‘The Great’ Is History for These Trump-ed Up Times
The Hulu series wears dark shades of the current U.S. presidency.
The Great is supposed to be a comedic re-imagining of the rise of Russia’s Catherine the Great, but as I watched the 10-part Hulu miniseries, I kept forgetting I wasn’t watching the current U.S. Presidential administration unfold in 18th-century Russia.
There’s the vain, arrogant, self-centered emperor, Peter III. He wears strange-looking hairpieces and rules recklessly and capriciously. Peter is convinced his subjects adore him and think he’s doing an excellent job as emperor. That empowers him and fuels him as effectively as the jumbo breakfasts he scarfs down in a number of scenes. He’s so the type of guy who would brag about grabbing women by the pussy.
Anyone who has been paying attention to American politics during the last four years will recognize him immediately. The biggest difference is that as played by The Favourite’s Nicholas Hoult, who deserves an Emmy nomination for his efforts, he’s brutal but so charming and goofily endearing you almost hope his inevitable downfall will be a gentle one.
When his sweet, unassuming Aunt Elizabeth (who in actual Russian history was Peter’s ruthless predecessor at the top) finds out about the coup his wife, the foreign-born (in…
