Tonight's Episode of Rome

WTF!? The only question I have is was that gladiator scene the single most violent thing ever put on film ever? I mean, there's probably stuff that's more violent, but it comes from J-Horror or weird cult exploitation movies or something. I'm talking for mainstream pop culture. And this was realistic gore here too, not the hyper-stylized stuff of Sin City or Kill Bill. I say yes, most violent ever, beating Scorcese, Tarantino etc. by a landslide. I couldn't process much else that happened in the episode I was so distracted by how over-the-top that one scene was but it seemed like a pretty good episode otherwise. The slow process of Vorenus's corruption was well-drawn and I loved how you still  sympathized with Pullo even though at this point he's technically no more than a vicious hired thug (though it somehow still feels to the viewer like he's a more moral character than Vorenus.) His pathetic sacrifice of the beetle in his jail cell and his feelings towards Ereni and towards Vorenus's family were quite moving. It's amazing how it's totally preordained what's going to happen next week (Brutus is going to kill Caesar etc.) yet it's still fascinating to watch it develop. What a great show Rome turned out to be (despite occasional lapses into shock-for-shock's-sake), not as good as my HBO benchmarks - Carnivale and the first season of The Wire, but at least as good as Deadwood and well better than overrated fare like The Sopranos.

Comments

[probligo]

Thanks for the tip, I will keep an eye out for it.

Best of the "Roman" tv series I have ever seen has to be "I, Claudius". Sian Phillips as the evil mother in law, Derek Jacoby as the partially crippled, dribbling, stammering Claudius, and a quite accurate portrayal of the true history (well as best we know it). The chances of seeing it again - remote. Too good by half to be repeated.