Domina Review: Rise (Season 1 Episode 2)

Domina Season 1 Episode 2, “Rise,” opens on another significant time jump, skipping ahead to five years after the assassination of Julius Caesar, when Gaius Julius Caesar — who will one day be the Emperor Octavian — and Mark Antony are triumphantly claiming power in Rome.

Though it certainly seems important to show the dramatic events of Livia’s youth so that we might understand everything she’s been through before her ultimate rise as Empress of Rome, the fact that Domina is trying to cover so much narrative ground in just two episodes means that it can still be a bit difficult to keep the order of events straight. 

Basically, all you need to know is that Livia Drusilla and her husband have been living in exile for the past few years on the island of Sicily, but are allowed to return to Rome thanks to a blanket amnesty offered to those exiled during the wars.

Livia is eager to reclaim her inheritance and rid herself of her husband, and thanks to her father’s teachings and five years to plot, she’s got a pretty good idea of how to go about both of those things.

When Livia returns to Rome, she’s almost immediately sucked into a complicated game of petty revenges with Gaius’ wife Scribonia and sister Octavia, which generally exists as a reason for her to re-enter Gaius’ orbit and share charged glances with him through dinner parties. 

There’s something intensely likable about Livia’s deliberate scheming and her forthright assertion that she’s going to find a new husband of her own choosing, possibly because this is also a story full of women like Scribonia and Octavia, who seem to solely exist to be pawns of male ambitions.

I don’t even like Scribonia, yet the fact that she can be sent away and divorced immediately after giving birth simply because her husband has the hots for another (married) woman, well. It’s hard not to feel sympathy in the face of all that.

And then there’s poor Octavia – basically given to Mark Antony to serve as a sort of Roman broodmare.

Do I wish that Domina had done a bit more work to establish the Gaius and Livia relationship — now, five years after the original flirtation that took place back in the series’ first episode? Yes, absolutely. 

The moment where she strides into his home, kisses him passionately, and then lays out the terms by which he will divorce his wife and marry her all feels a bit like it comes out of nowhere. I respect the boldness, as well as the thoroughness of the plan, and Livia’s argument about what her family lineage brings to the match is a smart one.

But the pair have exchanged approximately five words in five years, and that’s precious little to hang the relationship that will serve as the center of this show on. (And, yet, almost despite myself — I like them? They’re kind of cute? I don’t know.) 

By the end of the episode, Livia has successfully maneuvered herself into the position she’s dreamed of: Money and position restored, she’s now set to be the wife of one of Rome’s most powerful men, even as she gives birth to another son she’ll have to relinquish to Nero. 

She’s rescued BFF Antigone from the exotic brothel where she’s been sold as a slave — another calmly horrifying fact of life in Ancient Rome that Domina doesn’t shy away from depicting. I’m not sure whether we needed to see Antigone orchestrate Balbina’s murder, but from a character perspective, I guess it’s a way to deal with her trauma!

Is Livia happy now? It’s hard to say. She doesn’t necessarily seem to be. She seems more satisfied than anything else, which I guess is a fair reaction to having all your carefully plotted plans actually work out in the end. 

Does she truly want to be with Gaius? Their relationship certainly seems more equal than her marriage with Nero ever did, and Nadia Parkes and Tom Glynn-Carney have a believable, almost playful chemistry with one another. It’s easy to see the two of them actually being happy together, though whether any sort of happiness between them can last given everything else going on around them is anyone’s guess. 

Stray Thoughts and Observations

• I truly want to know more about Gaius’ BFF Agrippa, he seems like such a good dude.
• Other things I want to know more about: How Livia feels about sacrificing her sons on the altar of her ambition. Divorcing Nero automatically means that he gets custody of any children from their marriage, yet Livia doesn’t seem to even be that upset about it. (Despite the fact that we know, both historically and from the previous episode, that Livia adores Tiberius.) Maybe she’s just assuming her ex can’t possibly live that long in the current climate of Rome.
• “If you want to go to the races, you really do have to pay at the gate.” 

What did you think of this episode of Domina? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Domina airs Sundays at 10 pm on Epix.

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