The Trojans
It was a bonding special this week. Helen, newly married to Paris – because charges of bigamy pail into insignificance when you’re facing being starved out of house and home – treated us to her best Lady Bountiful impersonation. She handed out grain to the starving, before trying to win the grumpy Andromache over, with more mixed results. If ever there was a sign about what’s wrong with this show it’s the fact that they keep telling us that Helen is the most charming person on Earth while supplying next to no evidence of it. Meanwhile, Hector dragged Paris off for a midnight adventure complete with manly chats about love and a will-he-won’t-he-murder-him plotline, which surely had most of the audience yelling: “Please do us all a favour, kill him now and end this misery.” Sadly, Hector is the honourable, upright sort so stayed his hand, which in turn allowed Paris to save him. Thus the siege (and series) continues.
The Greeks
Things weren’t much better over in the Greek camp this week. We learned that Menelaus doesn’t respond particularly well to “your wife” jokes and Achilles – well, actually that’s a big part of the problem with this week’s episode: it’s not really clear what’s going on with Achilles. On the one hand, the show seems to be trying to be a commentary about the brutal reality of being a warrior versus the noble songs that people sing about you. However, it is writing a cheque that David Gyasi’s performance isn’t quite cashing (although the hints of petulance are interesting). That said, the final scene between Helen and Achilles – in which she seduced him out of eloping with her by appealing to his self-image – almost sold me: like last week’s battlefield scene it offered a tantalising glimpse of a stronger, more complicated show.
The gods
In the absence of the gods – bar a brief glimpse of Aphrodite wandering the shore – dove-slaying chief priest Litos stepped up to the plate, providing a great deal of entertainment in the process due to his uncanny resemblance to the titular character in Asterix and the Soothsayer. Despite that, Litos’s threats (“Your father defied the gods, you must obey them”) are one of the most intriguing parts of the series. There’s a lovely parallel between the Trojans bringing down the wrath of the gods by defying them and Agamemnon doing as they demanded yet still bringing tragedy on the heads of the Greeks. They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t, which could be a really fertile storyline to explore.
Additional offerings
- Not everyone will agree, but I rather liked the modern discussion about grain supplies and siege warfare. It gave a practical sense of how hard it’s going to get for the Trojans.
- Bella Dayne’s performance continues to underwhelm me. The writing is desperate to portray Helen as far more than the beautiful, empty vessel of Greek imagining, but Dayne’s stilted delivery makes it a hard sell.
- By contrast, Chloe Pirrie really sold Andromache’s distress. I would be quite happy to spend more time on her relationship with Hecuba and the fallout coming once she realises the queen is lying.
- For a supposedly brilliant seductress, Helen really isn’t much good at either keeping secrets or avoiding being caught in compromising meetings.
- I’m taking any and all bets for how and when Pandarus will betray the Trojans.
Omen of the week
We’re back to the black blood again. I’m not sure what more Litos can do to convince the Trojan royal family that Paris has bought doom upon them. Still, at least poor Cassandra probably had a good night’s sleep while her younger brother was away.
Epic declaration of the week
“Love doesn’t need to involve stealing someone away in a chest.” Hector continues to talk more sense than just about anyone else on this programme.
So what did you think? Will Helen be blamed when things go wrong in Cilicia? Can Andromache work out that Hecuba is lying? As ever, all speculation welcome below …
