Better than Us


Better than Us is a Russian science fiction television series created by Andrey Junkovsky. It was produced by Yellow, Black and White in cooperation with Sputnik Vostok Production for the Russian state channel C1R. Netflix purchased it under the English title Better than Us, and it is the first Russian series presented as a Netflix Original. On August 16, 2019, the first season was available to stream on Netflix markets outside of Russia and China.

Plot

The story takes place in 2029 where androids serve humans in various positions, even replacing them in many menial jobs. China's one-child policy has led to a critical shortage of marriageable women, so an engineer designs an advanced robot named Arisa. She is programmed to be a wife to a man and mother to adopted children, and she does not abide by the Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. She is designed to protect her family, which includes herself. However, her creator dies and Arisa is sold to the Russian robotics firm CRONOS.
Arisa accidentally kills a man at CRONOS who tried to use her as a sex robot, and she then flees. She encounters little Sonia and automatically bonds with her and makes herself the child's guardian.
The series follows three storylines: that of Arisa and the family whom she adopts; the family's son Egor Safranov and his girlfriend Zhanna as part of the anti-droid militant group called the "Liquidators"; and the secrets of Viktor Toropov, the head of CRONOS, as he tries to hide the fact that they cannot make another Arisa.

Cast and characters

The filming of the television series began in the summer of 2016 and ended in the fall of 2018.