If the Oscar-nominated, historical black comedy The Favourite is one of your favourites, you might think Stan’s The Great is pretty great, too.
Both seasons of The Great are currently available to watch on Stan for Australian subscribers, with the saucy second season recently released for your royal pleasure. The marital feud between Catherine (Elle Fanning) and her douchebag husband Peter (Nicholas Hoult) is just getting more hilarious with each new instalment…
The Great: Season 2
Season 1 introduced us to the titular Russian ruler, albeit a fair bit more glam and anachronistically sassy than the IRL Catherine ever was. Married off to an egotistical Emperor, our heroine gradually learned to stand up for herself a bit more, leading to a coup that kicks off season 2.
The new season also brought in Catherine’s mum played by everyone’s mum/dream girl Gillian Anderson. She rocked up to make life much more difficult for a very pregnant Catherine, as the ruler plotted to “liberate a country that doesn’t want to be liberated”.
Our review of The Great’s titillating first season couldn’t gush enough about the ways in which this comedy is really quite different to The Favourite, despite both being scripted by witty Aussie writer Tony McNamara.
“Fanning brings the drama, earning our empathy as the show’s hero with a winning blend of naivety and cunning”, praised Steve Newall, “while Hoult has an ever-present energy, and incredibly guileless comic ability.”
Basically, get down on your knees and hail your Emperor queen: the show’s executive producer has said that six seasons were originally pitched, so we might see Fanning play her lofty character into ripe old age.
