# Better Than Us (2018)

> A Moscow forensic investigator with a robot assistant is pulled into the first murder committed by an experimental humanoid in a near-future city.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/71865

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 16
- Episode runtime: 51 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: science fiction, drama, mystery
- Created by: Andrey Dzhunkovskiy
- Network: Channel One
- Cast: Paulina Andreeva, Kirill Käro, Olga Lomonosova, Vitaliya Kornienko, Eldar Kalimulin, Vera Kincheva, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Irina Tarannik
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8285216/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: cerebral, somber, tense, unsettling, melancholic

## What critics say

Viewers broadly find it a well-acted, intriguing Russian science fiction drama with strong visuals and well-developed characters, rated positively by its audience.

## Synopsis

Better Than Us (2018-2019) is a Russian science fiction drama series created by Andrey Dzhunkovskiy and broadcast on Channel One. Set in a not so distant future Moscow where people share their daily lives with robots, it follows Georgy Safronov (Kirill Käro), a forensic investigator who relies on a robot assistant at work. When a murder is committed by a new kind of experimental humanoid, Georgy is drawn into the case, and the investigation pushes him to question what separates a machine from a person. Arisa (Paulina Andreeva) stands at the center of the unsettling mechanics of the case, while Georgy's family life, including Alla Safronova (Olga Lomonosova) and Egor Safronov (Eldar Kalimulin), grounds the story in domestic tension. The series unfolds as a single sixteen-episode season that builds a continuing mystery, with each episode peeling back another layer of the crime and of the society that has learned to live alongside its machines. Its tone is cerebral and somber, with a cold, polished visual palette and a sense of quiet dread about technology slipping past human control. Fans of Humans, Westworld and Black Mirror will find resonance in its blend of procedural suspense and philosophical unease about artificial life.

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