Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 changed Russia forever. The royal family was executed. The aristocracy was eradicated. The Bolsheviks seized power and Russia—in name if not in practice—was given to her people.
Unless, of course, you happened to be one of the people who stood against the revolutionaries.
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov left Russia for Paris in 1914, before all these events took place. He came back in order to whisk his grandmother away to England, where she’d be safe.
But instead of going with her to safety, Rostov stayed. For all the changes being made, Russia was still his country. He was still loyal to her.
So they can take away his house—which was burned to the ground. They can take away his rooms—Rostov is forcibly removed from Suite 317 of the Metropol Hotel and banished to the former servants’ quarters in the drafty attic.
But they cannot take away who he is: A proud son of Russia.
Rostov’s new living conditions are considerably less than ideal. He’s allowed to keep a few minor possessions, and the hotel agrees to provide free room and board. But his money is repossessed, his citizenship is revoked, and his title is unceremoniously censored.
That said, the man never stops being a gentleman. He treats the hotel staff with dignity. He avoids foul language. And even when he’s treated with disrespect, mocked and ridiculed, he refuses to lose hope. He chooses to rise above his circumstances. And he even thanks the ones mistreating him for carrying out their duties with “the greatest courtesy available to you.”
The show, unfortunately, isn’t always quite so gentle. Although the first episode is void of harsh language, violence is prevalent. Many people, including a close friend of Rostov, are killed for alleged “crimes” against Russia. Threats are issued against others—especially Rostov, who is told under no uncertain circumstances that if he sets one foot outside the hotel, he’ll be killed.
Later episodes continue in this vein, adding in brief nudity (a man’s bare backside as he dresses after having sex with a woman, whom we see covered by a sheet) and some parties with heavy drinking.
Essentially, A Gentleman in Moscow is about what you’d expect from other period dramas, such as the much-lauded Downton Abbey. However, that doesn’t mean it gets a perfect score.
Count Rostov is stripped of title and fortune before being sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol Hotel.
We hear about many royals and aristocrats who were convicted of alleged crimes against Russia and killed. (Rostov overhears a plot to convict and kill several people without evidence.) Rostov is spared because he was credited with authoring a revolutionary poem. However, one of his friends (a former prince) is killed after forging documents that would allow him and Rostov to escape the country.
Several aristocrats, including Rostov, are manhandled by soldiers. They tear apart Rostov’s room at one point, searching for evidence of criminal activity. And Rostov is told that he’ll be killed if he leaves the hotel for any reason.
Flashbacks show Rostov’s home burning to the ground. His grandmother is calmly sitting inside, but he convinces her to flee. These scenes also show the aftermath of a duel, with a dead body lying in the background. A woman present has a torn dress, suggestive of some form of assault. And another scene shows the funeral of Rostov’s parents, where a priest presides.
Rostov has a standing appointment with the hotel’s barber. When he shows up late one afternoon, the barber allows Rostov to keep the appointment even though another man has been waiting. Furious, the man threatens to slice Rostov’s throat with a pair of sheers until Rostov and the barber relent.
Soldiers interrupt a concert and smash a violinist’s instrument before arresting him. An angry chef throws glass dishes onto the floor.
People smoke and drink throughout the episode. Rostov recounts a time where he “might’ve uttered a curse.” Nina, a young girl staying at the hotel, asks Rostov about duels, stating that a woman “is always involved.” Rostov tells her the reality isn’t quite so romantic though. And later, Nina asks Rostov if he receives “illicit love letters,” to which he replies he does.
The terms of Rostov’s house arrest grant him room and board but strip him of finances. As such, he’s evicted from his comfortable suite and forced to stay in the former servants’ quarters in the hotel’s drafty attics.
A waiter at the hotel treats Rostov poorly after learning he used to be a count. (And we hear other folks denounce the aristocracy.) He complains that some staff members still call Rostov “Your Excellency,” and he reports Rostov and another man for trying to escape (resulting in the other man’s death).
Nina says her mother is dead and that her father always works. She seems to have free run of the hotel, sneaking through hidden passages into locked rooms. Rostov hides some gold in his desk. A man purchases forged documents to escape Russia.
Rostov tries to maintain a positive attitude—and he encourages a friend in a similar situation to himself—but as time goes on, we can see the toll his house arrest takes on his spirit.
A woman who works at the hotel collects food scraps from guest plates in order to make meals for her young son.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
