One of the very first scenes this week set the tone for the entire episode. During Jocasta’s wedding, while Antony winks at a not-that-attractive slave girl, Atia mentions to him that she’d like to get married. The point? Men and women are rarely on the same page.
Even though she’s an insufferable bitch, I actually felt sorry for Atia this week. First, Servilia lays the mother of all curses on her before committing suicide in front of her house. The real Servilia died of natural causes, but like Antony said, the fictional Servilia knows how to make an exit. Then Octavian arranges for his sister, not Atia, to marry Antony as a show of goodwill to the people of Rome. This, of course, does not sit well with Atia or Octavia. While in bed with his new wife, Antony had a great line that pretty much sums up the situation – “This is strange, isn’t it?”
Even with the marriage, it’s clear that the conflict between Octavian and Antony isn’t resolved.
Meanwhile, Eirene’s run in with Gaia led to a great scene between Titus and the slave girl. It seems that the temptress Gaia is looking to climb the social ladder, and she isn’t afraid to use all of her……um……assets to that end. When she laid the “she’s such a mouse of a woman and you’re such a lion of a man” line on Titus, I knew the big fella was going down. If nothing else, a man has needs and it certainly didn’t help that Eirene decided to withhold sex because the baby started moving. Just like Titus, I almost spit up my drink when Eirene said that he should beat Gaia the same way once a month to keep her in line.
The Timon/Levi storyline ended unceremoniously when Timon stabbed his brother to keep him from trying to assassinate Herod. Other than Timon’s decision to release Servilia, this storyline hasn’t had much of an impact on the show. It will be interesting to see how much of Timon we’ll see now that this thread with his brother has come to a conclusion.
The episode ended with Gaia buying a concoction that presumably causes a miscarriage. Obviously, she intends to use this on Eirene. But what’s her end game? Does she truly want Titus, or does she just want to screw up Eirene’s life?
And how will Vorena’s actions affect Lucius? What will he do when he discovers his daughter’s betrayal?
