‘Prince Alyaksei’, Nobel laureate, death penalty: Belarus in eyes of foreign TV series makers
Sometimes Belarus, an unusual and unfamiliar ingredient, is handed on a TV plate to the Western viewer. But our country is not always presented as it actually is. Belsat.eu has made Top 5 list of TV series in which the image of Belarus surprises not only international audience, but also Belarusians themselves.
Supernatural
In the horror show, Belarus is mentioned twice. In episode 17 of Season 6 angel Kastiel saves the Winchester brothers and take them to the Belarusian forest.
In episode 8 of Season 12, when Lucifer possesses Jefferson Rooney, the President of the United States, negotiations between the Belarusian government and the rebels are disrupted.
When the secretary asks whether the UN should be involved in the conflict, the obsessed leader suggests that dropping a nuclear bomb on Belarus be good and laughs..
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
In Season 1 (Episode 4), the agents of the top-secret service S.H.I.E.L.D come to the town of Zloda in Belarus’s Vitsebsk region. Their mission is to find criminal Madur.
One of agents says that she has been dreaming of travelling to Zloda (which does not exist actually), where Zhores Alferov was born Nobel Laureate in Physics.
In fact, the famous physicist Alferov is a native of the town og Chashniki, Vitsebsk region.
It is noteworthy that the creators of the series made all the inscriptions in Belarusian. Our language is heard in the episode from time to time. Car number plates bear a strong resemblance to genuine ones.
Nikita
In Episode 5 of Season 2, special agent Nikita and her colleagues are tasked to kill the Belarusian President Valery Ovechkin, and to be more precise, his double who drifted out of control, killed the real president and became a dictator.
Belarus is presented as a country where the world’s ‘most silent’ revolution took place. According to the plot, all media outlets are in the hollow of the pseudo-president’s hand. Surprisingly, there are white-red-white flags on the presidential residence.
Sherlock
In Episode 3 of Season 1, Sherlock Holmes comes to Belarus as he has interested in the case of young Englishman Barry Berwick, who is kept in a prison in Minsk. Berwick tells Sherlock that his wife Karen had a fight over his chatting with a waitress. Berwick says that Karen was criticizing him, saying he was not a real man. As a result, he repeatedly stabbed his wife. Sherlock keeps correcting the grammar Berwick uses to tell the story.
BERWICK: You’ve gotta help me, Mr Holmes!Everyone says you’re the best. Without you, I’ll get hung for this.
SHERLOCK: No, no, no, Mr Berwick, not at all. Hanged, yes.
Later in London, John Watson asks Sherlock why he did not take the ‘Russian case’? Sherlock answers: “Belarus. Open and shut domestic murder. Not worth my time.”
Why have the authors chosen Belarus? Perhaps, the reason for that is the fact that our country is the only one in Europe that failed to abolish the death penalty.
Gossip Girl
In season 2 of Gossip Girl, Belarusian ‘Prince Alyaksei’ makes an attempt to strike up an acquaintance with Georgina Sparks at the night club: “I am Prince Alyaksei from Belarus!” The girl irritably replied: “It’s great that one still can meet a prince.”
The assertive ‘Prince’ tries to boast: “I am flying back to their country, to celebrate the opening of my new oil pipeline. Won’t you join me?” Georgina answers: “You know, I am busy with my college studies and I do not know what to say, Prince!” and quickly goes away. Later it became known that the Belarusian Prince is not a noble man at all; he is an ordinary servant from Minsk and his name is Vanya.
belsat.eu
