The Great Season 2 was another delightful, raunchy romp through history (or almost-history). The season dealt with the aftermath of Catherine’s (Elle Fanning) successful coup and her struggle to be accepted as Empress. Meanwhile, Peter (Nicholas Hoult) is discovering who he is if he’s not God’s chosen ruler of Russia. Though Catherine chose to spare his life following the coup, their marriage was in a tenuous place leading up to the birth of their son, Paul.
But going into the finale, things were finally looking up for their relationship. Catherine had finally admitted she loved Peter and they were successfully co-parenting their newborn. There was just one looming problem: Peter had slept with her mother Joanna (Gillian Anderson) leading to her death, falling out one of the palace windows. Peter knew it would all be over if Catherine ever discovered the truth… which of course, she does. Read on to answer any lingering questions from the Season 2 finale.
How did Catherine find out about her mother’s death?
Everyone is feeling secure at the beginning of the finale -- particularly Catherine’s BFF Marial (Phoebe Fox). She’s planning her wedding to her eight-year-old cousin Maxim (Henry Meredith) and happily engaged in an affair with Grigor (Gwilym Lee) on the side. But Marial still hates Peter, and she’s none too pleased that he and Catherine have fallen in love.
So when Grigor lets slip that Peter is responsible for Joanna’s death, Marial is faced with a huge choice. Grigor begs her to let it go and keep the peace, accurately observing that the court’s still-divided loyalties will cause them all to kill each other if the information gets out. Marial almost manages to bite her tongue, but when Catherine gushes about Peter being her "one true love," she blurts out the truth: Joanna is dead, and it’s Peter’s fault.
Of course, Catherine is devastated by the news, and very pissed off.
How did Catherine handle the Ottomans?
Catherine channels her anger over her mother’s death into handling the border conflict with the Ottomans. Throughout the season, war has been brewing between the two empires, and so far things aren’t looking good for Russia. Traveling to the front to parlay with the Sultan (who recently tried to assassinate her via poisoned candles) gives Catherine an excuse to get away from Peter as well as a productive outlet for her rage.
Catherine doesn’t have much support from her people for this meeting, so she ends up taking a random soldier as her guard. She plans on wooing the notoriously misogynistic Sultan (Billy Postlethwaite) with charm, but quickly notices that he’s wearing a necklace of human ears. Still, she takes her best shot at diplomacy, and the Sultan seems amenable -- until she notices him sneak a look at her own ears.
She screams for her guard, which gets him shot. The Sultan stabs her hand into the table; in a moment of ferocious rage (and presumably adrenaline), Catherine rips his knife out of her hand and stabs him in the neck, killing him. Just when the Sultan’s guard is about to return the favor, Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) pops up and takes him out. Huzzah!
Where does Catherine stand with her team?
Up to this point, Catherine’s coup squad has been in disarray. Her first and most loyal ally, Orlo (Sacha Dhawan), has been feeling sidelined, and he’s also been misappropriating funds to send back to his family’s region. He’s angry Catherine won’t listen to him, and once his financial betrayal is revealed, Catherine is disappointed he’s reverting back to the ways of "Old Russia."
Her general, Velementov (Douglas Hodge), has also been feeling underappreciated. Catherine didn’t want to give him his war with the Ottomans, leaving him to wonder what his place would be in the "New Russia." When she finally agreed to authorize the war, he didn’t exactly live up to his "destiny" to defeat them.
The assassination of the Sultan brings her allies back behind her -- as does her decision to kill Peter, something Orlo and Velementov have been advocating since the beginning. Even Archie (Adam Godley), who has always been a tenuous ally at best, decides to back Catherine in the upcoming conflict between the rulers. He’s been having a crisis of faith and feels abandoned by God, but has come to genuinely admire Catherine’s love and belief in Russia.
Her course of action does call into question the loyalty of another ally: Elizabeth. Peter’s aunt has always loved them both, and of course, she helped Peter cover up Joanna’s death. When push comes to shove, Catherine wonders if she’ll choose her Empress or her nephew. Elizabeth argues she already made her choice by saving her from the Ottoman guard. But Elizabeth always plays both sides, so she sends word ahead to the palace that Peter should run.
Does Peter escape?
As it turns out, Peter had already gotten the heads up that Catherine knew about Joanna’s death, and figured his head was probably on the chopping block. (Grigor realized Marial spilled the beans when she couldn’t look him in the eye while making love.) At first, he and his loyal couriers try to brainstorm ways to make Joanna’s death look like an accident after the fact. But when he gets Elizabeth’s note, he decides to take her advice and flee the country with their son.
Except when all the carriages are packed, he realizes he can’t take Paul away from Catherine. And since he loves fatherhood so much, he can’t be away from Paul either. The recently deposed King of Sweden (Freddie Fox) convinces Peter the only way forward is to take Russia back from Catherine (and help take Sweden back, too).
Did Catherine finally kill Peter?
Short answer? Yes… but also no.
The conflict comes to a head at the wedding reception for Marial and her little cousin. Peter’s conspirators have set the stage for a violent confrontation, but he has one last card to play. After the Empress and her retinue arrive, the rulers give duelling speeches on marriage. With the truth of what Peter did to Joanna out in the open, he makes a genuine apology. And though Catherine warned him "there are limits" to what a wife will put up with, she surprisingly seems to accept his apology, noting that true love might mean embracing another person’s "f**ked up-edness.”"
But since The Great is neither factual history nor a fairy tale, the night doesn’t end with happily ever after. Catherine leaves to put Paul to bed, promising to meet Peter in his apartments. After she’s gone, Velementov interrupts the party and arrests many of Peter’s allies. This curiously includes Marial, but excludes Georgina (Charity Wakefield), one of the main instigators of the latest attempted coup.
Meanwhile, a resigned Catherine enters Peter’s chambers, grabs a knife, and stabs him several times in the back. Except, as she cries over his body, she realizes it wasn’t Peter at all, but his body double, Pugachev (also played by Hoult). When the real Peter enters, she rushes into his arms in relief. The miraculously alive Pugachev stalks off, and the dysfunctional couple share an awkward "what now?" moment. Aaaaaand... cut to black.
Will Peter and Catherine be able to get past this assassination attempt and co-parent in love and harmony? Have we finally seen the last coup attempt of Catherine’s rule? We’ll have to wait for Season 3 to find out.