Of the occasional truths in The Great, there is precisely the most frightening: the peasants’ uprising against the Empress instigated by Yemelyan Pugachev. In the brilliant series imagined by Tony McMara, it gets even scarier because it’s the fear of Catherine (Elle Fanning), who refuses to anoint her son Paul as heir to the throne ‘approved’ by God lest they question the fact that she usurped it. the Crown, which will accelerate the changes she wanted so much, and not positively for her. In a no that seems irrelevant, she lost her most important allies, Archie and Elizabeth, woke up the victim of Peter (Nicholas Hoult) and, of course, displeased all of Russia.

After Marial (Phoebe Fox) mentions Pugachev’s (Hoult) recovery, he’s used by Archie to turn the population against her, a danger all the more frightening when we know he’s the seed of the revolution that many decades later will change the country. The archbishop’s goal is quickly achieved: now that Catherine feels humiliated and desperate for a solution, she commends listening to him again and will learn that the church is first in people’s hearts. Elizabeth only helps her try to find out who is behind everything because the popular revolt can reach everyone and since there is no heir anointed by God, anyone can launch themselves to govern the country. Thank you, Catherine!

Obviously, the confusion revolves around all of this, but, who knows the spoiler of the season, he has already felt sadness in his heart. In one brilliant performance after another, with monologues and dialogues at the same time fun and devastating, it is to end the episode with your mouth open and wanting much more from everyone. Nicholas Hoult in the dual role is one of the biggest wrongdoers at the Emmys: it is not easy to empathize with a narcissist like Peter, even more so with two as different as the Emperor and Pugachev. Velementov’s decay and sadness at alcoholism and the end of his life are also touching. And that Elizabeth scene? Seriously, it took my breath away how amazing The Great is.

Let Peter try to help his wife (and himself) by first asking for the throne back and then asking for a military role to have something in his position, but the only thing she allows him is to be a good father and a good lover. Nothing enters the pages of history. It was easy for Hugo and Agnes to pick up the scraps thrown away by Catherine: Peter and Velementov are going to help them get Sweden back and the Empress doesn’t notice.

Having a great screenwriter at the helm turns the fantasy into something that doesn’t conflict with the facts. For example, the Nakaz (or Instruction) that sparked some of the season’s problems was the same legal venture created by Catherine, where she outlined the vision for a progressive Russian nation. Yes, she even considered the abolition of serfdom, but nothing came to fruition. Still, the treaty gave her fame as an enlightened ruler, Huzzah!

The movement led by Pugachev is a little different. In reality, he was a disillusioned military officer who took advantage of Russia’s conflict with Turkey to lead hundreds of thousands of disaffected people into rebellion. It’s the future of the season yet. We know that eventually, Catherine manages to quell the uprising, but she will be carnage.

Having Pugachev (played by Nicholas Hoult) as an antagonist is brilliant because he was contrary to Catherine’s Enlightenment beliefs, especially in the fact that he couldn’t touch the serfdom issue to keep the nobility on her side, making hypocrisy at the heart of his proposals. Fact and fiction. Perhaps worse than a leader with wrong beliefs is the fact that she knew it was wrong but kept feudalism to secure her Crown. She is cruel. And both truth – occasional or not – are going to demand more performances like we’re having. Is too good!

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