Epidemic season 2 looks like a new series. And it's very interesting

The Epidemic series started on the Premier streaming service in 2019 and quickly gained popularity among Russian viewers. The second wave of fame came a year later, when the project appeared on Netflix. Then it was noticed by users of the service around the world: "Epidemic" for two weeks held outThe Russian TV series Epidemic entered the top 10 best Netflix shows / Rossiyskaya Gazeta in the top views and even entered the list of the most viewed foreign TV series.

The project is based on Yana Wagner's novel Vongozero. Therefore, when information about the renewal for the new season appeared, many suggested that the continuation would be a film adaptation of the author's next novel, Living People.

However, there is very little movement in the book. Therefore, the second season is a completely new story, which the project's permanent screenwriter Roman Kantor wrote from scratch. In addition, at "

EpidemicsThe director has also changed. Pavel Kostomarov, who directed the first season, left the show and took up the film "Bansu". He was replaced by Dmitry Tyurin, who had previously filmed Trigger.

Such changes have benefited the series. According to the first episode, the sequel may even seem like a separate project. But it seems that the authors decided to simply add new heroes and expand the format a bit.

Other stories in the same world

The first season was about the unknown virusthat covered Russia. The eyes of the sick people turn white, they begin to cough, and after a few days they die (it is worth recalling that the Epidemic was filmed before the start of the spread of COVID‑19). The main character Sergey, together with his relatives and the family of a neighbor, got out of Moscow to go to a refuge in Karelia.

But here you don’t even have to remind how their story ended, so as not to upset readers with spoilers. After all, in the first episode of the continuation, the main characters only flicker at the very beginning, and then return before the credits to join the plot again.

The main action is devoted to the former commando Zhenya (one of the most sought-after actors of recent years, Yura Borisov). Together with other enforcers, he destroyed the infected, but then refused to carry out a dubious order. After a fight with the boss, the wounded Zhenya gets to the cottage.

Four friends settled there: the aggressive owner Taras (Nikita Yelenev), his girlfriend Alena (Victoria Klinkova), an acquaintance Ezis (Askar Ilyasov) and Sonya (Julia Jendrossek), who came from Germany. They live in seclusion, feeding on supplies from the pantry, and try to ignore what is happening around them. But the appearance of Zhenya disrupts life.

The start of the second season of Epidemic hints that the series is expanding its boundaries. In the project, there have been moments in which they talked about other characters before. But now the main characters disappear for an hour.

Of course, the storylines will converge further, but at a press conference, director Dmitry Tyurin said that there will be much more experiments with genres in the sequel. The first episode resembles a chamber drama or thriller. And then they will show horror, action-thriller and much more.

There are fears that this will destroy the integrity of the series. But, on the other hand, this approach allows you to add a lot of surprises and not get hung up on some topics.

Heroes with the prospect of development

According to the director's original idea, the episode was supposed to come out in the middle of the season. The audience would be shown a small spin-off about new characters, and then returned to the main events. But when Yura Borisov was invited to the project, the idea changed. They decided to make Zhenya one of the main characters of the season, and therefore the order of the episodes became different.

Character Borisova and the truth looks the most interesting. The actor again appears in the image of a fair shirt-guy, but this feature of him will become an important component of the plot. The hero perceives the world easier than those around him, and shows that the most accessible components are needed for happiness: unity with nature, sincere feelings.

At the same time, Zhenya is not allowed to turn into a conductor of banal truths of his hidden oddities. Already in the opening scene, he shows inadequate cruelty. And the hero constantly sees his dead brother and talks to him.

Alas, it cannot be said that the rest of the new characters immediately look full-fledged. They are more like a collection of clichés. Taras is a typical operetta villain and abuser, Alena is an insecure girl who is trying to find protection. And the scene where the German Sonya apologizes to the Russians for the Second World War turned out to be completely shameful.

But it’s hardly worth carving at such an approach, you just need to wait for the continuation. In the first season, the pilot episode also only superficially introduced the characters, their characters were revealed later. Although now there is a possibility that only Borisov will be left of the newcomers, and the rest will be quickly forgotten.

Given the announced diversity of genres, it is possible that viewers will continue to see such spin-offs in the future. They promise the appearance of a certain shaman with a tambourine, which will be played by Daria Ekamasova. An unusual hut was built for this character. The authors even note that they invited a real shaman for consultations.

This seems like a good idea. In the first season, the main characters have already passed many tests, so if you continue to talk only about them, it is easy to go into self-repetitions and too far-fetched turns.

Beautiful shots on the verge of vulgarity

The visuals for the first season of Epidemic were mixed. On the one hand, the camera work favorably distinguished the project from many simple series. On the other hand, the camera sometimes shot from strange angles, for example, from the trunk of a car. This is unusual, but sometimes it seems like an overkill, as if the creators lose the line between beauty and bad taste.

In continuation, the approach does not change. Already in the introduction, good work with extras is noticeable, but in the fight scene in the car, the editing seems to be going off mind: gluing goes literally every second, showing the car from above, below, from the passenger compartment and even from under wheels.

In the main part of the episode, the approach is slightly simpler, yet the action takes place in the same house. But here, too, the creators are trying to somehow surprise, sometimes shooting from above, sometimes using a manual subjective camera, sometimes giving out long general plans of nature.

Alas, sometimes taste betrays the director and cameraman. Flashing and close-ups almost sway, and the emphasis on naked and semi-naked bodies are simply superfluous. Moreover, when for the first time Taras's strange habit of photographing his girlfriend naked and crying is shown, it looks like an interesting accent. But it is not clear why repeat the scene again.

The authors of the series said that in the following episodes they worked a lot in unusual locations. Filming took place in Karelia, in particular in the Ruskeala park, as well as in the Sablinsky caves in the Leningrad region. So the scenery will definitely be impressive. The main thing is that the entire visual range remains at the proper level.

Based on the first series, especially built as a spin-off, it is difficult to judge the prospects for the entire season. But she proves that Epidemic, even after the change of director, retains the same level: the project is unusually and interestingly filmed, although there are some shortcomings. It is only important that after returning to the main plot, the series does not turn into a set of tortured clichés about familiar characters. Then the second season might even surpass the first.

Thanks to the "Kinoclub" of the site Kinoafisha.info for the press screening and interviews with the creators of the series.