I find the Clash between historical and modern times funny, when it's used in this series. It breaks with the traditional way of making historical dramas. I've had multiple laugh out loud moments.
...at it best when it sublimates the eternal, tone-agnostic political dilemmas – radicalism v incremental progress, choice v force – into nonsense games of one-upmanship.
This fun, adult-oriented period piece tells of the rise of the young Catherine the Great through a successful blend of historical drama and campy, slapstick humor.
Every scene, every line of Tony McNamara’s script carries its own wicked hedonism: there is always something to enjoy that’s ruder, sillier or sharper than other shows would dare to include.
The series is a strange, funny, ridiculous, trundling carnival of ideas, genres, and characters. It is great in both size and quality—ambitious, reckless, and always a joy.