Utterly delightful. That’s the phrase I used to describe season two of Hulu’s The Great to a friend last week. And that’s ultimately what the season is – utterly delightful. Sure, there’s squabbles (Catherine is attempting a coup against her husband, Russia’s emperor, after all) and not all the jokes land as well as could be hoped (the drawn out joke about the ladies in waiting wanting to sleep with the emperor – and cuckold their husbands – thanks to his incredible “tongue trick” grows a bit stale after a time), but you will find yourself laughing time and again while watching the courtly intrigue (the coup is dispensed with rather quickly – even those with the most basic of historical knowledge know who came out on top) and enjoying the layered but utterly ridiculous performances within the series.
When we last left things in Russia, Catherine (a great Elle Fanning, who really comes into her own as a comedic actress while maintaining the gravitas necessary to anchor the series in some semblance of reality) had amassed her team (General Velementov – a truly inspired Douglas Hodge and Count Orlo – Sacha Dhawan, who is allowed to dive more into the comedy this time around to great effect) and is hell bent on taking the throne from her criminally dense, but divinely appointed husband Peter III (Nicholas Hoult, who is so perfect in the part, able to show us how much of a dolt Peter is, while tempering the performance enough to reveal that he also is uniquely suited to the position of emperor). Catherine is also pregnant with their son, Paul (who will one day rule over Russia himself), so not only is she staging a coup, but she’s also dealing with the difficulties of pregnancy – and some pretty wild cravings and medical beliefs of the era.
We all know that, at some point, Catherine will become Catherine the Great and wrest control of Russia from Peter, but what will happen to their relationship – and to their friends and allies in the meantime? That’s the question at the heart of season two – with the conclusion foregone, how will this swing in fortune help and hurt the various courtly characters we’ve gotten to know thus far? How far will Peter’s allies go to unseat their new empress? And just where does Peter fit into all of this (as the series would be insane to drop a performance as great as Hoult’s before such time as they are required to do so)? But most importantly, how does one make a coup fun and frothy? Well, The Great manages to do all that and more with its sophomore season.
In fact, while I enjoyed season one, season two is superior, allowing characters the room to grow beyond their relationships with the two monarchs (one of the stumbling blocks in season one was that so much of the story was shown through the lens of Catherine or Peter, forcing the supporting characters to be linked to one or the other for their time on screen – and while there are clear “sides” in season two, the supporting cast, particularly Hodge, Phoebe Fox’s Marial, and Gwilym Lee’s Grigor, are allowed to have arcs outside the purview of the leads, thus allowing their characters to grow more this go-round. The richer the tapestry of characters, the more it allows Catherine and Peter to lean into the comedy of the series. Catherine, in particular, doesn’t have to carry as much weight within the dramatic aspects of the story when the supporting players are given their own load to handle. It helps balance the narrative out splendidly.
But perhaps the highest praise I can heap on the series is that season two makes it hard to fully root against the show’s villains. Sure, Peter is awful – and a myriad of other serious adjectives – but there’s a charm in Hoult’s performance that wasn’t there in season one that makes you see what his loyal subjects see in him (other than his ability to elevate them personally and financially). And Catherine may be the clear star of the show, but the writing makes clear that despite her smart ideas and generally good intentions, she doesn’t really understand the situation she finds herself in – and she could do with help from her erstwhile husband. Like I said – there’s tremendous balance to the writing, coupled with fast, funny lines that will have you laughing. Season two of The Great is utterly delightful – and you should dive right in.
The Great premieres all episodes of its second season Friday, November 19, on Hulu. All episodes were provided for review.
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