Review: To The Lake (2019)

 Series Review: To The Lake (2019)

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 8

Description: 

A terrible plague strikes and a group decides to risk their lives. Humanity struggles to survive as they face the end of their civilization

 To the Lake is a Russian series about a deadly disease and a group of people who try to survive. The group is diverse, there are 3 small families. The dynamics are very complex and hard for me to explain but I'll try anyway:

Family 1 is Sergey, his father, his current girlfriend and their autistic son.

Family 2 is Sergeys ex and their son.

Family 2 is a good friend of Sergey, his pregnant wife and their daughter who has issues with alcohol.

The original name of the series is Epidemya, a fitting but predictable title. To the Lake refers to the groups destination. Sergeys father transformed a stranded boat on an island into a habitable place and he wants to lead the group there from Moscow to escape the deadly virus. 

This deadly virus has some very easily recognizable symptoms, like acute blindness and coughing blood. Yet, it is shown how no one trusts each other. People are being left behind, they kill and everyone is just suspicious of each other. The series was made before the current covid19 epidemic but it reminds me a lot of our current situation. We also keep our distance to everyone out of fear to catch the virus and we isolate ourselves.

What surprised me, is how this Russian series depicts the Russian military as kind of evil. The military is ruthless, in the beginning they show how they basically abduct an entire school of children because one of them could be infected. The cruelty only continues and at some points, it's blurry whether the actual military is evil or just some rogue people.

The dynamics of the group are very interesting to see and I did enjoy watching them fight the obstacles they encounter. Even within the group, they barely trust each other and have differences of opinion. I would recommend this show to people who like apocalyptic shows, shows about deadly viruses and to those who want to watch something they can (mildly) relate to.

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