HBO’s Rome – Episode 20

Oh boy, only four episodes left, so little time and so many characters to kill off. Well they made a good start this episode. Eirene dies after what appears to have been a miscarriage. Was this the result of a concoction given to her by Gaia in her tea? Only time will tell since they didn’t make this obvious. They hinted at it, but hey, you never know.

Elsewhere on the domestic front, while Pullo is in mourning, Vorenus has Octavian and Antony’s gold stolen out from under him. It’s obvious that inside information was required, and Pullo and Vorenus initially suspect Mascius, until Vorenus retrieves a straw figure that Lucius is playing with and remembers seeing a similar figure being offered a scantily clad girl by one of Memmio’s men. This leads Vorenus to discover his daughter’s treachery, which in turns leads to a knock down drag out fight with Vorena the Elder, during which she accuses him of murdering Niobe. Vorenus walks out infuriated.

In the meantime, on the historic front, after making a speech about Roman wifely virtues, Octavian cavalierly selects a wife for himself with about the same emotion as picking out a new toga. He gets introduced and immediately asks the girl to marry him. The girl is Livia of course and with her comes her son Tiberius. The fact that Livia had to divorce Tiberius’s father in order to marry Octavian doesn’t seem to bother either of them. Later, Octavian asks Livia if her husband or father ever beat her. A little surprised she answers that she never gave them cause. Octavian says that he will beat her on occasion, not because she will give him cause, but because it gives him sexual pleasure. Livia accepts that without blinking an eye. Well, looks like we’re heading for S&M in some future episode. Is there any detestable activity we’ve missed? Lying, murder, thievery, drugs, adultery, voluntary homosexuality, incest, S&M, no, I think we’ve got them all covered.

In the meantime, Octavian gets an earful about the sham Antony and Octavia’s marriage has turned into. This leads to a confrontation with Antony, who is still bedding Atia and ignoring Octavia, and Agrippa, who is bedding Octavia. Octavian threatens to make Antony a laughing stock by revealing Octavia’s infidelity unless Antony heads for his Provinces in the east. Antony, deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, decides to go east but before he leaves, promises Atia that he will send for her. Agrippa apologizes to Octavian, receives his forgiveness and then breaks it off with Octavia. Octavia calls him a coward to his face and then announces she’s having a baby, father unknown. Agrippa is not being portrayed very well is he? And he's the most admirable character on the show at the moment.

Vorenus, upset over the scene with his daughter, decides to hook back up with Antony. Back in a Prefect’s uniform he arrives with Antony in Alexandria to find a gauze dress clad Cleopatra ready to get down to business. Why do I suspect that Antony has already forgotten his promise to Atia?

Back in Rome, we have a brief scene of Timon and his family leaving for Jerusalem. Jerusalem? Now what?

Pullo takes over at the collegium from Vorenus and begins “negotiation” with Memmio and the gangs Memmio has talked into backing him. This “negotiation” consists of a pitched battle in which Memmio gets his tongue bit out by Pullo and the gigolo that seduced Vorenus’s daughter gets an axe in his chest. The episode ends with Pullo, Mascius, and even Gaia, mowing down rival gang members.

I’m not even going to speculate any more. With Vorenus in Egypt and Pullo in Rome, who knows? I doubt Pullo is going to have much patience for being a gang Captain, bet you he leaves Mascius the Aventine and marches with Octavian (Ok, ok, I can’t resist speculating). Pullo yelling “thirteenth” while he mops up the opposition I consider to be something of a tip-off. Historically Octavian reformed the 13th Legion for Actium. Pullo marches with a reformed 13th under the command of Agrippa? Are they setting up a battlefield confrontation between Pullo and Vorenus? Will we really have an S&M scene with Octavian and Livia? Will Antony dress up in Egyptian eye make-up? Just how pissed is Atia going to get? Why is Timon going to Jerusalem? Who are they going to kill off next? So many questions, so few episodes.

As far as who gets killed off next, the historical characters, with the exceptions of Cleopatra and Antony of course, are pretty safe. The historical deaths were Agrippa 12 BCE, Octavia 11 BCE, Maecenas 8 BCE, Octavian 14 CE and Livia 29 CE. Atia, who historically was reported to be an exceptionally moral woman, would already be dead as she died in 43 BCE so I guess she’s vulnerable as is just about anyone on the domestic front. Why do I have this feeling that Pullo kills Vorenus or vice versa and why do I continue to be confused about Timon heading for Jerusalem? Maybe Timon is going to be the only domestic survivor.