The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 1]
The Great (49 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
), a young German Princess, arrives at the Russian court.
She is the mail-order bride of the Russian Emperor,
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
).
The good news is that Catherine has a helpful servant, Marial (
Phoebe Fox
), the daughter of a disgraced nobleman.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 2]
The Beard (53 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) has ordered all Russian men to shave their beards.
One of the noblemen has refused to obey this law.
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) and Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) need to enlarge their coup crew.
They select the court's intellectual, Count Orlo (Sacha Dhawan -
Iron Fist (2017)
).
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 3]
And You Sir, Are No Peter the Great (48 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
), Orlo (Sacha Dhawan -
Iron Fist (2017)
) and Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) need to enlarge their coup crew again.
They select a fat old general, Velementov (Douglas Hodge -
Red Sparrow (2018)
).
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) goves his wife the gift of a new servant -
Leo (Sebastian De Souza),
the son of the greatest lover in Russia.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 4]
Moscow Mule (49 min)
Shown 15 May 20
The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church has died.
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) must select a replacement.
Unfortunately Peter fears the priests,
and will do anything to avoid spending time anywhere near them.
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) must rig the selection so a progressive candidate is chosen.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 6]
Parachute (52 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) gives Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) a printing press as a gift.
Since he previously outlawed them,
so the Eastern Orthodox Church could maintain a monopoly,
this is a real change in the status quo.
Orlo (Sacha Dhawan -
Iron Fist (2017)
) investigates Peter's poisoning in the previous episode.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 7]
A Pox on Hope (48 min)
Shown 15 May 20
There is an outbreak of smallpox at the castle.
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) is horrified by the standard operating procedure -
they let the victims die, and then burn the bodies on an enormous bonfire.
She has a more scientific plan.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 8]
Meatballs at the Dacha (48 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) leads peace negotiations with the King of Sweden.
Since they are very much alike,
this could actually have potential.
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) has the chance to help the negotiations.
This will impress Velementov (Douglas Hodge -
Red Sparrow (2018)
), and hopefully recruit him to her side.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 9]
Love Hurts (51 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) tries to widen her support again -
this time to include the regional Counts.
The Great (2020) [Season 1, Episode 10]
The Beaver's Nose (48 min)
Shown 15 May 20
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) finally tries to put her coup plan into action.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) follows this example, and looks out for her own interests.
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) takes Leo as a hostage, and makes Catherine choose.
This will not end well for one of them.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 1]
Heads It's Me
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) tried to put her coup plan into action.
Now she controls half the palace ... while Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) controls the other half.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) also has to worm her way back into Catherine's favour.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 2]
Dickhead
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) prepares for her coronation.
The more important issue is that
she has to start her reign with some successes,
because once her son is born she will be an easy target for a coup.
She starts a school for the daughters of the nobility.
However, this is unpopular with the ladies at court
because it will make it more difficult for the daughters
to get a career as a home-manager.
Archie (Adam Godley -
Powers (2015)
) and Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) both need to make themselves useful,
to disincentivise Catherine from having them killed.
However, she does whatever she can to undermine them.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 3]
Alone At Last
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) is overcome with delayed grief over Leo's death.
She takes revenge on Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) by locking him in his apartments alone ...
except for the mumified corpse of his mother.
Peter's concubine Georgina talks Catherine into exiling her to Paris.
She wants to bring her husband Grigor along,
but he is torn by his loyalty to Peter.
Orlo tries sex with men and women, but seems to be asexual.
His Uncle visits him, to pressure him into helping his home region.
After all, an aristocrat is dependent on the value of his lands
and the rent that his peasant tenants can pay him.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 4]
The Devil's Lunch
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) holds negotiations with the Ottoman ambassador.
Not content with culturally imperialising the Russian Empire,
she has the same intentions towards the Turks.
Grigor plots to subtly destabilise Catherine.
The reality is that they should work as a team.
They both acknowledge that Catherine is great at statecraft
but terrible at organising social events,
while Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) is the opposite.
The best option would be to give Peter the role of First Gentleman,
an official position with specific responsibilities.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 5]
Animal Instincts
Shown 19 Nov 21
A crocodile is on the loose in the palace.
Everyone uses it as an opportunity to undermine Catherine (
Elle Fanning
). Will she finally make peace with Archie?
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) meets her old bunk-mate, Shakey,
from her time as a servant.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 6]
A Simple Jape
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) promised to free the serfs.
Since she is behind schedule,
she decides to play a jape on the Court.
She and Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) dress Shakey the servant as a Countess,
and pass her off to the aristocrats as one of them.
When the servants go on strike,
a riot breaks out in the palace.
This is the opportunity Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) has been waiting for.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 7]
Stapler
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) hosts a scientific expo,
with scientists from all over Europe in attendance.
She needs a great example of Russian technology,
but the best new invention they have is the stapler.
Catherine's mother (
Gillian Anderson
) arrives.
She wants Catherine to hand power back to Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
). Ironically, he does not want it any more.
Strangely, nobody has realised how easy a compromise would be.
Catherine wants to be Head of Government,
while Peter just wants to host parties.
In a Presidency, he would be the First Lady ...
but in a constitutional monarchy,
the Head of State handles ceremonial duties
while the Head of Government has the real power and responsibility.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 8]
Five Days
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) is about to give birth, within the next five days.
To mark her reign, she decides to create a Bill of Rights for women.
Catherine's mother Joanna (
Gillian Anderson
) is still in town.
The Russians want to get her out of the way,
because her secret agenda includes getting Catherine
to execute everyone of high status.
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) has to dig two graves,
in case mother and child both die in childbirth.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 9]
Walnut Season
Shown 19 Nov 21
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) gives birth, and the doctor puts a walnut inside her
so that she can tighten herself back to normal again.
With Joanna (
Gillian Anderson
) gone, the budget allows more guest-stars to visit.
The Swedish King and Queen arrive,
after their experiment of introducing democracy
has backfired on them.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) is cast out of her apartments,
because her eight-year-old cousin has inherited her family wealth.
After all, she is female and unmarried.
She cannot even marry her lover, because his wife George is back.
The Great (2020) [Season 2, Episode 10]
Wedding
Shown 19 Nov 21
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) tells Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) about what happened to Joanna (
Gillian Anderson
). This is a bit of an unwelcome distraction,
since she has to go off and enter peace negotiations
with the Ottoman sultan.
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) knows that Catherine knows.
He has no plan to sort things out,
because he is madly in love with Catherine ...
and he dotes on their new son Paul.
The climax is at Mariel's wedding.
Both sides are prepared to pick up
where things left off at the ending of the previous Season.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 1]
The Bullet or The Bear
Shown 12 May 23
After the events of the previous episode,
Empress Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) has forgiven Peter.
However, his friends are not so lucky.
The prisoners are not simply thrown in the dungeon for 24 hours,
then released with the forgiveness of the Empress.
Instead they are forced to stand at gunpoint in the garden.
One of Peter's last acts as Emperor was to institute a new punishment:
giving the prisoners the choice between death by bullet or bear.
Orlo is beyond upset at the fact Peter has been pardoned.
In fact, he stages several attempts on Peter's life.
This will not end well.
After all, Dhawan is now a bigger star because of his work on
Dr Who
so he may have commitments on other projects.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 2]
Choose Your Weapon
Shown 12 May 23
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) and his friends have been forgiven.
The one person Empress Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) cannot forgive is Marial (
Phoebe Fox
).
The British Ambassador visits to ask for the lend of ten thousand troops,
so they can save America from the colonials.
Worse, the revolting American colonists have sent their own representative.
Catherine wants to help the Yankees,
because she believes in their idealism
and is blind to their slavery,
but she has to build an alliance with the British Empire.
Grigor gets challenged to a duel by Mariel's husband.
The Empress has forbidden duelling.
However, since she has neglected to specify under punishment of Death,
everyone will simply ignore the ruling.
After all, trial-by-combat is the only way for the citizens to get justice.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 3]
You the People
Shown 12 May 23
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) creates a parliament of sorts,
putting the Nobles alongside the merchants and the peasants.
She ignores Peter's suggestions,
such as providing a monkey for each village.
Instead, she controversially decides to ban murder.
Unfortunately, without a working court system
it is only the threat of murder that keeps society running.
Since the replacement for murder would be the Imperial system,
this is portrayed as a power-grab by the Empress.
For all her supposed morality,
Catherine's plan is basically centralised authority -
the opposite of a meritocracy or a free society.
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) and his friends want to take revenge on one of the nobles.
This man was a favourite of Peter the Great,
and tormented them in their childhood.
However, murdering him would be against Catherine's new law.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 4]
Stag
Shown 12 May 23
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) and Archie want Prince Paul to be officially inagurated
as the heir to the throne.
However, Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) is against hereditary rule -
even though it is her only claim to the throne.
She somehow thinks she got it by merit,
and wants to introduce meritocracy to the country.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) and Grigor join Peter and Catherine
for mixed doubles in a game of badminton.
It seems like everyone is friends now.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 5]
Sweden
Shown 12 May 23
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) discovers the peasants are revolting.
Despite everything she has done for them,
all it takes is Peter's lookalike Pugachev
to make a few rousing speeches
and the rabble flock to his cause.
They want to Make Russia Great Again ...
Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
) starts seeing the ghost of his father,
Peter the Great (Jason Isaacs -
Event Horizon
), who chides the younger man for not leaving a legacy.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) plots to cover up Archie's scheme by
hiding his secret correspondence.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 6]
Ice
Shown 12 May 23
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) and Grigor try to stop Peter (Nicholas Hoult -
X-Men: First Class
), Hugo and Velementov from invading Sweden.
This ends in unexpected tragedy.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) plots to cover up Archie's scheme by
assassinating his pawn before things get out of hand.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 7]
Fun
Shown 12 May 23
Empress Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) is completely in denial,
so accepts George as her new best friend
and declares a new festival.
George puts the next stage of her plan into action,
and gets Katya to perform the satirical play.
Marial (
Phoebe Fox
) and Max try to assassinate Pugachev.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 8]
Peter and the Wolf
Shown 12 May 23
Elizabeth and the young General go on a mission together.
They have to retrieve the body from the lake,
and then retrieve the army from Hugo and Velementov.
Meanwhile, Hugo has cold feet about starting a battle
that will kill a lot of his countrymen.
He develops an alternative idea.
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) was unable to criminalise murder,
so she approaches the problem from the other end
and de-criminalises the main cause - Divorce.
The bad news is that, for some reason,
the divorced women are not returned their dowry.
To balance this out,
Catherine decrees the women are to be given half the man's estate.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 9]
Destiny
Shown 12 May 23
Catherine (
Elle Fanning
) wants Pugachev arrested and not killed.
Archie and the new general are opposed to this,
preferring a clean assassination.
However, Velementov get cured
and decides to help the Empress again.
The Great (2020) [Season 3, Episode 10]
Once Upon a Time
Shown 12 May 23
Pugachev has Archie and Maxim out to kill him
to keep him quiet about his part in their plot.
Velementov and the new General are after him too,
but want him alive for Catherine's plan.
Catherine's reign is at a make-or-break phase.
Everyone starts to plan their next step.
Hugo convinces Georgina to marry Paul,
although she will have to get him from her current husband first.
Elizabeth starts seeing the ghost of her lover,
Peter the Great (Jason Isaacs -
Event Horizon
). Will she take the throne for herself?
This episode ties up all the main storylines well enough.
There is no big cliffhanger,
and it is a natural end-point for the series.
However, there are loopholes for the characters
so there can be a follow-up if required.
