''Better Than Us'' (russian: Лучше, чем люди, Luchshe, chem lyudi, literally ''Better than People'') is a 2018 Russian science fiction television series created by Andrey Junkovsky, about an advanced empathic android named Arisa. It stars

Paulina Andreeva Paulina Olegovna Andreeva (russian: link=no, Паулина Олеговна Андреева; born 12 October 1988) is a Russian actress. Her notable acting roles have included the Russian television series '' The Method'' (debut: 2015), and t ...

and Kirill Käro, as well as Aleksandr Ustyugov. It was produced by

Yellow, Black and White Yellow, Black and White (YBW) Group is a Russian company, engaged in TV shows, series and movies production. The main company's partner from 2008 to 2017 (in 2021 partnership was restored) is "STS" TV channel. In the period from 2018 till 2020 YBW ...

in cooperation with Sputnik Vostok Production for the Russian state channel C1R.

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

purchased it under the English title ''Better than Us'', and it is the first Russian series presented as a

Netflix original series Netflix is an American global Internet streaming-on-demand media provider that has distributed a number of original streaming television shows, including original series, specials, miniseries, and documentaries and films. Netflix's original pro ...

. On 16 August 2019, the first season of sixteen episodes became available to stream in Netflix markets outside of Russia and China. A second season of ten episodes is planned to begin filming in Moscow and Beijing in the third quarter of 2021.

Synopsis

The story takes place in 2029, in a world where

androids An android is a humanoid robot or other artificial being often made from a flesh-like material. Historically, androids were completely within the domain of science fiction and frequently seen in film and television, but advances in robot techno ...

serve humans in various positions, even replacing them in many menial jobs. An advanced robot named Arisa is imported to Russia from China discreetly, within the CRONOS corporation. Arisa accidentally kills a man who tries to use her as a

sex robot Sex robots or sexbots are anthropomorphic robotic sex dolls that have a humanoid form, human-like movement or behavior, and some degree of artificial intelligence. , although elaborately instrumented sex dolls have been created by a number of ...

, and then flees. Her ability to kill humans shows she does not abide by Asimov's

Three Laws of Robotics The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story " Runaround" (included in the 1950 colle ...

. Instead, she is designed to protect her family (which includes herself) by all means possible. She encounters a little girl (Sonia) and automatically bonds with her, making herself the child's guardian. The series follows three storylines: # that of Arisa and the family she adopts; # the family's son, Egor Safronov, and his girlfriend, Zhanna, as part of the anti-droid militant group called the "Liquidators"; # the secrets of Viktor Toropov, the head of CRONOS, as he tries to hide the fact that they are unable to make another Arisa. By the end, it is revealed that China's

one-child policy The term one-child policy () refers to a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. That initiative was part of a much br ...

has led to a critical shortage of marriageable women, so an engineer designed Arisa; she is programmed to be a wife to a man and mother to adopted children. However, her creator dies and Arisa is sold to the Russian robotics firm CRONOS.

Cast and characters

as Arisa, prototype of a new generation of empathetic bots * Kirill Käro as Georgy Safronov, pathologist, former surgeon, father to Egor and Sonya * Aleksandr Ustyugov as Viktor Toropov, CRONOS director

Family

Olga Lomonosova Olga Olegovna Lomonosova (russian: Ольга Олеговна Ломоносова; born 18 May 1978) is a Russian actress and former ballerina. She is best known for her roles as Kira Voropayeva in the television series '' Not Born Beautiful' ...

as Alla Safronova, Georgy's ex-wife *

Eldar Kalimulin Eldar may refer to: People * Eldar Abdulayev (born 1985), Kazakhstani ice hockey forward *Eldar Assanov (born 1974), Ukrainian freestyle wrestler * Eldar Ćivić (born 1996), Bosnian footballer * Eldar Djangirov (born 1987), American jazz piani ...

as Egor Safronov, Georgy and Alla's son * Vita Kornienko as Sonya Safronova, Georgy and Alla's daughter

CRONOS, Liquidators, and related

* Aleksandr Kuznetsov as Bars, bartender at Club Liquidators and Zhanna's brother * Vera Panfilova as Zhanna Barseneva, waitress at Bot.Net and Bars' sister * Fedor Lavrov as Gleb, a fixer on Toropov's payroll (CRONOS) and liaison to the Liquidators *

Sergey Sosnovsky Sergey Valentinovich Sosnovsky (russian: link=y, Серге́й Валенти́нович Сосно́вский; 1 January 1955 – 3 July 2022) was a Soviet and Russian actor. Awarded a People's Artist of Russia (2004), he appeared in 100 ...

as Alexey Stepanovich Losev, head of the State Duma Committee on

Cyber Security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

and Svetlana's father * Pavel Vorozhtsov as Igor Mikhailovich Maslovsky, head tech at CRONOS *

Irina Tarannik Irina (Cyrillic: Ирина) is a feminine given name of Ancient Greek origin, commonly borne by followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is derived from Eirene (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη), an ancient Greek goddess, personification of pe ...

as Svetlana Toropova, Viktor's wife *

Mariya Lugovaya Mariya Aleksandrovna Lugovaya (russian: Мария Александровна Луговая; born July 23, 1987) is a Russian actress and theater star, best known for playing Tasya Lapina in 2008 television series ''Ginger'', and her lead rol ...

as Larisa 'Lara' Kuras, a

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

helping the Liquidators, who is involved with Bars

Police

* Sergey Kolesnikov as Anatoly Vladimirovich Svetov, head of the police department on fighting

cybercrime A cybercrime is a crime that involves a computer or a computer network.Moore, R. (2005) "Cyber crime: Investigating High-Technology Computer Crime," Cleveland, Mississippi: Anderson Publishing. The computer may have been used in committing th ...

Kirill Polukhin Kirill Alekseevich Polukhin (russian: Кирилл Алексеевич Полухин; born 3 May 1969) is a Soviet and Russian film, stage, and television actor. Early life Polukhin was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint P ...

as Pavel Borisovich Varlamov, an investigator in the cybercrime department, a former employee of the homicide department * Viktoriya Korlyakova as Irina Plescheeva, a subordinate to Varlamov in the cybercrime department

Production

The filming of the television series began in 2016 and ended in 2018.

References

External links

*
''Better than Us''
on

{{Netflix original current series Androids in television 2018 Russian television series debuts 2010s Russian television series Russian-language Netflix original programming Existentialist television series Hard science fiction Philosophical fiction Robots in television Serial drama television series Television shows filmed in Moscow Transhumanism in television series Channel One Russia original programming Russian drama television series Russian science fiction television series Works set in Moscow Science fiction web series 2018 web series debuts