To the Lake (2019)

The idea is interesting. And it's fascinating to see the Russian take on the Zombie fairy tale. Life is different over there, so the story is different. Sadly, the novelty is what keeps people watching. The characters are crap. All the Leninist stereotypes are there. The Kolhoz manager, with his two wives, and a righteous father magically popping in. The hysterical two wives in their mindless fight over ”the man”. And that is the rather acceptable part. Now the other family is taken off the propaganda posters. The ”capitalist” throwing money around him, and his stripper wife, and his rotten daughter. The Socialist writers know comrade engineer quite well. Their fathers were like that: penniless, mild alcoholic, and always trying to mend things. He is a ridiculous character, as seen by a child. On the other hand, the writers have never seen ”the rich” in real life. Or ”the rich man's” entourage. And everything turns into a caricature. The guy is vane, and ready to stab in the back, well, at least they have omitted he is a Jew. I would have liked to see some reason. Not in the caricature, but in the writers, and producers. After all, if the guy is self made, how come he can achieve so much less than comrade engineer? Did he make his money in France? Is he just on a trip in Russia for the first time? How about his stripper wife? Any girl from the blocks would know how to handle more gracefully men who like to touch women. As a stripper one would expect that most of her audience would be creeps. Yet she shouts like a Nomenklatura girl from the suburbs. Why not make the story with the people the production team knows: well fed, entitled brats from the lower Party inteligentia.

I watched season one of To The Lake, in one sitting and I can't wait for the subbed release of season two. This apocalyptic drama works, in large part, because of quality characterisations and a story that evolves rationally. People do the sort of things you might expect them to do, when faced with a life threatening situation, where the chances of survival grow thinner every day. It throws in a few intriguing plot twists and turns, along the way, so the whole thing avoids becoming stale and repetitive. In short, credible, well acted, well paced and well told. A top notch series.