The series “Poor Oligarch”: will the comedy have a season 2

Russian TV channels premiered the final episode of The Poor Oligarch, a series that has already gained fame as the most relevant domestic show in the era of Western sanctions. We tell about the deep meanings of the story about the impoverished rich man, the reasons for its popularity and hints at the second season in our new material.

The plot of the series “Poor Oligarch”

Poor Oligarch is a Russian comedy show about a wealthy businessman who finds himself penniless on the streets due to Western sanctions. The project started at the end of July, and on August 23 the finale of the first season was released. At the same time, in almost a month, he managed to break into the top 5 most popular domestic series of this summer, losing in the race only to Major, Close Gestalt and Two Hills.

The plot revolves around Viktor, an oligarch who for many years has exchanged his native Russian expanses for a comfortable penthouse in the center of London and a whole network of foreign businesses. He has everything: a collection of expensive things, cars, yachts, luxurious mansions in the most beautiful cities in the world. And most importantly, he has a faithful valet Adam, who is ready to follow his master even into the fire, even into the water.

It seemed that Victor could live happily ever after until the end of his days, but fate decreed otherwise. One day, not the most beautiful day, the oligarch wakes up and finds out that he has lost everything: the British government froze his accounts, seized his property, and his consultants and lawyers fled in horror, fearing criminal prosecution. Now he is stuck without money in a foreign country and there is no one to wait for help from. Only the faithful Adam did not abandon him at a difficult hour. Together they will try to do everything possible to earn some extra money: they will become taxi drivers, arrange an underground poker tournament and even try to rob a bank.

The author of the idea of ​​a series on such a topical topic was Sarik Andreasyan, the director of Goodbye America, The Damned Official and the infamous The Defenders. According to Andreasyan, a good idea can sometimes come from the most ordinary news: “At first, of course, we laughed at our poor oligarchs. And then when the stories started coming out that they couldn’t live on $3,000, this great idea started to come together. We have a group of screenwriters who began to think that if we make a series about a disgraced oligarch who is trying to get money. Here already any talented producer will feel good material for a comedy.

Actors: soloist Vladimir Sychev and Maxim Lagashkin

The cast of the project for the most part turned out to be quite modest. But in the title role you can see Vladimir Sychev himself. Many viewers probably know him from the crime comedies “Welcome to the Family” and “BOOMERANG”. And about the “Poor Oligarch”, Sychev says that this story has much more deep meaning than it might seem at first glance: “First of all, this is a comedy. Everything is filmed with humor, however – our story actually has a deep subtext. My character, finding himself in such circumstances, understands that everyone who surrounded him was with him for the sake of money. And the only real friend is the butler.”

The role of Adam’s faithful servant went to Maxim Lagashkin, who not so long ago became famous in Russia thanks to the TV series “Beetles” and the films “Desperate Interest-Investors” and “Faberge’s Egg”.

However, in terms of actors in secondary roles, the show really has nothing to brag about. Here you can only meet not-so-famous performers who have managed to somehow light up in no more than one or two projects: Ola Keiru (“Own War. Storm in the Desert”), Karen Arutyunova (“A Gift with Character”) , Grigory Danzinger (“Twice Two”) and many others.

Viewer reviews

Most viewers speak of The Poor Oligarch quite positively, although no one has yet turned their tongues to call it ideal.

The authors of the reviews praise the project primarily for its sense of humor. All the troubles that the oligarch gets into are well written, full of sparkling jokes, and most importantly – very relevant. A good script is only strengthened by the acting of Vladimir Sychev and Maxim Lagashkin. This couple not only shine in their on-screen looks but also look great together, their scenes together are probably the best thing to see in The Poor Oligarch. Also, many noted that the short duration of the season allows the show to properly reveal itself and at the same time does not allow it to completely drown in self-repetitions.

And the main disadvantage of the series, almost all viewers called the incredible tiring monotony. Each series is built according to approximately the same scheme, and the authors clearly did not want to diversify it in any way, even closer to the finale. That same praise for the short duration actually arose from the fact that if the show had lasted for the standard 20-25 episodes for such projects per season, then many would have simply abandoned it in the middle. Perhaps the team will be able to correct the situation in the sequel, but so far we have what we have.

When will The Poor Oligarch season 2 come out?

The last episode of the series about the rich man under sanctions was released on Russian TV channels on August 23, as a result, the season consists of 10 episodes of 20 minutes each. No official information about the continuation has been received yet, but Sarik Andreasyan hopes that it will still take place: “We, as true producers of good content, want the series to be many. Moreover, we left the intrigue for entering the second season. But if everything works out, then it will be a completely different story, perhaps with old characters, but definitely in new scenery.

There is no even an approximate time window in which season 2 could come out yet. But, given the speed of production of the first season, which was made in less than six months, we can assume that we will be able to see the sequel as early as 2023, most likely in its second half.