A Gentleman In Moscow – Episode 5 Recap & Review

An Arrival

Episode 5 of A Gentleman in Moscow picks right up where we left. Rostov is left with little Sofia and he immediately settles into the role of doting Uncle. He brings her up to his room, carrying her the final way, all the way over to his bed. She immediately falls asleep when her head touches the pillow, so Rostov sets to work sleeping on the chairs across the room from her.

In the morning, Sofia wakes up and cradles her doll. A letter is slipped under the door, marked with A, and she decides to keep it tucked in his shirt on the dresser. Anyway, Rostov awakens not long after and the pair end up having breakfast in his secret room. He points out that this used to be Nina’s room too, and flashes of the past come flooding back as he remembers her face.

Sofia allows Rostov to brush her hair (in which he does a terrible job I may add) and in the end, he decides Marina should be there to help. Rostov drops her off like it’s day-care and is summoned across by the Manager not long after. He’s not happy with the Sofia arrangement and despite Bishop (now sporting glasses and facial hair like he’s a pantomime villain) chattering in his hear, allows Sofia to stay for a month. On one condition – she’s not to cause any issues for the hotel.

In the midst of this, Anna summons Rostov over to her room at 1pm, telling him not to be late. And of course, Rostov is late because of Sofia bundling the letter in his shirt earlier on. Rostov quickly undresses when he arrives, hearing splashes in the bath. He hurries inside… where it turns out Olga is there with her fella. Rostov slips, stumbles on the floor with his towel, and turns around in time to find Anna showing up.

Anna is getting all dressed up and she explains to Rostov that she has a big rehearsal this afternoon before dinner with a director, Boris Milanovich. She’s going to be his leading lady. Although Rostov does slyly ask whether it’s just on or offscreen and she’s intentionally vague on that topic.

Anyway, Rostov does his best to try to be there for Sofia but when he snaps at her constant questions, she starts sniffling. Rostov backtracks and decides to read to her instead. His choice of book is not exactly endearing (given it’s about family) so instead, he decides to settle on a game for her. She counts to 100 twice in the closet… allowing Rostov to read in peace.

Sofia is rather inquisitive though and she plays Rostov at his own game. She goads him into playing hide and seek, and does a really good job at hiding something from him. He looks everywhere but eventually gives up on trying to find the trinket. It turns out she hid it in his jacket pocket, while moving the furniture as a distraction to throw him off the scent. 

Rostov is impressed and he even speaks to the chefs about Sofia’s intelligence that night too. He speaks to Osip next, and he’s still reading away. In fact, they both converse over the book’s passages, with Rostov acting as the tutor… until he admits that he didn’t get a chance to finish the book given Sofia is with him.

They begin talking about the young girl, and Rostov is taken aback by Osip deciding that he’s okay for the Count to leave and see Sofia. He knows it’s an unfortunate situation Rostov is stuck in and he has a surprising soft spot for him. He even allows the Count extra time to read the book, ready for the next session.

Sofia also has a soft spot for Rostov, as we approach day 6215. She joins him in the morning routine he has down to a Tee by now and it’s just like old times between them, as Sofia is like a spitting image of how Nina used to be. Rostov reminisces on that now, pointing out that she had the run of the hotel and could do whatever she wanted.

That afternoon, Rostov rushes to catch the lift with Olga. Sofia is with her and the whole thing is a clever orchestration to allow her to help Sofa have a proper hair wash, given Rostov only has a simple wash basin in his room. Downstairs though, Anna shows at the bar and puts on a brave face when she learns that she’s been usurped by a younger actress, Mila, who’s going to take her place in the main role. Anna keeps a stiff upper lip, wishes her luck, and off she goes.

Upstairs, Anna speaks to Rostov and he admits that he’s wavering in his ability to do right by her. Anna believes he only needs love otherwise she’ll “wither on the vine” but given she’s asked to go outside, Rostov wants her to grant him this wish. Anna does not.

The month passes and unfortunately Bishop, who is now the deputy manager, has taken the liberty of putting in some calls and she’s to be moved to an orphanage. Their hands are tied on the matter, and there’s nothing Rostov can do about it, given he’s not family. Nina hasn’t returned either, which doesn’t help, and Rostov tries to explain this to her.

Meanwhile, Anna feels relief when she rejects the main parts of movies and decides she’s going to part ways with her manager and turn toward the theatre instead. Before they part ways… she asks him for a favour. So what is that favour? Well, we cut to Sofia and Rostov as he leads her down the stairs to Bishop, who’s joined by a stern-looking woman. This is Madam Stravinsky and she’s taken aback by Rostov suddenly deciding that Sofia is his niece, given they’re family.

The manager changes his mind upon hearing this and decides to play along, doing right by the child… which was all part of Anna’s plan in the first place. Bishop warns that this isn’t the end of it but the manager simply shrugs, claiming he doesn’t care what happens anymore.

As Rostov and Sofia head back upstairs, this little victory is usurped somewhat by the reality over what happened to Nina. It turns out she never returned for Sofia and as we cut across to the frozen tundra in the east, Nina is dead, thrown lifelessly atop a pile of other dead bodies.

The Episode Review

The penultimate episode to A Gentleman In Moscow has a profound impact on the story, given the parallels between Sofia and Nina’s intelligence and child-like wonder. Rostov is largely the same as he’s always been, but seeing how little Sofia has the same inquisitive mind and intelligence that Nina portrayed all those years back, is a nice way of showing how aligned the pair are.

The story has been a bit up and down this season but this one does a good job of focusing on the characters and, more specifically, how Sofia ties into everything. It’s not perfect, given the casting could have been so much better here, but there’s enough to whet the appetite all the same, leaving everything wide open for the next episode.