A Gentleman in Moscow is based on the novel by Amor Towles.
Set in the early 1920s after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The aristocratic Count Alexander Rostov (Ewan McGregor) is spared the death penalty by the Bolsheviks.
All because of a poem he once wrote that was sympathetic to the workers.
Now a court has sentenced Rostov to the Metropol Hotel in Moscow. It is in effect house arrest. He cannot leave and he is thrown out of his plush suite. Rostov is thrown into a small decrepit room but he gets full board.
Rostov needs to adjust to his new life inside the hotel in a new Russia where the dwindling aristocracy is the enemy. If he steps outside of the hotel, he will be shot.
The first episode has Rostov plotting with another minor aristocrat, now working as a musician at the hotel to escape.
Although Rostov is later told by the hotel manager. That the plush Metropol is allowed to operate because the Bolsheviks can keep an eye on its bourgeoise guests.
The hotel set built on a sound stage in a Manchester studio was suitably lavish. I found a lot of the photography was murky and dark. Location shooting was a mixture of northern towns and green screen. It does look cheap as the darkness is meant to hide the CGI.
As for the black and asian characters in the series. That was a stylistic choice by the producers and unlike others, I do not have an issue with it.
I did find the first episode was weak. After the initial set up, it was basically Rostov forming some kind of loose plan to escape. It just was not fully thought through.