Rome/Awesome: Difference between revisions

** Guess they didn't listen though.

*** Oh no, they did. Atia spends the rest of the series being hounded to the point where she is a perfect painted mother to the perfect painted son who murdered the love of her life, knowing full well it was her love for power that caused all of it.

* Octavian in Season 2, after suffering being everyone's Butt Monkey since he was a child, tells his family and Marc Antony they will do things his way from now on or suffer. Marc Antony tries calling his bluff and invites him to say how he intends to make him do anything, and Octavian renders him speechless and impotent with rage with an epic verbal beatdown, describing how he will destroy Marc Antony's power base (the respect of the Roman citizens and the armies), leading Marc Antony to raise his hand to Octavian and having the following sentence whispered into his ear to make him back down:

** It's even more epic when you consider Marc Antony's psychology: his whole life has been about fighting and physical prowess. He's been outfought physically, he's been beaten on the battlefield, but to be dominated by someone without a single blow being struck is more humiliating and infuriating for him than any lost war or personal defeat could ever be.

* Probably [[Moral Dissonance|grating]], but Lucius Vorenus also deserves one after taking over the Aventine ''collegia'' of Erastes Fulmen (as mentioned, a predecessor to the Italian mafia). Having gone from being an honorable centurion, to magistrate, and the first Plebeian senator, his "honorable background" makes the other "collegians" disdain his call to unite their forces. The proceedings were watched by priests of the goddess Concordia/Concord. Desirous to make an impression that he is now "bad to the bone" with enough "street cred," Vorenus calmly takes the image of Concord and smashes it on the wall, followed by this gem:

* When Pullo found out that Gaia [[Murder the Hypotenuse|poisoned his pregnant wife that ended up killing her and his unborn child.]] She was lay dying as she told the truth about it. She was dying and seemed sorry for what she did. Did Pullo decide to [[Karma Houdini|let go of it]] and [[Easily Forgiven|forgive her?]] Nope, he strangled her to death. And to top it all of, he threw her body to the river just like that, no tears no prayers no nothing. After all [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|she had done]], having her killed and then her body disrespectfully thrown away is just satisfying.

* Atia giving Livia a perfect verbal smackdown with enough venom in the eyes and steel in the voice to make it really hurt. “I know who you are. I can see you. You're swearing now that, someday, you'll destroy me. Remember that far better women than you have sworn to do the same. Go look for them now.” The best bit? You know that she is in a pretty long spell of self-loathing and self-revelation, and she is the most vulnerable she's ever been. And yet she still bluffs her way to the front of her son's victory parade ahead of his wife.

** It's also a backhanded, posthumous compliment to ''Servilia''. Atia basically acknowledged the woman as her [[Worthy Opponent]], and Livia was never going to match up.

*** Cicero was not, in real life or in the show, a particularly brave man. His actor can portray the pants soiling terror of death in Cicero's last moments, but you can see his deliberate refusal to cave in to his fear. It's brilliant.