The only problem with Rome, a HBO historical drama, is that every character is an awful person, but by the second season, I found myself rooting for them regardless. The first season felt more like a mechanical attempt at infusing life and connecting historical events with the vibrancy of real life whereas the second season felt compelling in a “what will happen next” vibe. It is HBO so of course, there is explicit sex, but because it is ancient Rome, things are going to get really weird at times even for HBO. I was familiar with Polly Walker from Caprica before Rome so I was not surprised that she can handle those challenges. Everyone does an amazing job, but after his brief cameo in Rev. and now Rome, I have to reevaluate my decision not to watch James Purefoy in The Following (yeah, I still don’t think that I’m going to watch it) because he is impressive. I still felt a twinge of desire that they used British actors instead of Italian actors to help bring more life to historical events. The only fault: the scriptwriters tend to use the crutch of using conflict between women as the reason for grand historical plot twists.