Rome (TV Series) (Blu-ray)

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This HBO series created by Bruno Heller, William J. MacDonald and John Milius drew the same kind of fanfare Caesar received when he returned to Rome after a successful campaign against the Gauls. The show drew a respectable audience share, critics raved, and award voters handed "Rome" 14 of them, including seven Emmys. I loved "I, Claudius" when it aired on PBS in 1976 and couldn't wait to see "Rome." But with no high-end cable, I had to wait until the series until it came out on DVD and Blu-ray.

And all I can say is, wow.

"Rome" leaves a grand impression, starting with the Emmy-nominated title sequence paired with Jeff Beal's Emmy-nominated music. What follows are sets as decorous and garish as ancient Rome itself, whether they're virtual dioramas of patrician homes and the Senate or plebian apartments off narrow, crowded streets. From graffiti on the walls to the activities of daily Roman life, this well-researched show delivers an authentic and sensuous portrait of ancient Rome at the end of the Republic. Filmed in Italy, "Rome" also treats audiences to long shots of countryside and elaborate battles that we normally see in epic films, not television shows. As I watched, amazed at the scale and spectacle, I wondered how much this series cost. Turns out that Season 1 reportedly took $100 million to film. I'm not surprised. And I'm also not surprised that the people at HBO did the math and figured out that with three million fans, the network was spending $33 per audience member to put the show on the air. This, at a time when other networks are talking about canceling sitcoms because talk shows are cheaper to produce. No wonder filmmakers were told at the start of Season 2 that "Rome" was too costly and that it would be cancelled at the end of the second season. Like Caesar, "Rome" was a victim of its own ambition.

That, of course, is too bad. A "Rome" movie is rumored to be in development, but until then we have this fascinating two-season "history" that spans the period between Caesar's return from the Gallic Wars in 52 B.C. to Octavian and Mark Antony's fierce sea battle at Actium in 31 B.C.

What's commendable about "Rome" is that the patrician record that we got in "I, Claudius" is balanced by two fictional plebian characters based on ones mentioned in the book Caesar wrote on the Gallic Wars. One soldier, Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) has a wife at home and a lifer mentality as a soldier, bursting with ideals of duty and loyalty, honor and country. The other, Titus Pullo (Ray Stevenson) is cruder, single, and the kind of man who would fight for pay or for raping privileges than for gods or country. But his character is as fascinating as Vorenus, partly because of superb acting but mostly because the scripts give each character arcs and thoughts that make us care about each man. The same is true of the patricians in the series, whether it's the powerful Gaius Julius Caesar (Ciarán Hinds) and his rival, Pompey (Kenneth Cranham), or the women in their lives whose politics and sexual escapades are just as compelling. Far from cardboard characters, the main "players" in "Rome" have both flaws and virtues, weaknesses and strengths--and this is true of minor characters as well. The women are especially well drawn, with Indira Varma spellbinding as the unfaithful wife of Verenus, and noblewomen Atia (Polly Walker), mother of Caesar's niece and nephew, and Servilia (Lindsay Duncan), Caesar's mistress, behave with the same delicious scheming as the characters we saw in "I, Claudius." Casting across the boards is excellent, with Gaius Octavian (Max Pirkis) and Senator Cato (Karl Johnson) particularly inspired.

The title credits featuring animated obscene graffiti warn that this show will feature ancient Rome as it really was: violent and sexual. And while there are bloody and sadistic scenes--like thumbs cut off, penises displayed in a pouch as souvenir, beatings, graphic battles, even skull surgery--and sexual scenes involving full nudity of both genders, "Rome" doesn't sensationalize. These elements are present because they were a part of Roman life. But the bulk of this series has to do with the characters and their individual journeys at a key point in ancient Roman history, when the last days of the Republic would yield a would-be king and finally the first of 12 great Caesars about which Suetonius would write--a book I highly recommend, if Roman history fascinates you. In fact, to better appreciate this TV series, I would suggest first reading Cicero's Selected Works, Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars, and Caesar's Gallic War for a horse's mouth history, and one of any number of books available on Daily Life in Ancient Rome. The filmmakers got it mostly right--though if you want to be trusting, you can get all the history you need by watching episodes with "All Roads Lead To Rome" pop-up track. Notice I'm not calling it a trivia track? That's because it's more of a pop-up history, with facts about daily Roman life ranging from coinage and the postal system to sexual or torturing practices. But let's be clear, here. "Rome" is not a history.

I urge readers to study Roman history and life in ancient Rome so you'll know when the series writers got a bit creative, as when they trot out a Cleopatra that's as far removed from historical accounts as can be. Revisionist history, or wild imagination? Either way, it intrudes on an otherwise reasonably accurate portrayal of the ancient world. Sure, there are anachronisms, but one gets the feeling that with ancient Rome and its span of centuries, what's a hundred years among friends? And by the time that this series marches toward its conclusion, we start to feel as if the suits upstairs may have suggested ways to save money, since historical scenes that called for epic scale are minimized late in Season 2, and Season 2 offered two fewer episodes. Those are the only complaints that I have, and they are dwarfed by the "wow" factor, because everything else is first-rate. Besides, the minute you introduce speculative fictional characters and put them in "Forrest Gump" historical situations, you're dealing in fiction, not history. The historically true aspects (of which there are plenty) just add color and viability to the narrative.

Here's a rundown on the episodes as they are described in a handsome faux-leather "book" that has 14 pages and holds 10 discs, each tucked into a page that has a slick no-scratch insert and a bookmark-style band that lists the episodes, with an actual cloth bookmark to help you remember which disc you played last:

Season One
1) "The Stolen Eagle." 52 B.C. Caesar has just conquered Gaul. Centurion Lucius Vorenus and Legionnaire Titus Pullo are enlisted to find the army's stolen gold standard.

2) "How Titus Pullo Brought Down the Republic." Pullo spawns a melee that impacts the Pompey-Caesar standoff.

3) "An Owl in a Thornbush." Pompey's decision to temporarily abandon Rome to Caesar forces patrician families to choose sides.

4) "Stealing from Saturn." "Pompey maneuvers outside the city; Atia throws a party welcoming Caesar; Vorenus also hosts a fete.

5) "The Ram Has Touched the Wall." Vorenus reconsiders his career, while Atia schemes to separate Caesar from Servilia.

6) "Egeria." Anthony receives a tantalizing offer from Pompey; Atia tries to mend fences with Servilia.