S'parta

I haven't seen a series that good for ages, maybe besides "Dark". My Russian isn't good enough to spare me the subtitles, but one gets used to it. And this masterpiece is totally worth it.

Following the apparent suicide of a young teacher at a school in St Petersburg policeman Igor Andreevich Kryuko is called into investigate. He soon starts to suspect that all is not as it seems; a student in her class had died in an accident and the school principal, who was the dead student's father, died shortly afterwards. Kryuko becomes certain that the class knows more than they are telling him; particularly the charismatic Michail 'Bark' Barkovskiy, who is their de facto leader. Most of the class are involved in beta testing a new rule-free computer game called 'Sparta' which may be affecting their behaviour. As the series progresses secrets are revealed, concerning students, parents and teachers.

I really enjoyed this Russian series. It set up several good mysteries early on; not only do we have the school deaths there is also the opening flash forward which shows Kryuko being released from prison so are left wondering what will lead to him ending up there. The tone is often dark, especially as we see Bark manipulating his classmates and them turning on their teachers in various ways. That isn't to say there is no humour in the series; notably scenes between Kryuko and his pathologist friend. The cast does a fine job; especially Artyom Tkachenko and Alexander Petrov as Kryuko and Bark respectively. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of a good mystery wanting a different setting.

These comments are based on watching the series in Russian with English subtitles.

This series was a fantastic find and it shows the deep understanding of the human psyche that is so visible in Russian art.

I was afraid the show would descend into another variation of "teen detective" like 13 Reasons Why, for example. The fear was totally misguided.

S'parta is full of complicated and believable characters, each with their own internal motivations. None of them feel like they exists just to direct the plot or other characters into one way or another. There are no clear-cut heroes or villains to be found. They all have a reason to think they are doing the right thing, but still people end up dead.

The viewer is sucked into liking some characters, empathizing with them, and later finding out several reasons why not to. Alexander Petrov does a fantastic job portraying the charismatic and enigmatic character of Michail Barkovskiy, the leader of his school class. It's simply impossible not to like him at first, but as the series progresses the viewer starts to question whether he really is such a "good" person or not. Looking at vile authoritarian leaders in world history people always ask: "How did everyone get sucked into that? I wouldn't have!". S'parta examines this theme with great understanding.

The show uses a lot of temporal jumps between the past, present and future but manages to somewhat obfuscate which one is which without making it confusing. Along with the harsh visuals and surroundings, together with the music used in the show it all serves to give it a strong sense of determinism - an unstoppable domino of cause and effect that Igor Andreevich Kryuko (Artyom Tkachenko) tries to unravel. Portraying a multi-layered, gifted but troubled detective, Tkachenko is excellent in his role.

It's very rare to find a TV show using a lot of young actors without having at least some bad performances mixed in, but in all honesty I found none of that. I am absolutely sure many of the actors and actresses in the show will have a long future in Russian film. Like always, I watched it in original language with subtitles. If you watch it dubbed, you can only blame yourself for that. You wouldn't give a serious thought to a dubbed song either, would you?

All in all, if you are able to watch a show using subtitles or happen to understand Russian, I highly recommend this show. If you happen to be an action-addict, S'parta is not what you are looking for. I've never rated anything as 10/10 and will not do so now either, but I do believe this to be the best series I've seen all year, and I've seen a lot.

I really enjoyed this tv show. I found it different from what I usually find myself watching. The plot was good and the twists too. I went back to rewatch the first episode and it was all laid out extremely well. I fell in love with Bark's character and swing him changing or better showing his true self was fascinating.

The plot proceeds at its own pace (a bit slow in the first two episodes) and the differences in culture are evident. Plus I've learnt how to tell my Russian boyfriend to shut be so I guess it's worth it

Alexander Petrov in a disturbing portrait of a young fascist teasing out his ability to attract followers. We don't see what made him, but the making of his brood is fascinating, horrifying and believable.