But this season belongs, even more than the first year did, to Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, who are played with enormous vigor and humanity by Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd. The two characters, who met as Roman soldiers, are one of the great TV pairings of our time. Pullo is a meat-and-potatoes man of action; the impulsive soldier understands fighting, loyalty and fealty to the gods, and not a lot else.
Yet in Stevenson’s hands, Pullo’s not just a sword-carrying, carousing meathead, he’s an Everyman with a conscience and a rough-and-ready sense of humor. As the season opens, Vorenus is blaming himself for the death of his wife, who killed herself when her husband learned of her infidelity. Pullo’s sincere confusion as he attempts to help his friend with his soul-destroying grief is touching.
Pullo’s used to being bailed out of trouble by the level-headed Vorenus, not vice versa. Much of “Rome’s” 2005 run was dominated by Ciaran Hinds’ majestic, canny portrayal of Caesar, and his absence is felt in the early going of this season. But as the show’s second season revs up, the show is McKidd’s for the taking, and the actor’s fierce portrayal of Vorenus gives the sprawling drama a charismatic center.
We see Rome’s slide into depravity through this grave, fearless man, who was once the pride of Rome’s disciplined army and ends up one of its criminal enforcers. How is it possible that a proud Roman Centurion ends up running a brothel and cutting deals with thieves in the working-class Aventine district? It seems unthinkable, but Vorenus’ slide into personal hell coincides with Rome’s descent into greed and anarchy.
Antony, bored with power and uninterested in the nitty-gritty of governing, more or less ignores the senate and Rome’s powerful noble classes, who form factions that plot his downfall. Atia, for her part, exacts revenge on her social rivals and lives in fear that her son Octavian and her lover Antony will end up killing each other. All this plotting takes its toll on Cicero, a wily survivor of Rome's brutal political games.
“I am so tired of the ambitions of young men,” Cicero sighs at one point to Octavian’s aide, Agrippa. “I assure you, [Octavian] has only the interests of the Republic at heart,” the stalwart Agrippa responds. “I’m sure he believes that,” replies the weary Cicero, who has his own role to play in the anti-Antony plots.
Though every detail of this lush Roman epic feels palpably authentic, history lessons don’t loom overly large; what’s most enjoyable about it is how deftly it mixes soap opera with senatorial debates. We observe an anguished Brutus, a seething Antony and the rest of Rome’s ruling class debate whether Caesar was a tyrant, but we also get to see Atia and the estimable Servilia, a competing noblewoman played by the fantastic Lindsay Duncan, trade catty glances at a dinner party. The genius of “Rome” is that it doesn’t linger only in those lushly appointed Roman villas.
Through Vorenus, Pullo and various servants and aides, we get to see Rome’s Jewish quarter, the crowded courtyards inhabited by the middle and lower classes, the teeming marketplaces and the graffiti-encrusted streets. It’s too bad that this second season will be “Rome’s” last. Let’s enjoy it while we can.
returns for a second season (9 p.m., HBO), which is far better than the good but uneven first year of the show.
This season, Ricky Gervais’ aspiring actor Andy Millman actually gets to create his own BBC sitcom, and thanks to network interference, it’s everything he ever dreaded it would be - loud, badly acted, obvious and full of dumb catchphrases and bad wigs. Millman’s quiet despair over his disastrous big break - yet his hunger for the attention that even a bad sitcom can bring - gives the show the kind of bittersweet pathos first seen in Gervais’ most famous creation, the original British version of “The Office.” That said, this season “Extras” has many laugh-out-loud moments: Andy gives a beggar a 20-pound note - and wants change; David Bowie, whom Andy meets at a trendy club, spontaneously comes up with a hilarious pop song about the pudgy failed actor and his pug nose; Orlando Bloom and “Harry Potter’s” Daniel Radcliffe have inspired cameos as would-be lotharios.
I won’t even mention what transpires in Dame Diana Rigg’s brief scenes - they’re wickedly funny and I don’t want to ruin them for you. in Ricky Gervais, Rome | Permalink | Comments (8) Continue reading "A chat with the creator of 'The Office'" in An interview with..
., Ricky Gervais, The Office (US UK) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) Powered by TypePad But this season belongs, even more than the first year did, to Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus, who are played with enormous vigor and humanity by Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd.
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