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Rome
HBO, Jan. 14, 9 p.m.
The fall of Rome happened far too quickly. Critical acclaim and a healthy audience of 7.4 million viewers during its dense first season weren't enough to justify the multimillion-dollar price tag of this sumptuous historical drama, so HBO announced in September that these 10 episodes will be the last. Surprisingly, the actors found the news liberating — as should fans wondering if they want to bother with another trip down Appian Way. ''It gave us license to really go for it with the stories,'' says Kevin McKidd, who plays disillusioned centurion Lucius Vorenus. ''We could get to the heart of stuff. It's quite visceral.''
Picking up after Caesar's death, season 2 begins with the ruler's most trusted ally, Mark Antony (James Purefoy), forging a temporary truce with backstabbing Brutus (Tobias Menzies) — and then immediately testing his relationship with Atia (Polly Walker) by making eyes at Lyndsey Marshal's Cleopatra. (Player maximus!) Meanwhile, Caesar's ambitious great nephew Octavian (Max Pirkis) starts plotting his eventual rise to power as the first Roman emperor, an attractive slave domesticates Pullo (Ray Stevenson), and Vorenus works through grief over losing his family by becoming a raging underworld boss. ''We poured everything into these episodes,'' says co-creator Bruno Heller. ''We knew we weren't going to get another crack at this.'' That said, he adds, ''Our aim was to make people feel like it could go for another season.'' Even though it won't. So arrivederci, plebeians. —Lynette Rice
