The Great - Season 1
“British Asian actor Sacha Dhawan shines as Orlo, a career bureaucrat in Peter’s inner circle.”
Title: The Great
Episodes Reviewed: Season 1
Creator: Tony McNamara 👨🏼🇦🇺
Writers: Tony McNamara 👨🏼🇦🇺 (10 eps), Tess Morris 👩🏼🇬🇧 (1 ep), Gretel Vella 👩🏼🇦🇺 (1 ep), James Wood 👨🏼🇬🇧 (1 ep)
Reviewed by Mimi 👩🏻🇺🇸
Technical: 4.5/5
The Great is the latest work of historical fiction about Catherine the Great, Russia’s longest-ruling empress of the 18th century—with added emphasis on the “fiction” part. As to be expected, beautiful sets and fanciful costumes serve as backdrop to palace intrigue. With darkly comedic instincts, rather than too-serious depictions of sex and violence, Hulu’s retelling offers sharp relief from HBO’s rather tedious Catherine the Great (2019) miniseries.
Creator Tony McNamara once again subverts Serious Period Drama conventions by infusing the script with the same irreverence that he channeled as co-writer of The Favourite (2018). We’re told up front in the title card that it is “an occasionally true story.” Liberated from having to faithfully adhere to a factual timeline, the ten episodes condense the rise of young Catherine (Elle Fanning), from her marriage to Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult) to her eventual coup d’etat and his abdication. The result, both compelling and funny, imparts relevant commentary on the nature of power and progress.
Gender: 5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
Intelligent and well-read in Enlightenment thinkers, Catherine stands in stark opposition to her husband, a flailing despot living in the shadow of his late father. Peter embodies the id and misogyny of many men who feel entitled to power. Under his rule, women are forbidden from even learning how to read. Their condition can be best summed up in a exchange between Catherine and her maid Marial (Phoebe Fox), who when asked how her evening went, quips, “Avoided rape.” Catherine herself endures humiliating sex with Peter, who frequently reminds her that her sole purpose is to receive his “seed” and bear him an heir. These scenes, played for absurdity rather than titallation, directly contrast with other sexual experiences that center her pleasure.
The rest of her time, Catherine schemes with Marial, a former lady who has been stripped of her title. Marial not only guides the German-born empress through her rocky assimilation into the Russian aristocracy, but also provides her with the initial idea to seize the throne for herself. Yet it is an alliance complicated by Marial’s narrowly focused motivation to regain her lost status, which can clash with Catherine’s intellectual desires to overhaul a country controlled by the church and entrenched in feudalism. This is not so much a judgment of what motivates the two women as it is an acknowledgment that both are three-dimensional characters driven by their individual needs and quests for survival in a patriarchal society.
Race: 4/5
The Great’s deliberate abandonment of historical accuracy renders racially inclusive casting a non-issue. Although white actors fill the majority of the leading roles, men and women of color appear as characters of significant status, such as Catherine’s lover Leo (Sebastian De Souza) and her nemesis Lady Svenska (Danusia Samal). Even if it may be surprising to see Black and brown faces populating the court, it also begs the question, “Why not?” Especially in a country as geographically vast and ethnically diverse as Russia.
British Asian actor Sacha Dhawan in particular shines as Orlo, a career bureaucrat who enjoys the privilege of being in Peter’s inner circle. While initially content to suffer the emperor’s bullying if it means he can incrementally advance his policies, Orlo discovers that he shares Catherine’s Enlightenment values and passion for progress. His journey from being a man of books and theory to becoming one of decisive action parallels the empress’ own transformation from naive bride to savvy political leader. Their intertwined arcs raise poignant questions about what is required to make meaningful change in the world.
LGBTQ: 3.5/5
While non-traditional arrangements abound in the court, from the practice of polyamory to bisexual behavior mentioned in passing, Peter’s aunt Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) is the only character shown engaging in same-sex liaisons. It is perhaps a missed opportunity that the series refrains from exploring queerness in more depth, when gender and sexual politics are such central themes to The Great. There were certainly possibilities for more substantive LGBTQ storylines; rumors swirled around the real-life Catherine, including the claim that she had female lovers, though those might have been started in order to discredit her leadership.
Mediaversity Grade: B+ 4.25/5
The Great draws many comparisons between the past and the present: a cruel and ill-prepared autocrat who acts recklessly to the detriment of his country, the church peddling superstition over science, women fighting for their voices to be heard, the absurd wealth of the 1%. But we do a disservice to history when we pretend that it’s fixed in stone. Historical narratives have always been rewritten to reflect our current moment. We have to ask whose perspectives and stories have been marginalized or erased from the record. Even if The Great doesn’t perfectly answer all the large questions it introduces, there’s something immensely satisfying about a show that reimagines historical events and figures as being a bit messy and absurd—in other words, closer to human.
Like The Great? Try these other period dramas that play fast and loose with history.
Dickinson - Season 1
The Favourite (2018)
Peaky Blinders - Seasons 1-4