Topi

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 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.

Topi will throw you off guard within the first couple of minutes of episode one. It begins as almost a classic slasher movie, its premise being five young people travel to a remote village in an almost dystopian secluded location somewhere deep in rural Russia, and start eerily disappearing. Very soon you are provided with clear hints that the timeline is off, the plot is twisted, and what you see at any given moment may or may not be actually happening.

As an old question gets somewhat answered, three more pop up, leaving you guessing and conjuring theories on how it can all be tied together. The final reveal removes much of the ambiguity to lean very clearly to one side of things, and does not answer every question, with some obviously not requiring a direct answer, while other appearing simply forgotten to discarded. It is for this final episode that I have given the show 7 stars, as well as some of the acting falling flat and a pace that should have most likely been crammed into 5 episodes as opposed to 7. Otherwise, the cast which includes both experienced Russian actors (Sukhanov), trendy new names (Yankovsky) and a whole group of new names, deliver quite a captivating narrative.

Another standout feature of Topi is that the script was written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, a well-known name internationally for his Metro 2033 (34, 35) series of books and games set in a post-apocalyptic Russia. Glukhovsky reportedly worked on bringing his script to screens for at least a decade. The script is rich with twists and turns while staying true to Glukhovsky's strong political stance, reflecting through the zombie-like characters of the rural village the lack of motivation that Russia's society has for change, all but turning a blind eye to the disturbing events going on around them and thus enabling the forces of evil in the series to thrive without any justice or punishment in sight. And while these motives are revealed gradually and almost between the lines at first, the finale reveals the author's social agenda pretty bluntly, making it fall quite flat for yours truly personally and taking away some of the points I had given earlier for subtlety.

Topi at first seems to be an intrusive series that decided to show the mystical life of the Russian hinterland. The first series decently nudge the atmosphere and mysticism. But the actions are so prolonged, instead of 7 episodes there should be 4 maximum. The plot begins to sag closer to the middle. The ending does not explain anything at all, half of the storylines are torn. The final has no logical explanation at all. Dmitry Glukhovsky wrote the script for the series, Kinopoisk HD advertised it. And it turned out a very medium-quality series in which you can cancel except for the bad acting of the main characters.