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HBO’s “Rome” Season I : A review By T. Flavius Crispus / David S. Michaels When I was a more lad in the mid-1970s, I vividly remember flipping through the channels and coming across “I, Claudius” on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater . That show entranced me, even changed my life. Based on Robert Graves’ novels “I. Claudius” and “Claudius the God,” the miniseries boasted superb writing, magnificent acting, and loads of intrigue, gore, sexual depravity and (mostly female) nudity, all accurately based in Roman history and wrapped in a highbrow package (“see, ma—I’m not just ogling naked breasts, I’m getting some culture!”). All splendid stuff for a kid just coming of age! Now, nearly 30 years later, I make my living selling Roman coins and spend my free time kitting our as a Roman soldier. Who says TV doesn’t have the power to mold young minds? For the past three decades, those of us who loved “I, Claudius” have waited for something as good to come along, something that blended real ancient history with the kind of writing, acting, and production values that could do it justice. But nothing has really come close… until this year. In HBO’s “Rome” we finally have a worthy successor to “I, Claudius.” The shows first season, which just concluded, spans the final death throes of the Roman Republic and the emergence of Julius Caesar as supreme leader of the state. But while Caesar, Mark Antony and other historical household names are major characters in the series, the true focus of the story is the relationship between two lowly Roman soldiers, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who serve in Caesar’s Legio XIII. Deftly played by Kevin McKidd, Vorenus, is a centurion of the first cohort, a by-the-book officer who embodies the austere virtues of the Roman Republic and reveres its institutions. Pullo, portrayed by Ray Stephenson, is a regular ranker, a happy-go-lucky galoot with flexible morals and a worldly cynicism toward authority. (Interestingly enough, Pullo and Vorenus are actual historical characters mentioned in Caesar’s memoirs—although he says they were both centurions with a vicious personal rivalry with one another.) The producers of “Rome” lavished loads of cash on the sets and costuming, mostly to good effect. The overall look is sumptuous and cinematic. They also did their research, and it is refreshing to see late Republican Rome presented as it probably actually appeared—bustling, garishly painted, graffiti-strewn, a little seedy and rundown (this is in the days before the huge building boom of the early Empire that “found Rome brick and left it marble”). If one wanted to be picky (and we reenactors are nothing if not picky), there are a few anachronisms to be spotted: Soldiers and civilians wearing knee-breeches in the first century BC, helmets copied off of Trajan’s column, women’s gowns that show entirely too much flesh (not that there’s anything wrong with that…). But, for the first time in any TV or movie production I can remember, they get a lot more things right than wrong: Soldiers properly kitted in chainmail, with marching packs on poles slung over their shoulders, fighting in disciplined ranks rather than in a mass of one-on-one melees, living in goatskin tents, training with wooden weapons. And that’s just the military stuff! They also accurately depict the labyrinth of Roman politics, so profoundly interwoven with religion, at once so familiar and so alien to the modern mind, without significantly dumbing it down. Perhaps reflecting that the plotline of “I, Claudius” was largely driven by the evil Livia, the show’s writers made another scheming woman, Caesar’s niece Atia, played by the luscious Polly Walker, one of the show’s central characters. Although just as amoral, Atia is more flighty than Livia and much less talented at intrigue, though she makes up in beauty (and a willingness to shed her clothing) what she lacks in sense. Many of her plots go disastrously awry, and she manages to make a deadly enemy out of Servilia, Caesar’s paramour and the mother of Brutus, who is one woman it is best not to antagonize. In any case, it’s not just on “Desperate Housewives” that mature, talented actress rule the roost! Another standout character is Octavian, Atia’s son and Caesar’s grand-nephew. Anyone familiar with Roman history knows he will one day become Augustus, founder of the Roman Empire and one of history’s great statesmen. Young Max Pirkis (last seen in the superb “Master And Commander”) is a dead ringer for Octavian in every sense, from his delicate Patrician beauty to his chilly, calculating intellect leavened by a basic decency. It will be fun, in the second season, to watch him slowly, surely take control of Rome and fulfill Caesar’s legacy. Other compelling characters include the great politician Cicero, perfectly portrayed by David Bamber as the perpetually befuddled man in the middle; Vorenus’ wife Niobe, portrayed by the exotic Indira Varma; and the sneering Cato, played by Karl Johnson, whose unreasoning hatred for Caesar drives Rome into civil war. Like “I, Claudius,” “Rome” doesn’t shy away from the bloody and prurient realities of Roman life. There’s gore, nudity (both male and female full-frontal), and depravity aplenty (including a rather disturbing scene of incest). Viewers who might feel squeamish at graphic displays of human sexuality or casual brutality, and those with young children, should be forewarned. I’m not going to do any plot-spoiling in this review, but anyone familiar with the general flow of events between Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BC and the Ides of March, 44 BC should have a pretty good idea of the goings-on. What makes the series particularly interesting is how the personal stories of Pullo and Vorenus are cleverly woven into the narrative, and how the whole tide of history sometimes turns on the actions of one of these characters. Not all of the first season’s 12 episodes are equally compelling; in fact there’s an unfortunate little lull around mid-season when the big buildup toward the Battle of Pharsalus peters out with none of the bloodletting we’d been expecting. But the last few episodes build to a truly shattering climax that leaves you both stunned and panting for more. Thankfully, HBO’s practice of filming new series two seasons at a time ensures there will be new episodes of “Rome” next year. As evangelists for Roman history, it’s in our interest that this series succeeds and stays on the air, so I encourage those who subscribe to HBO to watch “Rome” regularly and to encourage their friends to do the same. Also, the first season should be available as a DVD set soon—think what a great gift that would be for the Romanophile on your Christmas list (and no, that’s not a hint)!
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