by After watching The Great S3 I had a myriad of emotions and thoughts. This season was a rollercoaster. From Catherine forgiving Peter for “fucking her mother”, Peter forgiving her for stabbing Pugachev thinking it was him, and Hugo stealing Catherine’s army to gain Sweden back. Catherine faced a set of unexpected challenges, like an increase in the severity of her previous issues with the court and Russians, Pugachev pretending to be Peter and encouraging people to rebel against Catherine, and finally Catherine’s grief about Peter’s death.
Peter’s Death
In episode 6, Peter tried to win Sweden back for Hugo to seek personal satisfaction and acceptance from Peter the Great’s ghost. He didn’t want to be described in history books as the emperor who lost Russia to his German wife and who devoted the rest of his life to fatherhood.
While spending the rest of his life concentrating on what he truly wanted instead of the assigned role he got at birth sounded pretty good, it wasn’t enough for Peter. It’s interesting how in a fictional adaptation of historical events, Peter is very different from how he really was. Catherine forgave his life when, in reality, he passed away from hemorrhoidal colic shortly after Catherine the Great took the throne from him and was suspected of being killed by Catherine’s orders. In the show, Peter lives longer and his aunt Elizabeth is alive while he is emperor. He realized he never wanted to be emperor; he would rather be a happy father filled with love to share with a questionable thirst for random violence to those who are not important to him.
Being a stay-at-home dad sounds like a true passionate path for many, however, the show deepens on themes from the XVIII century when men couldn’t be full-time fathers and improve their culinary skills. Especially if they were overthrown by their foreign wife. They would’ve been perceived as weak, unmanly, and emasculated. The show analyzes those societal norms which were highly respected back then, and which, to a certain extent, are still prevalent.
Peter’s death made perfect sense. It was very hurtful, especially because Nicholas Hoult brought a very creative, witty, and quirky performance to such a unique character. This man definitely knows how to portray a man-child who lost an empire and tried to learn French as best as possible because he was “cunt struck”. Catherine forgave him for worse things than stealing her army and taking over Sweden, like attempting to drown her, punching her, killing her bear, putting her down, and killing her mother. Obviously, she was going to forgive him after taking Sweden.
Peter was an obstacle in her path, not only because she was getting distracted between him and her reign, but because Peter’s friends at court were still advocating for him throughout three seasons. They continued to plot Catherine’s failure, and treated her horribly, even before she took the throne. They never showed loyalty or respect to her face, they planned to coup her and win the throne back for Peter, and then they helped Pugachev take Moscow.
For a court and a population that had been used to one leader and his ancestors for decades, they most likely faced an uncomfortable shock when things started to change. They possibly felt between a rock and a hard place trying to follow what they’ve been doing since childhood, yet trying to adapt to this new female ruler, who’s also a foreigner with a progressive agenda. They needed to get used to all these new ideas and they didn’t know how to react. With Peter alive, everyone would always think Peter was better because change is uncomfortable, and Peter never challenged them. As long as Peter is alive and well, they will always look for the chance to take things back to how they were. Especially the court, which has more power than commoners; they can plot Catherine’s death easily and use their money to organize themselves against her.
Peter’s death was also frustrating because Tony McNamara gave us this genre, which we can also see in Bridgerton, of a Pre-gilded Age relationship from enemies to lovers. Watching this dynamic can be very captivating because one can see they hate each other and there is a spark between them, but they don’t give in because they despise each other, and when they finally give in, kiss, and get together it is glorious. Firstly, Catherine is ready to love her new husband with all her heart, then he treats her awfully and gets her a lover. She then feels estranged by that option but falls in love with Leo, they have a beautiful connection, they care for each other, and they support each other. Leo is entirely supportive of her, he is a cynic, but he respects their relationship, but then Peter kills him after Catherine coups him. Politically speaking, it made sense to bribe Catherine with that, which became yet another thing Catherine forgave Peter for, but also made Peter’s death worse because shortly after Catherine hates him again and remembers her monstrous actions, but then they fall for each other entirely. When they finally get together, we can see how dysfunctional they are, and how Peter is an obstacle for Catherine’s progression. Peter is holding her back from moving forward and improving herself and Russia by challenging the status quo.
Unknowingly, Peter says a hurtful goodbye to Catherine as he explains he will not stop and go back to Russia. We see a less immature man-child, toying with his life for pointless reasons. His death also made sense because his relationship with Catherine was mother-son-like. Catherine would constantly try to educate him or manipulate him into making better decisions.
His beautiful last words prove how deeply caring and flawed their relationship was:
I did fuck it up, my whole reign, that’s my legacy. What will Paul see, and you? As you grow larger and larger, as we both know you will, I will look smaller and smaller to him and to you.
There are many versions of you and I am the only one who sees them all, and you know I love them all. Even when I find them baffling and idiotic. …I just ask the same of you. There are us things and me things, I need this… That version of you will have to kill me to stop me… Let me go do this… You think I am destroying us and I know I am saving us.
I love you, my whole fucking heart and all my body, and whatever ineffable spirit animates me. Everything.
She can’t give him what he asks for because she can’t grow with her ambitions due to Peter’s lack of reasoning. Towards the end, Peter acknowledged he didn’t want the throne, but he still had a rooted insecurity of not being good enough. He knew he was a disappointment in his parents’ eyes. He realized the most important things to him were fatherhood and Paul, which were the perfect reasons to win Sweden back and avoid becoming a disappointment to his son. If Catherine had forgiven that as well, what would’ve happened if he continued to undermine her power? Besides, the real-life Peter the Third ascended to the throne after being married to Catherine for 17 years and he died shortly after Catherine couped him. He only ruled for six months, and his aunt Elizabeth was already dead by the time he ascended to the throne.
Catherine’s Grief
We can see Catherine dealing with shock, not being able to process how things happened, losing her mind, avoiding contact with reality, and then allowing herself to grieve. She is lost and weak until she finally gets to that point where she becomes incredibly angry and opens her eyes to all of those who surround her, and do not support her, such as Archie. She finally opened her eyes to the dangers of the court’s narcissism, and she stopped being so forgiving. She wanted to change Russia, free the serfs, and inspire human rights but got distracted by Peter’s lust. Nonetheless, she became ruthless, imposing, and flexible whilst demanding respect from her subjects. She rose from the ground, and she needed Peter’s death to be her rock bottom to get back on track and improve for her truest love, Russia.
The season ends with her expressing her loss in a black dress with short hair, while her army defends her from Pugachev and the people’s attack. She dances and cries in a moment she can ultimately give to herself to grieve without hiding or minimizing herself. She stops wearing Peter’s clothes and goes back to being her powerful, determined self. She stands up for herself and stops depending on others as no one will help her in the same way she would help them.
It’s interesting to imagine what would’ve happened in season four if the show hadn’t been canceled. We didn’t get to know what happened with Grigor, George, Marial, and Archie, but Catherine probably killed Arkady and Tatyana. Unfortunately, the show got canceled, we can’t know what else happened, but maybe that was a good ending because at times the show got a bit boring. I would dare to say that season 3 was extended with irrelevant things to reach 10 episodes. For example, between episodes 6 and 10, I thought some events weren’t as captivating as the ones in previous seasons. For example, Tatyana being attracted to Pugachev and pursuing him constantly, Petra being insistent with George, and the Royal Astronomer introducing himself. I know the astronomer’s part was key to becoming part of the duel Catherine intervened and stopped, enforcing respect for her and her new laws. It was an important moment that led her to take a strict stance, forcing her subjects to either follow her rules or leave court. However, the Royal Astronomer’s role could’ve been reduced directly to the duel with a brief explanation instead of him explaining who he is, why he’s there, and pointlessly flirting with Catherine. After Peter’s death, the series took a toll. It became more drama than comedy, we saw Grigor deal with the pain of his true love, his best friend, and Aunt Elizabeth deal with the loss of a second child.
I believe at some point the most interesting part of the show was the love dynamics between Catherine and Leo, Catherine and Peter, Peter and George, George and Grigor, and Grigor and Marial. When all those relationships started to crumble the writers added uninteresting things like Catherine accidentally killing Orlo with no further insight into it. I think it would’ve been interesting, even with comic remarks, to watch a deeper explanation of political strategy and how things were about to evolve. We saw Catherine and the court’s political issues with one another, but little political strategizing, mainly Archie’s plot. In season 1, when Catherine, Orlo, Marial, and Leo plotted Catherine’s coup it was amusing, but season 3 wasn’t because it became predictable. We also watched Hugo thinking of ways to gain Sweden back, but it was also easy to guess the failure of his idiotic scheme because he is another man-child and will always be one. It was not enough, at least for me, I desired something darker and more manipulative, narrated through humor and irony.
Elle Fanning’s Impressive Acting
Elle Fanning’s acting was incredible. I love how she portrays shock through staying still, wide eyes with disbelief, and a powerful sorrow as she cries with a very dramatic scream, a drowned high-pitched squeal. Her way of crying is extremely distinctive and creative, very few times we see something like that in cinema. She is outstanding in expressing gut-wrenching pain. For example, her impeccable corporal control after stabbing Pugachev in the back five times after she thought it was Peter, and then running towards Peter’s arms for comfort and catharsis.
Her vocal tone is marvelous as she can strongly express disdain, contempt, sorrow, or joy with it. The way she tilts or lifts her head to show confusion, distrust, arrogance, and exhaustion is unique and contagious. I can’t believe she only won one award for her acting in this show, the Satellite Award.
