"Just imagine what we know": is it worth watching a new series with Evgeny Stychkin

KinoPoisk HD released a four-episode series dedicated to one of the most topical media topics of recent times - Telegram news channels. The project "Just Imagine What We Know" was created by the director Roman Volobuev, already noted for the popular "The Last Minister", together with newcomers Mila Prosvirina and Ilya Malanin.

The plot tells about Bella, Irina and Ksyusha (Anfisa Chernykh, Rina Grishina, Ekaterina Fedina), who host the PPChMZ Telegram channel. One of them witnesses the suicide of a man on the bridge. By coincidence, the girls decide that the well-known journalist Yevgeny Malyshev (Yevgeny Stychkin) has died. They publish the news and their channel is gaining incredible popularity.

But it turns out that Malyshev is alive. The man is returning from London to Moscow, and so it coincides that it is his new investors who appoint the editor of PPChMZ. But the working methods of old and new journalists are completely different, and it is difficult for them to find a common language.

An up-to-date slice of the era

Perhaps it was the participation of young screenwriters that made the project more topical. Still, "The Last Minister" looked too soft for political satire, and the jokes in it were outdated by the time it was released.

The series can be considered a kind of slice of time. In the spring of 2020 (at the time of filming), they were just joking about the pandemic and the future quarantine, and they planned to finally block Telegram by the summer elections. All these topics, regularly skipping against the background of major events, will now cause a sarcastic grin, and in a few years, I would like to believe, - a kind smile.

Well, in the center of the plot is the clash of two worlds: journalism of the 2000s (and somewhere even the nineties) and the new wave. Moreover, the authors have no attempt to take someone else's position, everyone is equally doing stupid things. Twenty-year-old girls have not yet realized their responsibility to readers. And Malyshev easily shows how a journalist should work with facts and rumors.

On the other hand, he cannot get used to the fact that the media (although Telegram channels are not considered as such) can be completely independent and write for the sake of readers.

Shot from the series "Just Imagine What We Know"

With a seemingly common goal, the two generations have exactly opposite methods of work. And “Just Imagine What We Know” is a series about trying to find a balance between classic and modern.

This topic is really relevant and important. Moreover, the stories the girls tackle seem to come from the current news: a teacher-rapist, HIV-dissidents, banks with problem loans. And in the very fate of the channel, one can feel a reference to the famous Mash.

But if you dig a little deeper, it turns out that the authors are just playing with the form, not thinking too much about the content.

Internal kitchen only for "friends"

The project "Just Imagine What We Know" is structured in such a way that all journalists want to praise it right away. Just because the show is exactly about them. A growing startup that is actually huddled on the second floor of a strip club will seem familiar to many. Or big bosses who do not want to accept the new orders and may well do so, since they still have the money.

It is not difficult even to calculate the real prototypes of many on-screen characters. Although more often they are written off not from one person, but from different media personalities. And for greater relevance, real journalists, bloggers and other famous people flicker on the screen every now and then: from Ekaterina Shulman to Volobuev himself.

However, behind all the reasoning, unexpected turns, mixing melodrama almost with a thriller, there are too simple thoughts. In fact, the main ideas of the series can be summed up in a few sentences. Young journalists need to be fact-checking and accountable. Those who worked in the nineties and zero need to get used to the new format of the media. Anyway, it's better to be honest than corrupt.

Sometimes these thoughts are voiced so deliberately that the words of the editor of the Daily Planet from Batman v Superman come to mind: “And to other important news: 'The water is wet.'

In addition, the project is being promoted precisely as the history of Telegram channels - “the last stronghold of freedom,” as one of the heroes would say. In fact, they flicker only in the background rather to attract attention than to complete the plot. It is known Just imagine that we know (TV series 2020 -…) that the series was originally intended to be called "Clickbait". Mentioning a relevant topic in all advertising looks like this clickbait. And the story is about something else.

Melodrama instead of social

Just Imagine What We Know is best treated as a regular production drama with a lot of melodramatic lines. It was even filmed in a very chamber style: most of the action takes place in several rooms in the neon light so beloved by Russian authors.

And if we regard the plot simply as the story of people who are trying to break through in this life and remain themselves, then the series seems quite interesting. Indeed, in parallel with the career and professional growth of Bella, Irina and Ksyusha, the story of Malyshev unfolds, who for the first time in many years wanted to do something new.

Heroes inevitably cheat, swear with each other and immediately forgive. Everyone has a love interest, and always with their own difficulties: from homosexual relationships and friendly sex to an affair with a government official. And the final plot twist balances on the verge of social satire and banal melodrama.

“Just imagine what we know” is much easier than it seems. This is just a story about people who understand themselves. But the attempt to make it sharp and unexpectedly reveal the world of journalism looks too naive and enticing. For those who are not interested in this topic, and even more so who do not use Telegram, the ideas will seem alien. And the rest have long known everything that they are supposedly told in secret from the screen.