A good series, though somewhat overdone in places.
A rather complex, multi-threaded series. It covers a theater in Riga, a guest appearance by a Finnish female director, the black marketeering community, the internal affairs of the political police (whose biggest problem is the kids in jeans), and finally, the everyday life of a psychiatric hospital.
The series starts well; the creators approach the subject seriously, each plotline is solidly developed, and they don't cut corners. Halfway through, the series begins to overly veer into comedy, the biggest exaggeration being the song honoring Brezhnev (which the patients spontaneously learn, with vocal divisions and choreography). I suppose there was a grain of truth in the song's story, as life writes the strangest scenarios, but the entire scene felt highly exaggerated. It's also surprising that the political police, which are extremely hierarchical, would give such freedom to an officer who keeps making mistakes and has no connections. However, towards the end, the series becomes remarkably mature. The final two episodes are truly drama of the highest order. One could analyze this scene by scene. I was deeply impressed by a short, easily missed scene. When a local party appointee prepares a propaganda speech with his assistant, he constantly presses for it to be more bombastic. The assistant curbs his ambitions by refusing. They don't discuss it further, but the subtext is clear that the assistant was aware that propaganda can be crude but must not degenerate into self-parody. It's amusing and deeply thought-provoking, because even today, many politicians don't understand this.
