'The Romanoffs' review: 'House of Special Purpose' gives new life to the show but still falls short on expectations
The third installment of Matthew Weiner's 'The Romanoffs' is out and is titled 'House of Special Purpose'. In the last two episodes, we were shown two very different stories, one about an ancestral fortune and the other about a failing marriage. The third episode brings out another story from the life of protagonists who claim to be descendants of the Romanovs.
The third episode stars Christina Hendricks as Olivia, who is a Hollywood star, and Isabelle Huppert as Jacqueline, who is a movie director. In a bit of meta twist, Jacqueline had cast Olivia in the lead role of her miniseries titled ‘The Romanovs: A six-part miniseries'.
Jacqueline tells Olivia it is the story of her family, and throughout the 90 minutes taunts her to do her job (to act). Olivia is hurt by Jacqueline's nonresponsive behavior towards her performance compared to her behaviour towards her co-star Samuel, played by Jack Huston.