Review: The Great

The subtitle tipped me off. Preceded by an asterisk, it told me most of what I needed to know about a riveting comedy series.

I say most — and not all — because The Great: An Occasionally True Story, a genre-bending offering on Hulu, surprised me. It surprised me in ways I found disturbing, annoying, and ultimately fulfilling.

Based loosely — and I do mean loosely — on historical events, the series covers the early reign of Catherine the Great, the bold, enigmatic Prussian princess who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796.

Elle Fanning stars as Catherine, while Nicholas Hoult (Peter III), Belinda Bromilow (Aunt Elizabeth), Phoebe Fox (Marial), Adam Godley (Archbishop), Sacha Dhawan (Orlo), Gwilym Lee (Grigor Dymov), and Douglas Hodge (Velementov) highlight a strong supporting cast. Each brings something to a series that breaks every rule in the book.

A warning: The Great is vulgar, incredibly vulgar. If foul language and gratuitous sex are dealbreakers, run from this production with your arms raised high. This series is Animal House, Russian royal court edition. It is also violent — not Game of Thrones violent, but still violent.

I didn't care for that. I would have preferred less shagging and killing and more history. I grew weary of most of it after a few episodes.

What saved the series, for me, anyway, was the writing. The Great's writers did something that Hollywood rarely does anymore. They produced something that is genuinely funny. Crude? Yes. Over-the-top? Definitely. But still funny. The series serves wit on a plate. For that reason alone, I was able to set aside the vulgarity, historical flaws, and anachronisms and enjoy a show that evolved in positive ways.

In The Great, Catherine battles everyone from Peter, the emperor husband she deposes, to the royal court to the Russian Orthodox Church. She does so in a usually vain attempt to bring Russia into the modern age. The empress' volatile relationship with her husband is particularly well done. She goes from loving him to loathing him to loving him again in a way that is not only believable but also poignant.

Though Fanning is only one of a dozen actors playing primary roles, she is the only one who really counts. Nominated for several awards last year, including two Golden Globes, she carries the series from its rocky start to its satisfying end. She is on the small screen what Catherine the Great was on the world stage. She is her own woman. Rating: 4/5.