Russian Zoom chaos: affairs in closets, FSB meltdowns, and one very trapped hardware store king.
8.020 minSeason 1 • Episode 8
LatestWhile the whole world is singing songs from balconies and throwing video parties, Gennady Borisovich, owner of a chain of hardware stores in Podolsk, is trying to save his business. And his wife can't (or won't?) go home from Bali. Former Federal Security Service Colonel Sergey Dergach has settled in at his dacha with a load of alcohol and delivers controversial information from his dubious informants, which puts his colleagues in fear. Meanwhile, Gennady Borisovich's secretary Julia is going for possibly the last manicure in her life. She is very upset that her secret boyfriend has self-isolated with his family. He connects to a video call with his colleagues from the closet - the only place in the house where he can hide from his wife and children.
Acting
Robak's sweating desperation through a webcam lens.
Direction
Frenkel's genuine screenlife craft before it was trendy.
Writing
Conversations that feel illegally transcribed from real calls.
Creator
Olga Frenkel
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot in actual April 2020 lockdown Moscow, making it one of the fastest pandemic-response productions globally—Russian creators weaponized their own cabin fever.
Gosha Kutsenko's Dergach was reportedly expanded after his improvised drunken monologues stole test footage; the FSB plotline barely existed in the original outline.
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