I've watched a number of excellent Scaninavian dramas though I've never watched a Russian TV show before. This one appeared recently on Netflix and I thought I'd give it a go. I've just finished watching Episode 7, almost halfway through the series.
First off let's get the dubbing out of the way. It's excellent, the best I've yet encountered. By midway through Ep. 2 I'd adjusted and barely noticed it. The voice actors do a first class job and adjustment for atmospherics is spot on.
The Sci-Fi element in this show centres around Aasimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics and a new, superior prototype robot called Arisa, "acquired" from the Chinese by the ambitious CEO of a Russian robotics company. Arisa escapes and adopts a dysunctional family, and thus begins a clever, well-paced story with multiple threads. There aren't the major twists or end-of-episode cliffhangers so prevalent in US drama. Instead the story unfolds steadily, capturing the imagination through first class screenplay and camera work plus judicious use of moderate CGI (at least in the first few episodes).
Arisa, played with an engaging balance of subtly human facial expressions and smooth, deliberate robotic action by the inimitable Paulina Andreeva, is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. One small revelation after another drives the tale forward without swamping the accompanying side stories. My one reservation is perhaps too much focus on the young love affair, but it does tie in nicely with the comparison between 16-year-old Igor's adolescence and Arisa's own childlike efforts to understand humans.
Aside from that, Better Than Us takes a number of admittedly somewhat cliché characters (tough suspended cop with history, teenager in love, crazy mum who's lost a son, surgeon who's unfairly sued & persecuted etc.) and re-instills a good deal of credibility through an all-round talented cast.
But perhaps the most engaging aspect of the show is its cunning misdirection. What appears clear-cut, is not. Whom you might think is good, or bad, becomes less obvious as the characters' backgrounds are revealed. It's fascinating, and will keep you guessing enough to want more.
So my recommendation is try the first episode. Because this is slick Russian drama and it's definitedly worth a shot. 8.5/10 rounded up to a worthy 9.
Review of Better Than Us
