To the Lake

I had been looking for something new to watch, and randomly stumbled on a blog post gushing about this show. I decided to give it a shot, and could not stop watching over the course of 2 days.

If someone asked me to describe this show, I would say that it is a mix of "28 Days/Weeks Later" (2002, 2007) and "Contagion" (2011), with a uniquely Russian flair mixed in. I have never been exposed to a Russian producton before, and this show certainly set the bar high.

"To the Lake" follows an unlikely group of survivors as they attempt to battle their way out of Moscow, fleeing from a deadly virus that kills everything in its path within 3-4 days. The virus itself is shrouded in mystery, but the concept reminded me a lot of the aformentioned movie "Contagion". There are no zombies or supernatural entities found here; just a bleak depicition of mother nature's most efficient killing tool as it runs unchecked throughout Russia and beyond. I really appreciated this approach, and in my opinion, the show has a more realistic feel when compared to other pandemic shows that came before it (one AMC show in particular comes to mind...).

The editng and camera work were often reminiscent of the "28 Days" series, with hard cuts and shaky camera shots to help emphasize the horror and confusion of the situation. The cinematography was also excellent, and included some breathtaking shots of Russia's wilderness.

I only have a few minor gripes with the show. While the acting is excellent, there are moments where characters make some rather bewildering choices. My second issue is with the music; there are times where it feels out of place, or perhaps doesn't have the emotional impact that was intended. There are also times where the music is excellent, and reminded me (again) of the "28 Days" movies. Overall, it's a bit of a mixed bag.

With that being said, I definitely recommend this show. It's intense and bleak, but also has a uniquely human element to it that can be hard to capture in shows like this. If you like post apocalyptic movies/shows, definitely check this one out. For English speakers, I highly recommend watching this show in Russian with subtitles.

I admit to binge watching this, after the first episode I was hooked and wanted to see what happend to them , yes there are some cheesy moments and some bad decisions but people faced with life and death decisions under great stress do not always act rationally personally I enjoyed it and look forward to a season two

To The Lake: Virus runs rife, people coughing and dropping dead, you can tell they're infected by the reds of their eyes, so don't shot until you can see that. Moscow is sealed off, a plague city. Law and order breaks down, security units start looting. A group try to journey to a lake where they hope to find refuge on an island. Internal tensions in the group doesn't help. Quite violent with disturbing scenes. Interesting to see a Russian pandemic TV Series. On Netflix. 7/10.

One of the best mini-series that have ever came from Russia yet. Intriguing, real, with vivid and believable roles. Great production and soundtrack. Looking forward to see new movies/series from this director and his team.

It is a series where at certain points you have to turn your critical brain off and just accept some of the stupid decisions made by the characters. But you believe in there decisions because the acting is really great. So you buy into that fact that most of the characters are seriously flawed people and wont act rationally like you think you would in there situation.

I love Science fiction, but this is apocalypse horror fiction. Not really science fiction.. especially since we are experiencing a pandemic currently (hopefully that line doesnt age well...)... For all we know a proper epidemic could happen in our life time... where a good chunk of people on the planet die... Its not really space ships or aliens coming to visit... it's a reality that could happen.

They don't make the infected zombies or any reused crud like that. Its just people that get very sick and die very quickly. It's believable and is done really well.

My only complaint is the silly softcore scenes and hilariously bad music when they occur with the young kids... They seemed really out of place. If they took out that music and set the mood differently.. changed a bit of the dialogue to not be so corny... then those scenes would've fit within the seriousness of the rest of the series much better. Sure people want to bang when they think the end it near.. But you don't need to make a point of it so often in 8 episodes.. It's like they were trying to outmatch game of thrones.. but with awful music.

Anyway. Besides that complaint I really enjoyed everything else about this series. Especially the complex mix of characters and there opposing personality types, it keeps the series interesting between telling the over arching story of the world being taken over by a epidemic (and possibly a foreign force taking advantage of that)