Mild spoilers for the first two seasons ahead.
I'll be disappointed if there's a fourth season of "The Great," because the third wraps up the series so nicely. I'm sure the show could have gone on for a few more years, but Tony McNamara and the other creatives wisely decided to steer their "occasionally true" story of Catherine the Great back toward actual history. This is the season where consequences finally catch up to many of the characters, and Catherine sheds some of her naiveté to truly become a formidable empress.
The first part of the season finds Catherine and Peter in an uneasy truce after their latest clash, with everyone else at court still nervously sorting out their allegiances. Catherine elevates Elizabeth and Archie into the position of her primary advisors, and is on the outs with Marial. Grigor finds himself being supplanted as Peter's best friend by King Hugo (Freddie Fox), who is still at the Russian court with Queen Agnes (Grace Molony), trying to find support for retaking Sweden. George enthusiastically joins Catherine's side, though no one can tell if she means it. Velementov becomes ill and Peter's double Pugachev takes on a new role. And the body count increases significantly.
After two seasons of chaos and silliness, it's nice to discover that "The Great" can take itself seriously when it wants to. While there's still regular bawdiness and comic violence this year, the show plays Catherine and Peter's relationship troubles and existential crises straight. The grieving process, in particular, is treated with admirable care and consideration. The major dilemma this season is dealing with a peasant uprising that threatens Catherine's reign, and challenges some of her deepest assumptions about herself and her right to rule. I like that Catherine herself is positioned as an antagonist as she goes through periods of instability. As she grows more comfortable with power, she acts more like Peter - making decisions at a whim, terrifying her court, and habitually flinging glassware. Her assaults on Russian tradition grow more and more contentious, until the backlash is so extreme she can no longer ignore it. She's exasperating, unreasonable, and hypocritical this year, and finally has to become self-aware.
The last few episodes where Catherine finally grows into her power are pretty thrilling to see, but I'm still primarily here for the comedy, and the ensemble does not let me down. Freddie Fox and Grace Molony are fantastic as the scheming Swedes, who decide seduction is the best path to gaining allies. A big highlight is Marial's prepubescent husband Maxim (Henry Meredith), who becomes an active participant in all the court intrigue this year. He reveals a love of fancy shoes and bloodshed, challenging Grigor to a duel in the second episode, and plotting assassinations by the end of the season. George's devious maid Petra (Emily Coates) also gets an upgrade to spy, blackmailer, and co-conspirator. However, Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult continue to wipe the floor with everyone, and Hoult is pulling double duty this year as both Peter and his grimy double Pugachev.
The writing remains very good. I'm impressed that McNamara and his fellow writers managed to come to satisfying conclusions for just about everyone in the sprawling cast - well, except Orlo, who's primarily a punchline this year. If you've had enough of the royals, Elizabeth, Marial, and Grigor are all great to follow through this season, finally working out what they really want and who they really want. "The Great" also continues to be the most sex-positive show on any network or service, with people constantly shown having and enjoying sex. That's still far more of a rarity than it should be.
I'm going to miss "The Great," but this is a clear endpoint for the series, and we're lucky to have had it go on for as long as it did. I'll probably put together a Top Ten list for individual episodes where I'll go into some spoilers and discuss the events of this season in more detail. So stay tuned.
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