Chicks

Sveta, Marina and Lyuba work as prostitutes in a small southern township. Their friend Zhanna, who got a chance for a better life, comes back from Moscow with a plan — she wants to open a local gym. Together girls decide to abandon prostitution and start legal business, but their dream to become free, happy and independent will come at a cost.

Chicks (2020) is a Russian drama miniseries created for STS, more.tv and Wink. Across eight episodes of roughly 47 minutes each, it follows Sveta (Irina Nosova), Marina (Alyona Mikhaylova) and Lyuba (Varvara Shmykova), three women working as prostitutes in a small southern township. Their engine is a plan brought back from Moscow by their friend Janna (Irina Gorbacheva), who wants to open a local gym and, in doing so, lift the group out of street work and into a legal business. Each episode puts their fragile ambitions against the pressures of a provincial town where money is scarce, police attention is a constant threat through the policeman Yuri (Anton Lapenko), and old obligations keep pulling them back. The series mixes gritty, unflinching realism with dark humor and warm loyalty between the women, so the mood swings between bleak and hopeful. It is a single-season, self-contained limited run with a character-driven arc rather than a case-of-the-week format. Fans of Orange Is the New Black, Insatiable and Fargo will find resonance in its female-led ensemble, its blend of bitter comedy and social hardship, and its portrait of people fighting for a second chance in a place that offers little.

• Insatiableshared female ensemble drama about marginalized women pursuing independence against hard circumstances
• Fargoshared gritty small town crime-adjacent drama with dark comedic undertones and working class women
• Orange Is the New Blackshared women-led dramedy about friendship, ambition and moral compromise in a provincial setting

Release Date

2020-06-04

Episode runtime

47 min

Rating

7.6 / 10 (24)

What is Chicks about?

Three women in a small southern Russian township try to leave prostitution and build a legal gym business, but their dream of freedom comes at a cost.

What is Chicks like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Chicks as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.

Is Chicks violent?

Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Chicks as moderate.

Which shows are like Chicks?

Shows with a similar feel include Insatiable, Fargo, and Orange Is the New Black.

How long is Chicks?

Chicks: 1 season, 8 episodes.

Is Chicks still running?

No, Chicks has ended.