True to form, Troy: Fall of a City bowed out with an episode that was bleakly brilliant and frustratingly uneven. This was one of the few takes on Troy that got the role of the gods right and the invented stories involving ordinary citizens were sympathetic and well told. Most of all, Chloe Pirrie and Joseph Mawle were outstanding as Andromache and Odysseus, ensuring that it was their tragedy – the murder of her son at the cost of his humanity – that lingered as the credits rolled.
The Trojans
Did anyone honestly care when the House of Priam finally fell to Greek fire and fury? All those anonymous interchangeable sons, their foolish father and desperate mother. Even poor Hecuba’s brave suicide didn’t resonate as strongly as it should have. As for Helen’s apparent descent into blank despair following Paris’s death – given the level of emotion she generally displays, how would they know? Instead the night’s real power came from Cassandra’s desperate attempts to warn her family of what was to come and Andromache’s despair on realising that her baby, the last son of Troy – not the treacherous horse – was the true offering.
The Greeks
While Menelaus found time to squeeze in one final piece of self-serving claptrap – explaining that it was all Helen’s fault that he had no honour – and not even the murder of every last son of Troy could quell Agamemnon’s rage, this was an episode all about Odysseus. The blasted horror written on his face after he hurled Andromache’s son to his death with a whispered “Forgive me” said more than a thousand speeches about omens and prophesies. For, unlike the Kings of Mycenae, Odysseus has always understood that it is not enough to rant about the unfairness of the gods or the injustices done to you: you have to take responsibility for your actions. Yet, even knowing this, he was powerless to act on it, condemning himself to face the wrath of the gods because he couldn’t bring himself to die at Agamemnon’s feet, so far from his waiting wife. It took only eight episodes, but as a numb Odysseus set sail for home, Andromache’s curse clearly still ringing in his head, Troy: Fall of a City had finally given us both a love story and a tragedy worthy of the name.
The gods
Our final shot of the gods saw Aphrodite weeping over Paris’s body, watched by Hera and Athena. Meanwhile, Zeus surveyed the destruction of Troy impassively. The message was clear: no one can outrun their fate. Just as Troy burned, so will the Greeks face tragedies of their own.
Additional omens
- In the Iliad, the killing of Andromache’s son is carried out by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, but this is one change that I think worked well, giving a horrible resonance to the final scenes.
- It also gave us a nice parallel between the baby – his own – that Odysseus refused to kill in episode one and the baby he had to kill by the end.
- Helen managed to come across as impressively self-obsessed even when sacrificing herself to save Paris’s family. That said, the hint that she didn’t want children, even with Paris, was clever – as was the suggestion that she is distrusted because she doesn’t conform to expected behaviour.
- Xanthius remains my favourite: I liked the fact he shamed the Trojan family with kindness, sparing their lives as they had not tried to spare his.
- Poor Briseis: she finally made it from the Greek camp, just in time to see another city destroyed.
Worrying omen of the week
These days, we all know that if a glittery offering for Poseidon rocks up on a beach we should instantly beware of Greeks bearing gifts, but pity the poor Trojans: free grain and wine is hard to resist. It was clever of the script to suggest that even those who were suspicious couldn’t quite look this gift horse in the mouth.
Epic declaration of the week
“Odysseus, may your crimes haunt you like ghosts. May the gods plague you and may your heart be shattered as mine is now. May Troy be the curse that follows you all your life.” Andromache delivers the speech of the series. If only everything else had been half as good.
So, what did you think? A big thank-you to everyone who commented below the line. It has been a frustrating show to recap, but you made me laugh.
