TV review - "Rome" episodes 11 & 12

This has a built-in great climax in the assassination of Julius Caesar,and the actor who plays Brutus is terrific, with just the right amount of weakness, moral self-indignation and angst. (Of course Ciarin Hinds is great at Caesar, too, all dignity, wisdom and apparent magnanimity -no wonder people followed him). Ep 11 sees the show turn intoGladiator - it was inevitable Titus would find himself in the arena, and he does so in a very bloody yet exciting (and ultimately moving) sequence. While the structure of the show has these two ordinary men at the outskirts of extraordinary events, Ray Stevenson and Kevin McKidd aren't really ordinary (cf R2D2 and C3PO in Star Wars and Claudius in I, Claudius), they are superheroes. Maybe this is what stopped the series from being a massive ratings success - it lacks someone ordinary for the audience to identify with (even nicer Kevin McKidd is still a superhero). The build up to the assassination is terrifically suspenseful and the event itself packs a wallop - so much so that it's annoying to cut away to McKidd's domestic shenanigans. Weren't these resolved in an earlier episode? But it definitely leads you wanting to know what happens next - especially when you see the conspirators being given the evil eye by Marc Anthony and Octavian. It's like, "you guys -you don't know what you've bought into."