Fearing the worst, weatherwise, this weekend my wife and I rented some movies. Among the ones I picked out was the first two episodes of HBO's series, Rome. I find Roman history amazing and had heard good things about the show, so I was intrigued.
We were both so blown away by the first disc that we ran out and rented the rest of season 1. The series opens on a small skirmish in Gaul and quickly focuses on two characters. These two character, Titus Pullo and Lucius Verenus are what set the series apart from any other mini series I have seen about the period. The first season chronicles Julius Ceasar's march on Rome all the way to his death on the Senate floor. Caesar, Cato, Cicero, Marc Antony, Pompey and Brutus are all well featured in the show. But against that main backdrop we also have the characters of Titus and Lucius. These two characters really help to bring the drama to a human level and show the effect of the civil war on the common people. They also manage to be in the right place at the right time (or wrong place) to have a place in the larger drama or find a politically savvy character that explains to them what is happening.
The sets and costuming are amazing. The acting is top notch and the characters are mostly downright Machivellian. The series won 4 Emmy awards and was nominated for several other types of awards. HBO has announced recently that there will only be three seasons. Heck! I was happy with the job they did on season 1. I can't wait to see what they cover in seasons 2 and 3. I don't have HBO so I'll wait with baited breath for the next set of DVDs.
