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While the first season’s script flirted with subtlety, this current season leaves dignity at the door and embraces its raunchy rudeness. The comedy-drama’s second season is pulled from the genius mind of screenwriter Tony McNamara - whose talented quips graced newer period pieces such as “The Favourite” and “Cruella” - and comes back bolder with its dry-humored dialogue. This choice daringly throws off the expected trajectory of the season, leaving room for the characters to work through their complicated relationships with the crown and court. A waddling pregnant Catherine faces off against a largely unchanged and irritating Peter - albeit a doting father-to-be who is treading lightly with loving Catherine. Surprisingly, the second season does not open with a conclusion to the coup, but rather, it throws the plotline and characters right into the thick of it, four months after the initial gunshot declared the beginning of the coup. With Peter planning to execute her lover Leo Voronsky (Sebastian de Souza) and close friend Marial (Phoebe Fox) weaponizing Catherine’s pregnancy to save her own literal neck, all seemed at a loss: The closing scene pictured Catherine with a veering, vengeful look. The last time Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) commanded the screen, she was a tad busy - directing a bloody coup to overthrow her incompetent husband, Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hoult). Yet to our delight, the second season of “The Great,” for the most part, provides another witty take on the typically tame period piece. The season’s overall tone matches the sheer scope of the series’ intricate narrative - with its grandiose sets, ornate costume design and star-studded cast, a lacking plot would appear all the more disappointing. After reigning supreme with its initial season last year, Hulu’s comedy-drama “The Great” - billed as an “occasionally true” period piece - returns with ferocity.