Ekaterina

I'm a Englishman that loves the European royal family stories. This one is a fantastic Intoduction to the romanovs. It's cracks along at a good pace which works along the game of thrones theme treachery scheming, torture etc. Some licence with the truth as all these shows like the white queen or the Tudors, but helps the story lines. The second series has more money spent on it and looks like they have tried to use the original palaces, which gives it an authentic look. An advert to visit st Petersburg really rather than Russian propaganda...

I found this easy to dive into and become addicted to. There are soulful details here and there, a piece of acting, a reply that add depth to the storytelling without adding weight. It moves along sprightly and makes sense psychologically, historically and even in the context of today, politically. The intimate players of the Russian court are shown in a swath of their lives which included periods of boredom, sadness, ambition, fear, powerlessness and also enormous power.

Many negative reviews have nothing to do with the series but with hatred of Russians per say. As a native Russian speaker and a fluent English speaker, I can tell you that a lot of words in Russian can not be translated into English with the presice translation, for a mere reason that they don't exist in English. The series being set in Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1711, and while being one of the youngest European capitals is still older then the whole country of United States of America. So before giving negative comments and low scores, read the history of Russian empire, and perhaps then you will comprehend the series.

I have long been a student of Russian history and have seen a few Catherine II projects over the years. Catching Ekaterina on Amazon Prime was an incredible treat. My husband loved it as well and knows nothing of Russian history.

It's gripping, haunting, and some scenes will just stick with you (namely, in Season 3). The casting is fantastic: Catherine's many lovers are appropriately, sublimely sexy and Yuliya Aug is FANTASTIC as Empress Elizaveta. She really sets the tone as this powerful, intense presence throughout Catherine's introduction to Russia.

Season 2 features Sergei Kotalkov as advisor Nikita Panin who is the powerhouse of the season. Less scenery chewing than Elizaveta but engrossing. The world expands beyond Catherine to include others such as her illegitimate child, Alexei; Catherine's Lady in Waiting, Sofia Stepanova (played by Lyubava Greshnova) is the other MVP.

The problem with Season 2 is it covers a VERY large part of Catherine's reign, so much so Season 3 is actually a flashback which is very jarring at first.

Season 3 takes some strong historical liberties to expand our characters and humanize them. Nikita Panin has another stellar season with a softer side, Catherine has a couple of stellar(!) scenes, Alexei Orlov gets his time to shine, and they try to retcon Paul's wife (hideous villain in S2!) which makes no sense with how they portrayed her in S2, but I'll take it.

The most powerful performance is that of the "second" Elizaveta Peteovna, played by Angelina Strechina. Incredible. The finale of S3 will leave you feeling something, that's for sure.

I also liked how they would dub the actors in different languages appropriate for the location: Frederick II of Prussia would speak German. In Naples it's dubbed in Italian. The Poles in Polish, et cet. It adds a bit of immersion and I enjoyed it; in fact there is a funny and heartwarming scene between a Russian and German character in S3 that plays on this fact. So you're watching it subtitled one English but can hear the two different languages.

Only criticisms are that the special effects/fighting scenes are pretty weak, even by S3 when you can tell they got a better budget. Also, the Potemkin+Catherine love theme is waaaaay overused. They needed a second theme in S2. :)

You'll learn a lot and enjoy the show along the way. If you enjoyed the intrigue of Game of Thrones, you'll enjoy Ekaterina.

I'm generally a fan of historical fiction and am not naive as to where most fall in terms of historical accuracy. For Ekaterina, I have heard it is much closer to history than most, though I cannot confirm it for myself as I personally have little knowledge of Russia's history. But the costuming and sets are stunning and the story feels more political with every choice having ramifications on the European field than most tend to go into. They tend to simply seek power for power's sake. But in Ekaterina, the political side feels much more relevant.

And if that's not enough to convince any fan of historical drams, then watch it simply for the character of Empress Elizaveta. The actress dominated every scene as the real Empress likely did in life.