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Review: HBO Rome Season 1 (2005)
This was pretty good. I can see why people liked this show. Apart from the racy stuff (sex, murder, etc.), the show is also told in a way that is entertaining and well-paced.
I would recommend this show, though only for those who don't mind graphic content. I have heard that the second season isn't as good because the writers were trying to fits seasons' worth of content in one season, so I shall temper my expectations.
Spoilers.
Story
The story began with Caesar's campaign in Gaul, and ended with his death by a thousand stab wounds in the Senate. There were several main plot lines throughout the show, however, which fleshed it out quiet well.
Of course, the politics surrounding Caesar was one of the story lines. First, he struggled against Pompey, who was holding down the fort in Rome. Later on, his opponents were the other senators in Rome who were wary that he was gathering so much power.
Another story line surrounded those who were related to Caesar. In particular, there was a battle between Atia, Caesar's niece, and Servilia, a lover of Caesar's who was jilted. We don't often see many of these "backdoor" political stories in Western shows, stories where the politics is enforced through etiquette and social reputation, and I loved that we got that here, between two women. Other characters in this story line included Octavia and Octavian, Atia's children. Servilia was also the mother of the infamous Brutus, who was one of Caesar's murderers.
A third story line was about Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two soldiers who got caught up in the politics by virtue of their jobs. Lucius Vorenus was a successful soldier, but his home life was a little bit messy, because his wife had thought he was dead and had a baby with another man. Titus Pullo was a bit of a wanderer, going around doing odd jobs, which would land him in trouble, but he would somehow claw his way out.
All three of these major story lines were developed very well. May favourite is probably the Atia vs. Servilia battle, but honestly all of them are good.
I have no idea how historically accurate any of these stories are, but I just assumed that everything was dramatized. After all, this show is entertainment first, and not a history lesson.
I also noticed that the writer for this show was Bruno Heller, who wrote the Mentalist, a serial crime show that I enjoyed very much in the past. So I wonder if Bruno Heller being a serial writer helped with the good pacing of the show. I was always kept interested.
Production
The production value of this show was very high. No wonder this show was too expensive to keep going as it was. Basically, the atmosphere of the show was terrific. This was a much older show, so there was no CGI that went into building the background. Everything was real, all effects were practical, and I love that about old shows, because it proves that practical effects age very well, even if the camera quality is not as good.
The acting was great. I have no complaints, even about the younger actors, such as the actor for Octavian.
Characters
Gaius Julius Caesar
Caesar was our central character. He was rather impenetrable, or at least, that was probably the impression he wanted to give off. He had to maintain an appearance where he was not to be questioned, not to be doubted.
For a character who was so central to the story, I felt like I didn't see him too much. Most of what we learned about his story was through other people talking about him.
As a politician, I think he was pretty sturdy and smart. Clearly he knew what he was doing, or at least he was very good at faking that he knew what he was doing. The dissent of the senators was due to him accumulating power, which basically was what he was doing.
During the show, Caesar recruited Lucius Vorenus to be his puppet senator, and I assume that he would've been doing the same with other men, but getting these puppet senators to support him was not enough (or too late), as the other senators had already had enough with him.
Caesar was killed in the Senate in the last episode. I'm kind of glad the show didn't include the cheesy "et tu, Brute?" because that would've taken me out so fast. It's too iconic of a line and there was no way the show was going to be able to include it without it looking cheesy. How they showed Caesar's death, with him speechless, worked fine.
Gnaeus Pompey Magnus
I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to Pompey. I'll talk about this below too, but I did think that there were a lot of senators and politicians who were very forgettable, because all of the substance of their characters were whether they supported Caesar or not. I also think the problem was that I just got a lot of the faces mixed up, so if Pompey was shown on screen a lot, I forgot OTL
Anyway, Pompey was Caesar's main opponent in the first part of the show. He had as much power as Caesar and so he was pretty much the only person who could go against him. He was assassinated by people working under Ptolemy XIII.
Atia
Atia was a niece of Caesar. She was very sly, nothing was off the table when it came to getting what she wanted. We saw that she slept around often to get favours from others, whether or not she was attracted to the other man.
Atia was also controversial as a mother figure. She encouraged her children to be just as sly as her, sleeping around to get political support, breaking promises, etc. Atia viewed her children not as people to be protected, but as people that she could raise into powerful political allies.
Atia and Servilia were at odds during the show. I think this was because they were wary of the power that each other held. Atia was probably worried that Servilia could influence Caesar (and in turn, influence her), and Servilia just didn't like that Atia was always sabotaging her.
By the end of the show, since Caesar had fallen, Atia was in a dangerous position. Servilia said she would make Atia suffer, so we shall see what struggles Atia faces in the next season.
Octavia
Octavia was Atia's daughter. She was originally married to Glabius, but Atia had forced her to get a divorce so that Octavia could be married to Pompey (since Pompey's former wife, Caesar's daughter, had died in childbirth). Octavia was very against this because she and Glabius loved each other.
Pompey ended up taking someone else as his new wife, even though he'd had sex with Octavia, so she was very upset about it. Glabius wanted to come back and have Octavia as his wife again, but Atia was super against it, and later hired Timon to kill Glabius, which of course Octavia was very upset about.
Servilia hated Atia but not Octavia, so Octavia was often sent as the go-between for Atia and Servilia. Through these visits, Octavia and Servilia ended up having a sexual relationship. Servilia convinced Octavia to sleep with her brother for information on Caesar, but it didn't work in the end.
At this point, Octavia confronted her mother about whether she had Glabius killed. Atia denied it, and managed to convince her that Servilia was just manipulating her, and Octavia believed her.
In any case, Octavia ran away in shame, though her brother went to get her back.
By the end of the show, Octavia still resided with Atia and Octavian, and I guess she will share her fate with them.
I don't think Octavia was a naive woman, I think she just liked to put her emotions first. It was by luck that she had a husband that loved her so much, and she didn't want to give him up. Later on, we saw that she was easily manipulated by her mother and then by Servilia. I know this makes her sound like a gullible woman, but I think it only appears that way because she was manipulated by people that you should not expect to manipulate you. You shouldn't expect your own mother to kill your husband. You should expect your lover to convince you to sleep with your brother. She was in extraordinary circumstances, okay.
And when Octavia tried to get her mother to admit to the truth (of whether she killed Glabius), her mother turned it back on Servilia, saying that Servilia had no concrete proof.
The only person that truly cared for Octavia was her brother. From the very beginning, we saw that Octavia was very protective and caring of him, and he appreciated that. I'm not sure why Octavian slept with her even though he wasn't going to tell her about Caesar, but he forgave her very easily. I think moving forward, Octavian is still the only person that Octavia can truly trust to care for her.
I did feel quite bad for Octavia, considering she wanted so much to just live life happily and without all of these political games.
Octavian
Octavian was Atia's son. He was smart as he spent a lot of time reading and studying, but his mom disliked that he wasn't "manly enough," arranging for him to have fighting lessons and to lose his virginity.
As the only "man" in his family, Octavian is likely going to have a much bigger role in the next season in terms of influencing and protecting his family. His mother and his widowed sister are going to be relying on him quite a bit.
As I mentioned, Octavian cared for Octavia quite a bit. I think he definitely cared for Octavia more than he did his mother. His sister respected him for his academic pursuits, and just let him be the sensitive, quiet boy that he was, whereas his moher always pushed him to be manlier and more politically aggressive, which was of no interest to Octavian at the time. I wonder if there will be any family conflicts in the next season, though I kind of doubt it. Though Octavian and Octavia disagree with their mother on a lot of things, she is far more daring and will do things that they will not to ensure the safety of their family. That may change as Octavian and Octavia grow up, but unless their personalities change, ehh maybe not.
At the end of the season, Servilia did also say she was going to make the Julii suffer. I'm not sure how much time will pass between season one and season two, so we shall see how much power Octavian has managed to accumulate then.
Servilia
Servilia was Brutus' mother and Caesar's lover. Near the beginning of the show, she was more of a pining lover. She was waiting for the day that Caesar would return from Gaul, so that she could be with him again.
As Caesar grew his power, that's when Servilia's relationship with him changed. Her affair with Caesar was becoming a danger as Caeasar became more well-known, and because the affair had made its way to the ears of Calpurnia (Caesar's wife), Caesar had no choice but to cut off the relationship violently, which obviously upset Servilia.
When Caesar and Servilia were still in love, Brutus was already growing wary of Caeasar because of his political growth. So he was at odds with his mother. After Caesar cut off the affair, that's when Servilia and Brutus started to both work against Caesar.
Servilia and Atia's rivalry was also very interesting. They were both women, but they were both heading very powerful families. Atia saw Servilia as a threat to the Julii's power, whether or not that was Servilia's intention at all. I think Servilia truly was in love with Caesar and cared not for his power, but Atia couldn't take that risk, which was why Atia was always on the attack with her. Later on, Servilia only started to respond to Atia's attacks after Atia had her strippd and humiliated in the streets.
And by the end of the season, we see that Servilia has become just as cold as Atia. After all that she's been through, being dumped and attacked by the Julii, she wants revenge on them.
Brutus
Brutus was Servilia's son, and supposedly almost like a son to Caesar. I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to Brutus either. Like with Pompey, there were way too many dude politician characters for me to pay attention to.
In the show, I think Brutus was shown to be one the men who planned the attack against Caesar, showing that he was was already incredibly displeased with him.
Lucius Vorenus
Vorenus was a soldier in the 13th legion, a very established man. Though he was a good soldier, he had problems at home.
He'd been away from home for years, so his wife Niobe thought that he was dead and she had a baby with her brother-in-law.
Vorenus himself was kind of cold with his wife. They'd gotten married when they were very young, and he'd never really learned how to woo women. He had to ask Pullo for help with that. But over the course of the show, Vorenus and his wife Niobe grew closer (not knowing about the child).
Vorenus had unsuccessfully tried to find work, first as an importer, and then as a bodyguard. The reason why Vorenus didn't want to be a soldier was that he didn't agree with Caesar's politics (he saw Caesar as a usurper). But because his family was strapped for cash, Vorenus eventually took up soldiering again for Caesar.
Later on, Caesar wanted to make him a senator, but it was clear that he was going to be a puppet because Vorenus had no charisma, no public speaking skills, and no political acumen.
On the way to the senate on the day that Caesar was to be murdered, Vorenus was told of his wife's infidelity. I'm guessing that the woman that Niobe had confided in (a seer) was bought off by Brutus' entourage? Anyway, if Vorenus was at the Senate, I think he would've protected Caesar and that's why he couldn't be there. After hearing that the baby was Niobe's son with Evander, Vorenus went home right away to confront his wife.
Vorenus ended up killing his wife. I'm not really sure why he did. He seemed to me a forgiving man, and near the beginning of the show, he even said that they'd put their sins behind them. I'm guessing him killing his wife was purely for dramatic effect. I didn't think he needed to do that.
Anyway, Vorenus was basically a brick. This guy didn't know how to do anything other than fight and be a soldier. He had to learn how to be a husband, how to love, and how to feel. During the show, I think he learned the meaning of love, and at the end, he learned the meaning of grief, when someone he loves betrays him.
Niobe
Niobe was Vorenus' wife. Vorenus' pay had stopped coming to their house so she thought that he'd died. The affair between Niobe and Evandar was a little muddied. At first, I thought that it was a mutual affair, that they liked each other. However, later on, when Niobe was arguing with Lyde, she said that Evander had come to her, implying that it was because Lyde couldn't give Evander a child. So I am muddy on whether Niobe and Evander were truly in love.
When Vorenus came back, Niobe decided that she would love Vorenus again. Niobe was a woman of duty, so even though she couldn't say for sure that she loved Vorenus, she had a duty to him and their children.
After their reconciliation, Niobe and Vorenus were mostly a very loving couple. She was very supportive towards him.
When Vorenus found out about her affair, Niobe was very accepting of her fate. I think she always knew that things would come to this. Her only wish was that Vorenus spared the child, because he was innocent.
Lyde
Lyde was Niobe's sister, and the wife of Evander, with whom Niobe had an affair and birthed a son. Lyde was very obviously displeased with her husband and sister. Later on, Lyde forgave Niobe, and they started a business together selling meat.
I thought that Lyde was going to be the one to reveal the affair to Vorenus. She had so much pent up resentment that I felt that even if Lyde had forgiven her sister, she wouldn't truly had forgiven her unless Vorenus knew about the affair, but I guess my prediction was wrong.
Titus Pullo
Pullo was a soldier also with the 13th legion. He was more carefree, something of a wanderer. But he was also much more people-smart than Vorenus was, and acted as kind of his guide to pleasing ladies.
Later on, Pullo fell in love with a slave girl, Eirene. He said that she reminded him of his mother. Pullo had freed her because he wanted to marry her, but it was revealed that Eirene was in love with another slave, and Pullo killed that slave in anger.
Afterwards, Pullo worked as a mercenary, and he'd killed a man in broad daylight. He was put on trial and sentenced to death by combat, but was saved by Vorenus.
Pullo later left town, with Eirene.
Eirene
Eirene was obviously very angry with Pullo for killing the man she was in love with, and when Pullo had come back to Vorenus' house, she had intended to kill him as revenge, but Niobe had stopped Eirene.
Later on, Eirene left town as a free woman with Pullo. I think she realized that she sort of had a weird relationship with Pullo where he was clearly very taken with her, and while she didn't feel the same way about him, she had still liked him in some sort of platonic way. She also knew that Pullo would protect her and care for her, so he was technically the safest person to be with.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra made a very brief appearance in this season. Basically she seduced Caesar to get her brother/husband Ptolemy XIII out of the picture. She also had a son with Caesar, which helped with gaining his favour, but that son was actually Pullo's biological son. She'd had sex with Pullo before meeting Caesar in order to secure a pregnancy.
I wonder if Cleopatra will make an appearance next season. I think it'd be interesting if she does, mostly because I'm curious about Egypt as a vassal state of the Roman Empire.
Other
So like I said, there were a lot of male politician characters that were very forgettable, because they were all wearing the same clothes and it was difficult to tell them apart. When they were speaking to one another, they were mostly talking about Caesar, so it was hard to put a personality to each of those men. So this is one weakness of the show.
Overall
This show was very well done. I haven't watched Western historical shows in a while so I don't know if HBO's Rome is indicative of other historical shows, or whether they are the outlier.
Anyway, I am definitely going to watch the next season, though my expectations will be lowered. I am excited to see how the story progresses.
I would recommend this show, though only for those who don't mind graphic content. I have heard that the second season isn't as good because the writers were trying to fits seasons' worth of content in one season, so I shall temper my expectations.
Spoilers.
Story
The story began with Caesar's campaign in Gaul, and ended with his death by a thousand stab wounds in the Senate. There were several main plot lines throughout the show, however, which fleshed it out quiet well.
Of course, the politics surrounding Caesar was one of the story lines. First, he struggled against Pompey, who was holding down the fort in Rome. Later on, his opponents were the other senators in Rome who were wary that he was gathering so much power.
Another story line surrounded those who were related to Caesar. In particular, there was a battle between Atia, Caesar's niece, and Servilia, a lover of Caesar's who was jilted. We don't often see many of these "backdoor" political stories in Western shows, stories where the politics is enforced through etiquette and social reputation, and I loved that we got that here, between two women. Other characters in this story line included Octavia and Octavian, Atia's children. Servilia was also the mother of the infamous Brutus, who was one of Caesar's murderers.
A third story line was about Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, two soldiers who got caught up in the politics by virtue of their jobs. Lucius Vorenus was a successful soldier, but his home life was a little bit messy, because his wife had thought he was dead and had a baby with another man. Titus Pullo was a bit of a wanderer, going around doing odd jobs, which would land him in trouble, but he would somehow claw his way out.
All three of these major story lines were developed very well. May favourite is probably the Atia vs. Servilia battle, but honestly all of them are good.
I have no idea how historically accurate any of these stories are, but I just assumed that everything was dramatized. After all, this show is entertainment first, and not a history lesson.
I also noticed that the writer for this show was Bruno Heller, who wrote the Mentalist, a serial crime show that I enjoyed very much in the past. So I wonder if Bruno Heller being a serial writer helped with the good pacing of the show. I was always kept interested.
Production
The production value of this show was very high. No wonder this show was too expensive to keep going as it was. Basically, the atmosphere of the show was terrific. This was a much older show, so there was no CGI that went into building the background. Everything was real, all effects were practical, and I love that about old shows, because it proves that practical effects age very well, even if the camera quality is not as good.
The acting was great. I have no complaints, even about the younger actors, such as the actor for Octavian.
Characters
Gaius Julius Caesar
Caesar was our central character. He was rather impenetrable, or at least, that was probably the impression he wanted to give off. He had to maintain an appearance where he was not to be questioned, not to be doubted.
For a character who was so central to the story, I felt like I didn't see him too much. Most of what we learned about his story was through other people talking about him.
As a politician, I think he was pretty sturdy and smart. Clearly he knew what he was doing, or at least he was very good at faking that he knew what he was doing. The dissent of the senators was due to him accumulating power, which basically was what he was doing.
During the show, Caesar recruited Lucius Vorenus to be his puppet senator, and I assume that he would've been doing the same with other men, but getting these puppet senators to support him was not enough (or too late), as the other senators had already had enough with him.
Caesar was killed in the Senate in the last episode. I'm kind of glad the show didn't include the cheesy "et tu, Brute?" because that would've taken me out so fast. It's too iconic of a line and there was no way the show was going to be able to include it without it looking cheesy. How they showed Caesar's death, with him speechless, worked fine.
Gnaeus Pompey Magnus
I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to Pompey. I'll talk about this below too, but I did think that there were a lot of senators and politicians who were very forgettable, because all of the substance of their characters were whether they supported Caesar or not. I also think the problem was that I just got a lot of the faces mixed up, so if Pompey was shown on screen a lot, I forgot OTL
Anyway, Pompey was Caesar's main opponent in the first part of the show. He had as much power as Caesar and so he was pretty much the only person who could go against him. He was assassinated by people working under Ptolemy XIII.
Atia
Atia was a niece of Caesar. She was very sly, nothing was off the table when it came to getting what she wanted. We saw that she slept around often to get favours from others, whether or not she was attracted to the other man.
Atia was also controversial as a mother figure. She encouraged her children to be just as sly as her, sleeping around to get political support, breaking promises, etc. Atia viewed her children not as people to be protected, but as people that she could raise into powerful political allies.
Atia and Servilia were at odds during the show. I think this was because they were wary of the power that each other held. Atia was probably worried that Servilia could influence Caesar (and in turn, influence her), and Servilia just didn't like that Atia was always sabotaging her.
By the end of the show, since Caesar had fallen, Atia was in a dangerous position. Servilia said she would make Atia suffer, so we shall see what struggles Atia faces in the next season.
Octavia
Octavia was Atia's daughter. She was originally married to Glabius, but Atia had forced her to get a divorce so that Octavia could be married to Pompey (since Pompey's former wife, Caesar's daughter, had died in childbirth). Octavia was very against this because she and Glabius loved each other.
Pompey ended up taking someone else as his new wife, even though he'd had sex with Octavia, so she was very upset about it. Glabius wanted to come back and have Octavia as his wife again, but Atia was super against it, and later hired Timon to kill Glabius, which of course Octavia was very upset about.
Servilia hated Atia but not Octavia, so Octavia was often sent as the go-between for Atia and Servilia. Through these visits, Octavia and Servilia ended up having a sexual relationship. Servilia convinced Octavia to sleep with her brother for information on Caesar, but it didn't work in the end.
At this point, Octavia confronted her mother about whether she had Glabius killed. Atia denied it, and managed to convince her that Servilia was just manipulating her, and Octavia believed her.
In any case, Octavia ran away in shame, though her brother went to get her back.
By the end of the show, Octavia still resided with Atia and Octavian, and I guess she will share her fate with them.
I don't think Octavia was a naive woman, I think she just liked to put her emotions first. It was by luck that she had a husband that loved her so much, and she didn't want to give him up. Later on, we saw that she was easily manipulated by her mother and then by Servilia. I know this makes her sound like a gullible woman, but I think it only appears that way because she was manipulated by people that you should not expect to manipulate you. You shouldn't expect your own mother to kill your husband. You should expect your lover to convince you to sleep with your brother. She was in extraordinary circumstances, okay.
And when Octavia tried to get her mother to admit to the truth (of whether she killed Glabius), her mother turned it back on Servilia, saying that Servilia had no concrete proof.
The only person that truly cared for Octavia was her brother. From the very beginning, we saw that Octavia was very protective and caring of him, and he appreciated that. I'm not sure why Octavian slept with her even though he wasn't going to tell her about Caesar, but he forgave her very easily. I think moving forward, Octavian is still the only person that Octavia can truly trust to care for her.
I did feel quite bad for Octavia, considering she wanted so much to just live life happily and without all of these political games.
Octavian
Octavian was Atia's son. He was smart as he spent a lot of time reading and studying, but his mom disliked that he wasn't "manly enough," arranging for him to have fighting lessons and to lose his virginity.
As the only "man" in his family, Octavian is likely going to have a much bigger role in the next season in terms of influencing and protecting his family. His mother and his widowed sister are going to be relying on him quite a bit.
As I mentioned, Octavian cared for Octavia quite a bit. I think he definitely cared for Octavia more than he did his mother. His sister respected him for his academic pursuits, and just let him be the sensitive, quiet boy that he was, whereas his moher always pushed him to be manlier and more politically aggressive, which was of no interest to Octavian at the time. I wonder if there will be any family conflicts in the next season, though I kind of doubt it. Though Octavian and Octavia disagree with their mother on a lot of things, she is far more daring and will do things that they will not to ensure the safety of their family. That may change as Octavian and Octavia grow up, but unless their personalities change, ehh maybe not.
At the end of the season, Servilia did also say she was going to make the Julii suffer. I'm not sure how much time will pass between season one and season two, so we shall see how much power Octavian has managed to accumulate then.
Servilia
Servilia was Brutus' mother and Caesar's lover. Near the beginning of the show, she was more of a pining lover. She was waiting for the day that Caesar would return from Gaul, so that she could be with him again.
As Caesar grew his power, that's when Servilia's relationship with him changed. Her affair with Caesar was becoming a danger as Caeasar became more well-known, and because the affair had made its way to the ears of Calpurnia (Caesar's wife), Caesar had no choice but to cut off the relationship violently, which obviously upset Servilia.
When Caesar and Servilia were still in love, Brutus was already growing wary of Caeasar because of his political growth. So he was at odds with his mother. After Caesar cut off the affair, that's when Servilia and Brutus started to both work against Caesar.
Servilia and Atia's rivalry was also very interesting. They were both women, but they were both heading very powerful families. Atia saw Servilia as a threat to the Julii's power, whether or not that was Servilia's intention at all. I think Servilia truly was in love with Caesar and cared not for his power, but Atia couldn't take that risk, which was why Atia was always on the attack with her. Later on, Servilia only started to respond to Atia's attacks after Atia had her strippd and humiliated in the streets.
And by the end of the season, we see that Servilia has become just as cold as Atia. After all that she's been through, being dumped and attacked by the Julii, she wants revenge on them.
Brutus
Brutus was Servilia's son, and supposedly almost like a son to Caesar. I'll be honest, I didn't pay much attention to Brutus either. Like with Pompey, there were way too many dude politician characters for me to pay attention to.
In the show, I think Brutus was shown to be one the men who planned the attack against Caesar, showing that he was was already incredibly displeased with him.
Lucius Vorenus
Vorenus was a soldier in the 13th legion, a very established man. Though he was a good soldier, he had problems at home.
He'd been away from home for years, so his wife Niobe thought that he was dead and she had a baby with her brother-in-law.
Vorenus himself was kind of cold with his wife. They'd gotten married when they were very young, and he'd never really learned how to woo women. He had to ask Pullo for help with that. But over the course of the show, Vorenus and his wife Niobe grew closer (not knowing about the child).
Vorenus had unsuccessfully tried to find work, first as an importer, and then as a bodyguard. The reason why Vorenus didn't want to be a soldier was that he didn't agree with Caesar's politics (he saw Caesar as a usurper). But because his family was strapped for cash, Vorenus eventually took up soldiering again for Caesar.
Later on, Caesar wanted to make him a senator, but it was clear that he was going to be a puppet because Vorenus had no charisma, no public speaking skills, and no political acumen.
On the way to the senate on the day that Caesar was to be murdered, Vorenus was told of his wife's infidelity. I'm guessing that the woman that Niobe had confided in (a seer) was bought off by Brutus' entourage? Anyway, if Vorenus was at the Senate, I think he would've protected Caesar and that's why he couldn't be there. After hearing that the baby was Niobe's son with Evander, Vorenus went home right away to confront his wife.
Vorenus ended up killing his wife. I'm not really sure why he did. He seemed to me a forgiving man, and near the beginning of the show, he even said that they'd put their sins behind them. I'm guessing him killing his wife was purely for dramatic effect. I didn't think he needed to do that.
Anyway, Vorenus was basically a brick. This guy didn't know how to do anything other than fight and be a soldier. He had to learn how to be a husband, how to love, and how to feel. During the show, I think he learned the meaning of love, and at the end, he learned the meaning of grief, when someone he loves betrays him.
Niobe
Niobe was Vorenus' wife. Vorenus' pay had stopped coming to their house so she thought that he'd died. The affair between Niobe and Evandar was a little muddied. At first, I thought that it was a mutual affair, that they liked each other. However, later on, when Niobe was arguing with Lyde, she said that Evander had come to her, implying that it was because Lyde couldn't give Evander a child. So I am muddy on whether Niobe and Evander were truly in love.
When Vorenus came back, Niobe decided that she would love Vorenus again. Niobe was a woman of duty, so even though she couldn't say for sure that she loved Vorenus, she had a duty to him and their children.
After their reconciliation, Niobe and Vorenus were mostly a very loving couple. She was very supportive towards him.
When Vorenus found out about her affair, Niobe was very accepting of her fate. I think she always knew that things would come to this. Her only wish was that Vorenus spared the child, because he was innocent.
Lyde
Lyde was Niobe's sister, and the wife of Evander, with whom Niobe had an affair and birthed a son. Lyde was very obviously displeased with her husband and sister. Later on, Lyde forgave Niobe, and they started a business together selling meat.
I thought that Lyde was going to be the one to reveal the affair to Vorenus. She had so much pent up resentment that I felt that even if Lyde had forgiven her sister, she wouldn't truly had forgiven her unless Vorenus knew about the affair, but I guess my prediction was wrong.
Titus Pullo
Pullo was a soldier also with the 13th legion. He was more carefree, something of a wanderer. But he was also much more people-smart than Vorenus was, and acted as kind of his guide to pleasing ladies.
Later on, Pullo fell in love with a slave girl, Eirene. He said that she reminded him of his mother. Pullo had freed her because he wanted to marry her, but it was revealed that Eirene was in love with another slave, and Pullo killed that slave in anger.
Afterwards, Pullo worked as a mercenary, and he'd killed a man in broad daylight. He was put on trial and sentenced to death by combat, but was saved by Vorenus.
Pullo later left town, with Eirene.
Eirene
Eirene was obviously very angry with Pullo for killing the man she was in love with, and when Pullo had come back to Vorenus' house, she had intended to kill him as revenge, but Niobe had stopped Eirene.
Later on, Eirene left town as a free woman with Pullo. I think she realized that she sort of had a weird relationship with Pullo where he was clearly very taken with her, and while she didn't feel the same way about him, she had still liked him in some sort of platonic way. She also knew that Pullo would protect her and care for her, so he was technically the safest person to be with.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra made a very brief appearance in this season. Basically she seduced Caesar to get her brother/husband Ptolemy XIII out of the picture. She also had a son with Caesar, which helped with gaining his favour, but that son was actually Pullo's biological son. She'd had sex with Pullo before meeting Caesar in order to secure a pregnancy.
I wonder if Cleopatra will make an appearance next season. I think it'd be interesting if she does, mostly because I'm curious about Egypt as a vassal state of the Roman Empire.
Other
So like I said, there were a lot of male politician characters that were very forgettable, because they were all wearing the same clothes and it was difficult to tell them apart. When they were speaking to one another, they were mostly talking about Caesar, so it was hard to put a personality to each of those men. So this is one weakness of the show.
Overall
This show was very well done. I haven't watched Western historical shows in a while so I don't know if HBO's Rome is indicative of other historical shows, or whether they are the outlier.
Anyway, I am definitely going to watch the next season, though my expectations will be lowered. I am excited to see how the story progresses.