The Great Season 3 Review

The Great (2020-)
 Season 3 - 10 episodes (2023)

Watch The Great on Hulu
Created by: Tony McNamara
Starring: Elle Fanning, Nicholas Hoult, Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Bayo Gbadamosi, Gwilym Lee
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
A royal woman living in rural Russia during the 18th century is forced to choose between her own personal happiness and the future of Russia, when she marries an Emperor.

Verdict
This is only inspired by history as the show is quick to inform. This has a lot of fun with the subject matter as it fills in the blanks. Catherine navigates a patriarchal society full of hedonistic royals. Catherine wants to transform the country, but she's the only one. Through this season she struggles to lead the people and garner their approval. This has a complete story arc that ends really well. The big arcs makes this season a bit less fun than previous seasons, but they also lend themselves to how outlandish the show can be. This season's last episode could certainly be the series finale, though as of yet there is no word on whether the show will return or not.
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Review
The tagline is an occasionally true story which provides this show with an intriguing plot and outlandish characters. Catherine (Elle Fanning) is based on the historical figure that ruled Russia. This show uses the broad strokes of history and imagines what happened in between.

Catherine has become the ruler of the country as part of Peter's (Nicholas Hoult) plan. He thinks giving her what she wants will prove she is ill equipped and send her running back to him. It's amazing and yet not just how stupid he can be. His rule is due to nepotism and in turn everyone catering to his whims.

Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning play Peter, Catherine

From last season, everyone thought Peter was dead. Everyone is surprised he isn't and even more surprised that he and Catherine are newly passionate about each other. Peter thinks people are happy he's alive, but they are incredulous that he killed Catherine's mother. Many are mad at Catherine for not killing Peter. These revelations occur during the bear and bullet, a method to punish people with a difficult choice.

An American ambassador's ideals spark ideas in Catherine. America is warring for independence and she likes the idea of a country for the people. Catherine wants to create a new Russia. One of her first plans is to outlaw murder. Of course on that very day Peter is dead set on murdering someone which undermines her plans. Somehow Peter is a child and yet they are smitten with each other. Catherine has to settle for a monkey in every city.

Catherine is a woman in a patriarchal society that finds herself in charge, but she's still fighting this culture and its traditions. She's trying to find out how to rule that have a disdain for royals. Peter doesn't provide any guidance for that as he never did anything. While Catherine truly cares about the country, she is never able to win them over.

The last third of this season deals with Peter's absence and his lookalike, Pugachev (Nicholas Hoult) that first appeared in season two. Peter disappears after teaming with the former ruler of Sweden and stealing Russia's army in an attempt to impress Peter's deceased father. Catherine has to deal with Peter's absence and the lookalike's uprising. That uprising is fueled by one of Catherine's closest advisors.

This is a show that makes you look up the history to determine if these things actually happened. Is history as ridiculous as this show portrays it? Often you think there's just no way, but the answer is that we just don't know about anything that's not an overview. The uprising becomes most dire in the last two episodes, but the final episode does conclude the season's story. Catherine finally earns her moniker "the great," and this final episode certainly seems like it could be a series finale. The show hasn't been canceled, but there's also no word on whether the show has been renewed.