The End of Rome

No, I'm not talking about the fall of the Roman Empire. I am talking about the end of the HBO TV Series Rome.

Last night was the final episode of the Series. Fans (like myself) are sad to see the short lived (2 season) series go. The ending was a little dull, but tied up all loose ends. It was entitled "De Parte Vostro" (About Your Father).

Octavian got his victory. Mark Anthony and Cleopatra get to live their love out for all eternity thanks to mutual suicides (after Cleopatra first tricked Anthony into killing himself to save Egypt and her crown, but then realized Ocatvian has a dead soul, she then killed herself). Atia (still depressed) got to be Rome's first citizen and put little Mrs. Octavian in her place. Vorenus somehow lives over a month with a wound that should have killed him in an hour. He makes it home in time to make peace with his children. Pullo has a son (Caesarion - who was being displayed as Cleopatra and Caesar's son, but we all knew it was Pullo's all along) and Octavian believes Caesarion is dead so there is no threat to being the only heir of Caesar. (Where the title of the episode comes from - "About your father...")

It's very true that the show did not follow history exactly. Caesarion most definitely was killed by Octavian and Atia was not as cruel as the TV show made her out to be (among many other inaccuracies). But for the sake of drama (and the characters of Pullo and Vorenus) other story lines were created.

Overall the show was a success in my book. The characters were great, the sets (which were real Italian towns) were amazing and the storyline flowed. Of course it got all too expensive for HBO's taste and so it had to go. Long Live Rome!