

49 minSeason 1 • Episode 7
LatestEpisode 7
As a child, Ruslan and his mother often accompanied his father, a professional gambler and cardsharper, on trips to sanatoriums, where he used his wife and son as a distraction to rob other card players. Over time, Ruslan's father gained a foothold in the gangster environment. One day, he and his family are invited to a luxurious gangster wedding, where 9-year-old Ruslan falls in love with a girl whom he considers his future bride. Ten years later, when the 1990's arrived, Ruslan still cannot forget his love, and together with his friends he gets caught up in the whirlpool of criminal life...
Acting
Oleg Chugunov's haunted eyes carry twenty years of bad decisions.
Production
Exquisite 90s Moscow decay — every apartment screams collapse.
Writing
The childhood episode devastates; everything after is consequence.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1990s 'bandit Petersburg' aesthetic draws directly from real criminal folklore and the 'Russian mafia romanticism' that dominated post-Soviet cinema until it curdled into tragedy.
The sanatorium opening isn't just backstory — it establishes the family business as performance, with Ruslan trained from birth to be both audience and accomplice to his own exploitation.