The Great is a new Hulu original about the rise of one of Russia’s more famous rulers, Catherine the Great. And before the concept of watching another historical drama scares you off, it’s important to know that this show isn’t too concerned with taking itself seriously, it isn’t even very concerned with being accurate. That might turn some off, but for those who are willing to go along with the idea, the pilot at least seems to be setting up for a wildly entertaining show.
To begin with, the cast is phenomenal. Elle Fanning is terrific as both the naive and optimistic Catherine at the beginning of the episode and the more driven one at the end. Nicholas Hoult steals every scene he’s in as the delightfully dickish and unintelligent Peter, Emperor of Russia. He’s where most of the laughs come from in this episode while has the apparent time of his life taking no scene seriously in the best way possible. Although it’s too early to really get a feel for the supporting cast, they all seem fine enough and will no doubt rise to the occasion when it’s called for. Indeed, if there are any problems with this cast, it would be in Phoebe Fox’s assistant to Catherine, of which I have forgotten the name of, it’s not that she’s doing a particularly bad job but she’s rather dull against the flamboyant nature of the rest of the cast and not nearly enough time has been spent building up the friendship between her and Catherine so that beats later on seem, while not wrong, just slightly off.
All in all this was a delightful hour of TV and a delightful pilot that I really don’t have a lot to say about just yet. The show looks great, but for a streaming service original that’s hardly a surprise. Other than that there’s not much more for me to say then if you have access to Hulu you should watch it, and indeed you should find a way to see it even if you don’t.
P.S.
This doesn’t naturally come up in the review format but I must applaud the show for setting up what appears to be a generic rom-com (albeit a rather clever one) where the smart and practical woman smooths the rough edges of the flawed male character and eventually they become a perfectly ship-able couple, only for it to become more and more apparent as Hoult’s Peter became more and more dangerous, that that was not the story they were interested in telling. If only the lack of a real romance between the two hadn’t been spoilt by history. Oh well.
Personal Rating: 9/10
Entertainment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆
Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Writing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tension:⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆
