“For those yet to fall for its ample charms, ‘The Great’ plays hard and fast with the rise of Catherine the Great, Empress of all Russia,” said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian.
“Newcomers should not start with season three”, however, but go back to the start to see “how everybody got to their positions”. It’s worth the effort: “every episode romps along at speed, fuelled mostly by those twin engines of every good story, sex and death”.
In the first two seasons, Catherine (Elle Fanning) and her husband Peter (Nicholas Hoult) had “an on/off relationship”; but they begin this season “very much together”, to the bitterness of their acolytes. As ever in “The Great”, no character is safe from the chop, which keeps things lively. But “nestled in among all the killing and sex” is a “sneaky cerebral streak”; plus plenty of humour and silliness. In sum, it is a “rich treat” of a series.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The first two seasons have ended up on Channel 4, but for now this one is only on Lionsgate+, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. “Wait if you must, but I wouldn’t.” Yes, the plot is far from historically accurate, but the revisionism is “part of the fun”, and the performances are wonderful. Hoult, for instance, brings “the same vibe you might expect if Hugh Grant were starring in a whimsical romantic comedy about Pol Pot”.
“This is history at its most horrible – and most enjoyable,” agreed Nick Hilton in The Independent. “If it does run out of momentum before Catherine can reach old age and infirmity (and the horse sex rumours), then it will still have been quite the ride to get there.”
-
Israel: Losing the American publicFeature A recent poll finds American support for Israel's military action in Gaza has fallen from 50% to 32%
-
Unmaking AmericansFeature Trump is threatening to revoke the citizenship of foreign-born Americans. Could he do that?
-
EPA: A bonfire of climate change regulationsFeature The Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back its 'endangerment finding,' a ruling that lets the agency regulate carbon emissions
-
A tour of southern GreenlandThe Week Recommends New international airport has given this 'bucolic' island a welcome boost
-
Bonnie Blue: taking clickbait to extremesTalking Point Channel 4 claims documentary on the adult performer's attention-grabbing sex stunts is opening up a debate
-
Broccoli and lentil salad with curried tahini and dates recipeThe Week Recommends Flavoursome and healthy, this creamy salad is perfect as part of a mezze
-
Savages: a tragi-comedy set in a 'quirky handcrafted world'The Week Recommends This new animated film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Claude Barras is undeniably political, but it has a hopeful message
-
Merryn Somerset Webb chooses five books on how the world worksThe Week Recommends The financial columnist picks works by Peter Turchin, Adam Smith and Christopher Clark
-
6 sturdy post-and-beam homesFeature Featuring a wood stove in New York and hand-hewn beams in New Hampshire
-
The Naked Gun: 'a dumb comedy of the expert kind'The Week Recommends Liam Neeson shows off his comedy chops in this reboot of Leslie Nielsen's crime spoof
-
King of Kings: 'excellent' book examines Iran's 1979 revolution and its global impactsThe Week Recommends Scott Anderson 'easily and elegantly' paints a picture of a century of Iran's history
