7.059 minSeason 1 • Episode 8
LatestRespected police detective Gradov reluctantly turns to crime to find the money to pay for his terminally ill wife’s urgent medical treatment. During an investigation into a string of crimes Gradov begins to fall under suspicion, his colleague Osokin becomes convinced of his guilt and determined to expose him. But Gradov has already sacrificed his integrity and knows that he will stop at nothing to save his wife.
Acting
Robak's face crumbling under impossible choices—masterclass in silent suffering.
Direction
Khlebnikov turns mundane Soviet spaces into pressure cookers.
Writing
Each lie Gradov tells requires three more; the math is brutal.
Aleksandr Robak
Sergey Gradov
Maksim Lagashkin
Yriy Osokin
Anna Mikhalkova
Marina
Anna Kotova
Jenka
Gennadiy Smirnov
Semen Krukov
Vitaliy Lobanov
visitor to the House of Arts (uncredited)
Ilya Borisov
Kostik
Dmitry Lysenkov
Leonov
Darya Zhovner
Varya
Valeriy Dyachenko
Markin
Natalya Rogozhkina
Olga Kryukova
Aleksandr Mosin
Morgulis
Maxim Yakovlev
Sasha
Tamara Abrosimova
Olga's mother
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The series reflects real Russian healthcare crises where families crowdfund critical treatments; the 'House of Arts' setting evokes Soviet intelligentsia decline.
Khlebnikov originally conceived Gradov as irredeemable, but Robak's performance forced rewrites toward tragic ambiguity. The cat-and-mouse with Osokin mirrors Dostoevsky's 'Crime and Punishment' inverted—here, conscience is the pursuer, not the pursued.
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