Time travel and loneliness beyond time The concept of the series is very original: the main character throws in parallel realities, while from childhood she is pursued by a maniac who leaves cuts on his victims in the form of an inverted cross - a symbol of Satanists. The word "Satanism" is not pronounced in the series, only mentioning that the marks on the bodies "can have both religious and anti-religious meanings." Well, well.
It all began with the mention of a certain “shining”, when it was hinted that the maniac wants to deprive the child of the energy radiance emanating from him, the very pure, bright aura that Stephen King had previously written about, and also what can be seen behind the scenes in the film “Dr. Sleep”. Depriving children of purity, inner light, like cutting off the wings of a bee – is this not a direct reference to Satanism? This is where the series begins. But Lauren Bukes did not dare to go so far, limiting herself to the victims of middle-aged girls. The original title of the series “Shining girls” or “Shining girls”. This series is based on her book of the same name.
The plot about the maniac and his victims is powdered with fiction, namely, movements in time and space. Parallel worlds of the first level are layered like a pie on top of each other, bringing some confusion and confusion into the lives of the heroes. You've all probably heard of the so-called Mandela Effect, where the surrounding stuff and content suddenly changes and no one can explain it, and half of the people even claim that it was in the beginning. The most striking examples of the effect: the famous phrase that Darth Vader says to his son Luke previously sounded like this: “Luke, I’m your father!” and hundreds of millions of people around the world remember this phrase exactly like this, moreover, there were interviews with actors and even voice actors who discussed this quote on the air of the then programs. But now in our reality, this quote does not exist, and it sounds: “No, I am your father!” You probably wouldn’t wear a “No, I’m your father” shirt. Sounds illogical and ridiculous, doesn't it? Soviet cinema did not bypass the effect, in many Soviet films the catchphrases changed. Suffice it to recall the famous phrase from the TV series "Guest from the future", when the main character sings the song: "I hear a voice from a beautiful distant, he calls me to wonderful lands." Now, in our reality, in which we all live, she sings, "I hear a voice from a beautiful faraway calling me to a land that is not paradise." There is a video where the singer Valeria sings to children about wonderful lands. There are similar Soviet-era videos. The phrase from the movie "Golden calf" sounded: "Drink, Shura, saw ... they are golden!". Every Soviet person knew her. Now it says, "Drink, Shura, saw." The phrase from the movie "Prisoner of the Caucasus" was: "In my house, I ask you not to express yourself," and now simply: "In my house, do not express yourself." There are plenty of examples. In addition, Nutella became monochrome, used to be striped. And the twin towers, on the contrary, became striped. And much more. The change in reality that is happening to us now is reflected in the series “Shining”, although there it acquires a much more significant scale for the characters.
At the end of the season, the personality of the maniac is revealed and even his motivation is explained, which, in my opinion, is of great importance in such stories. But for a film about a maniac, his murders are not creepy and elaborate enough, they are paid little attention. Even about the main, most important murder, defining the personality of the maniac, only told, but not shown. Such lightness is not combined with the general gloomy, oppressive, pessimistic atmosphere of the series. But the journalistic investigation of a series of murders paid much attention, even too much.
The thermonuclear Mandela effect, changing the reality of the main character right on the go – the original idea, which, in fact, I started watching “Shining”. Shining here are middle-aged women, who are attacked by a maniac, taking away their joy of life. However, basically everything revolves around the main character, with whom many viewers have already managed to get acquainted after watching the acclaimed series “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Once again, Elizabeth Moss plays the role of a male abuse victim. That the movie "Invisible" with her in the lead role, that the series with her participation. Admittedly, the role of a suffering victim may be the only one that suits her, in which the actress reveals herself as a fish that was released from a bucket into the open sea, salty as the tears that the heroines of Elizabeth Moss shed while suffering from gender injustice. In the series, all female actresses are selected so as not to “light up”, so that Elizabeth Moss does not look very bad against their background. The male characters are all a little “weird”, there is not a single “cool man” who could be sympathized with.
It would seem a little far-fetched looks when the characters already know that something bad will happen to them, but at the same time do not insure and behave unnecessarily carelessly. But now, the Mandela Effect comes into play again, and a parallel reality paints a new outcome.
Giving the viewer a seed at the beginning of the series, in the end, everything that happened was explained too simply and ordinary for a sophisticated viewer. But the whole story looks holistic, and watching the series was not boring. A big plus - almost all events occur in the early 90s. Calm, slow, a little dark, a little mysterious series. Not without cliches, social propaganda and understatement. And in the end, sad. For the first time, travel in time and space is represented not by something fascinating and desirable, but on the contrary, oppressive and dreary, pressing on the psyche of a person who, like a marmot, is forced to turn the wheel of events again and again, and there is no salvation from this, and only oblivion and death are ahead.
7 out of 10