesarion…
All in all, it was a decent ending episode. I’m glad they didn’t have Pullo and Vorenus kill each other, and I can’t really think of a way that would have been better (maybe a more meaningful fight to “end” Vorenus’ life), so I’ll give it a B.
It may difficult for us to imagine someone casually ordering the death of a child, but it made perfect sense at the time. As Caesarion was Caesar’s actual son (as opposed to Octavian, who was the grandnephew and only adopted after the death of Caesar), Caesarion was a threat to Octavian’s claim on the throne. So of course he had to die.
Of course. I was just talking about how modern viewers would see him, not how other Romans would see him. (Although, given his speech a few episodes ago about virtue and moral uprightness and whatnot, wouldn’t even Lucius Q. Romanus see him as sort of a hypocrite? Or were all things excused back in the day if they were done in the name of politics?)
I agree 100%. This was a “B” episode in an “A” series. Probably the worst episode all season. A few good moments, as you mention, but mostly rather dull. I did like the exchange between Cleo and Octavian, and the dramatic scene afterwards, but the business with Marc Anthony wasn’t interesting at all.
Someone needs to smack some street-sense into Caeserion, and I guess Pullo is the perfect guy for that task.
I liked the episode but it seemed more like a set up for a third season rather than a series finale. We didn’t get to see Vorenus die, Atia picking a new target, and theres definitely a lot more to tell of the Pullo/Ceasarian tale. Oh well, it was a good series and it got an adequate finale.
I agree with RogueRacer. I’m okay with the finale and the series as a whole.
It was a bit like a Classics Illustrated version of that period of history, but I’m okay with that too. It was entertaining, and they did a good job showing us a mindset different from modern times – slaves, political marriages, the power of royalty, cheap lives, etc.
I liked the second season better than the first. Purefoy really owned that role in season two, and Titus and Pullo’s friendship and family troubles were well done.
It’s hard not to compare it to Deadwood. I never felt the need to watch an episode of Rome more than once and I won’t buy the DVDs. But Deadwood – you had to rewatch to catch it all and it was a joy to do that. Even the third season – as a whole, it was less than satisfying, but each episode had something special.
God, I hated, HATED, the way Cleopatra was portrayed in this series. Watching the last episode, I was rooting for the whiny little bitch to die. Fer crissakes, she was a brilliant ruler! It diminishes her so much to have her portrayed as a hedonistic slut. Running around the palace sobbing and hysterical! Jesus. She knew what was coming after the Battle of Actium. Both she and Antony knew it was their last gamble.
It’s so sad that the series chose to go with the salacious legends (most of them probably stirred up by Octavian’s supporters) surrounding Cleopatra than the true story. It’s my opinion that a strong female ruler who held Rome at bay for as long as she could by using the tools at her disposal is a much more compelling story than a little tramp who gets bit by a snake. I don’t agree that “time limitations” were the cause: look at all of the time they wasted with orgy scenes and shooting arrows at slaves.
What was the deal with having their death scene in the palace, anyway? Cleo and Antony bought the farm in her mausolem, where she had stashed a huge portion of the treasury to try to use as a bargaining chip. The histories clearly state that she was “laid out” in her finery when the Romans finally entered after her suicide, not seated in the throne room.
I definitely agree. It was a good time with some neat scenes, some good acting, some good production values, and a lot of boobies, but it is definitely a cut below the truly great TV dramas like The Wire and The West Wing.
But if we start adding up the liberties the producers took with history in the name of the story, we’ll be here forever. I’m more pissed about the way they portrayed the deaths of Brutus and Cassius than I am the way they portrayed Cleo.
Max, I gotta disagree with your evaluation, if for no other reason than I found both The Wire and The West Wing to be stultifyingly boring.
Well, the historians clearly also state Brutus was married, Atia was a very model of a modern Roman matron, and that Caeserion was Caesar’s son. There’s also no mention that for the want of a bodyguard (tearing off to confront his cheating wife) Caesar would have lived or that Servilia and Atia were feuding.
Like I said, there’s dramatic license, then there’s La La Land.
Sad to see the series finish. I rather liked the ending. I know some here didn’t approve, but I’m glad they didn’t show most of the battles. I’ve seen enough in other shows and movies such that they’d only appeal to me if I had a interest in Roman battle tactics (which I don’t).
best line (by Pullo, of course) “she’d shoot you a look like Medusa on the rag”
