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Hbo Rome Second Season

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So far she is painted as a meek incestuous lesbian... :shocking:

 

I get the impression that the relationship with Servilia may be just the event that will harden Octavia. I hope so anyway... like you I'm not real fond of the way they have portrayed the historical character (though I do enjoy the character in the context of the show).

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I get the impression that the relationship with Servilia may be just the event that will harden Octavia.

I expect you are right!

 

(though I do enjoy the character in the context of the show)

Great casting; Kerry Condon is such a cutie... :wub:

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Great casting; Kerry Condon is such a cutie...

 

Aye!

Anyone seen the documentary on the DVD? I was surprised that she had such a thick Irish accent in real life. I saw hints of it in the film 'Unleashed' ...I think the film is called 'Danny the Dog' in the US.

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Now, you have worried me already, Decimus. How on earth have they filled the previous five episodes (i.e. 5 hours of TV) with the events between 44BC (March) and 42BC (October). OK, so we have Mutina and the Proscriptions, but it seems they may have put an awful lot of padding material in here. I dread to think.... :rolleyes:

 

There is the whole range of issues dealing with Octavia & Antony. Even without the direct aspect of the Cleopatra fiasco, think about his lack of motivation fighting the Parthians, his dealings with the Armenians, etc...

 

It seems to me there is plenty of content to fill up the episodes.

 

Ah, yes - being a worshipper at the shrine of Divus Augustus, I was forgetting Antony going off to the east pre-Philippi! Fair comment, Pantagathus. However, there were certainly no 'issues' between him and Octavia prior to 40BC when they were married. Not a sausage. Although this series, with its mythical plot lines here and there (Antony as a lover of Atia's etc) may give them some material, I suppose. Even allowing for this, Antony's main eastern involvement was still after Philippi, so I still think they'll struggle to fill five episodes with the historical events. The soap opera, however, is another story...

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Do you think battles such as Mutina, and the siege of Perguia will be shown? I think it is essential to depict the latter in as much visceral detail as possible; it will give a great insight into the sheer ruthlessness of Octavian's ambition, as well as serving as a good example of Octavian's 'little-man syndrome': committing violent atrocities to compensate for physical failings. Dio gives great example of both these attributes in action:

 

'...three hundred knights and many senators, among them Tiberius Cannutius, who previously during his tribuneship had assembled the populace for Caesar Octavianus. Of the people of Perusia and the others who were captured there the majority lost their lives, and the city itself, except the temple of Vulcan and the statue of Juno, was entirely destroyed by fire.' Dio, chapter 15, Book XLVIII.

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While HBO's "Rome" is certainly focused on the historical events of the time, the basic storyline follows the adventures of Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo and I guess the writers could spend a significant amount of time on Vorenus's family woes (including the loss of his beloved wife) and Pullo's new relationship with his former "slave".

 

Antony, of course, will play a prominent part in the second season, as well as Octavian, who will metamorphose from the precocious youth in the first season to a more mature leader of men, as we get glimpses of the future emperor and statesman who shaped the Roman Empire from the ashes of the Republic.

 

It will certainly be interesting to see who plays Agrippa and I don't think the writers can ignore such a great historical figure, as he was instrumental in seeing Octavian to the throne, as it were and also protecting him from the vicious ambitions of the other good men in Rome.

 

Cleopatra will play a prominent part, I would imagine, as Antony languishes in Egypt, frittering away his time, while Octavian consolidates his power base.

 

Coming to the triumvirate, I don't think Lepidus will play a prominent role and we could certainly also see another strong woman emerge, Antony's wife, Fulvia. She was his third wife and was a martial woman, even raising legions on Antony's behalf with the help of his brother.

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3 minutes 13 seconds of preview and its made my day!!!

 

I CANNOT WAIT FOR JANUARY 2007 !

 

Its essentially Forest Gump in Romes late republic. A fictional skeleton and characters inserted in actual (and history making) events.

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Thanks for posting the Season 2 promo clip Violentilla!

 

The most surprising thing from that clip was the Phillipi sequence. I thought that they were going to pull off another Pharsalus with that and completely avoid showing battles altogether. It is very surprising to see it on screen. Cleopatra and Egypt are starting to look more traditional (Cleopatra in black plaited hair...palace walls with hieroglyphs and New Kingdom style paintings). I see that Octavian is turning into the leader in this series as well. I wonder what they are going to do with Vorenus and Pullo, it would seem that Vorenus is now dependant on Pullo, the opposite of last season.

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More dust! more blood! Lets kill some people! :hammer:

 

Looks promising from a scholars point of view.

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I think they will also be trying to attract some fans of the Sopranos with all the fighting that's going to be between gangsters in the nest season. I'm looking forward to it.

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Guest Sander

This is my first post here, I finally decided to participate after wandering around this forum for quite some time. Hopefully you'll welcome me and we can share ideas concerning one of the greatest times in history.

 

English is not my first language, so please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors.

 

I found some interesting information about the second season of ROME. (The first was brilliant by the way, better than I, Clavdivs in my opinion. Yes, I know, blasphemy.)

 

I don't know the accuracy of these episode titles, but this is the list per imdb (which did not post the air dates, those I've added based on a premiere date of January 7th).

 

Airdate - Episode - Title

1/07/07 - # 2.01 - Passover

1/14/07 - # 2.02 - Son of Hades

1/21/07 - # 2.03 - These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero

1/28/07 - # 2.04 - Testudo et Lepus (The Tortoise and the Hare)

2/04/07 - # 2.05 - Heroes of the Republic

2/11/07 - # 2.06 - Philippi

2/18/07 - # 2.07 - Death Mask

2/25/07 - # 2.08 - A Necessary Fiction

3/04/07 - # 2.09 - Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus

3/11/07 - # 2.10 - De Patre Vostro

Edited by Sander

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