Fans of Game of Thrones and George R.R. Martin’s source novels A Song of Ice and Fire, no doubt, see plenty they recognize about Westeros and its inhabitants in Caligula and his macabre misadventures. Caligula has the pale blond hair of House Targaryen, a dynasty that, as Herod says of the Claudians, produces either great men or madmen. He’s in an incestuous, blasphemous relationship with his sister Drusilla (actually the other sisters too), another hallmark of the Targaryens and their native Valyrian culture. A blonde queen fucking her brother immediately puts one in mind of Cersei and Jaime Lannister, too. Caligula himself, of course, is the archetypal Mad King.
Anyone, however, can recognize the prodigious gifts of John Hurt, whose Caligula is one of TV’s greatest villains, on a show that’s given us one already in Livia. Indeed, it’s worth reflecting that with the deaths of Tiberius and Antonia, Herod and Claudius are the only characters left alive from fully the first five episodes. In many ways we’re watching a brand new show, and for now at least, it’s a one-man show at that.
I reviewed episode nine of I, Claudius for Pop Heist. Gift link!
Tags: decider, i claudius, TV, TV reviews