The Last Czars

Maybe an unpopular opinion in light of some of the other reviews here, but I actually liked the combination of drama/acting and documentary. It allowed me to understand the history better in simple terms, as well as see how some things that the historians described might have played out. As a history teacher myself, I believe history should be told like a story. I think they did a pretty good job of that.

And for anyone who wonders why the actor playing the czar has a tattoo and why it wasn't covered up for the role....Czar Nicholas actually did have a big dragon tattoo on his right forearm. That is historically accurate.

I'll make it quick. The actors were good, the costumes, palaces etc too. What annoyed me were the narrators in between, there was no need for them, as did the twisting of the history since there were no russian historians involved in it, just british and maybe americans. Which also is bothering is that all of the actors speak british english which somehow doesn't reflect the mentality of russians. Also there is no need for the explicit sex scenes at all, there are simply too much of them. The rest is entertaining and well acted in my opinion.

While I understand the frequent scholarly interruptions may produce a less slick viewing experience, the historical interjections are completely necessary to understand the motivations and actions during this period of history. A sterile, Disney movie could have been produced I suppose, but the university scholars and authors make this series credible and closer to the historical record. The acting is not A grade, but it is more than competent to tell this story. The costumes are excellent. Take this series for the great history it reveals folks!

Whilst a lot of documentary series include dramatised segments, this very much feels like a drama series that intermittently gets interrupted by documentary moments. It's an unusual format, but I got used to it very quickly. It knits together well and I didn't feel that one style of presenting the narrative was encroaching upon the other. They complement each other effectively to give insight into a period of history that, I have realised, I didn't know as much about as I first imagined. Minor point. Other reviewers have questioned Nicholas having a dragon tattoo. It's actually historically accurate. He got it on a trip to Japan before he became Czar.

I admit, after its end, many frustrations are too fresh in my case. It can be defined as average serie. But the Romanovs deserves more than a too subjective history lesson, putting at the wall people out of their historical context. It is a sketch, not an inspired one. And this represents the basic error. The second big mistakes - the actors. Few are good and their acting represents what you expect. The majority... . Maybe, not their fault but the desire to give a panorama and to explain to much, from high subjectivity level. Short, maybe, an average serie. In my case,