History YMMV / TheDeathOfStalin

* AwesomeEgo: Zhukov exudes a deserved arrogance on account of being the supreme leader for the victorious Red Army during World War 2, and knows exactly how far he can push his political invulnerability in social circles when being a general troll and gadfly. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is him throwing open a trenchcoat to reveal a ChestOfMedals, demanding a drink and then holding his ground against Beria. In his very ''next'' scene he punches Vasily, Stalin's son, in the gut and kicks him while he's down, telling him to ''"Fucking'' behave!" and freely admitting what he did to Svetlana, who can't do a thing in response.

* AwesomeEgo: Zhukov exudes a deserved arrogance on account of being the supreme leader for the victorious Red Army during World War 2, and knows exactly how far he can push his political invulnerability in social circles when being a general troll and gadfly. His EstablishingCharacterMoment is him throwing open a trenchcoat to reveal a ChestOfMedals and demanding a drink.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: There was a real Dr. Lidiya Timaschuk who was a KGB informant, acted as the main witness of the Doctor's Plot, and was arrested when the case was abandoned. Everything else is presumably fictional.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* WhatAnIdiot: After the trains are restarted and over a thousand people are killed by Beria's security forces, the Presidium gathers together with Krushchev (who restarted the trains) and Beria hurling blame at each other. Beria already knows that Krushchev is trying to manoeuvre against him and knows that this was an attempt to weaken his position. While they argue, Malenkov suggests that they blame the ground members of the NKVD, while the other members point out to Beria that they can close ranks to shield him from the majority of the blame, thus ensuring that Krushchev's attempt failed.
** '''You'd Expect:''' For Beria to diplomatically agree with this and try to work with the other members to frame Krushchev as the main culprit, pointing out that it was him who restarted the trains. This would clear himself of blame and strengthen his position among the members of the party.
** '''Instead:''' Beria proceeds to have a meltdown and scream abuse and threats at the other members of the Presidium, including his main ally Malenkov. He then digs up all the dirt he has on them and threatens to leak all the information.
** '''The Result:''' Beria alienates what few allies he had left and convinces everyone to ally against him. This directly leads to his arrest and execution.
** Justified, since it's pretty clearly established that Beria is a vain psychopath with rather poor impulse control and likely isn't used to having to navigate a situation like this without Stalin to back him up.

** Perhaps justified, since it's pretty clearly established that Beria is a vain psychopath with rather poor impulse control.

* {{Bathos}}: {{Inverted}}. Many bleak black comedy moments that are supposed to be funny are so bleak, they instead fall short and turn into emotionally-compelling dramatic moments.

* SoBadItsGood: A positive, strange and occasional example regarding some of the jokes. A normal So Bad It's Good moment is "good" because an attempt at drama or action fails and becomes extremely funny. In this movie, you get a weird inverse: rather bleak black comedy moments that are supposed to be funny are so bleak, they instead fall short and turn into emotionally-compelling dramatic moments. This does not hurt the film overall, and might even enhance it for some people.

* TearJerker: Since this is a movie about Stalinist oppression, there are some genuinely gut-wrenching moments.
** When the police start shouting his name, the conductor solemnly tells his wife [[ShootTheDog to denounce him as a traitor]] so she won't be arrested either. Of course, he turns out to not be in trouble, but it speaks volumes about the kind of place Russia is that he expects that kind of thing to happen to him.

** Zhukov beating Vasily become this when considering some ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans were unhappy Rupert Friend replaced Creator/JasonIsaacs as the Grand Inquisitor in ''Series/ObiWanKenobi''.

** Zhukov beating Vasily become this when considering some ''Franchise/StarWars'' fans were unhappy Creator/RupertFriend replaced Creator/JasonIsaacs as the Grand Inquisitor in ''Series/ObiWanKenobi''.

** Beria is a truly horrible person, not just for having people executed, but for being a sociopathic monster who forces himself on women.

* MagnificentBastard: UsefulNotes/NikitaKhrushchev begins as one of UsefulNotes/JosefStalin's inner circle, playing a delicate game to survive his insane leader's violent whims. Upon Stalin's death, Khrushchev enters into a power struggle with the monstrous [[TheSociopath Lavrentiy Beria]] who usurps his plans to free political prisoners and restore the church. Upon realizing the [[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre NKVD]] has replaced the Red Army, Khrushchev orders the borders reopened so the resulting flood of people trigger the NKVD to violence, killing many people and ruining Beria's public image. Khrushchev then has Beria arrested after allying with [[FourStarBadass Georgy Zhukov]] of the Red Army and organizes Beria's complete downfall, show trial and execution to eventually take total control of the Soviet Union and reform it.

* CompleteMonster: [[ManipulativeBastard Lavrentiy Beria]], the head of the [[UsefulNotes/MoscowCentre NKVD]], desires control over Russia, using his position to murder, torture, and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] whomever he wants, regardless of age. After discovering that [[UsefulNotes/JosefStalin Stalin]]'s dead, Beria crafts his own enemy list to replace Stalin's, has the NKVD take over city security duties from the Soviet Army, and appoints weak-minded Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov as Premier of Russia to be used as a political puppet. Refusing to allow Stalin's mourners into Moscow for his funeral, once 1,500 of them are slaughtered by his soldiers, he instead [[NeverMyFault blames the mourners]] for being there against his orders, and refuses to allow his NKVD troops to act as scapegoats for fear that it'll tarnish his reputation.