So…yeah. Rome is pretty freaking good. Sigh. It’s just good, solid storytelling, that’s why: the wins, the losses, the secrets, the danger, excitement, and generally not knowing what’s actually going to happen to the characters, so you’re genuinely on the edge of your seat. At least with the ones who they made up for the show, or the more minor historical figures whose futures aren’t readily known, or simply aren’t because history doesn’t go that fine into the details of their everyday lives. And the writers clearly know what they’re doing. They’re pros. They know how to spin a yarn.
It’s so refreshing to be in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s a gift. There was even a trashy little stand-up-to-the-bully subplot in the last episode—the type of filler stuff, the masculine dominance fantasy that generally makes the eyes roll into the back of my head—that I was in on. I was like, “oh shit, they fucked with the wrong dudes and they about to fiiiiind OUT,” giddy in my seat on the couch. I’m so, so rarely like that. But I was. And that was when I knew I was actually in on the show, because they made me care and get excited about a story I’ve seen a thousand times and generally don’t even like. But because I was invested in the characters, I was rooting for them to go and kick some ass, put some MFers in their place.
A gift.
I really, really want to get that good, to give that gift to others like they have to me. It’s inspiring.
Night night.