IR TV Review: A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW - EPISODE 5 (“An Arrival”) [Showtime/Paramount+]

The context of fate comes to bear in an idea of how life functions. With the end of Episode 4 of "A Gentleman In Moscow, Count Rostov was faced with an essence of duty and how to move forward. For a man of society and throughout his life, Rostov seemed only responsible for himself (though he tortures himself in the context of if he could have saved his sister).The same happens in a way with Nina's daughter Sofia whom the former left with Rostov as she sought to find her husband in Siberia. The transgression of Episode 5: "An Arrival" is bittersweet because it shows how Rostov learns to care for the girl like a father, like he had done for her mother, even though he believes he is not up to the task. Rostov likely believes he could have worked harder to save the mother from her own tendencies. What is interesting is that this episode also parallels this with Anna (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

There is a certain realization that softens her a bit and her assistant/caretaker. It is a very interesting transmutation which also extends to a younger actress who has started to take her roles. The idea of what this kind of Russia needs to be or is becoming keeps changing. There is a transmutation slightly also of Oslip (Johnny Harris) as well specifically in one scene where he and Rostov discuss a book and another situation comes to bear. This episode continues on in 1938 as the Nazis push into Russia. The series smartly shows the idea all within the hotel which is the whole build of the story, except in certain instances. The narrator also shifts in a certain ways in what it was planning to show. Eventually, Rostov has to take a stand but must be selfless in a certain way, which is specifically his journey, should he choose to embrace it. There are roadblocks coming again for sure but holding on to those things he holds dear is the only way for Rostov to survive. B

By Tim Wassberg