Skip to the end: Old Clavdivs is now Current Clavdivs. He lies motionless, watched over by a haughty woman and her heavily rouged and lipsticked son – his fourth wife, Agrippinilla and his stepson, the Nero. Upon confirming that he is dead, nei[…]

This week’s flash-forward is just a few frames of Clavdivs, continuing to write into the night. The scene dissolves into a view of Messawina and her lover, the Greek actor Mnester, rolling around in a post-coital glow. She assesses the damage her v[…]

This week’s flash-forward is ultra short: just a few frames of Old Clavdivs in his study late at night, scowling at his crown of gold-plated laurel leaves. The previous episode’s concluding cheer long live the Emperor increases in volume as the s[…]

On paper, Some Need It Lonely should be exactly what I want in an ORL record. Personnel is broadly made up of Mars Volta musicians, plus Teri Gender Bender on most lead vocals. The fact that this line-up features a broad range of Volta drummers, from[…]

No flash-forward this week: instead, we see Clavdivs reading a letter in a modestly furnished room. Calpurnia, his flatmate and friend, wants him to read it aloud since epistles from Herod are always amusing. The letter is packed with concern-trollin[…]

Now, where were we? Ah yes – Rome was awash with purged blood and uncomfortable alliances. In this week’s opening flash-forward, Old Clavdivs is fiddling, with ink-stained fingers, the jade talisman that failed to keep Germanicus safe. Like P[…]

Back to our regularly scheduled usual flash-forward, with Old Clavdivs guzzling wine in his study while writing and occasionally scratching his wig with a stylus. The voiceover recaps have returned, although he does appear to be alone, but inconsiste[…]

No flash-forward this week – instead, we open with a jolly dinner party scene. Titus and Lollia have various honoured guests in attendance, and they’re all enjoying some post-scran belly dancing via a nice lady their hostess found in Antioch.[…]

Oof, settle in, folks: this one is a doozy, representing some of the very worst alongside the very best.
The usual flash-forward does not help matters at all, from the onset. Old Clavdivs stumbles towards the communal can, clutching an oil lamp and c[…]

As per usual, we begin with a flash-forward to Old Clavdivs writing in his study when he’s presented with some research materials that were lost among the usual crap squirrelled away in cellars. It’s the final will and testament of Gaius Julius C[…]