EDIT: I've seen the entire season now and I am incredibly impressed. The show is very entertaining, the acting is good for the most part. The visual effects etc are very good. And the writing/story is also great. It's slightly soapy in some moments but well worth it in the end. Many times I found myself furious, frustrated, angry, happy or otherwise emotionally involved with the characters which goes to show the writers did a great job. Aside from a few minor plotholes, irrational things done by some of the characters (people in real life do irrational stuff all the time) it is absolutely an fantastic show that I would recommend to anyone that likes sci fi or just a good intrigue / drama show. The music is very lacking which is unfortunate, they even managed to butcher the wonderful "Scarborough fair".
It's kinda funny that the most advanced robot in the show is actually Chinese made. In the show the big corporations making the robots havent even come close to the creation of this mysterious Chinese scientist that made this robot. I understand why the other robots are so "robotic" but my biggest complaint aside from the music would be that this one super advanced robot should have been more fluid and humanlike on her movements and emotions (as I said previously, more like the robots from "humans")
I am genuinely excited to see the second season and how the story will progress.
Original review
As someone that loves sci fi and dystopian movies and shows it's much better than I expected. Admittedly I've only seen 2 episodes. I dont think I've ever seen any Russian show or movie aside from the original Solaris and Stalker. I expected it to be more "B" quality but it's a great and entertaining show. It's not as good as "humans" (which unfortunately had a terrible ending last season) but it's better than most generic sci fi shows.
The acting is pretty good although that's hard to judge when the language is foreign to me. The acting of the robots is not that great though, it's an artistic choice I'm guessing but it's sorta stupid. They act too "robotic". I mean they should be slightly robotic, maybe a bit cold but there is no reason for them to have such stiff movements.
So far my biggest annoyance is that there is this really pretty pregnant lady in the show. She is like a solid 8.5 or 9/10. Shes short, pregnant but super "cute". Imagine pam from the office, now imagine if pam was super pretty haha. Anyway her fiance, which is this ugly guy, acts like she is worthless and is drooling over these robots that arent even as pretty as his fiance. She also seems to be completely obsessed with this guy and seems to genuinely love him. Meanwhile he seems extraordinary uninterested complaining about how she keeps calling him and saying stuff like I wish I could move to another city where she couldn't find me (she's pregnant with his child).
I guess the point is to make him a very unsympathetic character, but it just doesn't come over as realistic. Also the fact that she seems to be completely oblivious to this guy disliking her so much makes little sense.
Despite this being set in the future I thought it was funny that the corporate bosses act like they are mobsters, they treat male staff like crap while treating girls nice. And corruption seems to be super normal. People bribe others like it's the most normal thing to do Haha. It's very Russian in that sense, at least so far.
Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised with the first two episodes. Enjoyed the story so far and the acting. My only wish is that the robots were more like the ones in the brilliant British show "Humans". These robots, even the most advanced model with "free will" seem to be incredibly "robotic/stiff" in their movement.
Overall, if you lile sci fi and the subject of synthetic humanoid robots / androids etc I would definitely recommend it. But if you havent seen "Humans" yes I would recommend that show over this. (Small edit: although I still think Humans is better, I will definitely recommend also watching this show, and compared to the absolutely nonsensical and terrible ending of the last season from Humans thos show had a very satisfying ending that also left room for a second season)
