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Review: HBO Rome Season 2 (2007)
I think the second season of HBO Rome was a bit messy compared to the first season. I had heard that this show was supposed to be longer, but due to budget reasons was cut short, and as a result, several seasons’ worth of events was fit into one.
Admittedly, I lost interest in the show about halfway through. I felt that the show was focusing on stories that were not properly developed. I understood the logic behind the decisions the characters made, but I just didn’t feel invested in them as I had in the first season, and this was likely due to the condensed timeline.
I probably wouldn’t say that the second season was exactly good (especially compared to the first season), but it is only ten episodes, so I can see most people watching this season for completion's sake. And while the story wasn't my favourite, it was still a passable show with nice visuals.
Spoilers.
Story
This season began immediately after the end of season 1, and ended with Octavian reigning supreme over Rome.
There were several story lines going on during this season, more than the three that we had last season. And because the show was so strapped for time, I think they didn’t give us enough buildup.
The major political story was the battle between Octavian and Marc Antony. This story took a bit of time before it really took off, because Octavian was still a youngster for the first part of the season. So the first part of the season was more about Marc Antony’s rise to power, and the second part was when Octavian started to challenge him for it. I did think this story line was interesting, but it would’ve been better if it had been stretched out. My guess was that one season was supposed to be about Marc Antony’s rise in power, another season was supposed to be about Octavian returning to Rome and seizing his power as Caesar’s heir, and another season would be about Marc Antony going to Egypt. All of these were squished into one season. Their political struggle was supposed to bracket the show, and I felt that it would’ve worked better if it was shown a bit more drawn out, as the Caesar vs. Pompey story line was in the last season.
In terms of the actual ending, I actually thought it ended rather vaguely, particularly because the last scene was of Octavian asking Pullo about Caesarion. I think it's implied that Pullo will tell Caesarion about the truth of his parentage, but...it isn't that simple. Caesarion was still the son of a Queen, if he was not the son of Caesar. So while the producers wanted to end the show on a hopeful and peaceful note, I couldn't buy it completely.
The Atia vs. Servilia story line ended rather abruptly. Servilia had dispatched a spy into Atia’s home, but they were caught. Then Atia had Servilia captured and tortured. Later on, Servilia returned to seek justice, by cursing Atia and then killing herself in front of her. I just felt that this story line wasn’t as interesting as it was in the last season. Atia and Servilia were far more subtle last season, using the powers that were specific to them to take each other down, whether it was their personal relationships or the power as the mistress of their own homes. The struggle between Atia and Servilia in this season seemed rather generic in comparison.
Octavia fell to the background this season. She did have her romantic subplot with Marcus Agrippa, but it wasn’t really important for the most part.
Lucius Vorenus’ story line could have been better. I think this story bothered me the most. Last season, we were under the impression that Vorenus had killed Niobe. In his anger, he had also cursed his children. At the beginning of the season, he told Pullo that he had taken his knife out, but it was Niobe who fell on the knife, killing herself. He had believed his children to be dead based on his encounter with Erastes Fulman, but it was Pullo who later found out the truth and told Vorenus. Vorenus saved his children from captivity (including his wife’s son with another man), but they did not forgive him so easily, so the entire season was spent with tension in the Vorenus household. Then Vorenus left for Egypt since clearly his family didn't like him, but as he lay on his deathbed, his kids forgave him. This was...not well executed. I think Vorenus telling Pullo that Niobe fell against the blade was supposed to redeem him in our eyes. So why didn't he tell that to the children to redeem him? Probably because that wouldn't have made a difference, he still had the brief intention of killing Niobe. And so, why was it necessary to even explain that Niobe had fallen on the blade? I just felt that the story was built up to have a satisfying reconciliation and redemption and did not. The children ONLY forgave him when he was dying, without any reason. Vorenus and Pullo are arguably the most prominent characters in this show, perhaps only beaten out by Atia, and Vorenus had such an unsatisfying emotional arc.
As for Pullo, his arc was iffy as well. First of all, I thought it was iffy that Eirene forgave Pullo and agreed to marry him so fast after he'd tried to kill her husband. Again, it was probably because the show was strapped for time. Very soon after, they'd become a happy couple. The inclusion of Gaia was very unnecessary. Gaia had killed a pregnant Eirene so that she could have Pullo to herself. I felt that that story line was kind of unnecessary. I felt no emotions throughout that entire love triangle arc, other than annoyance.
The story line with Timon and Levi was also most unnecessary, because it told me nothing. I'm guessing their story line was supposed to flesh out the Roman Empire by giving us the Jewish perspective, but I also felt like I gained nothing when I was watching this go down. Neither Timon or Levi were characters that I found interesting, nor was there enough time put into their story to make me interested.
The show definitely would've benefited from cutting away a few of the story lines. Most of them suffered from a lack of screentime, both to develop the story and the new characters.
Production
The production value of the show was comparable to that of last year's. So at the very least, the show looked really good.
The acting was still pretty good, so I have no complaints there. The casting was fine. Some of actors were different from how I'd imagined the characters to be, but their acting was convincing enough for me to believe it.
Characters
Atia
For the first part of the season, Atia was still taking care of the Servilia situation. Servilia had planted a slave in Atia's home who was supposed to poison her, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Through torturing the slave, Atia found that Servilia was behind the plot, and had her kidnapped and tortured. Servilia was released, after Timon couldn't handle the torture, and later, Servilia cursed Atia before committing suicide. This shocked Atia, but she remained alive, which was the important part.
For Atia, the second part of the season was more about her relationship with Marc Antony. It was implied that she was truly in love with him, but for political reasons, he ended up marrying Octavia instead, and when he was sent to Egypt, he fell in love with Cleopatra.
Throughout this all, Atia remained hopeful that their relationship had not changed. It was only when she actually made the trip to Egypt (where Marc Antony rejected her) that she realized that she was just a passing fancy for Marc Antony.
At the very end of the show, we saw a hint of the old Atia back, when Livia was challenging her. This was another reason that the show felt a little unfinished for me, because we had only seen a hint of Livia's cunning ways, and Atia had only just recovered from heartbreak.
In general, I think Atia remained an interesting and generally consistent character, she was just a bit underutilized. Admittedly I did think her love for Marc Antony was interesting because it was the one time she was not conniving. When it came to being with Marc Antony, her feelings were sincere. She truly wanted to be his wife. It was a break from the Atia we knew, and it was almost kind of cute, how excited she was when she thought she would be wed to him. But alas, by the end of the show, it was implied that only the cutthroat Atia could survive in this world of politics.
Octavia
As mentioned, Octavia barely had a role this season. She had a love story with Marcus Agrippa, which, like every other romance in this show, progressed too quickly. While Octavia was married to Marc Antony, she continued her affairs with Marcus Agrippa, which angered Octavian. Later on, Marcus Agrippa let go of his relationship with Octavia to remain in good political standing, so Octavia was left heartbroken and with child.
In terms of Octavia herself, I did think she was also underutilized. She was the soft-hearted member of the family, and we saw hints of that when she was shocked at how cold Octavian had become. But in terms of her actual impact on the plot, there was none.
Octavian
At the beginning of the season, Octavian took his role as Caesar's heir very seriously. He was always a smart boy, but after he was named heir to Caesar's power and riches, he really began to act as the head of the family, overriding his mother and Marc Antony, who were especially reluctant to hand the money over to Octavian (Marc Antony for obvious reason of political power, and Atia because she cared for Marc Antony more than Octavian).
After announcing that money would be given to the common folk and inciting a huge fight with Marc Antony, Octavian ran away, and when he returned, he'd become a young man.
As a young boy, Octavian's seriousness and studiousness was charming. While his mother encouraged him to do more debaucherous things, he was more interested in his texts.
But as an adult, Octavian's seriousness turned into something a little more frightening. He was very cold, and even used his family as political pawns, though we can't totally blame him for that as he had most definitely learned it from him mother. I'm guessing that was why Atia wasn't as shocked as Octavia was about how cutthroat Octavian was.
Octavian was also a bit selfish, as the head of the family. He expected everybody to listen to him, but that's to be expected of an only son of a noble family that grew up in a patriarchal society. He saw himself as the head of the family, despite being the youngest.
I thought that part about Octavian being into impact play was kind of unnecessary and only thrown in to add ~*~spice~*~ but really it turned into somewhat of a half-baked story line. I'm guessing that Livia's willingness to play into his sexual kinks made her more favourable to him? But again, there was NO TIME to explore this.
Octavian and Marc Antony's political plays were among the more interesting things to watch in this show.
I'm not sure how I feel about Marc Antony as a perfect psycho sort of character in this show. On one hand, it was chilling and super fun. On the other hand, I felt that he was hardly challenged as an adult, particularly because he had so much power, even over his own family. The actor for adult Octavian did a good job though. I found him insufferable and oddly offputting lol.
Compared to the other characters in this show, however, Octavian was fairly well utilized and well developed, though we have season 1 to thank for that strong backing too.
Marc Antony
Marc Antony was the main rival to Octavian. He was set up as such at the beginning of the show. He had a solid grip on Atia, who was the only one who had any social authority over Octavian. And Marc Antony was the one who kept stalling the transfer of the money to Octavian.
Marc Antony posed himself as the more likeable rule of Rome, compared to Octavian who was very uptight and strict (this was when Octavian had returned).
Eventually, Octavian had Marc Antony forced out of Rome, sent to Egypt, where he fell in love with Cleopatra. We could've had more development with that love story. After all, their love story (if it was one) was so famous. Granted, I think their story was well done enough in the two episodes that it was condensed into. But it skipped over some crucial parts, like how exactly Marc Antony and Cleopatra fell in love. Like every other romantic story line in this show, sex was a short hand to show us that two characters had fallen in love.
Marc Antony was convinced by Cleopatra to turn Atia and Octavia away when they came to ask for grain. At that point, Cleopatra had pretty firm control over Marc Antony, and I felt it would've been interesting to explore that development, of Marc Antony previously being a powerful ruler, now being completely under Cleopatra's plaything.
As Octavian closed in on Egypt, Cleopatra tricked Marc Antony into committing suicide in hopes that Octavian would see her more favourably.
The way that Marc Antony was portrayed in this show, he was a bit flippant but charimatic, and he'd climbed his way up in politicans using that charisma.
Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Agrippa worked for Octavian, and he'd fallen in love with Octavia. It didn't become a problem until Octavia had married Marc Antony, and she had continued her affair with Marcus Agrippa.
After Octavian had put Atia and Octavia under house arrest, Marcus Agrippa had visited her once, and she was prepared to run away with him, but he'd come to say goodbye, implying that he valued his political position over what he had with Octavia. Octavia was pregnant when he said goodbye, but it's not clear who the father is.
Anyway, Marcus Agrippa for the most part really didn't have a big role in the story. Yes, he was Octavian's messenger and advisor at times, but otherwise, his love story with Octavia was largely inconsequential.
Gaius Maecenas
Maecenas worked under Octavian. He was also working behind his back, and at one point, had worked with Posca to steal a bribe. Anyway, this guy was corrupt.
Posca
Posca was Caesar's slave who'd been set free upon his death. Posca was still mostly loyal to the Julii, since he'd been so close to Caesar.
So Posca was sort of at odds with Marc Antony at first, because Posca was trying to faithfully execute Caesar's will but Marc Antony did not want all that power going to Octavian.
Later on, Posca became a political advisor, joining Marc Antony in Egypt, but he and his wife Jocasta escaped when they sensed that war would come (after Marc Antony had refused to receive Atia and Octavia).
Jocasta
Jocasta was Octavia's friend, the daughter of a rich man. Atia disliked Jocasta a whole lot, and later arranged for her family to be murdered. Jocasta escaped, and came to Octavia and Atia for help. Of course, Octavia had no idea Atia had arranged for her family to be murdered, so they had to take her in, and Atia arranged for her to be married to Posca.
Funnily enough, Jocasta seemed to enjoy her marriage to Posca, probably because Posca was a simple man. They hung out together more like friends than lovers, to be honest. There was a huge age gap, and I think Posca was happy just to have company. As for Jocasta, I think she was also happy just to have company, someone who wouldn't take advantage of her.
I was neutral about Jocasta at first, but I found her to be fun later on.
Livia
Livia was Octavian's wife. She was originally married to another man, and had a son, but Octavian fell in love with her quite quickly (perhaps at first sight), and asked her to divorce her husband so that he could marry her.
Livia was initially portrayed as a timid and meek girl who would do whatever Octavian told her to do. Up front, he told her that he would probably beat her for his own sexual pleasure.
Later on, when Livia and Octavian were having sex, we saw her slap Octavian, and after they'd finished, they were discussing politics. So it was implied that Livia had already worked her way into Octavian's good books.
By the end of the show, Livia was working on becoming the most powerful woman in Rome, trying to upstage Atia, but was shut down. Like several other things about this ending, this interaction didn't give me closure and it felt rather like a cliffhanger. I would've loved to see Livia and Atia battling it out.
Cleopatra
If only there was more time, I could see Cleopatra being developed into a fan favourite. Like many other women in this show, she uses sex for her own advantage, but the stakes are the highest for her, because she is a queen. She even said that she would become a whore for her country. So she has no qualms about degrading herself to keep her country.
We really only saw her at the end of this season, when Marc Antony was sent to Egypt. On an official level, she was mostly equal with him, but on a personal level, she controlled him. What I mean is that when it came to giving out orders, Cleopatra was mostly seen as an equal (except perhaps to Vorenus). However, in private, we saw that Cleopatra often manipulated and convinced Marc Antony to go with her ideas.
As mentioned, she tricked Marc Antony into committing suicide in hopes that Octavian would no longer see her as a threat, but Octavian did not give in. He wanted to take her back to Rome, like a prisoner, and so she famously committed suicide, being bitten by an asp.
Lucius Vorenus
Lucius Vorenus started this season a wreck, after having killed his wife. As mentioned, Vorenus had told Pullo that he had just pulled the knife out, and that Niobe had fallen on the blade. I thought that this was meant to give us hope that Vorenus would be forgiven by his family, because technically, he wasn't the killer.
Vorenus and Pullo went to Erastes Fulman to find Vorenus' children, but Fulman said that he'd killed them, probably to anger Vorenus. It worked, and Vorenus killed him.
Anyway, Vorenus was in a rut, and Pullo asked Marc Antony to whip him into shape, by turning him into a soldier again. Vorenus was bad at most things, other than being a soldier.
For a period of time, Vorenus was sort of a local strongman. He was meant to keep people in a certain district in line, and was to solve their conflicts. This did not work super well, and I also kind of lost interest in this plot, because we KNOW that Vorenus is not a good politician/arbiter.
Anyway, Lyde found Pullo and told him that the children were alive, and then Pullo and Vorenus went to save the kids. But the kids were understandably very cold with him. After all, he did kill their mother. Vorenus, being the inarticulate man he was, told the kids that they would start all over. The problem with this was that in the kids' eyes, HE was the one who ruined everything by killing their mother. So he already approached the situation wrong. He never apologized to them for killing their mother and cursing them to Hades.
I know I made a big deal about the falling on the knife part, because I genuinely thought it was going to come back up! I thought Pullo was going to let that information slip to Vorena so she would realize that maybe her dad wasn't totally responsible, but it never happened. So that's why I'm so totally fixated on that fact.
Vorenus' relationship with his kids really soured, especially after Vorena betrayed him, and so he decided to leave Rome with Marc Antony, where he served him and watched over Caesarion at times. After he helped Marc Antony die, he fled Egypt with Caesarion and met up with Pullo, but was injured in a fight. He stayed alive because he wanted to see his family in Rome.
As he lay on his deathbed, his children came to see him. I just felt this was lazy. The children only giving him warmth and attention as he lay in his deathbed was pretty unsatisfying. There was no real forgiveness, just pity. Vorenus also never found out who the father of Lucius was. There was just not a lot of closure when it came to his story.
Vorena the Elder
Vorena was understandably at odds with her dad. He'd killed her mother, cursed the kids to Hades, and allowed her to be captured and enslaved, forced to prostitute herself.
Vorena had tried to run away from home, but Lyde convinced her to stay because at least Vorenus could provide for her financially.
Vorena fell in love with a man who was working against Vorenus, and was blackmailed into becoming his spy. It was due to her that a large amount of money that was supposed to be escorted by Vorenus was lost.
Anyway, there was a huge confrontation with Vorenus because of that, but the confrontation was largely unsatisfying. Nothing was said between Vorenus and Vorena that we didn't know already. Vorena hated Vorenus for killing her mother and cursing them. And no new information was revealed.
As mentioned, Vorena only showed some kindness to Vorenus as he lay dying, but it just felt so superficial and obligatory.
Pullo
Now that I think about it, Pullo didn't really do that much either in the story. He mostly worked alongside Vorenus, but often as a foil to him. He would challenged Vorenus, because as we know, Pullo is much better at people skills. There was a period of time when he was acting as a mouthpiece for Octavian because he was good with the people, but that time was short lived on screen.
Then there was the love triangle with Eirene and Gaia. I am at least glad that Pullo found out the truth, and that he was able to act on that truth.
Later on, Pullo went to Egypt with Octavian to deal with Marc Antony and Cleopatra. He was tasked with finding Caesarion. Only Pullo and Vorenus knew that Caesarion was actually Pullo's son and not Caesar's son, so they protected him and lied that he'd died. Technically, this was a happy ending, since Octavian would not pursue Caesarion anymore. However, Caesarion is old enough to remember his past. It was implied that Pullo would tell Caesarion of his true parentage eventually, but I found it cheesey and realistic. How could Pullo possibly convince Caesarion that he was his son? And even like I said, even if Caesarion believed that Pullo was his father, he still had reason to avenge Cleopatra.
Eirene
Eirene was the slave girl that Pullo had fallen in love with. I thought it was kind of sketch that she'd forgiven Pullo so easily. In the last season, I agreed that it made sense that Eirene didn't exactly forgive Pullo so much as she realized she was the safest with him because he cared so much for her.
But very early on in the season, she agreed to marry him, which meant that she was at least in love with him. I just wish we got more to show that she had forgiven him truly for killing her first love.
Eirene and Pullo were then kind of a cute couple. She was not pleased that Pullo was always running around with Vorenus because she was lonely. It was kind of cute.
Tension grew between Eirene and Gaia because Eirene was technically the lady of the house, and she would order Gaia around, which Gaia did not appreciate. Gaia was also in love with Pullo, though that was only clarified later.
Gaia poisoned a pregnant Eirene and killed her, which of course was extremely heartbreaking for Pullo, who loved her so purely.
Gaia
Gaia was a supervisor at a brothel, and she was shown to be a strong independent woman who could hold her own.
I thought it was kind of sudden that she'd fallen in love with Pullo. It was implied that she flirted and seduced a lot, so it wasn't clear to me that she as in love with Pullo specifically.
Anyway, Gaia hated Eirene, probably for ordering around, but also because she wanted Pullo all to herself, and she caused her to have a miscarriage and die of blood loss.
Gaia did have Pullo all to herself for a period of time. In an attack by Memmio, Gaius protected Pullo and got stabbed, and on her deathbed, she confessed to Pullo that she'd killed Eirene and the baby. Pullo was visibly very angry and he strangled Gaia to death, and then very unceremoniously threw her into a lake.
Other
Timon and Levi's story was very unnecessary. Timon was introduced to us as the overall handy guy who helped Atia with her shady stuff, and I thought it was so strange that he was turned into a major character with his own story line.
Like with last season, there were a lot of characters (particularly the politicians) that escaped my memory. There were so many characters that came and went, which is frankly realistic, but from an entertainment point of view, wasn't my favourite execution.
Overall
Sorry if my writing is all over the place, because I'm sort of in a rush (it's a busy kind of day/night).
Basically, this show tried to do too much in too little time, and so a lot of plot points didn't get sufficient development for me to really care. There were also a lot of plot lines that could've been dropped completely, so that other plot lines could be better developed.
It is kind of a pity that the show ended this way. I mean, overall the show was fine, because the first season was so interesting. But the second season just felt like a generic Western TV show to me. Despite its high production value, the story had so much unnecessary drama stuffed in that the show lost the charm that made the first season so appealing.
Admittedly, I lost interest in the show about halfway through. I felt that the show was focusing on stories that were not properly developed. I understood the logic behind the decisions the characters made, but I just didn’t feel invested in them as I had in the first season, and this was likely due to the condensed timeline.
I probably wouldn’t say that the second season was exactly good (especially compared to the first season), but it is only ten episodes, so I can see most people watching this season for completion's sake. And while the story wasn't my favourite, it was still a passable show with nice visuals.
Spoilers.
Story
This season began immediately after the end of season 1, and ended with Octavian reigning supreme over Rome.
There were several story lines going on during this season, more than the three that we had last season. And because the show was so strapped for time, I think they didn’t give us enough buildup.
The major political story was the battle between Octavian and Marc Antony. This story took a bit of time before it really took off, because Octavian was still a youngster for the first part of the season. So the first part of the season was more about Marc Antony’s rise to power, and the second part was when Octavian started to challenge him for it. I did think this story line was interesting, but it would’ve been better if it had been stretched out. My guess was that one season was supposed to be about Marc Antony’s rise in power, another season was supposed to be about Octavian returning to Rome and seizing his power as Caesar’s heir, and another season would be about Marc Antony going to Egypt. All of these were squished into one season. Their political struggle was supposed to bracket the show, and I felt that it would’ve worked better if it was shown a bit more drawn out, as the Caesar vs. Pompey story line was in the last season.
In terms of the actual ending, I actually thought it ended rather vaguely, particularly because the last scene was of Octavian asking Pullo about Caesarion. I think it's implied that Pullo will tell Caesarion about the truth of his parentage, but...it isn't that simple. Caesarion was still the son of a Queen, if he was not the son of Caesar. So while the producers wanted to end the show on a hopeful and peaceful note, I couldn't buy it completely.
The Atia vs. Servilia story line ended rather abruptly. Servilia had dispatched a spy into Atia’s home, but they were caught. Then Atia had Servilia captured and tortured. Later on, Servilia returned to seek justice, by cursing Atia and then killing herself in front of her. I just felt that this story line wasn’t as interesting as it was in the last season. Atia and Servilia were far more subtle last season, using the powers that were specific to them to take each other down, whether it was their personal relationships or the power as the mistress of their own homes. The struggle between Atia and Servilia in this season seemed rather generic in comparison.
Octavia fell to the background this season. She did have her romantic subplot with Marcus Agrippa, but it wasn’t really important for the most part.
Lucius Vorenus’ story line could have been better. I think this story bothered me the most. Last season, we were under the impression that Vorenus had killed Niobe. In his anger, he had also cursed his children. At the beginning of the season, he told Pullo that he had taken his knife out, but it was Niobe who fell on the knife, killing herself. He had believed his children to be dead based on his encounter with Erastes Fulman, but it was Pullo who later found out the truth and told Vorenus. Vorenus saved his children from captivity (including his wife’s son with another man), but they did not forgive him so easily, so the entire season was spent with tension in the Vorenus household. Then Vorenus left for Egypt since clearly his family didn't like him, but as he lay on his deathbed, his kids forgave him. This was...not well executed. I think Vorenus telling Pullo that Niobe fell against the blade was supposed to redeem him in our eyes. So why didn't he tell that to the children to redeem him? Probably because that wouldn't have made a difference, he still had the brief intention of killing Niobe. And so, why was it necessary to even explain that Niobe had fallen on the blade? I just felt that the story was built up to have a satisfying reconciliation and redemption and did not. The children ONLY forgave him when he was dying, without any reason. Vorenus and Pullo are arguably the most prominent characters in this show, perhaps only beaten out by Atia, and Vorenus had such an unsatisfying emotional arc.
As for Pullo, his arc was iffy as well. First of all, I thought it was iffy that Eirene forgave Pullo and agreed to marry him so fast after he'd tried to kill her husband. Again, it was probably because the show was strapped for time. Very soon after, they'd become a happy couple. The inclusion of Gaia was very unnecessary. Gaia had killed a pregnant Eirene so that she could have Pullo to herself. I felt that that story line was kind of unnecessary. I felt no emotions throughout that entire love triangle arc, other than annoyance.
The story line with Timon and Levi was also most unnecessary, because it told me nothing. I'm guessing their story line was supposed to flesh out the Roman Empire by giving us the Jewish perspective, but I also felt like I gained nothing when I was watching this go down. Neither Timon or Levi were characters that I found interesting, nor was there enough time put into their story to make me interested.
The show definitely would've benefited from cutting away a few of the story lines. Most of them suffered from a lack of screentime, both to develop the story and the new characters.
Production
The production value of the show was comparable to that of last year's. So at the very least, the show looked really good.
The acting was still pretty good, so I have no complaints there. The casting was fine. Some of actors were different from how I'd imagined the characters to be, but their acting was convincing enough for me to believe it.
Characters
Atia
For the first part of the season, Atia was still taking care of the Servilia situation. Servilia had planted a slave in Atia's home who was supposed to poison her, but the attempt was unsuccessful. Through torturing the slave, Atia found that Servilia was behind the plot, and had her kidnapped and tortured. Servilia was released, after Timon couldn't handle the torture, and later, Servilia cursed Atia before committing suicide. This shocked Atia, but she remained alive, which was the important part.
For Atia, the second part of the season was more about her relationship with Marc Antony. It was implied that she was truly in love with him, but for political reasons, he ended up marrying Octavia instead, and when he was sent to Egypt, he fell in love with Cleopatra.
Throughout this all, Atia remained hopeful that their relationship had not changed. It was only when she actually made the trip to Egypt (where Marc Antony rejected her) that she realized that she was just a passing fancy for Marc Antony.
At the very end of the show, we saw a hint of the old Atia back, when Livia was challenging her. This was another reason that the show felt a little unfinished for me, because we had only seen a hint of Livia's cunning ways, and Atia had only just recovered from heartbreak.
In general, I think Atia remained an interesting and generally consistent character, she was just a bit underutilized. Admittedly I did think her love for Marc Antony was interesting because it was the one time she was not conniving. When it came to being with Marc Antony, her feelings were sincere. She truly wanted to be his wife. It was a break from the Atia we knew, and it was almost kind of cute, how excited she was when she thought she would be wed to him. But alas, by the end of the show, it was implied that only the cutthroat Atia could survive in this world of politics.
Octavia
As mentioned, Octavia barely had a role this season. She had a love story with Marcus Agrippa, which, like every other romance in this show, progressed too quickly. While Octavia was married to Marc Antony, she continued her affairs with Marcus Agrippa, which angered Octavian. Later on, Marcus Agrippa let go of his relationship with Octavia to remain in good political standing, so Octavia was left heartbroken and with child.
In terms of Octavia herself, I did think she was also underutilized. She was the soft-hearted member of the family, and we saw hints of that when she was shocked at how cold Octavian had become. But in terms of her actual impact on the plot, there was none.
Octavian
At the beginning of the season, Octavian took his role as Caesar's heir very seriously. He was always a smart boy, but after he was named heir to Caesar's power and riches, he really began to act as the head of the family, overriding his mother and Marc Antony, who were especially reluctant to hand the money over to Octavian (Marc Antony for obvious reason of political power, and Atia because she cared for Marc Antony more than Octavian).
After announcing that money would be given to the common folk and inciting a huge fight with Marc Antony, Octavian ran away, and when he returned, he'd become a young man.
As a young boy, Octavian's seriousness and studiousness was charming. While his mother encouraged him to do more debaucherous things, he was more interested in his texts.
But as an adult, Octavian's seriousness turned into something a little more frightening. He was very cold, and even used his family as political pawns, though we can't totally blame him for that as he had most definitely learned it from him mother. I'm guessing that was why Atia wasn't as shocked as Octavia was about how cutthroat Octavian was.
Octavian was also a bit selfish, as the head of the family. He expected everybody to listen to him, but that's to be expected of an only son of a noble family that grew up in a patriarchal society. He saw himself as the head of the family, despite being the youngest.
I thought that part about Octavian being into impact play was kind of unnecessary and only thrown in to add ~*~spice~*~ but really it turned into somewhat of a half-baked story line. I'm guessing that Livia's willingness to play into his sexual kinks made her more favourable to him? But again, there was NO TIME to explore this.
Octavian and Marc Antony's political plays were among the more interesting things to watch in this show.
I'm not sure how I feel about Marc Antony as a perfect psycho sort of character in this show. On one hand, it was chilling and super fun. On the other hand, I felt that he was hardly challenged as an adult, particularly because he had so much power, even over his own family. The actor for adult Octavian did a good job though. I found him insufferable and oddly offputting lol.
Compared to the other characters in this show, however, Octavian was fairly well utilized and well developed, though we have season 1 to thank for that strong backing too.
Marc Antony
Marc Antony was the main rival to Octavian. He was set up as such at the beginning of the show. He had a solid grip on Atia, who was the only one who had any social authority over Octavian. And Marc Antony was the one who kept stalling the transfer of the money to Octavian.
Marc Antony posed himself as the more likeable rule of Rome, compared to Octavian who was very uptight and strict (this was when Octavian had returned).
Eventually, Octavian had Marc Antony forced out of Rome, sent to Egypt, where he fell in love with Cleopatra. We could've had more development with that love story. After all, their love story (if it was one) was so famous. Granted, I think their story was well done enough in the two episodes that it was condensed into. But it skipped over some crucial parts, like how exactly Marc Antony and Cleopatra fell in love. Like every other romantic story line in this show, sex was a short hand to show us that two characters had fallen in love.
Marc Antony was convinced by Cleopatra to turn Atia and Octavia away when they came to ask for grain. At that point, Cleopatra had pretty firm control over Marc Antony, and I felt it would've been interesting to explore that development, of Marc Antony previously being a powerful ruler, now being completely under Cleopatra's plaything.
As Octavian closed in on Egypt, Cleopatra tricked Marc Antony into committing suicide in hopes that Octavian would see her more favourably.
The way that Marc Antony was portrayed in this show, he was a bit flippant but charimatic, and he'd climbed his way up in politicans using that charisma.
Marcus Agrippa
Marcus Agrippa worked for Octavian, and he'd fallen in love with Octavia. It didn't become a problem until Octavia had married Marc Antony, and she had continued her affair with Marcus Agrippa.
After Octavian had put Atia and Octavia under house arrest, Marcus Agrippa had visited her once, and she was prepared to run away with him, but he'd come to say goodbye, implying that he valued his political position over what he had with Octavia. Octavia was pregnant when he said goodbye, but it's not clear who the father is.
Anyway, Marcus Agrippa for the most part really didn't have a big role in the story. Yes, he was Octavian's messenger and advisor at times, but otherwise, his love story with Octavia was largely inconsequential.
Gaius Maecenas
Maecenas worked under Octavian. He was also working behind his back, and at one point, had worked with Posca to steal a bribe. Anyway, this guy was corrupt.
Posca
Posca was Caesar's slave who'd been set free upon his death. Posca was still mostly loyal to the Julii, since he'd been so close to Caesar.
So Posca was sort of at odds with Marc Antony at first, because Posca was trying to faithfully execute Caesar's will but Marc Antony did not want all that power going to Octavian.
Later on, Posca became a political advisor, joining Marc Antony in Egypt, but he and his wife Jocasta escaped when they sensed that war would come (after Marc Antony had refused to receive Atia and Octavia).
Jocasta
Jocasta was Octavia's friend, the daughter of a rich man. Atia disliked Jocasta a whole lot, and later arranged for her family to be murdered. Jocasta escaped, and came to Octavia and Atia for help. Of course, Octavia had no idea Atia had arranged for her family to be murdered, so they had to take her in, and Atia arranged for her to be married to Posca.
Funnily enough, Jocasta seemed to enjoy her marriage to Posca, probably because Posca was a simple man. They hung out together more like friends than lovers, to be honest. There was a huge age gap, and I think Posca was happy just to have company. As for Jocasta, I think she was also happy just to have company, someone who wouldn't take advantage of her.
I was neutral about Jocasta at first, but I found her to be fun later on.
Livia
Livia was Octavian's wife. She was originally married to another man, and had a son, but Octavian fell in love with her quite quickly (perhaps at first sight), and asked her to divorce her husband so that he could marry her.
Livia was initially portrayed as a timid and meek girl who would do whatever Octavian told her to do. Up front, he told her that he would probably beat her for his own sexual pleasure.
Later on, when Livia and Octavian were having sex, we saw her slap Octavian, and after they'd finished, they were discussing politics. So it was implied that Livia had already worked her way into Octavian's good books.
By the end of the show, Livia was working on becoming the most powerful woman in Rome, trying to upstage Atia, but was shut down. Like several other things about this ending, this interaction didn't give me closure and it felt rather like a cliffhanger. I would've loved to see Livia and Atia battling it out.
Cleopatra
If only there was more time, I could see Cleopatra being developed into a fan favourite. Like many other women in this show, she uses sex for her own advantage, but the stakes are the highest for her, because she is a queen. She even said that she would become a whore for her country. So she has no qualms about degrading herself to keep her country.
We really only saw her at the end of this season, when Marc Antony was sent to Egypt. On an official level, she was mostly equal with him, but on a personal level, she controlled him. What I mean is that when it came to giving out orders, Cleopatra was mostly seen as an equal (except perhaps to Vorenus). However, in private, we saw that Cleopatra often manipulated and convinced Marc Antony to go with her ideas.
As mentioned, she tricked Marc Antony into committing suicide in hopes that Octavian would no longer see her as a threat, but Octavian did not give in. He wanted to take her back to Rome, like a prisoner, and so she famously committed suicide, being bitten by an asp.
Lucius Vorenus
Lucius Vorenus started this season a wreck, after having killed his wife. As mentioned, Vorenus had told Pullo that he had just pulled the knife out, and that Niobe had fallen on the blade. I thought that this was meant to give us hope that Vorenus would be forgiven by his family, because technically, he wasn't the killer.
Vorenus and Pullo went to Erastes Fulman to find Vorenus' children, but Fulman said that he'd killed them, probably to anger Vorenus. It worked, and Vorenus killed him.
Anyway, Vorenus was in a rut, and Pullo asked Marc Antony to whip him into shape, by turning him into a soldier again. Vorenus was bad at most things, other than being a soldier.
For a period of time, Vorenus was sort of a local strongman. He was meant to keep people in a certain district in line, and was to solve their conflicts. This did not work super well, and I also kind of lost interest in this plot, because we KNOW that Vorenus is not a good politician/arbiter.
Anyway, Lyde found Pullo and told him that the children were alive, and then Pullo and Vorenus went to save the kids. But the kids were understandably very cold with him. After all, he did kill their mother. Vorenus, being the inarticulate man he was, told the kids that they would start all over. The problem with this was that in the kids' eyes, HE was the one who ruined everything by killing their mother. So he already approached the situation wrong. He never apologized to them for killing their mother and cursing them to Hades.
I know I made a big deal about the falling on the knife part, because I genuinely thought it was going to come back up! I thought Pullo was going to let that information slip to Vorena so she would realize that maybe her dad wasn't totally responsible, but it never happened. So that's why I'm so totally fixated on that fact.
Vorenus' relationship with his kids really soured, especially after Vorena betrayed him, and so he decided to leave Rome with Marc Antony, where he served him and watched over Caesarion at times. After he helped Marc Antony die, he fled Egypt with Caesarion and met up with Pullo, but was injured in a fight. He stayed alive because he wanted to see his family in Rome.
As he lay on his deathbed, his children came to see him. I just felt this was lazy. The children only giving him warmth and attention as he lay in his deathbed was pretty unsatisfying. There was no real forgiveness, just pity. Vorenus also never found out who the father of Lucius was. There was just not a lot of closure when it came to his story.
Vorena the Elder
Vorena was understandably at odds with her dad. He'd killed her mother, cursed the kids to Hades, and allowed her to be captured and enslaved, forced to prostitute herself.
Vorena had tried to run away from home, but Lyde convinced her to stay because at least Vorenus could provide for her financially.
Vorena fell in love with a man who was working against Vorenus, and was blackmailed into becoming his spy. It was due to her that a large amount of money that was supposed to be escorted by Vorenus was lost.
Anyway, there was a huge confrontation with Vorenus because of that, but the confrontation was largely unsatisfying. Nothing was said between Vorenus and Vorena that we didn't know already. Vorena hated Vorenus for killing her mother and cursing them. And no new information was revealed.
As mentioned, Vorena only showed some kindness to Vorenus as he lay dying, but it just felt so superficial and obligatory.
Pullo
Now that I think about it, Pullo didn't really do that much either in the story. He mostly worked alongside Vorenus, but often as a foil to him. He would challenged Vorenus, because as we know, Pullo is much better at people skills. There was a period of time when he was acting as a mouthpiece for Octavian because he was good with the people, but that time was short lived on screen.
Then there was the love triangle with Eirene and Gaia. I am at least glad that Pullo found out the truth, and that he was able to act on that truth.
Later on, Pullo went to Egypt with Octavian to deal with Marc Antony and Cleopatra. He was tasked with finding Caesarion. Only Pullo and Vorenus knew that Caesarion was actually Pullo's son and not Caesar's son, so they protected him and lied that he'd died. Technically, this was a happy ending, since Octavian would not pursue Caesarion anymore. However, Caesarion is old enough to remember his past. It was implied that Pullo would tell Caesarion of his true parentage eventually, but I found it cheesey and realistic. How could Pullo possibly convince Caesarion that he was his son? And even like I said, even if Caesarion believed that Pullo was his father, he still had reason to avenge Cleopatra.
Eirene
Eirene was the slave girl that Pullo had fallen in love with. I thought it was kind of sketch that she'd forgiven Pullo so easily. In the last season, I agreed that it made sense that Eirene didn't exactly forgive Pullo so much as she realized she was the safest with him because he cared so much for her.
But very early on in the season, she agreed to marry him, which meant that she was at least in love with him. I just wish we got more to show that she had forgiven him truly for killing her first love.
Eirene and Pullo were then kind of a cute couple. She was not pleased that Pullo was always running around with Vorenus because she was lonely. It was kind of cute.
Tension grew between Eirene and Gaia because Eirene was technically the lady of the house, and she would order Gaia around, which Gaia did not appreciate. Gaia was also in love with Pullo, though that was only clarified later.
Gaia poisoned a pregnant Eirene and killed her, which of course was extremely heartbreaking for Pullo, who loved her so purely.
Gaia
Gaia was a supervisor at a brothel, and she was shown to be a strong independent woman who could hold her own.
I thought it was kind of sudden that she'd fallen in love with Pullo. It was implied that she flirted and seduced a lot, so it wasn't clear to me that she as in love with Pullo specifically.
Anyway, Gaia hated Eirene, probably for ordering around, but also because she wanted Pullo all to herself, and she caused her to have a miscarriage and die of blood loss.
Gaia did have Pullo all to herself for a period of time. In an attack by Memmio, Gaius protected Pullo and got stabbed, and on her deathbed, she confessed to Pullo that she'd killed Eirene and the baby. Pullo was visibly very angry and he strangled Gaia to death, and then very unceremoniously threw her into a lake.
Other
Timon and Levi's story was very unnecessary. Timon was introduced to us as the overall handy guy who helped Atia with her shady stuff, and I thought it was so strange that he was turned into a major character with his own story line.
Like with last season, there were a lot of characters (particularly the politicians) that escaped my memory. There were so many characters that came and went, which is frankly realistic, but from an entertainment point of view, wasn't my favourite execution.
Overall
Sorry if my writing is all over the place, because I'm sort of in a rush (it's a busy kind of day/night).
Basically, this show tried to do too much in too little time, and so a lot of plot points didn't get sufficient development for me to really care. There were also a lot of plot lines that could've been dropped completely, so that other plot lines could be better developed.
It is kind of a pity that the show ended this way. I mean, overall the show was fine, because the first season was so interesting. But the second season just felt like a generic Western TV show to me. Despite its high production value, the story had so much unnecessary drama stuffed in that the show lost the charm that made the first season so appealing.