While the first season has a surreal feel in its comedic take on the Soviet era, the second season is truly surreal in its depiction of an imaginary Soviet present. Americans are defecting to USSR, and only the Japanese are rich enough to pay for smuggled art. Soviet science can cure cancer and rejuvenate people, but Soviet products are as bulky as ever, as Mikhail finds when he is handed a "pocket phone" with a number disc. Like in the first season, every episode comes with a crime mystery to solve, while Mikhail continues his obsessive chase for "Red" and tries figure out how to return to the 2011 that he calls home.
The Ukraine situation being what it is now (in November 2022), I just had to re-watch the both seasons, to get a glimpse into the Russian soul. Unfortunately, the series still leaves me feeling that life in Russia is too alien for me to "get" every reference, to really understand which detail is just comedy, which is a political jab, and so on. But political it is, and I would be surprised if this series is not censored in today's Russia.
The Ukraine situation being what it is now (in November 2022), I just had to re-watch the both seasons, to get a glimpse into the Russian soul. Unfortunately, the series still leaves me feeling that life in Russia is too alien for me to "get" every reference, to really understand which detail is just comedy, which is a political jab, and so on. But political it is, and I would be surprised if this series is not censored in today's Russia.
