For anyone who has spent more than five minutes studying Russian History, put down the remote and walk away from Hulu’s new series The Great. The series occasionally, and quite accidentally, lands on a bit of truth, but for the most part this series is is a complete waste of time for anyone not interested in constant scenes of sex and language designed to shock rather than provide anything to the actual plot of the show. While Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult do their best, there honestly is no saving this show. I managed to make it through two episodes before throwing my hands up in exasperation and walking away.
The show focuses on Catherine (Elle Fanning) as she makes her way to Russia to marry Peter (Nicholas Hoult) and become the Empress of Russia. Even the first few minutes of the show are so painfully inaccurate, I wondered how much vodka the writers and producers had before starting the script. The show is based off the play The Great by Tony McNamara and is intended to be a dark comedy. If you’re looking for an adaptation of the play, it works. For anyone not wanting to watch Nicholas Hoult have sex with everyone, shoot bears,, or for viewers actually interested in the real Catherine the Great, this is a complete waste of time. McNamara seems to have written down a list of Russian names and random moments in history, put them in an ushanka, and than one by one pulled them out Madlibs style.
Catherine the Great never had sex with a horse. This is a long standing rumor that was created to make fun of a woman in charge of the largest country in the world, who actually did a pretty great job compared to…well, the majority of male Russian rulers.
If you want to watch, listen, or read something that actually has anything to do with Catherine the Great, here’s are some resources that aren’t a waste of your time:
Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert Massie
Ekaterina: The Rise of Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great (in Russian)
The History Chicks Podcast on Catherine the Great
