After seeing the first episode, the show promises to be an excellent production showing the civilization and intrigue of the Rome of Julius Caesar. We can't place our own moral code on these characters. They had their own, and are shown living it. When your life depended upon position and knowledge, you did everything you could to put yourself in the best position possible. In an "about the show" program that I saw about "Rome", the actress who plays Atia says that she doesn't feel her character is evil. The character is doing what she has to in order to keep her position and stay alive in that time. Life was hard, and so one didn't have the luxury of being soft.
To those who complain about the accents, so what? Why would someone from ancient Rome speak with an Italian accent? Language and dialect evolve over time. Who knows what an ancient Roman accent sounded like? They aren't Italians speaking in English, they are Romans speaking their own Latin dialect. Latin is not Italian. Just ask my old High School Latin teacher. We just happen to have the movie magic version of a Universal Translator, so we can understand them.
The sets are perfect, showing a bustling city, full of activity. To those who complain about them, they have to remember that the ruins of ancient Rome that we see today have been scoured clean by the progression of time. The filmmakers felt that ancient Rome would have been more like Bombay, India, and I tend to agree with them.
The series shows life as it was in those days. I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops further.
