TV review - "Rome" eps 7 and 8

Finding Rome easier to watch now, as am more familiar with the characters (I finally recognise who is who) and the historical events. Ep 7 deals with the defeat of Pompey and Ep 8 with meeting Cleopatra. It takes this series about 30 minutes what it took Mank and Liz Taylor an hour and a half. It helps the 'ordinary' characters are nicer in this one - no of them do anything particularly sadistic (well Kevin McKidd knifes a pirate in the throat but he deserves it). I don't mind if all the politicians do ruthless stuff, they ask for it, but its stressful when the 'ordinary' characters do. The section where Pompey is wiped out is quite moving. The episode in Egypt is terrific, with a weird and wonderful slightly off kilter quality, a great little fat kid playing the king, and an entirely fresh conception of Cleopatra - doped out,s exed up, a bit wired, kind of like an ancient-era Paris Hilton, only with an underlying sense of steel (you feel sorry for the little king when she appears). It's the most believable portrayal I can recall seeing and eps like this one make you wish at times they'd drag it out rather than spank through history so quickly (for instance, there's enough stuff in Ep 8 along to justify a ten ep story line). They do push the realism factor a bit by having Ray Stevenson father Cleo's kid. And Roger Corman factor strikes again with a bit of lezzo action.