"Attendance is compulsory," Atia's slave advises her master, regarding an invitation to dinner with the family over at Octavian's.
And it's indeed a dinner you wouldn't want to miss, culminating in a confrontation between Octavian and Antony - that Antony loses. A nobler Roman than Octavian, Antony is nonetheless no match for Octavian in political maneuvering. He retreats to Alexandria, rather than risk being made a fool of, over his wife Octavia's affair with Agrippa.
And it's indeed a dinner you wouldn't want to miss, culminating in a confrontation between Octavian and Antony - that Antony loses. A nobler Roman than Octavian, Antony is nonetheless no match for Octavian in political maneuvering. He retreats to Alexandria, rather than risk being made a fool of, over his wife Octavia's affair with Agrippa.
"Attendance is compulsory" - and you wouldn't want to miss what happened in the Aventine tonight, either. Pullo's wife is poisoned by Gaia, and laid to rest. Vorenus is robbed of the shipment of gold entrusted to his protection - betrayed by his oldest daughter. He will repair to Aegypt with Antony, as Pullo gives Memmio what he has coming. These scenes were among the very best in the entire two year series.
Octavian takes a wife, and Antony reaches Alexandria and Cleopatra, at last looking as utterly captivating as we expected and hoped.
Command performances all around tonight ... especially Kevin McKidd as Vorenus, James Purefoy as Antony, Simon Woods as Octavian, and Lyndsey Marshal even briefly as Cleopatra.
There will be more of this to come next week ... attendance is compulsory.
3-minute podcast of this review
another blog post from me: Good Sex on HBO's Rome, Bad FCC
Rome - The Complete First Season
Rome: Music From the HBO Series
I, Claudius 1977 BBC-HBO series
