Pepel

I watched it all, so it grabbed my attention enough for that. However, there were too many coincidences and holes in the plot for me to have been totally drawn in. I also had a problem with the timeline. A native Russian might have known what was going on, but I hadn't even realised that the war was over until it was blatantly mentioned.

I'm surprised that such lawlessness was allowed to fester in the days of Stalin. It seemed really open too. People were getting hurt, killed and robbed all over the place and nothing much seemed to happen to them.

The story got a bit saggy after the first couple of episodes but then picked up for the final four or five. Even so, one had to suspend one's sense of reality at some of the shenanigans the two main characters were pulling - and getting away with them.

The love stories were not too convincing. There were two coups de foudre from the two main female characters that did not seem true to life.

I did not foresee the ending and it was a shocker. It was very ambiguous as a morality tale because crime paid for some and not for others. And those for whom crime had paid were not necessarily the most sympathetic of the bunch.

All in all, I don't regret seeing this. But I didn't binge watch. This was more a series to watch an episode when one was at a loose end.