The events of “Rome” develop in 52 BC, when Gaius Julius Caesar conquers Gaul after an eight-year war and prepares to return to Rome, after the victorious events. Caesar’s niece Atia anxiously awaits his return, the patricians are desperate – they fear that Caesar’s return will upset the status quo, that the prosperity they have built at the expense of the plebs will be undermined.
In the Senate, the leaders of the patrician party convince Caesar’s old friend, Pompey the Great, that Caesar has become a threat to the prosperity of stately Rome. The closer Caesar’s legions advance toward Rome, the more tensions rise between his close soldiers and the civilians, the closer to the denouement of a conflict that will change the course of history forever.
The creators of “Rome” as if they were playing a children’s game “Connect the dots and get a picture”, and the role of dots were all known historical events – battles, assassinations, rise of emperors, wars and so on. But the trick is that the creators connected these dots not by any means straight lines: bare facts neighbor with very free interpretation of characters, motives and human relationships, as a result of which sometimes the brain simply explodes. For example, once you get acquainted with Cleopatra here, you will never be able to perceive the Egyptian queen in any other way.
As a result, “Rome” is a specific look at history through the lens of modern drama. The show is extremely interesting – after the series, I’m tempted to go to Wikipedia and read the biographies of all the characters without exception, and if you’re as stoned as I am, you’ll get to Caesar’s memoirs, along with Cicero’s writings. An unexpectedly interesting read, yes.
In addition, after watching the series, you can’t help but think about how much Roman culture is imprinted on modern culture – what can I say if even the names of two months (July and August) are derived from the names of two characters in “Rome”.
Of course, the actors play brilliantly – without them there would be no immersive effect at all. Many faces are known from the same “Game of Thrones”, but even not particularly popularized British and Scottish actors show the highest class of acting. And you can see that they were trained very hard, achieving a perfect hit in the image.
In general – I desperately recommend to watch it. And let “Rome” is not as spectacular and rich as the top modern series, but it’s a really great show – old wine is never bad. Great characters, drama, a sea of memorable scenes and dialog, thick atmosphere and a basic course of ancient history – all in a package. And let it not chop anyone in slo-mo, as in “Spartacus”, but the characters are shown as living people, and that’s the most important thing.