Review and opinion of the Netflix series “To the lake” (1st season)

Perhaps because of a matter of habit, I usually watch series and movies produced mostly in the USA, and well, it is no secret that the best of the film scene is in that country, I would say that they are the maximum power in that industry and therefore it is normal that we keep an eye on that market. However, the world has been changing quite fast and in that sense many other countries have been joining the wave of entertainment that has so much impact in the world. Thus, in Europe and Asia we can find series and movies that have nothing to envy to the US. In the case of Latin countries, I would say that Argentina and Mexico are the strongest.

Now, talking about the series that I bring to the table today, “To the lake” is a Netflix series from 2019, it was produced in Russia and I would say that the genre is science fiction and drama. It was directed by Pavel Kostomarov and its first season consists of 8 episodes. As for the second season, at the moment it is not available on Netflix.

I think this is the second time I see content coming from Russia, before “To the lake”, I saw a movie called “Sputnik” and I found it quite interesting, at that moment I saw a lot of potential in Russian cinema and it crossed my mind that soon we could see some interesting things coming from that country.

This series takes us to the capital of Russia, Moscow, from one moment to another people start to report being infected with a disease that is totally unknown, coughing up blood and eyes that turn white are the most common symptoms and it was also determined that it is contagious. Thus, those who have the opportunity seek to flee to rural areas where there are supposed to be fewer people and therefore less chance of becoming infected. As usually happens in these scenarios, panic takes over the population and in this sense, anarchy in the streets begins to play a fundamental role in people's survival.

Sergey, father of a child and divorced, has to deal with his ex-wife and his current wife, both are part of a group of friends and relatives who agree to go to a lake that is distant, but was home to Sergey as a child, there they would have provisions and there they would be away from the population. But the matter is not so simple, the strong winter, the epidemic and the malicious people are a part of the big problem they have to deal with day by day.

In addition to the aforementioned, the group travels through an area that is considered by the government as high risk, so the militarized groups do not hesitate to eliminate those they find in those towns and on the roads. So the struggle for survival is a constant, but there are also different dramas that are generated in the group that make this series something more than just science fiction, I particularly liked how they raised the interpersonal relationships between each of them and that seemed quite curious as it is not like what I'm used to seeing.

There are not many negative aspects that I can mention beyond the usual cliché in this type of genre, the production of the series is good and the cast is very interesting, and well, I say this because the performances are very well done, actually I did not know any of the actors. I found very interesting the way in which the situations were raised in this series, frankly at some point even seemed strange to me the interactions between the characters, but I understood that this is another culture very different from the western (I mean the Russian), so it is normal that there are things that put me off from what I'm used to.

“To the lake” offers us a look and a different approach to what we usually see in series and movies of this type or genre, the fact that it has been produced in a country with a culture and idiosyncrasy very different from mine, made me keep very attentive to the dialogues in order to understand and learn the way of thinking and acting of the different characters. For me it was an exotic series from the point of view of how the script and the story in general is laid out. I will try to get the second season to witness the outcome of this interesting story, for now, I can only recommend the first season to everyone.

This is Omar speaking and it was a pleasure for me to share with you this review, I hope it was to everyone's liking, see you soon!