Critical Reception

Lore & Background

Several reviewers read the series as a story about the present. Writers for The Atlantic, The Washington Post and the BBC saw parallels with contemporary society in its focus on the power of information and on the mistakes that dishonest leaders can make. One called it a grim study of the cost of devaluing the truth; another praised it for showing what happens when lying is standard and authority is abused.

Not every response was favourable. An article in the magazine Jacobin argued that the series revels in the failure of the historical alternative to capitalism and so reinforces the status quo.

Reader's Guide

The series also travelled in unexpected ways. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, internet users in China drew parallels between the Soviet response to the disaster and the first handling of the outbreak by their own government. The page for the series on the site Douban, which had more than 200,000 ratings and an average of 9.6 out of 10, was then taken down.

The series was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 1, 2019, and in a 4K edition on December 1, 2020.

Did You Know?

• Metacritic lists the series as having universal acclaim, based on 27 critics.
• The series was assigned a Monday night time slot.