The Romanoffs Review: The House of Special Purpose (Season 1 Episode 3)
Fame and fortune go awry on The Romanoffs Season 1 Episode 3, “The House of Special Purpose,” when Isabelle Huppert and Christina Hendricks face off in a literal game to the death.
It’s an episode that starts a little too meta and self-referential for my taste, but it goes as far as deviating from the plot of “characters who think they’re related to the Romanovs” — and completely ignores this.
Firstly, for me, it’s a little unnerving to do that — there’s really no reason to claim that this is the entire connection between the anthology episodes and then proceed to ignore that fact in the third episode.
Secondly, I want to say that enjoying this episode is a matter of taste. For me, good — no, great — television is the perfect balance of content and structure.
“The House of Special Purpose” is filled with fascinating cinematographic work, wonderful musical motifs, and transfixing performances from both Huppert and Hendricks. Thus, for those who love content, this episode is for you.
However, because there’s no real plot to this episode (or really any of the existing episodes, for that matter) — The Romanoffs continues as a glorified 90-minute first act to a non-existent film.
They’re standalone episodes, but — well, they’re not really standalone episodes. I hate to make the Black Mirror association again, but Black Mirror episodes are able to craft their own world in the same amount of time. Viewers understand the world and that’s how the creepy factor lands.
On this episode, the horror never actually lands. I’m not a fan of horror, but I enjoy edgy content that borders on psychological thriller. Unfortunately, “The House of Special Purpose” does neither.
Each moment of pseudo-horror is vaguely shown to all be a trick in the last barely minute-and-a-half of the episode, with no time to really linger in what actually happened.
The attempt to also make Olivia’s death seem reasonable is foreshadowed entirely too heavily by the near-death experience of the investor’s wife (“People can die from being scared!”), which is a high claim to make considering the otherwise realistic portrayals of the characters on the episode despite the supernatural elements.
The most engaging part of this episode is the interplay between Jacqueline and Olivia, and we do get plenty of it. I even wish we got more of the manipulation because that’s where we got the meat of the story. By the end, everyone else felt irrelevant.
The on-camera assault scene also feels mighty unnecessary, and I’m a bit uncomfortable by it considering the heavily male-dominated, lustful gaze of the characters and camera in the past episodes.
Shows have nothing to prove by putting content that encourages inappropriate behavior onscreen if it doesn’t further the narrative in a useful way. This episode tries to sneak in a commentary about sexual assault, and it fails miserably.
I can say that the opening sequence is growing on me, but up to now, the show isn’t shaping up to be anything beyond self-indulgent prestige television. The show tries to be clever by including small tie-ins, but ultimately, the episode ends up disorienting, distractingly chaotic, and tangential to any actual content on hand.
What did you think of this episode of The Romanoffs? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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The Romanoffs airs Fridays on Amazon Video.
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Olivia Popp
Olivia Popp is a freelance writer, artist, and entertainment fanatic who started living and breathing television ever since her parents told her in elementary school that it would rot her brain. Now, she's a film student and TV apologist with a penchant for providing forceful and unsolicited series recommendations to anyone within earshot. Ask her about science fiction, comedy, nature photography, filmmaking, tasty cheese, or even more television.