on the Rome finale and my Machiavellian boy
Have watched the Rome finale, and though I liked it a lot, I'm a bit peeved that people kept calling Octavian a monster. Well, not so much on the show (though it reeks of envy more than anything else), since those are his enemies after all, but it really rubs me the wrong way when it shows up on boards and such.
On any other show, I'd be fine with it, because yes, he's a repulsive jerkface. But this is Rome. 95% of the characters are repulsive jerkfaces. As far as I can tell, the main difference with Octavian is that he's a) smarter and b) less personable than the others. (Speaking now only about canon Octavian, of course, not real-life Octavian, since I'd have to know a lot more about history to make a judgement there and it's mostly a moot point anyway.)
Seriously, every single aristocrat on that show except possibly Octavia would have done exactly the same things as Octavian, if they'd had enough brain to actually manage it. Of course, they would've done it with more smiles, laughs, and possibly hugs, but I don't really think that's to their credit.
Maybe I'm overidentifying with the lad, being a bit on the antisocial side myself. (Though I wish I could be that clever and foreseeing.) And I must admit I find the personality type of Mark Antony about as enjoyable as nails on a chalkboard, though I can appreciate him as a character. All that in-your-face masculinity... ugh.
Right towards the end, though, I got a bit scared, thinking, "Oh, God, he's going to kill Pullo, isn't he?" That, I couldn't have forgiven him. I was vaguely surprised that he seemed to buy Pullo's story, and I'm wondering if he's so INSANELY clever that he actually put two and two together and figured out the kid's paternity. But that would be uncanny.
I think his willingness to believe Pullo might also be because Pullo seems to be the only person who genuinely likes him. (With the possible exception of Livia - I haven't quite been able to decide if she does like him or if she likes the power and just happens to be very in tune with his way of thinking.) I do wonder if it has to do with Pullo spending so much time around Vorenus. No comparison in any other way, but both Vorenus and Octavian are the uptight, aloofish type, so maybe Pullo has learned to "read" that better than most.
Speaking of Vorenus, I didn't realize at first that his was supposed to be a Lynda Day kind of ending - or a Not Fade Away kind of ending, to use a more fannishly relevant comparison. I assumed that he'd died, simply because it makes so much sense from a narrative standpoint, rather like how I'm a little bit bothered by the post-NFA Angel comics because it makes so much sense from that narrative standpoint if they all die. (Also because BtVS/Angel the Afterlife is already such a cool cast that rounding it up won't do any harm.) While Lynda's case is in reverse - having her die at that point doesn't do anything for the narrative, and so I've always assumed that she lives.
But I digress - and maybe that's a sign as good as any that it's time to quit this post.
On any other show, I'd be fine with it, because yes, he's a repulsive jerkface. But this is Rome. 95% of the characters are repulsive jerkfaces. As far as I can tell, the main difference with Octavian is that he's a) smarter and b) less personable than the others. (Speaking now only about canon Octavian, of course, not real-life Octavian, since I'd have to know a lot more about history to make a judgement there and it's mostly a moot point anyway.)
Seriously, every single aristocrat on that show except possibly Octavia would have done exactly the same things as Octavian, if they'd had enough brain to actually manage it. Of course, they would've done it with more smiles, laughs, and possibly hugs, but I don't really think that's to their credit.
Maybe I'm overidentifying with the lad, being a bit on the antisocial side myself. (Though I wish I could be that clever and foreseeing.) And I must admit I find the personality type of Mark Antony about as enjoyable as nails on a chalkboard, though I can appreciate him as a character. All that in-your-face masculinity... ugh.
Right towards the end, though, I got a bit scared, thinking, "Oh, God, he's going to kill Pullo, isn't he?" That, I couldn't have forgiven him. I was vaguely surprised that he seemed to buy Pullo's story, and I'm wondering if he's so INSANELY clever that he actually put two and two together and figured out the kid's paternity. But that would be uncanny.
I think his willingness to believe Pullo might also be because Pullo seems to be the only person who genuinely likes him. (With the possible exception of Livia - I haven't quite been able to decide if she does like him or if she likes the power and just happens to be very in tune with his way of thinking.) I do wonder if it has to do with Pullo spending so much time around Vorenus. No comparison in any other way, but both Vorenus and Octavian are the uptight, aloofish type, so maybe Pullo has learned to "read" that better than most.
Speaking of Vorenus, I didn't realize at first that his was supposed to be a Lynda Day kind of ending - or a Not Fade Away kind of ending, to use a more fannishly relevant comparison. I assumed that he'd died, simply because it makes so much sense from a narrative standpoint, rather like how I'm a little bit bothered by the post-NFA Angel comics because it makes so much sense from that narrative standpoint if they all die. (Also because BtVS/Angel the Afterlife is already such a cool cast that rounding it up won't do any harm.) While Lynda's case is in reverse - having her die at that point doesn't do anything for the narrative, and so I've always assumed that she lives.
But I digress - and maybe that's a sign as good as any that it's time to quit this post.