North_Ranger
Staff member
I just watched the last episode of Rome. It had been on a re-run this summer, and as something of a history buff I felt it was my duty to watch it again - and this time look for things that I overlooked. This may sound odd, but I think the ending of this two-season series is quite powerful. You get to see the triumph of Octavian with all the necessary pomp and glory - but it doesn't end there. Following a brief scene with Titus Pullo reporting back to Octavian, the scene changes back to the streets of Rome with its peddlers, merchants, housewives, slaves, all the hustle and bustle of the great city. Titus Pullo meets again with Aeneas (really Caesarion), and as the child promises divine redemption to Octavian and to clear his father's name, Pullo places his hand on the boy's shoulder and says: "Listen, about your father..." - only to disappear into the crowd, the camera panning out and the theme music beginning to play.
I remember watching this episode the first time, and considering this one powerful ending. Not only it leaves some tantalizing questions unanswered (such as what is going to happen to Aeneas and Pullo who apparently was going to tell who really was the child's father), but it also gives a well-deserved tip of the hat to the city of Rome itself. While the plot did follow the trials and tribulations of the dying Republic and the emerging Empire (stop humming the Imperial March!), Rome and its idiosynchracies and many faces were definitely a major, if not the major character of the entire series: this wasn't the "HollyRome" of Gladiator and a baker's dozen of Ben-Hur wannabes, but an ancient city almost alien in landscape and mentality, bewildering in its continuum of luxury and squalor, a place where almost anything could happen. And the final scene, with Pullo and Aeneas disappearing into the crowd, echos that bewilderment, leaving it up for the viewer to think what might have happened to these two while Octavian continues rebuilding Rome in his own image...
All of this got me thinking: there's a whole heap of good series and movies about, but there's not really that many where the ending is something truly memorable or touching. The villains are dead, the good guys win, roll credits, get out of the cinema/change the channel. In that sense, Rome's ending was something different, leaving some questions unanswered and showing that despite the human drama and sweeping changes in government, the streets of the Eternal City remained unchanged, people continuing to live their lives the same way but under new management.
So tell me, fellow Halforumites... Got any good endings in mind that really touched you, made you think or made you laugh one time more?
I remember watching this episode the first time, and considering this one powerful ending. Not only it leaves some tantalizing questions unanswered (such as what is going to happen to Aeneas and Pullo who apparently was going to tell who really was the child's father), but it also gives a well-deserved tip of the hat to the city of Rome itself. While the plot did follow the trials and tribulations of the dying Republic and the emerging Empire (stop humming the Imperial March!), Rome and its idiosynchracies and many faces were definitely a major, if not the major character of the entire series: this wasn't the "HollyRome" of Gladiator and a baker's dozen of Ben-Hur wannabes, but an ancient city almost alien in landscape and mentality, bewildering in its continuum of luxury and squalor, a place where almost anything could happen. And the final scene, with Pullo and Aeneas disappearing into the crowd, echos that bewilderment, leaving it up for the viewer to think what might have happened to these two while Octavian continues rebuilding Rome in his own image...
All of this got me thinking: there's a whole heap of good series and movies about, but there's not really that many where the ending is something truly memorable or touching. The villains are dead, the good guys win, roll credits, get out of the cinema/change the channel. In that sense, Rome's ending was something different, leaving some questions unanswered and showing that despite the human drama and sweeping changes in government, the streets of the Eternal City remained unchanged, people continuing to live their lives the same way but under new management.
So tell me, fellow Halforumites... Got any good endings in mind that really touched you, made you think or made you laugh one time more?
