If you thought Season 1 of The Great was bawdy and wicked, wait until you see Season 2. Basics first, the story is very loosely based on Catherine The Great who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796. However that may be, we find her a year or so later from the ending of The Great 1 and there is a different set of circumstances for which Catherine and her Husband Peter have to deal.
In this season Catherine (Elle Fanning) has fully taken over as Empress of Russia with her husband Peter (Nicholas Hoult) the Emperor having been forced to abdicate the throne in Season 1. She is however pregnant with child and is nearing her birthing month so her mother Joanna (Gillian Anderson) has entered the storyline adding some comedy and some devious plans. The stress of keeping the Empire solvent and her court “behaving” in a manner that will help her to continue the changes for Russia has risen greatly. To keep power Empress Catherine has increased her control over the many people living in the castle and her husband. In the meantime there’s a war on the horizon and the people are growing with discontent.
The acting buy Elle Fanning is extremely good and she is fun to watch as the Empress. It must have been a task performing with a pregnant belly (prosthesis I’m sure) and enduring many demanding scenes. Working extremely well with her fine cast, Fanning knows how to make her character go from haughty to bawdy in her depiction of the Russian Empress.
Nicholas Hoult reprises his role as Emperor Peter in fine style, but his time he’s the butt of most of the satirical comedy. It’s not an easy character to work with, but Hoult has all the right nuances to bring the downtrodden abdicated perverse Emperor to the wicked show. All this while voicing the character Patrick for 20 Episodes in the animated series Crossing Swords for Hulu for the same period of time as The Great.
Special Extras
“Deleted Scenes” selected episodes
“Blooper Reel”
The Great Season 2 has not been rated but contains explicit sex/nudity, language, and some violence. The satire is rife with extreme situations, sexuality, debauchery, killings and devious plans. The story grows on you and the more it gets outrageous the better. Now on DVD I’m sure you’ll use the rewind many times throughout to be sure what you just saw. My favorite series this year. 5 Huzzahs!
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward, Doug Mankoff and Andrew Spaulding, Thruline’s Josh Kesselman and Ron West, and Matt Shakman.
Created, Written, Directed and produced by: Tony McNamara
Genre: Comedy, Drama, TV
TV Rating: Not Rated, contains language, sex, nudity
Running Time: 10 Chapters each 55 min.
Video Release Date: April 26, 2022
Language: English with optional English Audio Description
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English, English SHD,
Distributed by: Paramount Home Entertainment
Released on: DVD
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
