Rome
A Necessary Fiction
TV Flash files “A Necessary Fiction” as hour 20 of 22 in the TV Flash guide — Rome (2005–2007) on HBO/BBC, season 2, episode 8, aired 2007-03-11, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E08: listed hour 20 of 22 in the Rome guide, hour 8 of 10 in season 2. It aired 2007-03-11 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Death Mask” (S02E07). Next is “Deus Impeditio Esuritori Nullus (No God Can Stop a Hungry Man)” (S02E09).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Octavian takes a new bride, Livia, and then introduces her to his family in a startling way... by having her witness the punishment he metes out to Atia and Octavia, for secretly defying the social constraints established through the facade of Octavia's "marriage" to Mark Antony. The vengeful Gaia carries out her plan to poison Eirene, which produces most dire consequences for Pullo, and no one else is the wiser. Meanwhile, Octavian, Antony, Maecenas, and their associates barely maintain their relationships of congenial contempt and hypocrisy, as everyone tries to figure out who has duped whom with the disappearance of the gold that was Herod's 'gift.' Now forced by Octavian to leave Rome to serve as an 'ambassador' to Egypt, Antony defies the conditions of Atia's house arrest to bid her a bittersweet farewell. The same can be said of Agrippa, who learns some startling news as he severs his relationship with Octavia. Timon also decides to move with his family to Judia to start a new life over for themselves. With the theft of the gold, Lucius and Pullo suspect and accuse a badly-wounded Mascius of having engineered a double-cross, but the real traitor of Vorenus' gang comes to shocking light which is the eldest Vorena. Now having pinpointed Memmio as the real culprit, Pullo takes the group to meet for a parlay with the devious captain and his cohorts, resulting in swift and bloody retribution for the traitors. A despondent Vorenus, his family fractured once again, begs Antony to allow him to come to Egypt, and finds his offer grudgingly accepted. Antony returns to Egypt and is reunited with the seductive Cleopatra.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Necessary Fiction sit in the Rome guide?
S02E08 is listed hour 20 of 22 — hour 8 of 10 in season 2, season 2 episode 8.
When did Rome S02E08 air?
A Necessary Fiction aired 2007-03-11 and is listed at 60 minutes.
How much Rome is there?
Two seasons (2005–2007). High production costs and network decisions cut short a planned longer historical canvas.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Two soldiers, Vorenus and Pullo, witness the fall of the Republic as Caesar, Antony, and Octavian rewrite the world. Bruno Heller's HBO/BBC co-production made ancient history tactile: mud, politics, street-level views of epochal events. Only two seasons, lavish enough to become a warning about prestige budgets.
Two soldiers, Vorenus and Pullo, watching the Republic fall from the street, and the group chat still doing "what if more seasons" like it's a ship war. (I said spoiler-free. The cancellation is the spoiler.) Bruno Heller, John Milius, and William J. MacDonald's HBO/BBC co-production premiered in 2005 and lasted two seasons through 2007 despite major production scale — twenty-two episodes, mud and marble, blood and backroom empire. Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson lead a street-level view of epochal events beside…
Filed against
- Kevin McKidd as Lucius Vorenus
Kevin McKidd's Lucius Vorenus walked Rome at street level — Bruno Heller's HBO/BBC Republic-in-collapse, two soldiers watching Caesar and successors rewrite the world, mud instead of marble tourism. Only two lavish seasons. TV Flash files…
- Ray Stevenson as Titus Pullo
Ray Stevenson played Titus Pullo on Rome, Bruno Heller’s 2000s HBO/BBC fall of the Republic — two soldiers witnessing Caesar, Antony, and Octavian rewrite the world, mud, politics, street-level views of epochal events. Only two seasons,…
- Polly Walker as Atia of the Julii
Polly Walker plays Atia of the Julii on Rome, Bruno Heller’s 2000s HBO/BBC co-production of two soldiers witnessing the fall of the Republic — Caesar, Antony, Octavian rewriting the world, mud, politics, street-level views of epochal…
- Ciaran Hinds as Julius Caesar
Ciarán Hinds played Julius Caesar on Rome — two soldiers, Vorenus and Pullo, witnessing the fall of the Republic as Caesar, Antony, and Octavian rewrite the world. Bruno Heller's HBO/BBC co-production, mud and street-level views of…
- James Purefoy as Mark Antony
James Purefoy’s Mark Antony turned Rome into appetite with a sword — HBO/BBC Republic falling, Vorenus and Pullo at street level, Caesar and Octavian rewriting the world in mud. Only two lavish seasons. TV Flash files him as the general…
- Tobias Menzies as Marcus Junius Brutus
Tobias Menzies’s Prince Philip — seasons 3–4 of The Crown — is the middle silhouette in Peter Morgan’s wardrobe argument: Claire Foy’s steel, then this hush-and-weight, palace image-management as the actual plot. On TV Flash he is the…