Rome season 2 episode 7 : Death Mask

[alexandral]

Even though I spend most of this episode with the feeling of dread and impending doom, there were many things I liked about it, and few of the actors, some of my old and new favourites, did a particular good job there.


Things I liked

1. Pullo and Vorenus. The little scene of "what are we going to do with stroppy Gaia?" was so lovely (even though it was full of feeling of dread for what is about to happen). They seem to reach that relationship of equals that not many friends have, absolutely comfortable with each other and almost reading each other thoughts, finishing each other's lines and reflecting each other in body language. AWWWWWWWWW!





2. Scene between Pullo and Eirene. I have a thing for men cradling their wife's tummies like this, feelings of unity and anticipation for a baby to come. But a bad thing is that in fiction (not in RL though, thank you!) these type of scenes usually lead to some terrible disaster. But still, lovely scene, even though bitter-sweet.



3. Maecenas and Posca. I re-watched this scene few times, their conversation was so amusing! And I do love Maecenas so, he is so clever and cunning and at the same time can so loyal to Agrippa (who is a love of my life)! But Maecenas' cleverness! The way he absolutely naturally dropped that line "I bought these news from Herod's men" to steer suspicion away from Posca. Priceless.



4. And I rather liked a travesty of Posca's wedding too. Poor Jacasta, but I guess things could have turned much worse for her. At least she is going to have a loyal husband (and Posca can be very loyal as proved by his relationship with Caesar) who is clever to the bargain. Good gene material, if anything :D And I suspect he is going to become as rich as her father very very soon.



5. Servillia's exit was very dramatic, even though totally historically un-correct.And at least we are not going to see more of Atia and Servillia storyline, I am quite tired with it. I loved loved loved Atia here, expression of stone-wall dread on Polly Walker's face was played into perfection.



6. And I also unexpectedly liked the scene of Octavia's wedding. It was shown to be so matter-of-fact, so cold-hearted affair that it felt exactly right. No one, absolutely no one was thinking of what Ocatvia felt or could feel, not her mother , not her brother. They were thinking about themselves only. I was thinking before "Why would Octavia marry". I was looking at the scene on the screencap below for some time and she looks pretty – Scared? Of her own brother?



7. And this leads me that I like Octavian more and more. He is starting to scare me, and I like him more for this.



8. Announcer and "Mocking of Jews and their One True God should be kept to a minimum".







Things I didn't like

1. Pullo and Gaia. Pool Pullo!! I am not going to say anything else because my liking of this character is not connected to anything he does or will do in the future. I just feel so sorry for him, there was so much self-loathing in his face during the scene with Gaia. Though I liked how Ray Stevenson played this scene, there was an exact single moment, a particular expression of his face when he decided to "give in". Very well done.

And this snake Gaia – I am going to come and murder you by my own hands!!



2. Poor Eirene too. Though I wanted to shout "don't provoke a poisonous snake!! Pleeeeeeeeeese"!. On the other hand I must say her repeating "You must beat Gaia bloody every month" sits somehow wrong with me. Even though Gaia is a poisonous snake!!! I am back to my "everyone should be fair", sorry.



3. I could totally do without "Oh brother, where art thou" by Timon!!




Agrippa picspam

Oh, sad sad sad Agrippa is so gorgeous! If I was Octavia I would have just run away with him to the ends of the Earth!!

Comments

[soniag.livejournal.com]

Fabulous picspam/review.

Pullo broke my heart in that scene with Gaia. And next week is going to be really hard to watch.

Agrippa! I do so love him!

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I found this episode completely heartbreaking. Poor Octavia on her wedding night with That Pig (aka Marc Antony) spitting into his hand. As girl_undone said, I cringed. And then Gaia and her herbal brew... ::shudders:: I confess I'm very upset with Pullo for what he did, in large part because of what it's going to lead to.

[wildtiger7.livejournal.com]

Wow, what gorgeous pictures, especially of Agrippa!

I feel much the way you did about this episode, I liked the weddings and how they were shown and felt that Jocasta definitely ended up okay, all things considered.

Octavian is terrifying. In this episode, they pretty much had him show no emotion except anger, and all that was directed at Antony.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

And this snake Gaia – I am going to come and murder you by my own hands!!
The moment I saw her lounging there airing the dairy I knew something bad was going to happen.
He is starting to scare me, and I like him more for this.

When he is watching the sexcapades through those gauzy curtains with that reptilian gaze... brrrr!
And those were possibly the saddest wedding ceremonies I have ever seen. The only person who looked remotely pleased was Posca, who I love because he is smart (unlike his boss Antony).

[ghada-bell.livejournal.com]

I was watching the episode and thinking: "Poor Agrippa. I wonder how Alexandral gonna take it !" LOL ! I absolutley loved the way Maecenas tried to confort him. Great relationship those two have.
I am happy that Octavian is growing into other people. Me, I love him ! So much that my love can't grow more than that. I am officially an "Octaviholic". Love the way he seems so classy compared to Antony. He is a God... OK, I stop.
The scene between Gaia and Pullo was pretty disturbing.
Posca was great and I am strangely happy that he married Jocasta. They really are a nice couple, despite the age difference.
Even if I don't like him, Marc Antony cracks me up. I nearly choke myself drinking my cafe when he said: "I don't care if all Italy burns, I'll not marry him". And I loved the look of Antony's groupie during the parade (I mean the happy old woman !)
I really liked this episode !

[tacitanumeria.livejournal.com]

WHAT?!
Gaia and Pullo?
Gods, kill me now.
Poor, poor Eirene. I wanna grab her by the hand and say "C'mon, let's go whup some ass" and go find Gaia and beat that ho.
Not having HBO SUCKS. I miss all this stuff. But I guess it's good because if I did have HBO I'd be screaming and throwing objects at my TV. At least now I've been warned of the travesty.
And I do love Pullo so. I guess he's a man after all.
Now I'm very angry. I need to go punch something.....

[jenandhughlove.livejournal.com]

I love the wedding scene between Antony and Octavia, but i've immagined it different. She was scared, but i think not for her brother.. maybe because this marriage means less time with Agrippa, despite the fact that Antony will never be a faithful husband. Anyway, i don't like very much this Octavian, but it's interesting Simon's acting and the way he potrayed his character in this part of the season.
Just wondering: what Antony said to Octavia at the end, where they were both on bed? The sound wasn't good at this point (i'm interested when he said something like "i'm not happy"..it's that possible?). Thank you in advance!

[proso.livejournal.com]

Poor Irene is so helpless and vulnerable. I loved the moment when she mentions to Pullo that he should beat Gaia at least once a month and Pullo chokes on his food and smiles a little.
I agree with you, the whole Timon plot seems like a waste of time, imho. And I did love the newsreaders line in this episode!

[scorpiobleue.livejournal.com]

I loved Antony in this. His reactions are hilarious. I felt so sorry for Octavia. On one hand I understand Octavian's reasoning for marrying his sister off to Antony. On the other hand it seems like another part, in his heart of hearts, for doing it was to spite his mother. He blamed Atia for Antony whipping his behind. So payback and a nice political alliance. Kill two birds with one stone.

[ex-vivere116.livejournal.com]

Atheugnrdgn!~!! I had to pause Rome as soon as Pullo kissed Gaia! So depressing! And then, what?!, at the end -- is she having second thoughts about the abortion?!

I was amazed Servilia survived so long outside - without any obvious sustenance... Unless she really was somehow fuelled by her need for vengeance.

[ex-vivere116.livejournal.com]

P.S. Maecenas is so cute - yes, his cuteness wasn't even compromised by him having his hairy legs plucked! XD

P.P.S. Doesn't Octavian have a lurvelly profile? :P

[ex-vivere116.livejournal.com]

P.P.P.S. Mark Antony kept the LOLZ coming, didn't he?! XD

love love Agrippa

[jll0729.livejournal.com]

Sorry, my very new at this, i just signed up yesterday, but alexandral, I am so on board with you about Agrippa. I feel like a Mrs Robinson lusting after Agrippa the way I do. I think my husband is getting jealous. I really hope they continue their (his and Octavia's) love affair. I feel they are the only 2 in all of Rome who generally love each other. Allen Leech I feel is great in this role.