50 minSeason 1 • Episode 8
LatestUnsuccessful actor Alexey Vyazintsev learns that his father was killed under mysterious circumstances. Alexey travels to Shironino, his father's hometown, to sell his apartment, but instead finds himself embroiled in a series of dangerous events. Locals believe that the books of the long-forgotten Soviet writer Gromov have magical properties. Each of these books gives a specific effect: Rage, Patience, Power, Joy, Strength or Memory. The secret world of readers of Gromov's books is divided into Libraries that hunt for books all over the country and are ready to kill competitors for the sake of their strength. Vyazintsev will have to become a part of one of the Libraries, reveal the secrets of his own family and go in search of the rarest of magical books — the book of Meaning.
Production
Crushingly authentic Russian small-town rot meets sleek magical underground
Acting
Efremov's desperate everyman vs. Dmitrieva's terrifying maternal menace
Writing
Smart book-as-drug metaphor that actually earns its philosophical pretensions
Creator
Igor Tverdokhlebov
Nikita Efremov
Алексей Вязинцев
Evgeniya Dmitrieva
Маргарита Тихоновна Селиванова
Andrey Merzlikin
Максим Вязинцев
Mikhail Trukhin
Шульга
Igor Zolotovitsky
Лагудов
Marina Vorozhischeva
Таня
Sergey Epishev
Денис Луцис
Mikhail Troynik
Гриша Вырин
Konstantin Itunin
Саша Сухарев
Marina Lebedeva
Вероника Возглякова
Segrey Tsepov
Марат Дежнев
Maxim Derichev
Игорь Кручина
Aleksey Dmitriev
Иевлев
Aleksandra Ursulyak
Шорохова
Mariam Psuturi
Тата Имонян
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'Library' system satirizes post-Soviet oligarchic power structures — secret knowledge hoarded by violent elites disguised as cultural preservationists.
Creator Igor Tverdokhlebov insisted all Gromov book passages be original prose, not props — they're being published as a real collection in Russia.
RU
