Season 2 of The Great is very cocky and angry. And that's cool

On November 19, the Hulu streaming service released the second season of the Great TV series, dedicated to the Russian Empress Catherine II. In Russia, it will be shown on November 20 by more.tv, and all 10 episodes will appear online at once.

The talented Australian playwright Tony McNamara remained the scriptwriter and producer of the project. He co-wrote the dramatic comedy The Favorite and helped write the recent “Cruella».

As a rule, McNamara takes real historical events and generously spices them with black humor. And the series "The Great" can serve as a vivid example of his ironic handwriting: it contains a lot of harsh satire and dialogues written in a modern way.

Aesthetics "Marie Antoinette"Here he meets the hooligan sketches of" Monty Python ", but the question of historical accuracy is not at all. And what could one expect from a comic project, on the poster of which a young girl shows the audience her middle finger.

The strangest thing is that many viewers, especially in Russia, did not catch the satirical tone of the series and were offended. Although the authors, even in the opening credits, remind that this is only "sometimes true story."

Recall that the events of the first season took place in the middle of the 18th century at the Russian court. A well-educated European princess (Elle Fanning) arrives in Russia full of hope for a perfect marriage.

But instead, she is met by a wild country, where everyone sleeps with just anyone, yells, makes a brawl, and with or without shouting "Khuza!" (perhaps the most frequently used word in the series). This whole booth is headed by Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult) - an infantile fellow with obvious mental deviations.

Tired of this state of affairs, the girl decides to win the confidence of the courtiers and convince them to make a palace coup for the good of Russia. But luring people over to your side is not so easy.

Wild fantasy and unpredictable plot

At the end of the first season, Catherine and her assistants were able to bring to life a conspiracy against the current emperor. True, not everything went smoothly: to achieve the goal, the heroine was forced to sacrifice her favorite Leo Voronsky.

The girl quickly seizes power, but faces internal political problems. So she understands that it will not be easy to implement the ideas of the Enlightenment in Russia. In addition, she will soon have an heir.

The first season has an open ending, and it seems that the sequel will be devoted to Catherine's attempts to take the throne from Peter. But no - the transit of power occurs at the very beginning of the first episode. The funny thing is that the emperor does not even resist the coup, and agrees to the transfer of powers for a completely trivial reason.

In a word, even people savvy in history will not be able to guess what will happen in the series next. The real Peter III was killed in a coup, but literally anything can happen in McNamara's world.

References to real history and still the same tough humor

Along with insane exaggeration, the authors still leave subtle parallels with the real story. For example, Catherine the Great really respected Voltaire. The French educator was even a political adviser to the Russian empress.

And while his character in the series doesn't look too much like a real historical person, finding such a reference is still a lot of fun.

By the way, the humor in "Velikaya" remains the same black. In the first episode, we see children playing with a severed head instead of a ball. And if such jokes, like the implausible "cranberry", can offend you, of course, it is better not to watch the series. After all, evil satire and absurdity are not just found here at every step - the whole project is built on this.

Probably only Tony McNamara can repeat the joke for the thirtieth time about the fact that Catherine allegedly slept with horse, - this is one of the real and most implausible legends about the empress. And yet it still makes the audience laugh.

The collapse of ideals when faced with reality

So far, only a couple of episodes have been shown to journalists, so it is not clear how vigorously events will develop further. But it is already clear that one of the main themes of the season will be active resistance to the progress imposed by Catherine. And this unwillingness of the people to change can cause a strong change in the character of the heroine.

It is also interesting that it was decided to include in the plot the mother of Catherine, played by Gillian Anderson. But the authors are in no hurry to throw out this trump card, so you should not wait for her appearance before the third episode.

Considering that Johanna Elizabeth was a rather bright and even odious historical person (she is credited with numerous novels and even espionage), such a move will definitely diversify the series even more.

The second season of "The Great", like the first, will certainly offend someone's feelings. And if even the smallest distortion of history is unacceptable for you, it is better not to take on McNamara's project at all: it will only make you angry. However, viewers who perceive cruel humor well and do not mind laughing at themselves will clearly enjoy this theater of the absurd.