Rome: 2.01 Passover
Jan. 11th, 2007 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baleanopteraSome thoughts on "Passover". And here there be massive spoilers - so tread carefully.
Rome: 2.01 Passover
First – the opening shot of Caesar in the dark and empty senate was absolutely haunting. I liked how, even if he was dead, Caesar remained the focal point for most of the episode. You can kill the man, but not the myth.
Also I liked the way they death with the aftermath for the assassins, but for me this episode was all about Vorenus. I’ve always liked him, but I’ve liked Pullo better – but after this I think their pretty much equal. Mostly because of the sheer utter disaster that Vorenus faces in this episode, and how it completely unravels him. In short he breaks my heart. First he curses his family, and then he looses them. He looses his dignity and his sanity – it’s like a Greek tragedy, and since we have had a cathartic ending (if we get one) it’s all very hard to handle.
(Sidenote: I don’t think Niobe’s children (for the boy isn’t technically Vorenus’) are dead however. Though I’m not sure I have a reason for not believing that beyond flat out refusal on the grounds that it would be too horrible. But the bad guy, Erastus, didn’t seem very believable when he said he fucked them and dumped them in the river. Besides – it would make no sense. Such an action contains no profit, and dumping them dead in the river would set no example as there would be no bodies to verify your tale.)
Thankfully there is a pause from all the death an tragedy with Pullo and his pastoral proposal (also fun with alliteration). I found this scene both sweet and incredibly sad. First the fact that he starts out with: I know we got of to a wrong start (aka I killed the person you loved) – and then he proposes.
Then comes the part that breaks me: Eirine calls him ‘master’. He immediately tells her not to, but still it shows that she still thinks of him that way and it makes you wonder how much of her yes is really voluntary. That feeling is reinforced by her calling him master later on.
I also loved how Pullo’s first reaction to hearing Ceasar was dead is grabbing the messenger and steal his horse. Hee! Then came the scene that made me all teary - Pullo finding Vorenus in the empty insula, and Vorenus not being really coherent – and Pullo calling him “Brother Vorenus” again and again to calm him. *sniff* I had to stop the episode there and just collect myself a bit.
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alexandral said Niobe’s funeral reminded her of a scene from a plague funeral, and it did. So bare and dark. I liked the wet earth and the black – almost like all colours has been drained from Vorenus’ world now that Niobe is gone.
But the whole Vorenus arc of this episode was tragic – from him weeping by Niobe’s body to him carrying a severed head up those stairs. It was like watching the civilized, caring Vorenus simply evaporate – and this mad savage appear. Also the filming in the last scene, with all the browns and reds, made me think of blood and earth and primitivism.*shivers*
I also loved Octavian in this episode – but then again I really like Octavian. In “Passover” he seemed to come into his own, and started claiming what was his. Once he was named heir he was determined to keep his inheritance – to the point that he played his mother against Marc Antony by using Servillia – very clever.
Marc Antony was mostly steaming with rage, and I can understand why. You could really see him wanting to hit something (or someone) when Octavian was made Caesar’s heir. Not the best day for Marc Antony no. Still…he will get his kicks, come Cleopatra and all. *g*
And go Calpurnia for spitting Servillia in the face!
Rome: 2.01 Passover
First – the opening shot of Caesar in the dark and empty senate was absolutely haunting. I liked how, even if he was dead, Caesar remained the focal point for most of the episode. You can kill the man, but not the myth.
Also I liked the way they death with the aftermath for the assassins, but for me this episode was all about Vorenus. I’ve always liked him, but I’ve liked Pullo better – but after this I think their pretty much equal. Mostly because of the sheer utter disaster that Vorenus faces in this episode, and how it completely unravels him. In short he breaks my heart. First he curses his family, and then he looses them. He looses his dignity and his sanity – it’s like a Greek tragedy, and since we have had a cathartic ending (if we get one) it’s all very hard to handle.
(Sidenote: I don’t think Niobe’s children (for the boy isn’t technically Vorenus’) are dead however. Though I’m not sure I have a reason for not believing that beyond flat out refusal on the grounds that it would be too horrible. But the bad guy, Erastus, didn’t seem very believable when he said he fucked them and dumped them in the river. Besides – it would make no sense. Such an action contains no profit, and dumping them dead in the river would set no example as there would be no bodies to verify your tale.)
Thankfully there is a pause from all the death an tragedy with Pullo and his pastoral proposal (also fun with alliteration). I found this scene both sweet and incredibly sad. First the fact that he starts out with: I know we got of to a wrong start (aka I killed the person you loved) – and then he proposes.
Then comes the part that breaks me: Eirine calls him ‘master’. He immediately tells her not to, but still it shows that she still thinks of him that way and it makes you wonder how much of her yes is really voluntary. That feeling is reinforced by her calling him master later on.
I also loved how Pullo’s first reaction to hearing Ceasar was dead is grabbing the messenger and steal his horse. Hee! Then came the scene that made me all teary - Pullo finding Vorenus in the empty insula, and Vorenus not being really coherent – and Pullo calling him “Brother Vorenus” again and again to calm him. *sniff* I had to stop the episode there and just collect myself a bit.
alexandral said Niobe’s funeral reminded her of a scene from a plague funeral, and it did. So bare and dark. I liked the wet earth and the black – almost like all colours has been drained from Vorenus’ world now that Niobe is gone. But the whole Vorenus arc of this episode was tragic – from him weeping by Niobe’s body to him carrying a severed head up those stairs. It was like watching the civilized, caring Vorenus simply evaporate – and this mad savage appear. Also the filming in the last scene, with all the browns and reds, made me think of blood and earth and primitivism.*shivers*
I also loved Octavian in this episode – but then again I really like Octavian. In “Passover” he seemed to come into his own, and started claiming what was his. Once he was named heir he was determined to keep his inheritance – to the point that he played his mother against Marc Antony by using Servillia – very clever.
Marc Antony was mostly steaming with rage, and I can understand why. You could really see him wanting to hit something (or someone) when Octavian was made Caesar’s heir. Not the best day for Marc Antony no. Still…he will get his kicks, come Cleopatra and all. *g*
And go Calpurnia for spitting Servillia in the face!
