The Great (Season 2)

Review of The Great, Season 2

You have no idea how long I’ve procrastinated on making this blog post. I literally watched The Great’s second season when it first came out in November of 2021. It’s now the summer of 2022. Yes, this is long overdue. I had to rewatch the show in order to get a grip about my original thoughts, but as it turns out, I apparently have a good memory when it comes to this show.

When The Great came out in 2020, it felt like a breath of fresh air. I really liked the premise of the show because of the fact it tries to incorporate humor into what people often consider to be quote-on-quote serious history—e.g. Russian history, especially when it comes to the tsars and their empire.

I will also admit: I’m a huge Elle Fanning fan. I think the age gap between her and Nicholas Hoult is a bit strange, but then again I’m also projecting modern expectations onto an era in which age gaps were very very normal.

Huzzah! Let us begin the review.

Catherine the Great must learn to live with her husband, and, along the way, they may even learn to love each other genuinely.

We ended the first season of The Great with the coup that Catherine and her accomplices, Velementov and Count Orlo. The season begins four months after the events that were orchestrated at the season finale, where we now learn that the events have become somewhat successful.

Peter, who has fled to his countryside villa with his beloved chef Jean-Louise, agrees to transfer all of his power over to Catherine and so begins a new day in the Russian monarchy. It’s also in the first episode that a beloved plot line in the first season has now come to an official end: he hands over her lover’s, Leo’s, head in a bag. How charming.

So begins the reign of Catherine the Great in the second season. Peter is put under house arrest, where he manages to slowly become a better person and attempts to woo Catherine in a manner that is surprising authentic considering his former brutish nature—don’t worry, it still makes a grand appearance as some of his attempts are, well, a little unflattering.

We also learn that the transition isn’t exactly as peaceful as we presume it to be. The country’s noblemen all arrive in episode two and cannot believe a woman is now at the head of the throne, and then her immediate first action is to declare Russia a place where freedom of religion is practiced (Archie is clearly thrilled by this—note the sarcasm).

A chunk of this season is purely devoted to character development. Catharine, who was originally thrust into this Russian world pretty quickly, is now at the top of the food chain and wants to make some pretty drastic changes to the way that things are run around here.

We see that she is also grieving throughout the series for Leo, who she dearly loved. Even as her character dynamics with Peter are slowly shifting to mutual respect. And then she gets pregnant in season one, which was the trump card to her entire revolt.

The Great’s strengths lie in the fact that the performances from the cast are so good, as well as the fact it is humorous. There are some major historical inaccuracies, but we established that this is loosely inspired from history during the first season. It adds some fun though, like the little science fair that Catherine hosts where someone has seemingly invented the first rollercoaster.

Oh, and then there’s the B plot where Catherine’s mother tries to have sex with Peter and then he accidently pushes her outside of a window.

It started out with the daytime humorous bit that’s also not funny because she discovers what peanuts are and has an allergic reaction, but then she gets real predatory chasing after her daughter’s husband (although she seems aware her daughter kind of hates him).

Isn’t it romantic to know your husband killed your mother? Good thing Catherine seems unaware! Until the last episode of the season, that is. Then everything goes back to hell, perfectly setting us up for season three.

Overall Thoughts

I found it just as entertaining as the first season, although I imagine if they had kept the characters fairly static (e.g. too similar from the events of the first season), it would have gotten old really fast.

The Great does feel a bit repetitive and formulaic at times in its approach, which is why I think it works as a limited series with seasons that only have ten episodes.

Otherwise, it would feel like it is just rehashing the same thing over and over again. The shifting character dynamics are fascinating, although oscillating between the trope of enemies to lovers and then back to enemies again with the end of the season, restarting the same cycle we’ve been spectating for two seasons.

I’ll watch season three, but I don’t know if they can keep the steam going beyond that honestly.