I submitted a review on 4 July, and although IMDB acknowledged receipt and assured me that it would post it, it hasn't done so. I'm not going to speculate why, but I hope it hasn't to do with the fact that I took a very dim view of this series, which is, frankly, blatantly bad. This is what I wrote:
"When I heard about the series, I had great expectations about but a glance at today's New York Times, in which a short blurb notes that events are dramatized, made me hesitate. I just watched the first episode and it's worse than I expected.
Despite the talking heads presumed credentials, the dramatizations poorly serve history since they are extremely soap opera-ish. Some of the historical details are debatable. The actors don't quite look like the real people they're enacting, although it may not make too much of a difference since they do so quite poorly. There is no depth to the historical narrative. The acting is subpar. The characterizations and dramatization are very black and white, dishonoring the historical complexities that characterize the period, the place, and the specifics of this benighted family. Even opening with the fake Anastasia story, which has by now been totally debunked through the dna testing of the Ekaterinburg remains, does a disservice to the audience and the historical account. Indeed, the real history is so much more interesting than this reductionistic rendering and it's a pity that all here involved didn't put in more efforts at generating a well documented and properly historicized account.
Only thing of note are the real photos and film clips of the period, which are, unfortunately, too few-at least in the single episode I watched. These are, of course, easily found in YouTube and other websites, especially the many specializing in Russian imperial history. The advantage here is that one can now see them in one's HD, big screen tv rather than in the more modest circumstances of one's computer screen, and surrounded by high quality color footage of places in Russia, especially several closely associated with the Romanovs.
I'm not dropping the series from my Netflix watchlist, but I've no hopes for it. I'm conscious that I might be jumping the gun with this review., having only watched the first episode. But it was so fundamentally flawed that I doubt the rest of them will make any difference in my assessment. And, yes, to reassert: I'll go on watching, but just because I believe one needs to confirm first impressions, especially when they are so critically poor.
If further viewing persuades me that I should reconsider my initial negative reaction, I'll submit another review accordingly."
I've now suffered through the whole thing, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that I've confirmed my initial negative impression. The ultimate insult and injury involve the historical inaccuracies about the family's execution as the re-enactment omits the servants who were massacred with them. And this is a historical event that has been amply documented down to who was sitting where, who was standing, and who was first shot. One of history's most egregious acts is thus dishonored through its unnecessary misrepresentation for no discernible artistic reason.
NOT RECOMMENDED.
(Now let's see if IMDB will post this one...)
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