M. Porcius Cato Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Highlights from Episode 19: Atia yet breathes, while Servilia performs the office of Porcia; all Rome is divided into three parts, and a bribe from Herod threatens the unity of the triumvirs; Pullo is distracted while preparing to beat Gaia; Octavian arranges a cold wedding bed for Antony. Thanks to the magnificent opening shot depicting the death masks of the Junii (and Servilii Caeponis, one presumes) and a much better depiction of Roman weddings than we've seen thus far, this wasn't the worst episode yet. As a bonus, there is hope that we'll never see Timon's satyr-face again (the actor playing Timon would make a perfect Socrates, btw), and the lovely actress playing Cleopatra will be a welcome change from the interminable screeching by the wicked witch of the Julii (who should be dead by this point). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nephele Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was pleased to see Posca get a babe, even if it was Jocasta. I like Posca. -- Nephele Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julia C Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was pleased to see Octavia marry Antonius. Thank goodness! I also like seeing M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Caelius Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 ...this wasn't the worst episode yet. I haven't seen it, yet, but that recommendation matches my own regard for the entire 2nd season. I doubt I'll be buying the DVD set. It has been pretty soapy and, unlike others, I was fairly disgusted with Phillipi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 My wife and I had the show on in the background while we were playing a game, and were frequently interrupted by the 200 sex scenes. Servilia killing herself (in an admittedly dramatic moment) while Atia's presence continues to defy history was finally too much for me. I think I'm done devoting my time on Sunday night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Publius Nonius Severus Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was pleased to see Posca get a babe, even if it was Jocasta. I like Posca. -- Nephele I haven't seen Season 2 yet (but I don't care about spoliers so I read these threads!) but Posca is alive? I thought he died when he got thumped on the head by Quintus Pompey as he was running out of the Curia? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Ratus Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Indeed, Posca yet breathes, and I got a good laugh at Jocasta's expense. She's married to an ex-slave (a bad thing in Rome) and he's married to a girl that looks like a fish. What a match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Indeed, Posca yet breathes, and I got a good laugh at Jocasta's expense. She's married to an ex-slave (a bad thing in Rome) and he's married to a girl that looks like a fish. What a match. Posca lives? Excellent , he was the smartest of the Julian conspirators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasminia Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I'm still loving the show, even in all of its Forrest Gumpiness. Perhaps, because of it. Rome was much more than its celebrities, and celebrities are much more than the histories they make. This fictional/hypothetical take on the private lives of the people whose public lives and actions we study is bringing them to life for me in more ways than chronologies of their achievements has thus far. It's a truly guilty pleasure, and we can't deny the mental gymnastics it gives us and the knowledge we share when correcting the historical inaccuracies. The visual level of detail continues to amaze me, and the script ... Let's just say that I've gotten so much amusement at the startled faces of fellow classicists and friends (and even professors) when throwing around some of my favorite quotes at appropriate moments. Nothing seems to shock people more than a lady with a potty-mouth Needless to say, I will continue to wait expectantly for upcoming episodes, will buy the dvd when it comes out, and desperately hope that this isn't the last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Septimus Flavius Galarius Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was wondering myself the Roman view of freedmen marrying Roman citizens. Freedmen couldn't hold office and were still looked down as inferior, but they were allowed to marry Roman citizens seems odd to me? Especially this epidsode they all seem perfectly happy and normal for jocasta to marry posca, no matter how smart he is he still is just a lowly freedman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasminia Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 I was wondering myself the Roman view of freedmen marrying Roman citizens. Freedmen couldn't hold office and were still looked down as inferior, but they were allowed to marry Roman citizens seems odd to me? Especially this epidsode they all seem perfectly happy and normal for jocasta to marry posca, no matter how smart he is he still is just a lowly freedman. Slaves could be manumitted exclusively for the purpose of marrying (cf Pullo/Eirene), because citizens couldn't marry slaves. Jocasta's only claim to a higher marriage was her father, merchant of (that dreadful) Macedonia, and the wealth that came with. Despite being a citizen, she was penniless and "dishonored" by the brutes who killed her family. Not to mention a stoner and orgy-partaker. Prolly the best she could do. I'd be interested to see if Atia, machinatrix optima, tries to sever Jocasta's friendship with Octavia on the basis of being married to a freedman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Septimus Flavius Galarius Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Thats another thing, if i recall from season 1 Pullo isn't a citizen his parents were slaves with no mention that they were freed, so i was wondering how he could serve in the army? Is he a freedman or is he a citizen now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 Thats another thing, if i recall from season 1 Pullo isn't a citizen his parents were slaves with no mention that they were freed, so i was wondering how he could serve in the army? Is he a freedman or is he a citizen now? By actual law, he would had to have been a citizen to be a legionary, but who rightly knows how his status was written in the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 We have no indication of a screening time in the UK , any clues Fratres? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasminia Posted March 5, 2007 Report Share Posted March 5, 2007 One possibility is that Pullo's parents were freed, making him a free-born citizen and able to serve in the military. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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