Ekaterina: Rise of Catherine the Great Season 2. It's pretty decent. It started off a little slow, but it's had some dramatic episodes back to back like the small pox one, the episode dealing with serfdom, and we even got an epic naval battle with the Ottoman Empire.
I miss some members of the season 1 cast, especially Yulia Aug as Empress Elizabeth. She had such a formidable, regal presence that nobody can fill up the hole her absence leaves. When she issued a command she breathed fire, and had such a subtle, complex interpretation of the role. Best portrayal of Elizabeth Petrovna I have witnessed.
That being said there are some talented newcomers to the the show. I think Catherine's troubled sons are shaping up to be interesting characters, and played well by the two new actors.
In the beginning of the season I was starting to tire of watching Catherine's love affairs, finding it not as suspenseful with her no longer being married, but since Potemkin and the Orlov brothers are beginning to lock horns it's heated up. Please let me watch the total of downfall of corrupt Count Panin before the finale!
It always takes me some time to warm up to Marina Aleksandrova in the title role. She's already far more beautiful than the portraits of the historical queen she portays, and as the years pass it would have been nice to see her gain a few pounds, or get gray hair here and there, but nah, she still looks like a Miss Universe. Despite her pretty face, I think her Catherine displays a credible range of emotions. She projects confidence. Yet I see much feeling and tenderness as she falls in love with Potemkin, displaying her vulnerability as a woman here, as well in her estranged relationships with her chilldren. I believe her frustration with her son Pavel, her attempts to control him and desire to be loved by him, and can even detect some jealousy in her machinations with the court lady of his affections Sofya. I think it's also poignant to see how the humiliation, pain and loneliness Catherine suffered in her doomed first marriage has shaped her character, particularly the way that she was bullied by her mother-in-law Elizabeth, and how she desires to be a kind mother to her own daughter-in-law instead, something that becomes a weakness, because in projecting her younger self into the situation, it blinds her to what's really going on.
Catherine is written as smart, witty lady, and portrayed as the benevolent and just empress she was to her people. Her reforms that helped Russia are included, but also her political ruthlessness. It is made clear that Catherine uses others, and will steel herself to imprison or kill them when it is her own best interest or for the security of her family and kingdom to make that decision. She is not devoid of empathy, and feels guilt about some of the choices she makes, but not enough to chose otherwise next time, because she likes living more. They are keeping it relatively real, making her never wholly good or bad, and that's the way people usually are, especially in complicated situations to navigate like this. So I am mostly satisfied with the show. I will be on to Season 3 soon.
