Rome “Testudo Et Lepus”

Once again, Titus Pullo proves himself to be the luckiest son of a bitch in Rome, and once he hooks up with Vorenus again, Vorenus gets a chance at happiness.

When last we left this series, Atia was about to be served some poisoned soup courtesy of some young dude high on his own looks and sexual prowess that had been hired by Servilia.  Atia lives because the servant bringing her the soup samples some first and then dies after being asked to sing a song long enough to show symptoms.  And then assassin boy is spotted watching, so it’s off to the torture chamber for pretty boy.

Oh, sure, Atia knows it was Servilia, but she has to have Timon torture the guy first, then kill him and dump his body in the sewers, which seems to be the traditional Roman way of disposing of assholes.

But Pullo’s luck holds in the North when he runs into…Octavian!  Played by a different, older actor!  He seems less like a punk-ass kid now!  And he remembers Pullo and offers some help getting Vorenus’ kids back from the slave pit.  Vorenus is with Antony, but Pullo finds his old commander and the two are off with Antony’s permission too.  Well, sort of.  Antony is far too cynical to be a decent human being.

Octavian just won a huge battle, though, so he wants to celebrate back in Rome to cement his power base.  That means sending Agrippa to see Octavia with a message, and those two might be sweet on each other.

Say, did you know Irish actress Kerry Condon, AKA Octavia, is the voice of the new AI in Tony Stark’s Iron Man suits?  The one called F.R.I.D.A.Y.?  Yeah, she is.  Now there’s a face to go with the voice.

But, see, Octavia is once again disgusted with her mother since Atia had Servilia kidnapped and taken to the torture basement to be worked over.  And it might have kept going had Timon not had an attack of conscience possibly brought on by his brother’s suggestions.  Servilia gets to limp home, while Brutus and Cassius are putting an army together somewhere.

But there is some good news for Vorenus and for the viewer.  Though Vorenus seems intent to kill Niobe’s lovechild as a matter of honor, he ends up not doing it.  Having Pullo around to talk to the slavers helps, and they find the boy and Vorenus’ younger daughter working in the kitchen where Vorenus ultimately embraces the little ragamuffin.  Where is the older daughter?  Er, the slavers put her to work as a prostitute.

Vorenus may not be out to kill the little boy, but he sure does get to kill the hell out of someone as the slave master learns what it’s like to stumble around with a sword in his back.

So, how soon until this family reunion stops working?