The Romanoffs

Each episode of this anthology follows a family that claims an affiliation with the Romanoffs / Romanovs. The final episode was my favorite. The actors were fantastic (and it had a huge twist that I didn't see coming). Don't starts this series expecting each episode to tie together - they do relate in the loosest of terms... but not really. And that's part of what makes the series so good.

This show has been worthwhile... each episode has a unique plot, and the series is joined by a thread -- exploring the lives of people who are ancestors of the Romanoffs. The production design and song choice are quite effective in each episode.

Episode 1 was quite strong, especially the work of Marthe Keller.

Episode 2 was good, but the writing did not seem as dynamic. That said, the cast was fitting.

Episode 5 threw me for a loop... the actors' delivery fell flat, and the storyline felt deflated.

Episode 7 was crisply written, with palpable chemistry from the excellent cast. The plot delivers genuine tension and suspense.

Finally, I found Episode 8 to be riveting, well-written, and the cast was outstanding.

I'm no big fan of the Amazon productions to date, Netflix for me.

But this is good. Is it the foreign language and subtitles that is driving the bad reviews? This is intelligent, witty, sophisticated entertainment for reasonably intelligent people.

I feel sorry for the haters. This was totally delightful. For those who didn't get it, tant pis. Mathew Wiener, I thank you for yet another lovely evening.

Interesting anthology but it's so loosely based on the Romanovs as to make no difference to the plot. Not sure why they positioned the series this way, but it's really more of a distraction than anything.