S01.E01: Rise or Die

[AnimeMania]

Ancient Rome's elite plot against the rioting citizens; a cunning Plebeian schemes to change his fate; Spanish brothers arrive to sell horses for the Roman Games; three African siblings are forcibly taken to Rome, followed by their vengeful mother.

Premiere Date: July 18, 2024      Peacock    

[thuganomics85]

Mainly tuning in because I'm looking for something to scratch that old Spartacus itch (until the House of Ashur arrives) and it's been a while since we've had an ancient Rome/swords & sandals show.  It... was serviceable.

Right now, my main issue is that it feels like there are way too many characters already and it was hard to really be invested in any of these characters or plots.  The only ones that peak my interest is vengeful mother trying to save her kids and Anthony Hopkins and his family drama with the two sons.  But that's only a small part alongside the sinister bookie, the gambling addict, the smug chariot rider, the rich folks who seem to be plotting against Hopkins (and the wife is sleeping with the chariot rider but it seems like her husband is aware of that part?), the three horse traders, those two street kids, and the queen who is sleeping with one of Hopkins' sons.  Going to be a while; if ever; before I can name any character here.

Credit to them not even bothering hiding that Iwan Rheon was up to no good by having him automatically order someone's execution with a sinister voice.  I'm sure he's a lovely guy and he's a good actor, but thanks to Ramsay Bolton, he's probably going to be typecast as villains for the rest of his career.

Anthony Hopkins was in paycheck mode, but hey, he's 86 years old and already has two Oscars.  He's more than earned it!

The rest of the cast was fine but no real standouts.  Only other ones I'm mainly familiar with are Gabriella Pession; who was Eva from Crossing Lines; and Rupert Penry-Jones, who was Quinlan from The Strain.  Still hoping someone from Spartacus shows up here.

Definitely filled its blood, gore, sex, and nudity quota, but not quite as graphic as Spartacus was!

[lucindabelle]

I was really excited to see a Rome Drama that takes place after the Claudians and long after Christ, and to see that Anthony Hopkins was in it. But this is just hard to follow. Which way too much stuff going on and unclear what was happening where and what the significance was. Hopefully that clears up future episodes, but I wasn’t hooked.

Edited July 30 by lucindabelle