It is not an easy task to take a female figure trapped in the cold pages of history books and turn it into a narrative that makes her laugh, makes her think, angers and fascinates. Tony McNamara does exactly this, and the result is a work that subverts the spirit of the era and radically departs from conventional costume dramas. 18. 19th-century Russia, with its gilded palaces, absurd ceremonies, and brutal power struggles, serves both as the backdrop and a character in this series. Young and full of dreams, Katerina steps into the country where she is to marry with hope; but the world that awaits her bears no resemblance to what she had imagined. From this moment of collision onwards, the series gains unexpected momentum. Elle Fanning brings Katerina to life as a woman who is naive but never stupid, fragile yet stubborn. That subtle eye contact established with the audience in every scene conveys the character's inner turmoil without words. Opposite him, Nicholas Hoult portrays Tsar Peter with such a striking balance that you are forced to watch with both hatred and a strange kind of sympathy. Hoult's courage in this role is a major part of the backbone that carries the series. The language created by McNamara consciously breaks with the spirit of the times. The characters use modern idioms and dance on the fine line between absurdity and tragedy. This choice may seem alienating at first, but over time it becomes clear that this approach is also the tool that carries the sharpest criticism at the core of the narrative. Themes such as power, gender, freedom, and civilization are expertly concealed beneath a surprising slapstick comedy. Watching the palace intrigues, the issue of the reign adorned with blood and violence, and the struggle of a woman to make a place for herself on the stage of history, you realize that you are laughing, uncomfortable, and finally quietly immersed in thought. This story, which has been unfolding over three seasons, leaves you with a new question mark in each episode that will keep you hooked for the next one. This production, which throws away a large portion of history but replaces it with something much more honest, offers one of the most original series experiences in recent years.