HBO's ROME

[Mark CMG]

http://www.hbo.com/rome/


Premiere's tonight. A Pre-Show begins in about ten minutes. Looks to be another potential favorite in the same vein as Daedwood, the Sopranos, Entourage, etc.


"The Stolen Eagle" Episode #01.
Two soldiers must find the army's golden standard; the Senate worries about Caesar's popularity; Atia is careful to play both sides of an escalating power struggle. Adult Situations; Graphic Language; Nudity; Violence.


"How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic" Episode #02.
Mark Antony returns to Rome; Vorenus heads home to his family; Pompey drafts an ultimatum stripping the general of his power. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"An Owl in a Thornbush" Episode #03.
Pompey makes an unusual tactical decision; Atia enlists her mercenary to ensure her family's security; Pullo's unit intercepts a cargo wagon. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Stealing From Saturn" Episode #04.
Caesar seeks to consolidate his hold on Rome; Atia throws a party; Pullo delivers Quintus Pompey to Caesar. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"The Ram Has Touched the Wall" Episode #05.
Caesar weighs Pompey's counteroffer; Vorenus must reconsider his career choices; Atia concocts a scheme to come between Caesar and Servilia. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Egeria" Episode #06.
Mark Antony runs Rome while Caesar pursues Pompey; Pullo takes Octavian to a brothel; Atia tries to mend fences with Servilia. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Pharsalus" Episode #07.
Vorenus and Pullo are marooned in the Adriatic Sea; Pompey decides to attack Caesar's depleted forces; Atia enlists Octavia to ask a favor of Servilia. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Caesarion" Episode #08.
Caesar arrives in Alexandria and meets the king; Vorenus and Pullo free Ptolemy's incarcerated sister; Caesar seeks payment from Egypt for past debts. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Utica" Episode #09.
Caesar returns home; Vorenus and Pullo have a showdown with a local thug; Servilia's plan backfires. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Graphic Violence.


"Triumph" Episode #10.
Caesar is anointed emperor; Vorenus and Pullo plan their futures. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Violence.


"The Spoils" Episode #11.
Pullo descends into Rome's netherworld; Vorenus is rewarded for his allegiance. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Violence.


"Kalends of February" Episode #12.
Pullo and Vorenus are rewarded; Caesar decides to overhaul the Senate; Servilia hurdles the final obstacle in her revenge scenario. Adult Situations; Language; Nudity; Violence.


See ya next season!

 

[Mystery Man]

five minutes to Rome. Killing time...

 

[IronWolf]

Posting while the opening credits are starting.... We'll see how this premier looks!

 

[ssampier]

Darn you with premium cable. Curse you, I say.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

I'm talking about it with my dad right now. He's watching it in New York- loves it, as opposed to the recent ABC attempt.

He loves the costumes and the actors. Says its very historically accurate in almost all respects. He's not entirely sure about the chronology of Octavian's military career, but that's mostly because he never really liked Octavian and didn't pay much attention. Otherwise, though, it meshes with much of what he knows of the period (he's a historian and the Julius Caesar era is one of his favorite epochs.)

 

[Mystery Man]

I liked the show a lot, but it lost my wife during the sacrificial bull scene. Don't think she'll be back, but that just means I have the TV room to myself for an hour. I still like Deadwood better.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

I want to watch this, but no HBO in my house... but it's a definite once it hits DVD.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

Seems like just another melodramatic soap opera, honestly. We watched it last night, and we almost tuned out when the first 15 minutes seemed really slow. There was some clever writing, but the characters aren't sympathetic at all, and the nudity seemed gratuitous and unnecessary (and also added obvious anachronisms, unless the Romans were big on bikini waxing and implants).

The biggest problem I had was that the twists seemed pretty predictable, and the whole stoy is like the Star Wars prequels in that you know what is going to happen. There isn't really any tension over whether Pompeii is going to win out over Julius Caesar in the end, for example.

 

[Old One]

I liked the show a lot, but it lost my wife during the sacrificial bull scene. Don't think she'll be back, but that just means I have the TV room to myself for an hour. I still like Deadwood better.

Hehe...that kinda turned my wife off as well. It was actually kinda of interesting watching it with her...she didn't really get into it (she doesn't like Deadwood either...but I was able to answer virtually all of her questions. She knew who Julius Caesar was, but Pompey, Alesia, Vercingetorix, Cata, Cicero, Brutus, Marc Antony, Octavian and others were unknown to her...

Her comments were "Lots of naked people..." and "Nice picture..." when the imprisoned legionnaire drew the picture of the male genitalia.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty decent effort...I didn't watch the ABC program because it looked like a big pile of steaming you-know-what...but I thought the costumes, scenery and "flavor" were all very good. The intrigue and scheming were fun - but I found the player of Julius a bit wooden.

Liked the (limited) combat scene - which seemed to be a repulse of either Vercingetorix's break out attempt from Alesia or the attempted break-in by the Gallic relieving force - hard to tell without any other context.

I also liked it when the two legionnaires took on the bandits...reminded me of a couple of high(er)-level D&D PC mowing through a bunch of low-levels.

I will give it 3.5 out of 5 stars !

~ OO

 

[Wyn A'rienh]

Loved it.