All hail the end of ‘Rome’

This Sunday will be sad day for me and others who crave quality television, regardless of its content or origin. The final episode of HBO’s magnificently over-the-top historical drama, “Rome,” will be aired, ending its two-season run,. The final storyline will deal with the obvious storyline of the demise and subsequent deaths (by suicide) of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her lover, Roman general Marc Antony, along with the rise of the first Roman emperor, Octavian.
This will NOT be a remake of the 1960 Richard Burton-Elizabeth Taylor soap opera movie or Marlon Brando’s Shakespearean version. In HBO’s “Rome,” Antony is not to be praised by anyone, having so many vices as to render him shallow and incompetent. Cleo is a total vixen, who uses sex as power to get exactly what she wants from men. She has all the scruples of an alley cat and the morals of a cheap prostitute. Yet she is a force definitely to be reckoned with.
However, we all know she will get her little asp kicked.
The show might revolve around a “what might have happened with all those British accents” premise, but the central core of the drama has been the friendship of two common men, Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. Scriptwriters have heaped every kind of tragedy and peril at them – from the death of spouses to ancient brain surgery, the kidnapping of children and countless bloody skirmishes. Each man has saved the other’s life and what once was a commander-underling relationship has morphed into a strong, manly bond that comes from genuine friendship tested by time.
The end of the series means viewers will not be able to continue Pullo’s and Vorenus’ journey through history as observers. They are the only ones in the entire series allowed to speak to future emperors and generals with a degree of honesty. You feel for them and honestly want nothing too bad to happen – although most of their tragedy is fairly predictable based on how things happen on “Rome.”
This series follows Roman history fairly well – through the presence of Octavian, considered the most important of all Roman rulers (from his growth as a young man to his ascent to historical glory). To read a history of the man, and how well the storyline follows history, go online to http://www.roman-empire.net/emperors/augustus.html.
It is a series that does not care if main characters, or major supporting characters, are dispatched – rather brutality if truth be known. But romance was not part of the Roman Empire – that emerged later. It was a brutal time for men and women, filled with ribald sexuality and rather obscene grabs for power constantly. All that is on the cable TV screen and seldom is a punch (or sword) pulled.
The acting is excellent and I would hope that 42-year-old Northern Ireland-born and English reared actor Ray Stevenson, who plays Pullo, will find more roles in major theatrical productions. He turned Pullo from a brutish, boorish killer into a man with deep sensitivity and humanity (yet always to be feared because that “monster” could be unleashed at ANY moment). At 42, he is an overnight sensation in the U.S., having only been seen in “King Arthur.”
It’s sad that a third season won’t be forthcoming. Reading the history of Octavian would certainly provide more than enough intrigue to carry a 12-episode season. But such is (Roman) life.
The first season has been on DVD for some time and it is worth viewing for the bravura, textured performance of Ciarin Hinds as Julius Caesar. But the series belongs to the like of Stevenson, the exotic Polly Walker as Atia (Octavian’s conniving mother), Kevin McKidd as Vorenus, and James Purefoy as Antony.
All hail Casear! All hail “Rome.” I hope anything HBO adds to its schedule (with the final eight episodes of “The Sopranos” to follow in the Sunday timeslot) will meet the same incredibly high standards.