XIII

Well twenty-two episodes later, I've finally finished off Rome.

Once you get over the shock of ridiculous amounts of sex and violence, the plot really shines through and it is fascinating. It is a complex web of deceit and the consequences of infinitesimal actions of the most infinitesimal people on the entire state. The characters are multi-faceted, however, and are simply so many shades of grey that there is no such thing as "good" or "bad." Even now, I sympathize with many of the villains and if anything, this show has helped clarify for me the intentions and reactions of people who become unbearably mundane in history books and actors manage to justify names (Brutus, Cassius, Cicero, etc.) as well.

The writing was great though any complaints would be directed towards the insanely accelerated pace of the second season and historical inaccuracies that I only managed to pick up because I know more about Octavian's life than I did about his father's. (Thank you, Allan Massie. Boring book, good facts.) I think we covered thirteen years (44 BC with Caesar's death to 31 BC, the Battle of Actium) in ten episodes. Even so, I'm pretty satisfied with how the show ended!