u/Ok-Bear6695

I really enjoyed season 1, to be completely honest. I’m a huge fan of Soviet history and the Soviet contributions to the space race specifically though the show is definitely not 100% historically accurate (I believe the broader timeline divulges AFTER season 1 takes place not before) for example the existence of gulags and regular talk about gulags would simply not have happened because Khrushchev abolished the gulag system in 1960, long before the show takes place. That’s the reason I binged all 8 episodes, very unique concept and overall I love it.

Going back to the topic at hand, Colonel Raskova in the show is characterized as a ruthless pragmatist with seemingly no allegiances but to herself. Sometimes her blood lust even backfires (for example attempting to immediately execute Valya when he was coming back to earth either way and completely fucking up the Venus mission eventually causing a huge PR disaster for Union which would ultimately land at her feet with the failure to capture Lakshmi). I feel like her character could’ve been handled much better and would’ve made her a much more interesting antagonist, my biggest issue is that she’s going about things in the way she is (ruthlessly) with no personal conviction behind it. Early in the show (can’t remember the exact episode) she reveals to Irina (unless im misunderstanding the scene) that she has no actual sympathies for the Soviet Union and doesnt even really believe in communism/Marxism-Leninism as a system. Especially with the background of her being a decorated world war 2 vet who fought voluntarily for her nation I think I’d be much more realistic and interesting for her to genuinely believe in the Soviet cause to an idealistic extent instead of just being an apathetic brute. It would rationalize her more drastic actions while also adding nuisance to her character. The show completely lacks people who really believe in anything asides Irina, almost everyone is in it for their own personal glory or self preservation Raskova could’ve filled this role in an interesting and nuisanced way. This also creates potential for her to have her own character development, she fought for a vision of a Union which no longer exists and the leader (Stalin) she fought for being thrown under the bus during the Khrushchev era. This could create an interesting internal dialectic between the nation she currently serves and her idealized vision of the one she grew up under and fought for.

Probably the biggest issue I have (2nd paragraph is just a minor nitpick about the writing of the show which ultimately isnt that important) is that Lyudmilla Raskova (Colonel Raskova) is based off a real person, very blatantly in fact. She’s based off of is Marina Raskova, a very real female Soviet pilot and pioneer of female aviation who died during the Battle of Stalingrad. For evidence of the intentionality of the direct inspiration the most obvious being the name, both were nightwitches, and both were Soviet war heroes. The only difference is that Lyudmilla Raskova (colonel Raskova) survived while her real life counterpart (Marina Raskova) died defending her nation, family, and ultimately all of us from a Nazi dominated world something that I think everyone can admire. I don’t think it’s appropriate to characterize a real war hero who is not documented to have committed any crimes at all or have been at all as a fictional villain who has no redeeming features and ruthlessly murders people for her own self interest. I understand why the writers would want to draw inspiration from real people, but the way they went about it in this specific case was disrespectful in my personal opinion. Overall I love the show but I think it is written through very American lenses. I genuinely do like Raskova as a character as she’s portrayed in the show, she’s a badass but I’m not gonna let that obscure the issues with her character completely. I think it would’ve been a better choice for her to either be a completely fictional character or for her villainy to be more nuanced.

As a ML who is definitely pro-China one of the only arguments liberals/anti-china leftists pose against China that I can’t respond to is accusations of improper conduct/exploitative behavior by Chinese companies in the Congo. As a dictatorship of the proletariat China would be responsible for actions of its bourgeois class because the vanguard subordinates them to itself. I’d like to develop a more nuisanced opinion on this issue so I’d like to hear the pro-China side of it from a Marxist Leninist position.

I’m still seeing the banner and can’t interact with anything on my account. The account is several years old. I can’t submit another appaell since the last one was already approved. (Sorry for the weird spelling earlier the filter was blocking me.) I’m pretty sure it’s a sync issue, but Reddit support hasn’t responded.