'MARIA THERESA' SEASON 2
SEES THE EMPRESS AT WAR!
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| The series will air December 27th and 28th in Austria |
We've been waiting for almost two years and now it is finally here: the second season of historical mini series
MARIA THERESA: A WOMAN AT WAR on (in)famous Austrian empress from the turbulent 18th century. If you remember (if you don't you can still find
the first, two episode long, season over at You Tube with English subtitles at the channel from the trailer below) the first season, which saw her marry Grand Duke Franz (
Vojtech Kotek) and ascend the throne after her father's sudden death, was an international project, and even though the writing was mostly monotonous and acting silly, the series had an unusual doze of humour which gave it a certain freshness.
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| Stefanie Reinsperger takes on the lead role in the second season |
The second season, which our favourite
Beta Film did as co production between Austrian, Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian broadcasters, will air its two, feature length, episodes during New Year and Christmas Holidays later
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| The second season consists of two, two hours long, episodes. |
this month in Austria. As you can see from the trailer below, most of the cast is the same, they've only changed the lead actress as the empress is now older and visibly fatter.
Stefanie Reinsperger will, no doubt, ad even more
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| The series is produced by Beta Film |
comedy to the role as the new empress Maria Theresa. Her acting, at least the one visible in the trailer, does give the whole series a very cheap, almost comical, tone.
In The Second Season
Maria Theresa
has hopes for ending the war with Prussia, but her
position as a powerful woman still draws the ire of many, even her
mother in law, who sends her other son to spy on the Hapsburg military
strategies. It is no wonder then that empress
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| The second season sees Maria taking a stronger role in politics |
Maria feels like she is fighting a lone fight.
Even her husband betrays her, keeping a mistress and trading with the
enemy. In a desperate gesture, Maria
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| Maria Theresa and her flimsy husband Grand Duke Franz |
hires a mercenary army and the
tides turn. But this will come at a price. And when Maria has an affair
with serious consequences, her situation worsens –
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| The new season will see Maria hiring a mercenary army and going to war |
now she's vulnerable
to blackmail as well. Facing increasing pressures from all sides,
including her own family, Maria has no choice but to address head-on
both, the issues of the state and those of her marriage.
There's something rather common in the leading actress' appearance; she doesn't look like an empress.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, she tried to modernize her empire and introduce various reforms, so no wonder she felt alone and at war with the world around her.
Indeed, and the cheap make up does not help at all! They say she was not overly intelligent, but had a few good ministers who introduced reforms. It is interesting that she is very similar to Victoria in having tons of kids during her life. Sadly, her heir Joseph, was an idiot, so he did not really continue his mother's reforms much. And she also always had that crazy Fridrich as her eternal enemy. Catherine the Great hated him as well.
DeleteWith family like hers, who needs enemies?
ReplyDeleteI remember her mother was tipsy throughout series one :)
DeleteSpectacular costumes, no doubt!
ReplyDeleteFrilly as Austrian cakes!
DeleteLove those costumes!
ReplyDeleteVery impractical, methinks :)
DeleteIf it has English subtitles why can't it be found in English networks or streaming services? I've been wanting to see it for years.
ReplyDeleteIt has English subs, only because that nice girl from German Period Drama channel at YouTube translates it and puts it up over there :) She translates all the German shows that you can find on her channel. I've watched Maximilian there and the first season of this one.
DeleteStarz showed Maximilian here in America. Hope they grab this one too.
DeleteI don't expect they will, unlike Maxi who was really nice visually, this one is more cheap and trashy :)
DeleteI hope that it was worth the long hiatus. With shows like this, I tend to jump in when they are near completion. Do you remember when Lost had a long hiatus due to the strike? It was pure torture and I swore to never let it happen again. :)
ReplyDeleteThis one had a hiatus because they needed time to gather monies, and the first one wasn't overly good, so nobody really rushed to give them funds LOL But good thing about this international coproductions is that all partners give a little.
DeleteI couldn't adjust to the new Maria. I'm sure it was me.
ReplyDeleteShe seems like an amateur actress and looks terrrible too.
Delete