Ewan McGregor’s Life is Getting Quite Tedious in ‘A Gentleman in Moscow’
We’ve been stuck up with Count Alexander Rostov (Ewan McGregor) at the Metropol Hotel for a decade now on A Gentleman in Moscow—or, in our own time, four episodes—and everything is starting to get quite monotonous. Alexander and Anna (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) are still sneaking around. The Count now has a gig at the hotel restaurant waiting tables. Other than that, it’s all the same old, same old.
Alexander finds little ways to fill his days with a new sense of whimsy. He keeps up with the roof, tends to Abram’s (Dermot Crowley) bees, and also tries to help lead chef Emile (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) flirt with Marina (Leah Harvey). Meanwhile, security guard Osip (Johnny Harris) has been pestering the Count for new details on Mishka (Fehiniti Balogun), who has been rabble rousing a little too hard these days. Osip and Alexander describe their budding friendship in Les Mis terms: Like Javert and Jean Valjean, Osip doesn’t like having to follow Alex around–but it’s his life’s purpose.
Most of this week’s episode deals with Mishka’s continued violent resistance against Stalin’s country. He’s upset that Russia’s people—the exact folks he originally fought for—are starving. What was the point of locking up rich people like Alexander if they’re the only 0nes who can eat nowadays?