No, it was the Oscars that made them cancell last week's episode. The Ocsars draw a ton of viewers, and it's ratings death to go up against it. Yes, ratings matter to HBO, it's part of what they manage to charge carriers (cable and dish companies) to carry their service.
Back to that last episode, I was highly p1ssed at the complete departure from factual history for the Battle of Phillippi. They made it look like this one day battle of all 4 armies going through a valley into combat, and that is sooooo bogus! Antony and Octavian were NOT together at the beginning of the battle. There were three battles that went on for several days. When they did the battle between Ceasar and Pompey it was historically accurate, but the battle of Phillippi as depicted was a joke.
First, there was a naval battle won by Brutus' navy, which cut off the supply line for Octavian and Antony. Brutus wanted to starve them out, but was also, like Pompey, convinced to attack when it wasn't prudent. Then, Antony took several days to construct a road through an "impassable" swamp on Cassius' left flank. Once Cassius was aware of this, he left his formidable defensive position to attack Antony head on, and lost.
To the north, Brutus routed Octavian's army the same day. Cassius was wrongly informed that Brutus had also lost the day, and had his slave kill him. He did not die in battle as depicted. Brutus marched south, and then the combined forces of Antony and Octavian were too much to defend against. Then, Brutus upon hearing of Cassius' suicde, also had his slave kill him. He hardly ran into an army of Roman soldiers and went down fighting.
I do really like the Pullo-Verinus aspect of the show.... but keep the creatrive writing there, not when it comes to how famous figures like Brutus died. Aside from that, Brutus' wife was far more influential in this portion of history, and from the show one would think he was never married. The first season kept some modicum of aligning itself with history, this year, it's more fiction than fact. So, in that regard, it is more like a soap opera to me, which is disappointing.
Verinus' eldest daughter is clearly going to cause havoc. Pullo's depression about not being a soldier looks like it may not be a problem, with him being an expectant father. Yeah, the kid who played Octavian should have been kept. His replacement is weak, amoung a cast of actors who are otherwise really outstanding. I also like the guy playing Agrippa. Can't wait for tomorrow's show, despite my disappointment in the last episode.