The Golden Horde

This epic 16-part series gives a look at what happened two generations after Genghis Khan swept through what is now Russia and the lands of the Steppes. As long as you don't depend on it for historical accuracy, you won't be disappointed. Intrigue, action, romance, spirituality mingle with complex characters, sumptuous costumes, fine cinematography and acting, and a gorgeous soundtrack to make this an unforgettable period piece. A little improbably soapy at times, but extra points for very strong female characters, including Julia Stiles' doppelganger. We will watch it again.

Fantasy. It just so happened that I got a little immersed in the topic of Russian historical series, and just remembered this one, which was heavily advertised on Channel One in 2018, but then I was not interested in it, and now the situation has changed, so, as they say, its time has come. It took me five days to watch all sixteen episodes (with breaks, of course). I expected no less high-quality work, as from the "Squad" and "Sofia", but I was wrong. I just wasted my time, that's why I decided to write this review so that you, my dear viewers, do not waste your time on this fantasy circus with horses. And here's my brief opinion for you - A series about the friendship of the Forest Highlands and the Golden Horseshoe. Despite my contempt for this series, I will describe both its pros and numerous cons. Therefore, in order to finish this as soon as possible and forget it as a terrible dream, I finish the introductory, and get to the point.

So, the pros: 1. Costumes, scenery - the series had a budget, and this can be seen from the picture, good scenery and expensive costumes, very similar to the second half of the thirteenth century. An inexperienced viewer will be glad to see all this beauty on the screen, and for history lovers there is something to find fault with. In general, the decorators and costumers did their best, and I justly praise them for it.

2. Adequate and well-written characters - there are several scenario lines in the series, but only two turned out really good, but with the characters everything is not so rosy. Frankly, the entire series was pulled only by Grand Duke Yaroslav, performed by Alexander Ustyugov and Nastasia (Russian Mulan), performed by Karina Andolenko. Yes, sometimes they do the most natural jigurda, but the overall impression of them is rather good. You believe them, you sympathize with them, you empathize with them. There are, of course, still good heroes, but I will not list them all, I just noted the brightest.

2. Two good scenario lines are primarily the line of the Russian Mulan (Nastasia) and Prince Boris, these lines have logic, develop adequately, and end correctly and expected by the audience, unlike others.

3. The music is pleasant, but it smacks of Celtic motifs, but not Old Russian. There are no complaints about the composer, although he could have tried with Old Russian motifs. Yes, and music, absolutely not navaschaya.

So, the cons: 1. Overpowering is the fattest minus of the whole series, because it is frankly annoying. After all, even the series begins with her heart-rending yell, after which you want to turn it off. I remember that I praised her in the "Battle for Sevastopol", but here she really degraded, because she behaves boorishly in the frame, and in life is not much different. Yes, she is Princess Ustinya, just like I am a Buddhist. And her pathetic attempts to intrigue are just for the hens to laugh at. Thank God that we don't see her heroine so often, although her boorish face is on the entire advertisement, which clearly misleads potential viewers. There are, of course, still heroes who cause exclusively negative emotions even by their very appearance, but Overpowering here takes an honorable first place.

2. Most of the scenario lines - except for the two listed, the rest either stand still or end with a hint of continuation (God forbid!). And this, together with annoying characters, creates a lump of lousy mood, which is smoothed out only by strong and dramatic scenes at the end of the series, to which many will not watch.

3. Historical errors - since we have here a kind of history of the relationship between the Golden Horde and Ancient Russia, but while watching the series, I wrote down everything that seemed to me nonsense or mistakes, and a whole A4 sheet turned out, and now I will briefly go through the mistakes that the creators of this expensive fantasy made: Khan asks the Grand Duke for forty thousand soldiers for the Golden Horde (this is just a cosmic figure for that time, we simply will not have so many people, even from all the divided Russia, and this is if we take cripples and all healthy men), the Mongols plundered the Novgorod land (the Mongols did not reach it), women sit together with men at the dinner table (there was no such thing, and no exceptions were made even for the Grand Duchess), and, of course, women could not get into the conversation of men (as Peresild did), Prince Boris said the word "trash" (which appeared only in the fifteenth century), and another character he blurted out the word "valim" (and this is modern jargon), the battle with the Polovtsians in the Novgorod land (but the Polovtsians migrated to the West after the Mongol invasion, and they certainly could not live in Russia, where there are practically no large pastures for cattle), the characters talk about the heavy Horde tribute (it was called "exit") (although it was only four percent of income), the Plague in the Golden Horde (although it appeared there only by the middle of the fourteenth century), the process of childbirth in one of the heroines is a matter of seconds (and this is outright nonsense). And this is only part of the nonsense that the screenwriter came up with. I am sure that historians and local historians will find even more nonsense in this fantasy.

4. Delusional and idiotic actions - most of the characters have been turned into outright sheep, who beat their horns against the wall every time with the hope that it will fall, but in the end they only make it worse for themselves. It seems that the scriptwriter was too lazy to come up with adequately connected scenes, so she connected this network with thin white threads. I will not bore you with a detailed description of these nonsense, such as the battle of the horse Rusich and the Polovtsy on foot in the forest! In the forest, Carl! Am I the only one confused by this? In short, I'm sure you've realized that motivation is bad here.

5. Why is there a story here? - I had this question throughout the entire viewing. After all, the creators swore that we have fantasy here. Well, then why did you drag real historical figures and real states into the series? What prevented you from calling Russia, for example, Lesogorie, Vladimir - some kind of Terem, Novgorod - Torgashgrad, Golden Horde - Golden Horseshoe, Sarai-Berke - Khan's Camp and so on? If you did that, then all the claims about the story would disappear in an instant! But no, you decided to sit on two chairs at the same time, and in the end you fell very loudly between them! Serves you right!

6. Obvious imitation - the creators of this did not hide that they were inspired by such popular foreign TV series as "Game of Thrones" and "Magnificent Century". Well, at least they honestly admitted that they are not able to invent their own (although you can open the chronicle, and you don't even need to invent anything, you just take the finished material, assemble a team - and shoot as much as you want). I watched both of these series (like many of you, I'm sure), and the Golden Horde loses to both of its foreign competitors, both in terms of intrigue and in terms of battles. Yes, the local intrigues make even Ned Stark laugh, not to mention Hurem, so weak and insignificant. Scriptwriter Olga Larionova should read historical works about real politics and real intrigues, no matter ours or foreign, and only then write scripts on such a serious topic! It was free advice.

And for this fantasy decided to shoot a sequel? Considering that the strongest lines have already ended? Do you want to repeat the fate of "Game of Thrones"? Only faster and even more incompetent? Well, it's up to you! Only then do not be surprised by low ratings and comparison with competitors who, though a little, are more honest than you.

As a result, we have a failed fantasy series with a kind of history of Russia and the Golden Horde, with a frankly bad script, good music, good scenery and costumes, infuriating characters, idiotic moments, and such an acting game!

My rating is 5 out of 10 (I overestimated it a little because of the drama and a couple of good characters, and that's all) and I don't recommend this series to watch!

I loved this. It was a real surprise. The acting was fantastic and the actors were so charismatic. I could not stop watching. A fascinating glimpse of Russian history that I did not know, but somehow makes me understand Russia better now. The main love story between Nargiz and Prince Yaroslav was so touching, especially their final scene. Lots of interesting historical touches. I will say that the subtitles could be better. There were some strange word choices in these subtitles - like using the word "broad" to describe a women that you don't particularly take seriously. I think there are more modern alternatives.

Chronological fuzziness and overdrawn fictional characters aside, this fairly small budget Russian historical series still offers a fascinating, often opulent panorama of Russia and the Eurasian steppes during the period of Mongol domination in the 13th and 14th centuries. It's a brilliant evocation of a place and time period most of us know nothing about, and an insight into the Russian experience that very few other Europeans could understand.

I have some criticisms: 1. I think -- though I'm no expert -- that harem politics are over-emphasized in the Mongol context -- what's depicted here seems a later development in other Central Asian and Islamic states, and 2) the stubbornness and sheer stupidity about "love" of various of the fictional characters are adolescent fantasies that don't exist in reality, and detract from the credibility of the story. Very romantic, of course, but...really.

I saw this in a binge on Amazon Prime. Highly recommended for unusual context and content, good performances, cinematography and other qualities. Not perfect, but very good.

First the series is already subtitled in English. Just accept the words might be different than you might expect. The maps are in Russian but after a while you understand the locations. The story line is about the Grand Prince of the Russia's and the Great Khan. Romance is included with good and bad. The problems within the Russians and Mongols own sides play into the story. Lots of bad events occur on bother sides as well as good. Not possible to out guess events. Enjoy the series for it is done well.