The Romanoffs - "The Violet Hour" review

It's tough for a TV creator to follow up their masterwork, to be expected to deliver another success after making something that captures the culture and achieves critical acclaim.  Some play it safe and return to the world they know (Vince Gilligan making Better Call Saul after finishing Breaking Bad), some venture off into the world of film (David Chase directing Not Fade Away years after The Sopranos ended), and others have flopped (John From Cincinnati, David Milch's post-Deadwood failure).  This is the predicament Matthew Weiner found himself in upon Mad Men's completion in 2015.  After coming up in the trenches of writers' rooms for other people's shows, he branched out on his own and made one of the greatest dramas of all time.  But could he do it again?

Enter The Romanoffs.  It came pitched with the odd premise of "an anthology series on Amazon Prime where every episode centers on a different set of people who believe themselves to be descendants of Russian royal family the Romanovs."  With that description, married with its reportedly astronomical budget, and heat against Weiner due to allegations regarding his sexual harassment of a former writer on the Mad Men staff, it felt like the energy surrounding the show had all the makings of it being a massive failure.  Well now the first two episodes have been made available -- with the rest of the installments dropping one at a time every Friday -- and everyone can see for themselves.

The first of the two episodes is an 84-minute affair titled "The Violet Hour."  The France-set episode introduces us to Anushka (Marthe Keller) an elderly woman who is being rushed to the hospital for an incident related to high blood pressure.  Once she's there, her American nephew Greg (Aaron Eckhart) comes to her aide.  Right off the bat, we get one of those classic Matthew Weiner lines that's economical, witty, and character revealing all in one go: when Greg asks the doctor for the prognosis, he retorts "Even hypochondriacs get sick sometimes."  The episode paints a clear picture of Greg not long after, as we quickly learn that he is basically the only family Anushka has left, and he and his French girlfriend are waiting for her to pass away so they can inherit her swanky Parisian apartment.

Not to be outdone by her nephew's vulture circling, Anushka's got some personal flaws of her own.  She operates with a curtness and sense of entitlement, and never has a shortage of vitriol to throw in any direction.  This amplifies with the appointment of a new maid in her apartment, a Muslim woman named Hajar, which causes conflict because, well, Anushka is racist as hell.  She's constantly making assumptions about Hajar's heritage and overall level of class due to her skin color and religious background, casually cruel in a way that makes clear this is a deeply ingrained mindset.  But eventually she does find space to not be completely bigoted and dismissive around the halfway point of the episode, when we finally loop back to the series' central premise, as Anushka tells Hajar of her connection to the Romanov family.  Earlier in the episode, Hajar's eye is caught by a gorgeous jeweled egg in the dining room, which Anushka now tells her is a family heirloom.  What's more is that it belonged to the Romanov family and traveled to France before they were all murdered.  It's a symbol of their wealth and stature, "the family bank," as Anushka describes.  But once France was under Nazi occupation during World War II, the egg was stolen and had to be replaced with a fake.

"The Violet Hour" ponders all manner of lineage and class throughout its run.  For instance, Anushka always makes jabs about Hajar being a foreigner but Hajar was, in fact, born in France.  Hajar even has to point out to Greg that she's a native Parisian when he asks her where she's from when they first meet.  For all of Anushka's haughtiness, Hajar is just as French as she is.  Maybe even more so, because the former sequesters herself in her apartment, shielded away from the real world of Paris.  At one point, Anushka insists that she knows what it's like to be an exile, stating "I dream of Russia every night."  But the irony is that when Hajar asks her how long it's been since she was there, Anushka replies that she's never actually been.  So she's never been to Russia, her whole family is dead, and the only thing that ties her to her bloodline is a Faberge egg that isn't even real.

Again, it's an episode full of this Weiner gift, pointed bits of dialogue that sketch out a whole lifetime of character.  He can construct an exchange of conversation that carries the weight that pure plot does on other shows.  It has a spark and litheness, allowing you to not just marvel at the surface beauty of the content but the subtext of it as well.  All of that is on full display in Greg and Hajar's conversations after Anushka's spitefully changes her will to leave the apartment to Hajar.  They share a dinner and a long walk-and-talk, and the night unfolds in such a way that their eventual tryst feels both unexpected and inevitable.  What's most interesting is how close the episode plays its cards to its chest regarding each of their motivations.  We assume that Greg is trying to use his charm to seduce Hajar into giving up the apartment, but that becomes less and less clear.  Same with Hajar -- is her decision based on a desire to class-hop or genuine connection?  Ultimately, I think it lands on a fascinating brew of everything at once.

The story remains fleet-footed and surprising until the very end, where it almost turns into a broad comedy when it reveals that Hajar is pregnant with Greg's baby, causing the two of them to profess their love for one another.  It feels like something out of a Jane Austen novel, but it works because of the place it leaves all of its characters.  Greg and Hajar are left with a romance, but can it work when it's built on such a weak foundation?  Anushka gets her wish of continuing the bloodline, a fact that's only important to her.  And as a consolation prize for all of her trouble, Sophie chooses to leave with none other than that fake Faberge egg.  It's a happy ending right up until the point where you realize all anyone has is a meaningless token.

So which category does The Romanoffs fall into as a follow-up?  Most critics would have you believe that it's a failure, with many calling it thin and self-indulgent.  But after "The Violet Hour," I'm inclined to believe that it's a rousing success.  It's a terrific example of Matthew Weiner applying Mad Men's writing style to a slightly more flexible frame, and he shows that he's still one of the best at creating wholly-realized characters and constructing stories that breathe and flow with ease.  This is an hour and a half of television that feels nimble and elegantly sculpted and so, so textured.  Bring on the next six weeks.


Bonus Points
-I'd be a fool if I didn't give a shout out to the opening credits, which start out elegantly and refined before turning into a bloodbath soundtracked by "Refugee" from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.  Mad Men has one of the most iconic opening credits of the century, so it can't quite match that, but this one is pretty bold and interesting in its own right.

-I'm no expert, but Aaron Eckhart French seemed pretty good.  The moment when he mispronounces Hajar as "Hagar" is one of the funniest parts of the episode though.

-I couldn't work it into the main body of the review but Hajar and Anushka's argument about her people being the backbone of civilization was not only a terrific scene, but an excellent tie into the episode's musings on lineage and class.