Монтекристо (Season 1)

Montecristo (Монтекристо, 2008) is a Russian adventure series you can watch online on iFILM — a loose, present-day reworking of Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, driven by two things only: love and revenge. Andrey Krylov, son of a respected judge, starts out with everything: a career, athletic glory, a beautiful fiancée named Olga.

Then it all collapses inside a single day. His closest friend Maxim and Maxim's crime-tied father frame him for someone else's misdeeds, and Andrey draws a ten-year prison sentence. Somewhere between Morocco, a failed hit and an escape he meets a mysterious man called Otto, who on his deathbed hands over the key to a hidden fortune. What follows is a return, under a new name, to a country that long ago wrote him off. Ilya Shakunov, Svetlana Antonova, Dmitry Miller and Veniamin Smekhov head the cast.

The old Dumas machinery still turns in Russian settings: a slandered man, years behind bars, a cold and patient reckoning. The show rides on the suspense of payback rather than period costume. A solid pick if you like melodrama wrapped around a criminal long game. Stream Montecristo (Монтекристо, 2008) online on iFILM.