Why you need to watch the comedy thriller "Run" from the authors of "Killing Eve"

Very soon, HBO will air a new comedy thriller series called Run. It was invented and produced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the creator of The Roommates, Trash and Killing Eve, whose name is a must-know for anyone interested in contemporary cinema. Russian viewers will be able to see the show from April 13 in the Amediateka online service.

The life of a young woman named Ruby Richardson is a series of monotonous and bleak days. But everything changes when the heroine receives a message from ex-boyfriend Billy with only one word: "Run." After that, Ruby, without a shadow of a doubt, gets on a train and, together with her former lover (now a famous life coach), sets off on a journey without a destination. True, very soon it turns out that Billy has something to hide, and the trip, which began as a harmless adventure, turns into a uniform hell.

Waller-Bridge's signature humor and overflowing emotions

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's projects are unique in that they present the viewer to shivering believable heroines who can be rude, sexually preoccupied, or just act rather immoral. Simply because they are, first of all, people, which means they are not impeccable. It is for this reason that it is easy for many to discern themselves in these women.

Awkward, sharp-tongued Ruby Richardson, brilliantly performed by Merritt Weaver, fits perfectly into the gallery of these amazing characters. The heroine is changeable, tends to swim against the current and act impulsively. But at the same time, it remains alive and close to the viewer thanks to Waller-Bridge's trademark humor, which causes the effect of awkward recognition. The beholder laughs not only at the woman feverishly pouring dry shampoo on her head before the most important meeting in her life, but at the ridiculous situation that everyone understands.

Like the previous work of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her longtime friend, playwright and director Vicki Jones, the series teeters on the edge of the funny, the sad, and the outspoken. But this time the project turned out to be more sensual than ever. The chemistry between the characters Merritt Weaver and Donal Gleason is overwhelmingly compelling, and subtly accentuated by the muted colors and thoughtful close-ups more characteristic of independent cinema.

At the same time, the series does not slide into melodrama due to the maximum down-to-earthness and honesty: trying to have sex, Ruby and Billy demonstrate miracles of awkwardness, and the bodies of the characters are far from perfect.

The tragedy of late growing up and the search for freedom

Even when they do rash things, the characters are obviously deeply unhappy on the inside. This reminds them of the teenagers from the series "The End of the *** World" and "Wayne". True, the heroes of Waller-Bridge are no longer teenagers, but typical millennials slightly over 30, funny and tragic, grown up, but not matured.

Ruby rushes between the desire to escape from a hateful relationship and responsibility, so for several episodes she nervously checks the phone, bursting with messages and calls from a worried husband. Billy, on the other hand, is not ready to fully accept the fact that his ex-lover is bound by much more serious obligations than he thought.

As a result, the escape from reality turns for the heroes to know and accept each other as they really are. Which in the end may turn out to be even more difficult than extricating oneself from the intriguing scrape in which the characters find themselves in the finale of the fifth series.

Genre game

Anyone who watches the series at least until the fifth episode will surely notice how clearly the genre substitution worked. The show begins as a tragicomedy, events develop smoothly and do not bode well. However, a single plot twist is enough for "Run" to turn, albeit into a very chamber, but still a thriller. So it will be interesting to see the denouement of the first season, but how exactly it will end is anyone's guess.

At times, the 30-minute episodes confuse the viewer with the speed of the narrative, but this is even good, because it keeps the motivation to look further. But most importantly, the new project of the tandem Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicki Jones, as expected, turned out to be a treasure trove of brilliant conversational humor.