Topi

The main characters are a guy who is clearly based on Pavel Durov, then there is a tabloid reporter, a Chechen girl who runs away from unwanted marriage arrangement, a girl from religious family whose sister just died in a bike accident...and one more girl who is a sexy cute type. All these different types come together to go for a trip to visit a mysterious monastery in God-knows-where place somewhere in Russia of course.

This Russian gloomier and much less entertaining version of American TV show LOST is packed with unlikeable main characters played by mediocre actors and propaganda of Russian Orthodox Church. The events don't make any sense. The finale doesn't offer any resolution. The episodes just drag on with boring dialogues that have no point. The characters often talk to each other in confrontational manner and constantly use explicit language, and often tell each other to g... f....themselves. It is supposed to be edgy and cool but instead comes off redundant and tedious. The show is pretending to have a deeper meaning; it is some sort of allegory or a metaphor for Russia as this place of mystery wrapped in enigma but this legend is getting old.

I accidentally stumbled upon this series, and, to be honest, I did not expect anything good from it. And I was wrong. First, the plot, the author of which is the famous writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, is extremely intriguing and fascinating at the same time. The series perfectly combines elements of horror, thriller and detective at the same time. At the same time, the ending of the series does not answer all the questions that the viewer will have. Secondly, the cast is excellent, but most of all I was impressed by Maxim Sukhanov. Third, the music perfectly complements the atmosphere of mysticism. In short, this is an unexpectedly good Russian TV series.

Surprisingly good story, sometimes slow and repetitive, this little gem of a miniseries can keep you on the edge of your chair for prolonged periods of time. As the promo materials tell us the whole thing set in a remote Russian village and you'd expect it to be one of those werewolf or vampire carnivals with a predictable plot narrative but it goes a little further to unfold into something more far-reaching than just a simple suspense/thriller/horror flick. With limited number of characters the creators did manage to build up the sinister, ominous atmosphere that surrounds this tiny hamlet of Topi. Young talents shine here alongside experienced actors, casting turned out to be very successful. One thing you have to promise yourself is to watch through the entire series, as quite a few things become clear and many questions get answered in the final 60 minutes.

The first couple of episodes are not extremely satisfying and rather confusing, but the remaining parts are amazing. The strongest components of the show are definitely actors and environment setup. Can't name another product which resembles the story or visual approaches of depicting it. However as for me it is slightly similar to the "Survival game" and "Call-center" captured earlier by the "TNT" channel production group. Didn't really liked the music, but fortunately is not played much along the series. The ending is pretty banal and dissatisfying. As for me it could be more explicit, interesting, logical and systemic. A lot of questions remained unanswered and many references as well as eccentric details of plot seem to be hanging without any clear purpose even after the last episode.

Somewhat familiar genre tropes help to get through the first few episodes, while the plot gets going. Unfortunately, the further I went into Topi, the more captivating yet confused everything became.

Some of it feels like allusions to Bulgakov, yet the explicit scenes I still found over the top and not adding much to the story.

The ending left most of the storylines hanging, which was sadly quite predictable (or predetermined, if you will).

Don't regret the time spent watching this, mostly due to compelling performances from the cast (Max, Sonya and the police captain, to name a few) and a great setting.