A Bite-Sized Review of “The Great”

The Great (2020), a Hulu Original, is an entirely underrated "historical" drama created by Tony McNamara, who also wrote The Favourite (2018). The show oscillates between astute political satire, character drama, feminist criticism, and a dash of dark comedy that makes the audience ask, "Did that just happen?"

It's a thrilling tactical experience, a feast for the eyes, and a churning stomach dressed in tyrannical furs, extra martial affairs, and a piss on an enemy's grave. The show features stellar performances from the entire cast, including Hollywood darlings Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. It's a joy to watch them barrel through anachronisms with a rock star edge, dipped in lace and leather.

There's a particular vulnerability that arises from these characters as they dance through debauchery and scheme their way to the top. Each suffering, mourning what was and what could have been, burying their pain in the abuse of opulence. Their misery, an ill-kept secret, masked by excess and cruelty, and barred with a knife or a smile. Just as in real life, power does not heal them.

Power is a salt in their wounds, turning insecurity into paranoia and yearning into rage. What starts as survival transforms violence into a secret language for those who understand how to leverage love and affection for personal gain. When their violence erupts, they tear themselves down in the process. They rarely act in triumph; instead, they react to desperation, a theatrical implosion that unveils a hollow soul damaged by the system they exploit.

The Great is a diagnostic, hilarious yet grief-stricken, romantic yet unsentimental, brutal yet intimate. It exposes how authority corrodes even the best of intentions. It is irrelevant and cynical, thriving in the contradictions of life that embrace emotional truths in vain of the farcical monocracy.