Rome 2.04 Testudo et Lepus
Feb. 7th, 2007 11:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baleanopteraSo Rome - it keeps breaking my heart, and I keep loving that it does so. Ours is a special relationship. ;D
But a question people – What was the meaning behind the episode title? I don’t understand it – but that might be because I’m a little dense.
I know it’s also the title of an Aesops fable, and I can see how some of the actions in the episode could be taken as fable like in quality. Not the way that they were supernatural, but in the fact that they had a message.
There is for instance an interesting contrast between the first part of the episode; Atia and Servillia who does not manage to put the past behind them – and the second part with Pullo and Vorenus who both seems to have managed to put at least some of the past behind them. And since Pull and Vorenus seems to be a lot happier and without (too much) of the obsessive madness, I’d say they are the ones that have better understood something important. Clinging to the past and to hatred will destroy you. Letting it go and hugging the adorable boy you pondered to kill can redeem you.
In fact this entire episode used a lot of symbolism.
For instance was it interesting to see how quite a few of the main characters were shown together with symbols, or in symbolic surroundings. The introduction of the new Octavian was preceded by an eagle standard, almost painfully gleaming in the sun. Cicero was shown in an almost empty and dark Senate, the only other people were sweepers. Marc Antony was shown bloodied and wounded – a state that aptly matched his current predicament.
That said I’m a little bored with the whole Servillia and Atia story line – even if I rather liked Timon finally snapping.
Thankfully there is Octavian and his merry band, and I must say I love Agrippa more and more. I liked how he went from confident general to stuttering fool, back to quite menacing in his talk with Cicero. Hee. And as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alexandral pointed out Octavia does get rather pink during his whole confession, so maybe he has hope? Though not realistically. She's going to end up with Helen of Troy.
Speaking of that, when Marc Antony snapped at the doctor and asked if he was making a dress or stitching a wound I felt that was a little throwaway to how much the Helen-comment bothered him.
But over to the Pullo and Vorenus part of the story. I loved this. From the moment Pullo came riding up the hill to the end with the slave camp. And I have no words that can describe how much I loved the ending. From Vorenus hugging the boy, to Pullo lifting up the youngest Vorena with one arm – to the music and fade out.
Mostly I loved the Pullo back story, and I felt that this episode was in large part a view into his past. Both the military and battle and the awful slave camp can be seen as representations of his past, and most importantly a past he has left behind. I found his reaction to the battlefield very interesting. I mean this is the man who can decapitate people with his shield, but his look when he viewed the slaughter at Mutina was not the same as Pullo the soldier in early season one. Now they might have chosen the aftermath of Mutina instead of the battle proper for budget reasons, but to me it felt fitting since a lot of this episode centred on consequences and darker side of things. Had they shown the battle itself I suspect it would have clashed with the sombre tone of the rest of the episode. In addition to have Pullo arrive at the aftermath can also be seen as symbolically. The war is finished, just as he is finished with war.
And I loved the fireside talk, and how it’s clear that he is holding a lot of stuff back. He keeps interrupting himself and saying “Anyhow” as if what he is telling is either not important or to painful to bring up. *sniff*
...and this is my way of being serious when all I want to do is shout: Yay! Pullo! So that's how I'll end it ; with a YAY!
But a question people – What was the meaning behind the episode title? I don’t understand it – but that might be because I’m a little dense.
I know it’s also the title of an Aesops fable, and I can see how some of the actions in the episode could be taken as fable like in quality. Not the way that they were supernatural, but in the fact that they had a message.
There is for instance an interesting contrast between the first part of the episode; Atia and Servillia who does not manage to put the past behind them – and the second part with Pullo and Vorenus who both seems to have managed to put at least some of the past behind them. And since Pull and Vorenus seems to be a lot happier and without (too much) of the obsessive madness, I’d say they are the ones that have better understood something important. Clinging to the past and to hatred will destroy you. Letting it go and hugging the adorable boy you pondered to kill can redeem you.
In fact this entire episode used a lot of symbolism.
For instance was it interesting to see how quite a few of the main characters were shown together with symbols, or in symbolic surroundings. The introduction of the new Octavian was preceded by an eagle standard, almost painfully gleaming in the sun. Cicero was shown in an almost empty and dark Senate, the only other people were sweepers. Marc Antony was shown bloodied and wounded – a state that aptly matched his current predicament.
That said I’m a little bored with the whole Servillia and Atia story line – even if I rather liked Timon finally snapping.
Thankfully there is Octavian and his merry band, and I must say I love Agrippa more and more. I liked how he went from confident general to stuttering fool, back to quite menacing in his talk with Cicero. Hee. And as
alexandral pointed out Octavia does get rather pink during his whole confession, so maybe he has hope? Though not realistically. She's going to end up with Helen of Troy. Speaking of that, when Marc Antony snapped at the doctor and asked if he was making a dress or stitching a wound I felt that was a little throwaway to how much the Helen-comment bothered him.
But over to the Pullo and Vorenus part of the story. I loved this. From the moment Pullo came riding up the hill to the end with the slave camp. And I have no words that can describe how much I loved the ending. From Vorenus hugging the boy, to Pullo lifting up the youngest Vorena with one arm – to the music and fade out.
Mostly I loved the Pullo back story, and I felt that this episode was in large part a view into his past. Both the military and battle and the awful slave camp can be seen as representations of his past, and most importantly a past he has left behind. I found his reaction to the battlefield very interesting. I mean this is the man who can decapitate people with his shield, but his look when he viewed the slaughter at Mutina was not the same as Pullo the soldier in early season one. Now they might have chosen the aftermath of Mutina instead of the battle proper for budget reasons, but to me it felt fitting since a lot of this episode centred on consequences and darker side of things. Had they shown the battle itself I suspect it would have clashed with the sombre tone of the rest of the episode. In addition to have Pullo arrive at the aftermath can also be seen as symbolically. The war is finished, just as he is finished with war.
And I loved the fireside talk, and how it’s clear that he is holding a lot of stuff back. He keeps interrupting himself and saying “Anyhow” as if what he is telling is either not important or to painful to bring up. *sniff*
...and this is my way of being serious when all I want to do is shout: Yay! Pullo! So that's how I'll end it ; with a YAY!
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no subject
Date: 2007-02-07 11:43 pm (UTC)I like the other explanation better - in the slave camp Vorenus wanted to kill everyone, but steadiness of Pullo helped them find the children quickly. I really think the meaning was about Atia and Servillia, though. :D
And I loved the fireside talk, and how it’s clear that he is holding a lot of stuff back
I also thought this was probably the first time he mentioned his past to anyone. ** sniff **
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 04:03 am (UTC)I also thought this was probably the first time he mentioned his past to anyone. ** sniff **
There are basically three times before this that Pullo has ever said anything about his past - early on, when he casually says his father was probably an Ubian and that's why he can ride so well; then to Vorenus when they're about to die shipwrecked, and he tells Vorenus how his mother died when he was very young; once to Eirene, when he is drunk and incredibly lonely and trying to make some kind of human connection, only it gets turned into this rant about his putative father being some timid slave, and how he, Pullo, would rather cut out his heart and eat it than kneel to any man (and how much more meaning is that scene imbued with now? It's already so packed with so many things and now, just ... wow!)
But this scene is special and significant, because Pullo is not drunk or delirious from thirst and hunger - he is CHOOSING to reveal something huge about himself to Vorenus here. It is a very deliberate act and one that is, maybe, quite painful for Pullo, but he does this for Vorenus and for Vorenus's children.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 01:47 pm (UTC)But this scene is special and significant, because Pullo is not drunk or delirious from thirst and hunger - he is CHOOSING to reveal something
I also found it quite interesting that he talked with his back to Vorenus. As if he didn't want to make eye contact. Hmm..I need to re-watch that scene after work.
no subject
Date: 2007-02-09 09:13 pm (UTC)Oh, yeah - maybe because he was worried he'd see Vorenus either feeling sorry for him or still not really getting it? Or that it would be impossible for him to say this while he was looking Vorenus in the eye (although I think this applies just as much to Pullo's wanting to bring up the subject of little Lucius as to revealing his own past. I really feel that Pullo identifies with the little boy a lot - first of all, because remember he was playing with the baby and singing to him? And second of all, this boy, like Pullo, is in a slave camp and his mother is dead.)
no subject
Date: 2007-02-08 08:10 am (UTC)And I loved how it wasn't just the steadfastness but also the thinking done by Pullo that helped them find the children.
Now I only hope that Vorneus can repair his relationship with the children. I can understand if they are less than warm to him right now.