The Great Season 3 Shows There's No Right Way To Grieve
This article contains major spoilers for season 3 of "The Great."
Empress Catherine (Elle Fanning) has been through her fair share of grief on the Hulu semi-historical dramedy "The Great," but season 3 sees her trying to endure what might be her most profound heartbreak yet following the accidental and sudden death of her husband Peter (Nicholas Hoult). She's not the only one feeling the loss, however, as his aunt Elizabeth (Belinda Bromilow) and his best friend Grigor (Gwilym Lee) must also contend with the loss of the most important person in their lives. In episode 8, "Peter and the Wolf," news of Peter's death has finally reached the court and Catherine can no longer pretend that he's fine and she simply imagined his death, which means that everyone has to process the loss of the court's biggest, loudest personality.
The episode is split into three parts, with each dedicated to following one of the grieving individuals. Each has their own way of dealing with the loss, and though they do some pretty wild things in the name of finding peace, it's hard to blame them. Grief is a terrible thing that can be completely overwhelming, and "The Great" depicts that raw emotion and how people deal with it brilliantly.
Elizabeth and an astounding understanding of loss
The episode opens with Elizabeth, who loved Peter more than anything in the world. Initially, she loved him because of her obsession with her "great love," his father, Peter the Great (Jason Isaacs), but we learn that she loved him simply for being him. Along with military man Petrov (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), Elizabeth goes to the river where Peter fell through the ice and drowned, hoping to bring his body home for burial beside his father.
She and Petrov end up having a talk about loss, and Elizabeth reveals that when her son died and she was consumed with grief, Peter would bring her the same treat every morning and then sit with her in silence, even though she never touched the food. Despite being a murderous, chaotic, spoiled person, Peter also had a lot of good in him, and Elizabeth saw every bit of it. She ends up diving into the icy waters herself to try and retrieve Peter's body at great risk to herself but decides to leave him there because he looks peaceful.
She ends up saying goodbye to Peter at his watery grave, delivering a beautiful monologue about his death:
"A beautiful place to land, my darling. I will leave you now but know that I carry you always and that I will sob until my ribs break, and that will be right because I will never take a full, un-pained breath again. But the joy you brought me... [sighs] ...more than enough."
Elizabeth has suffered tremendous losses throughout her life and has come to know grief well, which allows her to handle the tragedy with grace. She knows that the pain will never fade entirely and she will always miss Peter, but she has to live on.
Catherine faces denial before going numb
While Elizabeth accepts Peter's death and faces it head-on, Catherine does the exact opposite. Despite witnessing Peter's fall through the ice, she believes that she imagined the whole thing and he will return, somehow. She goes into complete denial and starts acting a bit mad, demanding that everyone at court be more fun. She's both distracting herself from her pain and using the denial to assuage her grief and guilt (he wouldn't have been out on the ice if it weren't for her), but once the news breaks and she's forced to face the world and his death, she goes completely numb.
Once her ridiculous day of fun passes, she simply stumbles around the palace in a daze, her hair and clothes disheveled, her eyes glassy and red. She's lost her will to live entirely, as demonstrated by playing a flintlock pistol version of Russian roulette by firing one of three guns placed by her guards, with only one that's supposed to be loaded.
Catherine has known grief before, having survived the deaths of her lover Leo and her mother, but Peter was her "one great love" despite their extremely tumultuous relationship. Peter was frequently a thorn in her side, but she loved him all the same and he brought her a great deal of joy. After his death, she tries to revive that joy by acting a bit more impulsive and chaotic, like he was, but it doesn't seem to help. She also tries to drown her sorrows in sex, drugs, and alcohol, but they don't seem to work either. The only thing that will heal her is time, as long as she doesn't kill herself or let someone else kill her first.
Grigor tries to find a purpose
Poor Grigor. He's a tortured man who tends to love passionate and desperate people, though his greatest love of all was always his best friend, Peter. The two grew up together, along with Grigor's wife George (Charity Wakefield), and Grigor doesn't know how to live in the wake of Peter's death. He doesn't seem to have any experience with grief at all — he lacks the wisdom of Elizabeth and the workaholic drive of Catherine — and it leaves him completely adrift. George is little comfort because she's busy scheming and trying to bolster Catherine, and Grigor's lover Marial (Phoebe Fox) hated Peter, so she's not exactly much help.
In his delirium, Grigor starts wandering the royal grounds and killing stags, amassing a pile of them that does nothing to temper his pain. In the end, it's Catherine that gives him purpose, as she gives him her son Paul and asks something of him. We learn later in the season that she asked him to protect Paul at all costs, and it gives him something to live for, much like Elizabeth's great love for Peter as an extension of her love for his father.
Grief borne out of great love
"Doctor Who" writer Jamie Anderson once said that "grief is just love with no place to go," and "Peter and the Wolf" demonstrates this beautifully. Those grieving Peter do so because they loved him, because of and in spite of all that he was, and without him in their lives, that love feels like a festering wound. Elizabeth has learned to grieve, to accept that love is pain and to live with it, while Catherine still has some work to do on making herself whole.
Grigor simply transferred his love for Peter onto Paul, which probably isn't the healthiest thing in the world but is also probably better for Paul in the long run, because someone has to take care of that poor baby, even if it is someone who decides to hide him in a tree. The kind of love they had for Peter is reflected in their grief as well: Elizabeth is patient and maternal, Catherine is intense and passionate, and Grigor is a caretaker and protector.
While Catherine's self-destructive behavior is a serious concern, there is no wrong way to grieve, and the series depicts three very different responses to personal tragedy. Bromilow, Fanning, and Lee all give powerhouse performances that require them to get truly raw, creating one of the best episodes of the series to date and showing audiences the true power Peter had over those who loved him.
All three seasons of "The Great" are available to stream on Hulu.