The Hospital
Episode 4 of To The Lake shifts perspectives as we follow a pair of ambulance drivers – Nikolay and his nephew Pavel. Together, they drive up to the city of Cherepovets in search of resources. When they get there, they find the place completely deserted and full of dead people. It’s a grim scene and one that sees Pavel and Nikolay’s worst fears come to fruition. The doctor they were supposed to meet has hung himself in his office. Grabbing what supplies they can, the pair head back on the road again. As they start discussing relationships, Anton steps out in the middle of the road. They slam on the brakes and narrowly avoid hitting him. The survivors from the house all stand together as Pavel lends his expertise to Sergey’s injuries. Ira immediately takes a fancy to him though and helps fix his broken glasses. With a contact lens in hand, she pins the man down and helps him out. After calling her beautiful, he asks for a photo to remember her by before these two groups go their separate ways. After the death last episode, Lyonya remains distant with the others. He also refuses to tell Polina exactly what happened in the house. Unfortunately the group run into yet more trouble as they find the bridge before them has completely collapsed. Even worse, their car winds up stuck in the snow. No amount of pushing is getting them out but that’s not for the want of trying. It’s no good and the survivors are forced to stick it out by the side of the road for now. This causes big problems between Sergey and Ira as they continue to fight and bicker. Only, they’re interrupted by an approaching tractor. Silently, he hands over a rope to help free the car as the rest of the survivors breathe a sigh of relief. Given the people they’ve encountered so far on their travels, this is definitely a welcome sight. The man leads them up to his garage and lets them stay the night. In the middle of the night, Polina takes Misha aside and the two wind up having sex on the bus. Only, Polina sees the dead man she killed behind him and panics. Meanwhile, Pavel and Nikolay travel up the road but the blizzard continues to swirl and blind their sight. With purple neon lights inviting them in, they stop by the side of the road and find a karaoke bar. Inside is a lonely woman named Natalie drinking alone and dancing. Ever the charmer, Nikolay steps forward and starts dancing with her. Pavel meanwhile, sits silently drinking while looking longingly at the pictures he took of Ira. In the morning the pair head off again. There, they find themselves caught on a bridge with a whole mob of people waiting for them. They question the paramedics but it doesn’t take long before they bundle in the back and grab their supplies. In the morning, Sergey and Lyonya start siphoning petrol from the mute man. Anna pleads with them to stop but she’s shoved aside. As we see from the past, it wasn’t actually Lyonya that fired the killing bullet – it was Anna. Midway through fighting, the mute man returns and sees them with the gas. Silently, he spits on the floor which speaks volumes about what he thinks about all this. Predictably, they’re forced to leave and hit the road. On the way, they find Pavel and Nikolay who are beaten down to the ground in a pulp by the mob. Ira saves the day, firing a gun blindly into the sky to scatter them. It seems to work but Nikolay is not moving and Pavel is in a bad way. In the commotion, Pavel is bundled in their car and the caravan gets moving. Only, in the scramble they’re unaware that little Anton has been left behind.
The Episode Review
As we hit the halfway point of this series, To The Lake smartly switches up the perspective and introduces us to new characters. The early establishing shots at the hospital were fantastic and really well shot. By comparison, the end riot with the two groups coming together was a nice, natural inclusion and warranted some pretty frantic camera angles and disorientating views. As a personal gripe, I think the Dutch angles used early on were a little overkill but otherwise the episode does a decent job building up a good layer of tension.
