“Offline” – unexpectedly the best Russian series of the month

On August 4, the premiere of a new episode of the Russian series Offline took place on streaming platforms, which in just a couple of weeks managed to gain incredible popularity among the domestic audience. We will tell you why the public fell in love with the series about anonymity on the Internet, why Efremov took on the role of a “two-faced comrade” and when new episodes will be released.

The plot of the series “Offline”

Offline is a Russian action-packed psychological detective thriller.

The story revolves around users of the BeHappy app. This is a secret darknet program that helps users to secretly buy drugs. One day, a hacker nicknamed Anonymous manages to hack into the application’s customer base and steal all their personal data. He offers his victims a choice: they can either publicly admit that they used the application, which means not only destroy their reputation, but also receive a fair punishment under the law, or they can take part in a survival game, each task in which could cost them their lives. Several daredevils agree to the game and enter into a life-and-death confrontation with the evil genius.

The central character in this story is Rust, the creator of BeHappy, who also ended up in the game due to a hack in the application. This character is rather contradictory and, one might even say, two-faced. On the one hand, he has a family, friends and legal work, and on the other hand, a drug business that brings him incredible wealth. With his business, he breaks people’s lives and at the same time sometimes helps the police catch other drug dealers. His wife is seriously ill, and he needs money for treatment, but he wants to get this money by getting many others hooked on addiction.

Actors of the series “Offline”

Of course, the main star of the series, according to all the reviews of the audience, was Nikita Efremov, who played the same Rasta. According to Efremov, he was faced with the task of making such a character that would cause the public some disgust, but at the same time sympathy because of the life situation around him. The actor himself calls his hero simply “two-faced comrade.” The actor tells about his experience of working on Offline:

“I immediately liked this whole story. It is connected with the Darknet – this is a rather complicated and, it seems to me, a relevant topic. It was interesting for me to delve into why this character, what he wants. Most likely, as I assume, he wants some kind of recognition.

Also on the central roles in the series you can see Denis Shvedov, who became famous thanks to the films of Yuri Bykov “Major” and “The Plant”, Nikita Kologrivogo, the star of the recent series “Zhiza” and “Two Hills”, Polina Maksimova, whom many could see in the film “Without me” and many others.

Offline was directed by Kirill Pletnev. Previously, he had already worked on such films as “Burn”, “Mom” and the same “Without Me”. He attributes the success of his new project solely to the professionalism of his team:

“We had a strong script, great actors, a great cinematographer and a great composer. Therefore, nothing prevented us from making a great movie.”

Viewer reviews for the first episodes

The audience was delighted with those episodes that they had already watched. In addition to the already mentioned Efremov, they liked the dynamics of the series. The action in the show does not stop for a minute, and the camera moves very quickly, following the characters.

Others also noted the very relevant message of the show: in the modern world, the issues of anonymity and the security of personal data have become especially acute, which is why the series looks incredibly relevant. It explores the themes of satisfying one’s lower desires through the Web and the moral principles of preserving the anonymity of criminals: is it worth sacrificing the principles of equality on the Internet in order to punish the guilty, or is it not?

Finally, almost everyone praised the excellent work on the script. Each episode leaves you insanely suspenseful with the expected cliffhanger, and the story is full of detective mysteries that fans try to solve on their own in between episodes.

Understanding the reasons for the popularity of the series is really easy. The point here is not at all the mastery of technical execution, because the Russian film industry has proved quite a long time ago that in this respect it can compete with the leading cinematographic powers of the world. The reason for the success of “Offline” is now really seen, as some viewers correctly noted, precisely in the theme of the show. It, following its main characters, exists on the verge of secret and obvious, criminal and legal, visible and hidden. Rust has a big house and a good family, but we are also given a glimpse into the shadowy side of his personality. All the characters who use the application look like the most ordinary Russians, the middle class, but the series also helps to see what is hidden behind their mask of decency. Such a constant transition from the visible to the hidden and vice versa has always attracted the viewer, because it creates the feeling that a person can learn almost everything about another. And this, in turn, again plays on the theme of anonymity, including the viewer in the process of deploying the theme.

Release dates for the new Offline series

To date, 3 episodes out of the planned 10 are available on Russian streaming services. Release dates for all remaining episodes of the series:

August 11 – Episode 4

August 18 – Episode 5

August 25 – Episode 6

September 1 – Episode 7

September 8 – Episode 8

September 15 – Episode 9

September 22 – Episode 10

No word yet on the show’s prospects for a second season.