Passover

ROME wasn't around for long, but for the two seasons it ran it was one of the best shows HBO ever turned out. And for my money the second season was often better than the first!

This episode has a lot of explosive action, yet the title "Aftermath" would have been better than "Passover." In the upper world, it's the aftermath of Caesar's assassination. In the lower world, it's the aftermath of Vorenus' fatal argument with his wife Niobe. Watching characters high and low cope with life-or-death consequences, grief and danger makes for electrifying viewing!

Although I love Pullo and Vorenus very much, the reason this episode is my favorite is because you really see Marc Antony at his very best. James Purefoy just can't be beat and this episode really belongs to him. Betrayed, caught off guard, his father-figure and patron dead, Antony really rises to the occasion! He outruns the bad guys outside the senate, out-thinks Brutus and the well-born elite, carefully uses his playboy persona to keep everyone off-guard, and at the end literally changes history with the most explosive funeral oration ever!

At the same time, Max Perkis as the young Octavian (and future Emperor Augustus) is equally compelling and watchable. The frail and soft-spoken boy is so easy to overlook, until he opens his mouth and reveals an almost uncanny sense of purpose and a strength of character that equals or surpasses that of Mark Antony. The two of them are allies in this episode yet their fatal rivalry is already obvious. It's so amazing to see these historical icons come to life in a drama that's as much about family loyalty and grief as it is about historical events!

Last but not least, I have to mention that the actor who plays Cicero (David Bamber?) is sensational. On one level he's pure comic relief, a coward and hypocrite who switches sides at the drop of a hat. On the other hand the actor never lets you lose sight of the man's brilliance, his eloquence, or his sincere loyalty to the old republic. I can't think of a single bad performance in ROME, from the noble ladies to the lowest slaves. But this was truly special!

This is one of the best Roman based shows I've ever seen. I'm a History geek and now a lot on the Roman Empire. The characters and all round story of the show is amazing. They excellent, not well know actors and actresses to portray the characters. The visually stunning scenery was beautiful.

This is a brilliant show and you'll like this if you enjoy shows like this. Though... not all the parts are true to history, it's still worth watching. I recommended seeing if you like shows such as; Xena, Hercules, or Into The West. Hope this helps with your choice to watch it or not, I do recommended though that no children watch this...

I love Rome-the richness of the characters, the layers of the scenery and the depth of emotion that these virtually unknown actors are able top pull off is brilliant. I am shocked that for years no one has made palatable shows about Rome--particularly during the Roman timespan that the HBO series captures. HBO is great b/c it reveals Rome to us in all its visceral feeling and truth--none of the camp and debased crap produced by American television companies which whinnies about terrorism all day w/ 70 year old actors who are devoid of any depth at all. All should watch Rome, it is by far, one of the best shows you will ever watch.

According some sources and what l had read about this classic story in that period, all showing in this prime episode really happened after Julius Caesar's death, but something bothered me, a total lack of voices of Romans citizens, a crowd of angry people stays quiet about Caesar's death, the emperor whose they loved, nothing about this important facts from those time, so the episode is accurate and fine, all agreements between both sides of power is correct, but the producers could spends some money to show this disturbance that happened in those days!!!

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First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: Blu-ray / Rating: 8.5