This is an enjoable show. I am now a few episodes into second season and I am loving it. Strongly recommend and I envy those that have not seen the first season yet.
The TV series paints a loving picture of Ekaterina II, with flaws. And a splendid picture of Tsarist Russia. The show does not show social strife. The nobility, or at least rulers, have fear of the sentiment of common folks. It is a check on their behavior. But we see no meanness or abuse against common people. Rather, the relationship is paternalistic, a wish to protect. We also see a romanticization from the nobility towards common Russians. As how Potemkin is portrayed and related.
Another pleasent theme of the show is how people defer to authority, station, duty. While the series always show the characters maintain themselves, like if they were in two paralell universes, one where they are people, one where they are functionaries of the state. Unlike what we would see in a contemporary Anglo show, there is no conflict between these universes. People just do their duty to the letter, good or bad, true or just, clever or stupid. While being people wherever duty does not mandate. The Tsar(ina) obviously struggles a bit more with this. Power corrupts. But even she ends up on the straight and narrow.
Another theme is how the Tsar(ina) is bigger than life, when she has to be. I just watched the part where she defeated the religious fanatic accosting her in the street just after she met the patriarch early episode of season 2. It is as if a higher spirit descends into her and fills her with power. I think it is a way to touch upon the holyness of Tsardom, rulership, royalty.
Obviously this is a highly idealized and stylized picture of history. But if we are to tell stories of the past, why not tell the most noble and beautiful stories that history will let us? And maybe in so doing, make our life and our land just a little bit better today? As Herodotes once replied, I have been told four versions of the death of Cyrus the great. And I choose the best one.
The TV series paints a loving picture of Ekaterina II, with flaws. And a splendid picture of Tsarist Russia. The show does not show social strife. The nobility, or at least rulers, have fear of the sentiment of common folks. It is a check on their behavior. But we see no meanness or abuse against common people. Rather, the relationship is paternalistic, a wish to protect. We also see a romanticization from the nobility towards common Russians. As how Potemkin is portrayed and related.
Another pleasent theme of the show is how people defer to authority, station, duty. While the series always show the characters maintain themselves, like if they were in two paralell universes, one where they are people, one where they are functionaries of the state. Unlike what we would see in a contemporary Anglo show, there is no conflict between these universes. People just do their duty to the letter, good or bad, true or just, clever or stupid. While being people wherever duty does not mandate. The Tsar(ina) obviously struggles a bit more with this. Power corrupts. But even she ends up on the straight and narrow.
Another theme is how the Tsar(ina) is bigger than life, when she has to be. I just watched the part where she defeated the religious fanatic accosting her in the street just after she met the patriarch early episode of season 2. It is as if a higher spirit descends into her and fills her with power. I think it is a way to touch upon the holyness of Tsardom, rulership, royalty.
Obviously this is a highly idealized and stylized picture of history. But if we are to tell stories of the past, why not tell the most noble and beautiful stories that history will let us? And maybe in so doing, make our life and our land just a little bit better today? As Herodotes once replied, I have been told four versions of the death of Cyrus the great. And I choose the best one.