ROME: HOW TITUS PULLO BROUGHT DOWN THE REPUBLIC (TV)
Summary
One in this drama series about ancient Rome during the first century B.C., focusing on its transition from Republic to Empire. In this episode, Caesar remains in Gaul with his dwindling army and remains unconcerned about his future, even when Posca points out that his term will soon end. Posca is further scandalized when Caesar reveals that he has nominated Mark Antony as a tribune, a position which typically requires “dignity.” Elsewhere, Antony takes his men back to Rome, and Pullo plans to enjoy himself with women and drink, but Vorenus is nervous about seeing his wife for the first time in eight years. Antony is welcomed back grandly by the people, and he dispatches Vorenus to return the kidnapped Octavius to his mother and then “have some fun.” Atia, who is still feuding with Octavia over Octavia’s forced divorce from Glabius, welcomes her son back happily. Octavius dictates that Pullo and Vorenus, his rescuers, should be rewarded with a meal at which they will all dine together, despite their class differences. At the dinner, the guests discuss politics, and the conservative Vorenus soon begins to argue with Pullo about Caesar, leading Atia to deem them “unlikely friends.” They soon leave, and as Pullo heads for a brothel, Vorenus finally returns home. Upon arriving, he sees his wife Niobe with a young baby and harshly demands whose child it is. Stunned to see him alive, she tells him it is his grandson, Lucius, and he seems cowed as he awkwardly greets his two daughters. Antony is inducted as a tribune in a long and dull ceremony, and then goes to Atia’s home along with Cicero, Cato and the other senators. Antony proposes a “compromise” for Caesar in which he is given immunity and just one province to rule, but the others demand Caesar’s resignation and banishment unless he returns to Rome and submits to a trial. They cannot agree, and Cicero suspects Caesar of bluffing, believing him greatly weakened by his diminished army. As Vorenus and Niobe share an uncomfortable night together and Atia and Antony share a spirited one, Pullo gambles away his spoils of war and soon discovers that his opponent is cheating. He immediately kills the man and gets into a brawl in which he is dealt a blow to the head, and he staggers to Vorenus’ home. Townspeople watch as a doctor operates on Pullo’s brain, and Niobe is angry when she is forced to accept him into her home as he recuperates. Cicero and Pompey discuss their plans for Caesar, and decide to put it to a vote: Antony, as a tribune, will undoubtedly veto the motion if Caesar is declared an enemy of Rome, but it will send a clear message to Caesar about the number of those opposing him. Vorenus meets his daughter’s paramour and grumpily agrees that they may marry, but his attitude causes Niobe to call him a “brute,” which bothers him. At the Senate, the motion against Caesar is proposed, and Cicero reluctantly gives his support. A fight immediately breaks out between Caesar’s enemies and supporters, and Antony tries vainly to veto the proposal over the tumult. Afterward, they struggle to find a loophole and realize that Antony may still veto it as the meeting was never officially concluded, and Antony sends Vorenus off to gather up all his men again. At his home, he overhears Pullo and Niobe talking, and she calls Vorenus cold and mean, doubting Pullo’s statement that he never took up with another woman while off at war. As Antony and his men march to the Senate house, a man against whom Pullo had been gambling lunges at him as he walks beside Antony, and Pullo immediately cuts him down, leading to a riot and preventing the veto. Caesar receives the news that he has been declared an enemy of Rome, and Antony runs to his side. Caesar gives a rousing speech to his men about Pompey’s betrayal and singles out Pullo, rewarding him for saving Antony, and they prepare to march on Rome. Vorenus, injured during the fight, is stunned to find himself a “rebel” on Caesar’s side, and when Pullo says Caesar had little choice, Vorenus points out that the attacker was really after him, not Antony. Back in Rome, Niobe frets over the impending war, and then begins to nurse a fussy Lucius, revealing that he is in fact her biological son by another man.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: September 4, 2005 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:90578
- GENRE: Drama, historical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, historical
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV series, 2005-2007
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Anne Thomopoulos … Executive Producer
- Frank Doelger … Executive Producer
- William J. MacDonald … Executive Producer, Created by
- John Milius … Executive Producer, Created by
- Bruno Heller … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Stan Wlodkowski … Co-Executive Producer
- Jim Dyer … Co-Executive Producer
- Eugene Kelly … Co-Executive Producer
- Michael Apted … Consulting Producer, Director
- Marco Valerio Pugini … Producer
- Bruce Everett … Co-Producer
- James Hirsch … Co-Producer
- Todd London … Co-Producer
- Robert Papazian … Co-Producer
- Frank Yablans … Co-Producer
- Mark McGann … Co-Producer
- Jeff Beal … Music by
- Ray Stevenson … Cast, Titus Pullo
- Kevin McKidd … Cast, Lucius Vorenus
- Polly Walker … Cast, Atia of the Julii
- Kenneth Cranham … Cast, Pompey Magnus
- Lindsay Duncan … Cast, Servilia of the Junii
- Tobias Menzies … Cast, Marcus Junius Brutus
- Kerry Condon … Cast, Octavia of the Julii
- Karl Johnson … Cast, Porcius Cato
- Indira Varma … Cast, Niobe
- David Bamber … Cast, Marcus Tullius Cicero
- Max Pirkis … Cast, Gaius Octavian
- Nicholas Woodeson … Cast, Posca
- Paul Jesson … Cast, Scipio
- Coral Amiga … Cast, Vorena the Elder
- Anna Francolini … Cast, Clarissa
- James Purefoy … Cast, Mark Antony
- Ciaran Hinds … Cast, Gaius Julius Caesar
- Manfredi Aliquo' … Cast, Castor
- Frank Baker … Cast, Doctor
- Lydia Biondi … Cast, Merula
- John Boswell … Cast, Curial Magistrate
- Leslie Csuth … Cast, Milo
- Matt Patresi … Cast, Durio
- Alessio di Cesare … Cast, Rubio
- Alessandro Inchiappa … Cast, Courier
- Maura Orefici … Cast, Priest
- Sean Madden … Cast, Otho
- Ian McNeice … Cast, Newsreader
- Francesco Pini … Cast, Slave Dealer
- Sergio di Pinto … Cast, Stilicho
- Alessandro Prete … Cast, Tarquin
- Anna Fausta Primiano … Cast, Vorena the Younger
- Roberto Purvi … Cast, Glabius
- Bart Ruspoli … Cast, Tribune
- Jonathan Readwin … Cast, Crito
- Ted Rusoff … Cast, Strabo
- Iliaria Stivali … Cast, Peasant Woman
- Sebastiano Vinci … Cast, Wild Eyed Man