Catherine is jealous of Paul. I said what I said.
I think Catherine is subconsciously jealous of Paul, and it explains a lot about their relationship
In S3E4, when Catherine decides not to have Paul ordained because his first word was “pussy,” I honestly felt like the whole thing was an excuse. She says she doesn’t want him to rule Russia because he’s like Peter, but girl… YOU KNOW HE’S A BABY. 😭
What bothers me more is that Catherine constantly says she wants Paul to become thoughtful, enlightened, and a better ruler than Peter, but she doesn’t actually seem interested in raising him herself. She spends all this time ruling Russia Badly, while Paul spends a huge amount of time with Peter, the exact person Catherine believes is going to corrupt him.
Like, you have a literal child whose values you can still influence. If you genuinely believe Peter is a terrible ruler and you’re terrified Paul will become like him, why aren’t you spending more time with your son and actively teaching him the values you want him to have?
And I think there’s something deeper going on here: Catherine is subconsciously competing with Paul. She is threatened by her own son.
Paul is Peter’s son, but he’s also the rightful heir.
Eventually, he is supposed to inherit the throne. Catherine fought incredibly hard to take that throne and prove that she was capable of ruling Russia, so I don’t think it’s insignificant that her own son is simultaneously the person who will eventually inherit the position she’s worked so hard to establish herself in.
I think that creates a weird resentment/jealousy toward him that she probably isn’t even consciously aware of. It’s not necessarily “I hate my son because he’s my son.” It’s more like Paul represents the fact that her reign is temporary and his legitimacy is inherited. He doesn’t have to fight for the throne in the same way she did. He’s simply the heir.
And maybe that’s part of why she has such a hard time being affectionate toward him or investing herself in actually raising him. It’s easier for her to think of him as a future political problem than as her child.
Also her whole attitude toward legitimacy is so funny to me. She criticizes Peter for believing his family is ordained by God to rule, yet she says it’s her “destiny” to rule Russia. She rejects hereditary/divine legitimacy when it benefits Peter, but seems to make an exception for herself. And that’s why the whole ordination thing with Paul stood out to me too: she doesn’t want to reinforce the idea that Paul is divinely destined to inherit the throne, even though she herself believes she was destined to rule it.
She wants Paul to become a great enlightened ruler, but she doesn’t seem willing to do the intimate, boring, difficult work of actually parenting him. Meanwhile, Peter gets to spend time with Paul and form a genuine bond with him.
So Catherine is basically terrified that Paul will become Peter, while simultaneously allowing Peter to be one of Paul’s primary influences.
You can’t just decide what kind of person your child will become and then leave the parenting to someone you believe is going to make him into the exact person you’re afraid of.
And honestly, I think the “he’s just like Peter” argument is partly Catherine projecting her own unresolved feelings about Peter onto Paul. She sees Peter in him, but instead of trying to understand who Paul actually is, she starts treating him like a future version of the man she hates.
I just keep thinking: girl, you have the chance right now to influence your child. Why are you not taking it? My Hot Take is that Catherine doesn’t actually want Paul to be a good ruler.