Interview with Abe: Douglas Hodge

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Douglas Hodge below!

Interview with Abe: Adam Godley

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Adam Godley below!

Interview with Abe: Gwilym Lee

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Gwilym Lee below!

Interview with Abe: Belinda Bromilow

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Belinda Bromilow below!

Interview with Abe: Phoebe Fox

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Phoebe Fox below!

Interview with Abe: Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult

I was thrilled to be able to talk to so many members of the cast of one my favorite shows, Hulu's “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch my conversation with Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult below!

What I’m Watching: The Great (Season Finale)

The Great: Season 2, Episode 10 “Wedding” (B+)

It feels much better finishing this season knowing that it’s been celebrated with top-tier nominations, a considerable improvement from its lackluster season one Emmy take. While this finale wasn’t quite as fantastic as the end to season one, it came pretty close, and I will be so incredibly disappointed if it doesn’t return for more. The way in which this season has charted the relationship between Catherine and Peter has been so incredible, and ending with Catherine sobbing after killing Pugachev, who she thought was Peter, before she was so comforted to see the real Peter emerge perfectly fine and alive, was extremely powerful. For someone who has never been all that bright, Peter knew exactly the importance of Catherine having known from Marial about what he did and not killing him on the spot, and he was smart to prepare for a counter-coup but not actually go for it. Catherine was formidable in her violent sit-down with the Sultan, played by William Postlethwaite, son of the great actor Pete, and she was brimming with rage when she came in to the wedding to deliver her list of five points to Peter. Airing their dirty laundry out in public in front of the entire court somehow worked, and it was fascinating to see them react to each other. After her groom went to throw up because he ate too much cake, Marial was horrified to be rounded up with all of Peter’s crew since she was the one who told Catherine the truth. I do hope none of these characters, especially the duplicitous and manipulative Georgina, aren’t executed and instead stick around for season three and beyond. I really want this show to be celebrated widely, not just for its lead performers, who are excellent, but also for an amazing supporting cast, including Phoebe Fox, Sacha Dhawan, Douglas Hodge, Adam Godley, and Belinda Bromilow. I’m anxiously awaiting the season three renewal.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 9 “Walnut Season” (B+)

Joanna’s absence hasn’t been felt in the way that I had expected it might, but it is threatening to unravel Peter since he’s deathly afraid that he’ll reveal what he’s done at some point to Catherine, the closer they get. But secrets do have a way of coming up at exactly the wrong time, and that’s what happened when Peter was communicating that fear to Elizabeth and accidentally told her that he had seen his mother drown her son. Fortunately, Elizabeth just sought to care for Paul as if he was her son rather than to exact some sort of revenge on him, and Catherine and Peter became much closer on the ride to get him. Seeing how Peter dealt with the bandits was entertaining, and he really does know how to handle himself and to care for his son. Georgina’s return threw Grigor for a loop, and it was also bad timing given that Marial happened to need a husband when her nephew returned to reclaim his rightful place as head of her family. After humorously discounting a handful of prospective husbands for ridiculous reasons, she found her own solution, which doesn’t seem very practical but may actually work. Archie definitely isn’t doing a great job of controlling his desires, but at least he’s trying to get creative about how and where to act on them. I’m not ready for the final episode of the season just yet, and I certainly hope that this show returns for a third run.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 8 “Five Days” (B+)

There really are so many backwards elements of this time that seem truly jarring even in comparison to what has already been featured. The idea that Catherine would have to give birth with an audience is appalling, but she’s been mocked and taunted enough that the idea of assassination isn’t so far off, especially considering the attempt on her life that she survived in this episode. It was hard to feel like Catherine was in control with Joanna there, as she was awkwardly laughing at the things she said that others didn’t find funny and then getting slapped by her mother despite the incredible power that she had. It was her own desire to get what she wanted that did Joanna did, as trying to have sex with Peter resulted in her falling out the window to her death. Elizabeth and Marial sprang into action to clean up that mess, and now hopefully Catherine can move on and get back to ruling the country once she has the baby. I was thrilled with the casting of Jason Isaacs as Peter the Great, and I remember how funny the typically serious actor was in “The Death of Stalin.” I don’t imagine we’ll see him again anytime soon, but he really was great. Peter not wanting to dig his wife and child’s graves was growth, as was his use of those graves to bury his mother, symbolically putting her torment behind him. Peter and Catherine shared a sweet moment together that bodes well for their impending parenthood, which is arriving more imminently than they thought.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 7 “Stapler” (B+)

This episode felt markedly different from the one before it, even if two of its characters – Catherine and Grigor – were profoundly affected by what happened over the course of that fateful hour. Peter was too, to a degree, preaching enlightenment and actually trying to help Catherine achieve her goals. He’s still not quite aligned with reality, decreeing that had been fasting when he had eaten a pheasant and plenty of other food, but he’s doing much better. This was a perfect time for Catherine’s mother to arrive and throw a wrench in all the progress she thought she was making with her very condescending attitude. Gillian Anderson, a recent Emmy winner for playing Margaret Thatcher on “The Crown,” was the perfect choice to play Joanna, whose near-instant question of “what is huzzah?” was just a warm-up for the harshness she was about to deliver. Talking only about Catherine’s sisters led to her proclaiming that the coup was bad for the whole family, and she was particularly cruel to both Marial, who seemed unfazed, and Elizabeth, who was more offended. Peter actually did well but received a harsh rating but then got a far more personal visit that Elizabeth warned him he should not act upon since Catherine would surely kill them both. Catherine spinning Peter’s hijacking of the Norwegian science fair idea into something workable was great, and how fitting that someone no one would have noticed or paid attention to had a notion of how to make it even better. Velementov losing faith in Catherine is definitely a worrisome development, while Orlo has plenty on his mind and Archie is determined to fix his problems in a very violent and emphatic way.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 6 “A Simple Jape” (B+)

Even in our current times, which I would describe as slightly more enlightened than the era portrayed in the show, people don’t like to have their own hypocrisies pointed out to them. Catherine’s jape was indeed clever, but that coupled with Grigor and Arkady getting ahold of the 109-page plan from Orlo proved to be exceptionally bad timing. Catherine did well enough even when she was having things pelted at her after her impulse decision to free all of the serfs, but then she broke down at the way that everything is going so poorly and has all fallen apart. After Peter was planning his own insurrection, it was very sweet to see him opt not to dethrone her but instead to comfort her and then walk himself back to his own imprisonment, much to Grigor’s horror. Archie kissing Basil was an unexpected development, and I’m curious to see how the two of them end up working together since their goals and beliefs aren’t that far apart. It was interesting to see how Marial felt about Shakey, eager to treat her poorly but then ready to give her proper quarters after she had been made into a lady and had her true identity revealed. Antonia’s desire to get petty revenge by slitting her throat when her maid wouldn’t do it was truly cruel, and we got to see a side of Marial that we haven’t before, one that skipped over her usual desire for brutal verbal takedowns of her foes and went right to shooting Antonia in the head without her even seeing who did it. That loss is going to have reverberations for one of this show’s best characters.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 5 “Animal Instincts” (B+)

It’s absolutely fascinating to watch the relationship between Catherine and Peter evolve, especially as he makes sincere efforts to seem intelligent so that he can impress her. Whether that’s nefarious or not is still up for debate, since I have a feeling that, if he’s allowed to do as he pleases and not have any responsibility, he might actually be okay with that. He was also able to convince her to hold his hand while they were looking for the crocodile, and suggesting that they dance to the music in his head was surprisingly sweet. Catherine tried to win over the people with science after the discovery of the crocodile but was opposed by both Archie and Basil, which got her very angry. Choosing to let herself be blackmailed by Archie and indulge him on his suggestion to meet God was an interesting path, one that seems to have worked out well for both of them. Orlo still just wants to kill Archie – and Basil while he’s at it – was no surprise, while Velementov is definitely softening, bringing the truffles to Peter in a typically drunken moment and saying much more than he should have. Elizabeth advising both Peter and Catherine makes her the most powerful person in the court, and she’s also quite intelligent. I like that Peter’s double has a personality of his own and that he tried hard to seduce Elizabeth, which she found somewhat appealing and also somewhat revolting. That’s a good description for a lot of what happens on this show.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 4 “The Devil’s Lunch” (B+)

It’s very fun to see Catherine try to do exactly the opposite of what she usually does to play the game, and seeing Peter react to it all in shock is even more delightful. Trying to prove to the court that he knows how to throw a party is only effective if she doesn’t take credit for it, and she definitely worked hard to win over the ambassador. Unfortunately for her, all that won’t amount to much since Peter has loyal acolytes who do his bidding even if he doesn’t ask them to, and now the man that Catherine was able to turn into an ally isn’t going to be able to do anything for her in return. In the positive column, Archie did make peace, offended that he wasn’t Marial’s number one person and aware of how it might be more advantageous to be in her good graces than constantly at odds with her. Cutting off one of his fingers was a big deal, even if it was more symbolic and less entirely equivalent to the offensive act he was trying to undo. I could not have been more excited to see Marial and Grigor start talking and then do more than talking, since it’s my absolute favorite thing when characters who haven’t previously interacted start sharing scenes together. I guess this means that Georgina is officially gone, which is a shame, but I’m glad to see that her absence is at least making Arkady and Tatiana get closer to Peter.

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 3 “Alone At Last” (B+)

I’m not sure I’ve fully conveyed how much I love Velementov and Douglas Hodge’s portrayal of him. My favorite moment of this episode was when he opted not to kill Peter but instead to bond with him and remember the good times they had when he was growing up. I like that there’s this fluidity to power and how mobile Peter can be, and this was also a good development for him following Catherine’s attempts to torture him by keeping him locked up with his dead mother’s corpse watching over him. His interpretations of her actions, like that it was thoughtful for her to do that and that she saw an apology as the opposite of weak, were very interesting to hear. Georgina asking Catherine to banish her so that she and Grigor could get away didn’t have the desired effect given how much Grigor cares for his best friend, and it’s not clear how hard she’s going to work to get away now that her husband couldn’t bring himself to leave. I hadn’t noted in episode two that Father Basil, who appears to be sticking around, was played by Anthony Welsh, an actor I enjoyed watching in the short-lived “Pure.” Another great moment from a typically superb episode was Marial’s recounting of her dream and her conclusion that it was far more realistic and likely to happen than what Catherine had imagined. Catherine came through the men around her assessing that she was acting strangely with a new resolve, and now she seems ready to focus on a new Russia with the appropriate expectations.

Interviews with Abe: The Great

It was a joy to be able to speak with six of the actors from one of my favorite shows, “The Great,” for Awards Radar. Watch the conversations in full below!

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 2, Episode 2 “Dickhead” (B+)

It’s really fascinating watching how Catherine is trying to implement change and relying on her advisers for different things while not necessarily cluing them in to all of her plans. Velementov and Orlo both understand how the establishment works and what must be done, but they also didn’t inform Catherine of everything, like their stabbing of one noble they knew would never work with their new regime. Archie’s role was particularly interesting since the patriarch held a compelling sway over even the unruliest of nobles who were disrespectful enough of Catherine to share his true feelings on her and then urinate in the room. Catherine managed to make it to the coronation in the dress she wanted to wear with Peter not having a speaking role and even to announce a few sweeping changes, like freedom of religion in the country. There are so many elements plotting and trying to figure out how to cope in this new world, with Elizabeth actually offering the best advice and ignoring Archie’s suggestion that they kill Catherine and she be crowned instead. I think I’m most excited to see how characters like Grigor and Georgina are adapting to their new reality, firmly on Peter’s team but not content to see how it feels to be relegated to second-class citizenry. Marial is adjusting quite nicely to being back on top, enjoying the luxuries of free movement and fine fruits, content even to indulge Velementov because it fed her self-esteem. Catherine’s patience is wearing thin but she’s accomplishing things remarkably nonetheless.

What I’m Watching: The Great (Season Premiere)

The Great: Season 2, Episode 1 “Heads It’s Me” (B+)

I’m so happy that this show is back, and this was a fantastic season opener. I remember watching the season finale having just heard that the show had been renewed, and what a wonderful decision that was. I wasn’t sure if this whole season would be them at war, and I like that a treaty has now been signed but Peter apparently has no intention of honoring it while Catherine will surely want to kill Peter more than ever. It’s good to see that Catherine is still a reasonable leader, eager to lecture kids about why they shouldn’t play soccer with a dead man’s head and urging a smart plan rather than Orlo’s bloodlust. Peter’s attitude was not at all surprising, refusing to assess the situation or admit that he was trapped, even ordering that his adviser be “searched for balls” when he expressed anything but the utmost confidence. While Peter was prepared to eat a rat after debating the various culinary options, Catherine knew exactly how to get to him by preparing a delicious-smelling pig just over the water. I’m particularly intrigued by the way supporting characters like Grigor and Georgina, who need Peter to be present in their relationship and have no desire to die if he does in fact end up being killed. Marial’s unwillingness to even acknowledge any wrongdoing on her part after simply switching sides did seem to impress Catherine, who has less to worry about with traitors in her midst than with the duplicitous nature of her husband, who wants twenty minutes a day with her and her son and also plenty of sex with his very disgusted and uninterested wife. Casually offering up Leo’s head, which he had mummified as an apparent gift for her, cements his extremely twisted misunderstanding of her needs. That final scene with her look as everyone was chanting “Empress Catherine, huzzah!” was formidable.

Top 20 New Shows of 2020: #1

My annual TV Awards, the AFT Television Awards, are given out during the summer. It’s always nice to check in midway through the television season to reflect back on all the calendar year introduced us to. As 2020 closes out and 2021 begins, here’s a look back at the best new shows of the year.

#1: The Great

I didn’t fully love the pilot for this reimagining of Catherine the Great’s rise to power, but it pulled me in by episode two and only got better after that. Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, and every member of the insanely talented ensemble enhanced a masterful blend of biting comedy and deeply serious drama. Season two is mercifully on the way. Watch season one now on Hulu.

Best Episode: “The Beaver’s Nose”
Pilot Review | Episode Reviews

What I’m Watching: The Great (Season Finale)

The Great: Season 1, Episode 10 “The Beaver’s Nose” (B+)

I’m glad that it took me as long as it did to finish the first season of this show since I can’t imagine what it would have been like to get to the end and then worry that it wouldn’t be returning for more. I love the relationships on this show, and the coup arriving and going not so well made them all the more fascinating. Catherine was aware that there would need to be bloodshed in her quest for power, yet she didn’t want to sacrifice Leo despite lying to both Marial and Elizabeth about how the people they cared about weren’t going to have to die. Not honoring Marial’s request to keep Archie alive was her biggest mistake since she finally took his advice and reported the latest conspirator to Peter, who seemed legitimately devastated to see how much effort she had put into her plot against him. Elizabeth deduced her plan and didn’t seem all that bothered by it provided she spared her nephew, and Archie, once Marial disarmed Orlov, once again reaffirmed that he preferred the more controllable Elizabeth to Catherine if there was going to be a new leader. Peter threw Catherine for a loop when he brought Voltaire in, demonstrating that he actually understood what was important to her even if he didn’t get its appeal. Catherine didn’t skip a beat when she pivoted to trying to convince Peter to abdicate, and he responded with typical cruelty and unexpected cunning when the line she had just used on him back at her with a death threat to Leo attached to it. Realizing that Leo would have to die was difficult but emphatic, and that ending was formidable. Though I worry it won’t be full of Nicholas Hoult, I can’t wait for season two of this, and I really hope it has a tremendous showing when Emmy nominations are announced this Tuesday. Huzzah!

Season grade: A-
Season MVPs: Elle Fanning as Catherine, Nicholas Hoult as Peter, and Phoebe Fox as Marial

What I’m Watching: The Great

The Great: Season 1, Episode 9 “Love Hurts” (B+)

I will say that this episode managed to get to me with its brutal depiction of the torture that Peter ordered, particular the casual visual of the fingernails being pulled off. I do think that it is important that it’s shown, since witnessing the brutality even in this comedic context helps to explain the reason that Catherine feels so compelled to seize power and help to reform a country capable of such horrific atrocities. For someone who thought she was only directing others and not taking action herself, Catherine was very brave to volunteer to be tortured first so that she could show that she wasn’t involved with any of this. After that bold move, she was shocked to see how quickly Georgina and Grigor sprang into action to kill Rostov and save Peter when his ill-fated assassination attempt ended quite quickly. Marial was the one who was most devastated by that development, and Archie seemed disappointed only by the fact that she hadn’t betrayed him so that he could still be dead and she could have been returned to her station. Archie’s approach with Elizabeth was intriguing since the two of them don’t seem to see eye-to-eye on much, but he believes that she’ll be easier to deal with than the other obvious choice for the throne. Leo and Velementov messing up and having to kill Gorky wasn’t a great start, but they were more okay with that than Catherine was with the rising body count this whole revolution is creating. She delivered one hell of a speech about unity that ended in a tearful huzzah and impressed the whole court, and Peter revealed himself to be smarter than he looks once again by noting his omission from an otherwise formidable rallying call. Telling her that he loves her was not what she expected, and her response – to plan for the kill – was telling of how much she valued him having feelings for her.