Film / Major Grom: Plague Doctor

It's all about the duality.

Major Grom: Plague Doctor is a 2021 Russian action film based on the first arc of the comic book series Major Grom. Directed by Oleg Trofim, it is the second live action film adaptation of a BUBBLE Comics property, and the first feature-length film based on a Russian comic. It is the first installment in the planned BUBBLE Cinematic Universe.

The film follows the police major Igor Grom (Tikhon Zhiznevsky), a highly skilled and determined cop hunting down a vicious masked vigilante called the Plague Doctor, who is murdering the wealthy elites of Saint Petersburg. Grom is aided in his investigation by his eager, earnest rookie partner Dima Dubin (Alexander Seteykin), feisty female journalist Yulia Pchelkina (Lyubov Aksyonova), and nervous, soft-spoken social media mogul Sergey Razumovsky (Sergei Goroshko), who may have a deeper connection to the Plague Doctor case than he's letting on.

The film was released on Netflix on May 5, 2021. It was followed by a prequel, Grom: A Rough Childhood, which was released on New Year's Day, 2023. On January 28, 2023, the third film in the franchise, Major Grom: Game, was confirmed to be in production. Filming began in March, with a planned May 2024 release date.

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Tropes used in Major Grom: Plague Doctor:

• Adaptation Distillation: Many, many alterations were made to the comic book story arc in order to adapt it for the big screen — most of them involving the Plague Doctor and his M.O.:
  • In the comics, the villain's plan to "cleanse" St. Petersburg involves having an associate (a Dirty Cop) bring him the city's criminals and lowlifes (vagrants, drug addicts, etc), drugging them, and killing them in a garden of elaborate, Saw-style death traps called the "Garden of Sinners". He only kills the city's oligarchs to get rid of his accomplices, so that their criminal activities don't lead the authorities back to him; his ultimate goal is to become president, so that he can reshape society on a grand scale. In the movie, however, the Plague Doctor's vigilante activities are genuine and fairly straightforward (though he does plan to dispose of the city's riffraff, alongside the elites, after they've served their purpose).
  • In the comics, the Plague Doctor's high profile victims are all killed in a manner both befitting their crimes and referencing the Black Plague (Kirill Gretchkin is burned alive in his sports car, a Dirty Cop who beat protestors and called them "rats" is beaten and fed to rats, etc). In the film, the Plague Doctor burns all of his victims (albeit in a setting appropriate to their crimes).
  • Because the "Garden of Sinners" element is removed from the story, the Plague Doctor's emergence is spurned by the acquittal of Kirill Gretchkin, who killed an orphan girl while driving drunk; said child lived in the orphanage where Sergey Razumovsky and Oleg Volkov grew up together — and which Sergey personally helped to renovate — making Kirill's crime highly personal for him.
  • The film's final act is also completely different: instead of Igor Grom allowing himself to be taken prisoner by Razumovsky and forced to navigate a death maze alone, Grom is arrested under false pretenses and (after escaping) faces the Plague Doctor in the maze-like server rooms of Vmeste's headquarters, with the help of Yulia and Dima.
  • The first issue of the comic arc involves a sequence where Grom visits a brothel that Gretchkin frequented as part of his investigation, and ends up fighting the brothel's owners when he gets too aggressive while questioning Gretchkin's favorite escort; this is entirely absent from the film. Another investigation-related subplot, involving Grom getting a tip from a member of white supremacist group that runs a bare-knuckle boxing club (and subsequently having to fight a member of said group), was similarly removed; instead, Grom gets tips from his pal Booster Ignat, who owns a boxing club
  • In the comics, Igor and Dima infiltrate a black tie event together (believing that The Citizen will crash the event) and bump into Yulia, nearly causing a scene when Igor mistakes her camera for an explosive device. In the film, Igor crashes the event alone on Dima's tip, leaving the rookie cop behind to do grunt work and stew in his frustration and tip off internal investigators as to Igor's whereabouts.
  • Most of Yulia's scenes from the comics,.including a subplot about her investigation into political corruption in the city, were cut. She and Igor also aren't officially dating in the film, while in the comics they start dating in the second issue (and are shown going on at least two dates: one at a coffee shop, the other at a street carnival).
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In the comic, Razumovsky's Split Personality, The Bird, doesn't truly emerge—or take control—until the story's epilogue; prior to that, the "Plague Doctor" is just a fake persona that he uses to commit his public crimes. In the film, however, The Bird emerges after Kirill Grechkin is acquitted of murder (though he initially takes the form of Oleg Volkov, Razumovsky's long-time friend) and fully takes over in the third act.
  • Speaking of Oleg, he isn't introduced in the comics until Issue #25, during the fourth story arc; in the movie, he's introduced in Razumovsky's first scene.
• Adaptational Heroism: Zig-zagged with Igor Grom. While he's still a Cowboy Cop who isn't afraid to rough up suspects, he's less needlessly aggressive (saving violence for known criminals) and has a soft side that seldom appears in the comics (sharing a father-son relationship with Fedor Prokopenko, looking out for a troubled orphan boy, caring for a stray dog). At the same time, however, he is far more rude and aloof towards his fellow officers, particularly Dima Dubin.
  • Far more blatant than Grom is Sergey Razumovsky. In the comics, Razumovsky is a flamboyant elitist sociopath who "cleanses" society by murdering the city's lowlifes, and uses the equally flamboyant Plague Doctor persona to eliminate his accomplices (under the guise of "social justice"). By contrast, movie Razumovsky is a shy, nervous Geek whose split personality adopts the flamboyant Plague Doctor persona out of a genuine desire for social justice, and he recruits the city's lowlifes to help him rid the city of its evil rich elites (though he plans to allow the military to dispose of his followers afterward).
• All There in the Manual:
  • The creators have a series of podcasts on YouTube, one of which is just the writers answering the fans' questions. For example, it's stated that Dubin and Pchelkina entered the Vmeste HQ through the fire exit, and that's where they got the firehose and the fire extinguisher that appear in the final battle.
  • Razumovsky's "evil" side is called "The Bird" and the "good" side is called "The Doormat" (or "The Softie"), because "The Bird" hoards most of the confidence and aggression. This comes from the comic book series the movie is based on.
• Alone with the Psycho: In the film's final act, Igor goes to Vmeste's corporate headquarters alone to confront the Plague Doctor. He manages to tackle the villain and flip him onto a table, damaging his flamethrowers...but not enough to stop them from working, resulting in the two playing a game of cat-and-mouse in the server room (until Dima and Yulia show up with a fire hose).
• Animated Credits Opening:
  • An Artistic Title chock-full of visual metaphors and set to a chillingly beautiful song.
  • The end credits are also animated, but in a doodly style, are set to an upbeat song and depict Igor Grom beating up the movie's crew as their names appear onscreen. Then it switches to a regular credits roll.
• Artistic License – Geography: The filmmakers completely altered the layout of St. Petersburg from the real city. Bolshaya Morskaya Street leads to Radishchev Street, Zhukov Street becomes Galernaya Street, and Nevsky Prospect doesn't seem to exist at all. This was done entirely for logistics purposes, as the city's layout made it inconvenient for filming (forcing the creative team to come up with their own, fictional version).
• Artistic License – Law: Near the start of the film, a low-life at the police station who was arrested for assaulting his neighbor argues for his release, stating, "we don't go to jail for domestic violence here" (to which the officer points out that his victim wasn't family). This is only partially accurate: domestic violence was mostly decriminalized in Russia in 2017, but cases where the victim suffers serious bodily harm (to the point of requiring hospitalization) will still result in jail time.
  • Kirill Grechkin loudly slurps an iced coffee in the courtroom during the witness testimony. In reality, no food or beverages are permitted in Russian courtrooms, and Kirill's rude behavior would get him ejected from the courtroom immediately.
  • The outcome of the trial itself is also extremely unlikely. Russian courts are notoriously harsh, and judges who issue acquittals and overly lenient sentences (especially in high-profile cases) are targeted for forced retirement or dismissal. The movie handwaves this (and the above) by implying that Kirill's father paid off the judge.
• Artistic License – Law Enforcement: Dima Dubin is assigned to work as Igor Grom's partner fresh out of the academy. In reality, cops are rarely assigned regular partners, let alone a rookie being assigned to a loose cannon like Grom.
  • Suffice it to say, between his disregard for rules and procedure, illicit actions (including stealing a garbage truck, knowingly accepting stolen property, and aiding and abetting a known suspect), history of Police Brutality, vehicular assault, property destruction, and all-around reckless behavior — to say of nothing of continuing an investigation after he's Taken Off the Case — Igor Grom would be out of a job. Prokopenko would likewise be removed from his post for knowingly allowing Grom to continue to operate in such a manner.
  • Speaking of Prokopenko, if waiving the rules for Igor wasn't enough to cause him to lose his position, then punching a Federal Security Service officer would surely seal the deal.
• Bait-and-Switch: The opening teaser shows a young Bookworm standing up to three bullies, fists balled, after they threaten to burn a stray dog alive. The scene is presented as an origin story for Igor Grom: heroic, scholarly, likes to use his fists, has a soft spot for stray dogs, and works to prevent fiery deaths. In the film's final act, it's revealed that the boy was Sergey Razumovsky, and he stopped the bullies by burning them alive. His book was a sketchbook — full of drawings of raven-like creatures surrounded by flames. (The filmmakers make a point of having young Sergey wear a hat, which covers his telltale red hair.)
• Bathtub Scene: Grom has a short one; it's absolutely unnecessary, but no one is complaining.
• Bilingual Bonus: The subtitles make it clear that "Vmeste" means "Together", but there's a lot more Russian text to read. Some notable examples:
  • One of the stickers on Ignat "Booster"'s door reads "Do not enter without a mask."
  • A tee-shirt Pchelkina is wearing reads, "The editors are asking for blood".
• Bit Part Bad Guys: During the Action Prologue, Grom gives chase to a gang of masked men stealing a bank truck full of money. He contemplates several methods of stopping them, before ultimately stealing a garbage truck and ramming the bank truck, flipping it on its side. He then punches out the gang's insane leader (twice), leading into the Title Sequence. The gang is later seen locked up at the police station
• Black-Tie Infiltration: Grom and Pchelkina attend the opening night in the Golden Dragon casino; amusingly, they do it independently and only bump into each other after entering. Grom has to borrow the suit from his criminal friend Booster, along with an expensive car — which, he points out, just happens to match the description of one stolen the week before.
  Guest: Hey, nice car. I had one like this. It got stolen last week.
  Grom: (handing him the keys) Case closed, then.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Grom has dark brown hair, Dubin is blond, and Pchelkina has bright apple-red hair.
• Brick Joke: The animated credits show that Grom and Dubin eventually did track down the stolen refrigerators.
• Callback: The first Post-Credit Scene shows the insane-acting bank robber who was arrested at the start of the film in a mental hospital, wheelchair-bound and drugged into a near-catatonic state (implying that he actually was insane, and had a complete breakdown at some point).
• Childhood Friends: Sergey Razumovsky and Oleg Volkov grew up in an orphanage together.
• Ceiling Corpse: A variation: the Plague Doctor hangs the still-smoldering body of Albert Bekhtiev (a real estate developer who built the Golden Dragon casino on a former historical site) high on a wall in the casino atrium; Evgeny Strelkov discovers the corpse when one of Bekhtiev's burning, gold-tipped dress shoes fall to the ground in front of him.
• The Confidant: Naturally, as an Only Friend Volkov is this to Razumovsky.
• Conspicuous Consumption: Albert Bekhtiev is Russia's most successful land developer, and he isn't afraid to let the world know that he's filthy rich: he's hugely, unashamedly obese from a rich diet (to where he has to cart around an oxygen tank at all times), and rolls up to the grand opening of his casino in a massive limousine and gold-festooned wingtips, with a pretty woman on each arm. He also goes all out for the festivities, hiring a live band and themed, costumed dancers, popping bottle of expensive champagne, and sprinkling the crowd with gold confetti.
• Crapsack World: Saint Petersburg is a den of crime, corruption, and social inequity. Theft, rape, and drug use abound, and criminal enterprises thrive. The wealthy exploit and disenfranchise the vulnerable, politicians and lawmakers protect their own interests, and legal red tape prevents law enforcement from doing its job effectively and allows criminals to slip through the cracks. The first ten minutes of the film shows a bank robbery in broad daylight, an old man who had his wallet stolen, and a man who argues that he should be acquitted for assaulting his neighbor because "[w]e don't go to jail for domestic violence here". Even Grom, the most competent man on the police force, laments that the entire system is rotten to the core. It's no wonder the Plague Doctor gathers so many hardcore supporters so quickly.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • Early on, Volkov pulls off the Plague Doctor mask in front of Razumovsky. This stays between the two and the audience while all the other characters try to figure out the villain's real identity. Subverted when Volkov turns out to be a manifestation of Razumovsky's Split Personality.
  • The second post-credit scene shows that Oleg is actually alive in Syria. None of the other characters know this.
• Dramatic Unmask:
  • Early on, Volkov dramatically pulls off the Plague Doctor mask to reveal himself to Razumovsky after committing his first murder. This turns out to be not quite the reveal.
  • During the fight with the vigilantes at the casino, Grom unmasks one of them to find he's the orphan he tried to help earlier.
• Eat the Rich: The Plague Doctor carries out several vigilante murders of corrupt Russian oligarchs, encouraging others to take up his cause. After faking his death, Razumovsky puts out a Video Will calling on his supporters to rob and kill rich people whose names and addresses he sends out on the Internet. His actual intention is to get rid of the oligarchs trying to steal his company, then martial law will be declared and the army will shoot his riff-raff followers.
• Engineered Public Confession: Before the final fight, Pchelkina hugs Grom and discreetly sticks a bug on his jacket, so even he didn't know that Razumovsky's final Motive Rant was recorded.
• Evil Counterpart: The Plague Doctor is compared to Batman, but as is immediately pointed out, Batman doesn't kill people.
• Evil Wears Black: The Plague Doctor's all-black suit marks him as the villain of the film, standing in stark contrast to the earth tones of Grom, Dubin's blues, and Yulia's red, black, and white wardrobe.
• Failed a Spot Check: When Grom visits the very drunk Razumovsky, he somehow fails to see Oleg appearing right beside him. Subverted seconds later, when it's revealed that Oleg is a figment of Razumovsky's imagination; of course Grom doesn't see him.
• Failure Gambit: Once the Plague Doctor is captured, he activates the explosives in the evidence storage room of the police station and posts a video encouraging his followers to riot in the streets. However this is just Razumovsky Faking the Dead, while blowing up Grom as a Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit. Fortunately Grom has escaped the police station by then, and most of the police were outside fending off the rioters.
• Fake Action Prologue: Not one but two scenes. Both times they're cut short after an undesirable end by Grom's "Think, think!" and rewound, as they're merely possibilities that he imagines. After a few times, he'll find an optimal solution, say something like "Nothing to think about", and rush into action for real.
• Fake Kill Scare: Thanks to the above-mentioned Fake Action Prologue; we see Grom rush into action, get shot and then cut to his funeral. Grom then wakes up in his coffin, but it's not because he has superpowers but because the whole thing is an Imagine Spot. We then Smash Cut to Grom trying to think up a better plan. It happens again in the final battle as well.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Plague Doctor kills his victims with Tricked-Out Gloves that shoot flames. The fuel is held in a canister inserted in the gloves, apparently filled with Applied Phlebotinum developed by the weapons corporation he's connected to, as they're far too small for actual flamethrowers.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Visiting Razumovsky for the second time, Grom somehow fails to see Oleg appearing right beside him; this looks like an Out-of-Character Moment for the usually observant Grom. Seconds later, it is revealed that Grom really can't see Oleg because Oleg is Razumovsky's hallucination.
• Flashback-Montage Realization: Grom has one of these about Razumovsky.
• Frame-Up: Razumovsky puts Grom in the Plague Doctor costume, leaves him in a crime scene, and plants evidence in his apartment.
• "Friends" Rent Control: As many Russian viewers noted, Igor would never be able to afford his giant loft apartment on a police officer's salary.
• Hard-Work Montage: Or in this case a Hard Work and Drinking Coffee montage.
• Imaginary Friend: Oleg. The man we see for most of the movie is actually a figment of Razumovsky's imagination; the real Oleg is presumed dead, though the second stinger shows him alive in Syria.
• I Work Alone: An ongoing theme is how Grom has no love life and hates working with a partner, as he doesn't trust anyone. By the end of the movie, he accepts Dubin and Yulia as True Companions, and it's implied Yulia will become a Love Interest as well.
• Ironic Echo: The name of Razumovsky's social media platform is Vmeste — "Together" — which is also his company's slogan. For much of the film, the word stands as the rallying cry for the Plague Doctor's followers, (who use the platform to spread his message). In the film's final act, as Razumovsky is being arrested as the Plague Doctor, Igor Grom informs him that the city will survive without him and fix its own problems, together (even raising his hand in a two-finger salute, mimicking the company's logo).
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The Plague Doctor starts off as a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Then, he kills a child along with his parents. Tellingly, this is the line one of his supporters refuses to cross in the Eat the Rich riots.
• Jurisdiction Friction: After the Plague Doctor's body count starts to grow, special agent Evgeny Strelkov arrives from Moscow to help with the investigation. He is quickly shown to be a smug glory hound who treats the Saint Petersburg police as his minions (read: like crap) and especially hates Grom's guts.
• Just You and Me and My GUARDS!: A casino owner shouts for his guards to throw Razumovsky off the premises, only for a guard to smash through the table in front of him, thrown over a railing by a gang of vigilantes who've just broken in.
• Kill Him Already!: Averted — the characters acknowledge that the Plague Doctor would become an Inspirational Martyr.
• Kill It with Fire: The Plague Doctor uses flamethrowers to murder his victims.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Both Grom and Pchelkina are pragmatic in their methods and disillusioned with the world around them, but at their cores, they're idealists who believe wholeheartedly in people who have earned their trust.
• Lead Police Detective: Igor Grom for the Saint Petersburg police, Evgeny Strelkov for the Federal Security Service; naturally they bump heads.
• Mood Whiplash: The comedic action scene at the beginning is followed by the chilling opening credits.
• Movie Superheroes Wear Black: In the comics, the Plague Doctor's mask is white with red lenses, and it's paired with a purple suit and a frock coat (which makes him look more like a Victorian dandy than a supervillain). In the movie, the Plague Doctor's costume is completely black and features body armor and a Black Cloak; this serves to make him look more ominous.
• Motive Rant: Plenty of them, as the antagonist has a Split Personality — and the "evil" side has trouble convincing the "good" side.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Grom justifies his Cowboy Cop ways: he can't play by the rules to catch criminals that don't play by the rules; Dubin asks him what differentiates him from them. Grom replies that he doesn't kill people. At one point it looks like Grom really will kill the villain as it's the only option left, but fortunately Yulia is able to Take a Third Option.
• Not Wearing Tights: Grom is repeatedly told that This Is Reality and he should stop acting like a comic book hero. When going to their final confrontation, the only clothing Grom makes a point of putting on is the flat cap and leather jacket we first saw him in. At the end of the movie, Grom says he can't be a superhero as he doesn't fly or shoot lasers from his eyes, but Yulia points out that defeating the supervillain was all he needed to become one.
• Odd Couple: The classic "Cowboy Cop forced to partner with an Eager Rookie By-the-Book Cop", though Dubin prefers to think of them as a Student–Master Team.
• Offhand Backhand: On first seeing the Plague Doctor burning someone alive with his flamethrowers, Grom decides to forgo the heroics and play it safe, imagining a scenario where he throws a rock at the back of the Plague Doctor's head and knocks him out, then walks up and slaps the cuffs on. It's a good idea right up to the moment when the Plague Doctor catches the rock without even looking behind him.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: The upper half of the poster depicts the characters against the blue skies; the lower half has the Plague Doctor and his copycats in shades of orange.
• Patchwork Story: While the film is, first and foremost, an adaptation of the Plague Doctor comic arc, the plot also borrows elements from other Major Grom stories:
  • Strelkov, the Federal Security Service officer in the film, is borrowed from The Game arc; there, he's an obnoxious associate of Razumovsky using a fake identity to hamper Grom's investigation.
  • "The Last Case"^note the final arc of Major Grom before the sequel series, Igor Grom, began publication: Sergey, like Igor in the comic arc, spends the film unwillingly assisting a criminal in his endeavors for the "betterment of the city", only to discover that the person he's been talking to and interacting with was Dead All Along — and that what he's been seeing is actually a hallucination representing his own malevolent Split Personality. Additionally, similar to how a follow-up comic revealed that the man Grom claimed to have seen was Real After All, the Post-Credit Scene of the movie reveals that Oleg Volkov is still alive in Syria.
  • Olga Isayeva, the president of the Ros-Garant Bank who fancies herself an old school Blue Blood (and falls victim to the Plague Doctor), is loosely based on one of the villain protagonists of the story "Just Like A Fairy Tale", where she's the bank-robbing daughter of the president of the Ros-Garant Bank who disguises herself as Cinderella.
  • The Plague Doctor's plot involving timed explosives and a Video Will is borrowed from "The Game" arc, in which Sergey plants explosives throughout the city and sends Igor clues as to their whereabouts via web videos.
• Plague Doctor: The titular antagonist wears the mask, uses the concept of a plague in his Motive Rant, and bases his killing method on an actual plague doctor practice, burning the victims of disease.
• Red Filter of Doom: In Razumovsky's Imagine Spot at the start of the final act, the Plague Doctor announces his takeover by causing the Snowy Screen of Death on Razumovsky's wall-sized office screen to turn blood red.
• The Reveal: The movie has a pileup of these.
  • Volkov is the Plague Doctor.
  • Actually, Volkov has been dead for over a year, and the Plague Doctor is a manifestation of Razumovsky's Enemy Within, which means Razumovsky was (unknowingly) the vigilante all along.
  • In the second post-credits scene, Volkov is revealed to be alive in Syria.
• Roofhopping: As Grom is a Cowboy Cop and not a superhero (yet), his efforts are less than successful when he's forced to use this trope; he tries to leap to the next rooftop and crashes through a window and down a staircase instead. However Grom liked the view so much he takes his Fire-Forged Friends up there at the end of the movie to have something to eat.
• Running Gag:
  • Grom doing something badass only for reality to ensue, whereupon it's revealed to be an Imagine Spot as Grom tries to think up a better plan.
  • Grom is assigned to investigate the disappearance of 12 refrigerators to get him away from the Plague Doctor case, but being who he is he doesn't performs this assignment (the closest he gets to it is telling Dubin to do it). The refrigerators are referenced a few more times, with Strelkov and Propokenko reminding Grom of his assignment and Dubin asking a few of Grom's criminal informants if they've seen them. The gag finally ends with the animated end credits showing Grom beating up his way through the film's production crew to find the refrigerators.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: A mentality that seems to be in play amongst the wealthy elite in Saint Petersburg — and which most characters (not just the antagonist) dislike with varying degrees of passion.
• Shirtless Scene: When Dubin visits Grom in his apartment, the latter is shirtless the entire time.
• Shout-Out:
  • The bank robbers in the film's opening wear masks resembling characters from the Soviet cartoon Puck! Puck!.
  • Holt International, the corporation that designs the Plague Doctor's suit in the film, is the main antagonist of Bubble Comics' series Red Fury.
  • Strelkov briefly mentions a case involving a "killer with a rat" in Moscow; this is a reference to Danila, the protagonist of the Bubble series Demonslayer^note a.k.a. Besoboy (whose diminutive demon companion is often mistaken for a rat).
  • Oleg compares himself as the Plague Doctor to Batman, "Only cooler." Sergey points out that the Plague Doctor just committed murder, something Batman doesn't do.
• Softer and Slower Cover: The opening credits are set to the cover of the famous Protest Song "Peremen" ("Changes" in Russian), originally by Viktor Tsoi. The original is energetic and spunky; the cover is chillingly melancholic.
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • As Grom applies the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique to one thug after the other, the song in the background cheerfully repeats, "I love people," adding to the Black Comedy. (The original song by Dolphin is one hell of a misanthropic Cluster F-Bomb, so this trope is played with.)
  • Strelkov, the unpleasant Perpetual Smiler, is accompanied by a sweet old song about friendly smiles making the world a better place.
• Split-Personality Makeover: "The Doormat" has blue eyes and "The Bird" has yellow eyes; the trope is downplayed, as the difference is only seen by the character themselves. In the first post-credits scene, "The Bird" takes the shape of a humanoid, black-feathered bird with Sergey's face.
• Split-Personality Takeover: Happens for the finale.
• The Stinger: Two of them!
  • In the first one, Razumovsky is shown in a mental hospital, listening to his dark side.
  • In the second one, Volkov is revealed to be alive.
• Taking You with Me: Razumovsky tries to pull this after learning about the existence of his Enemy Within. Then in their final confrontation, Grom tackles Razumovsky out the window on realising It's the Only Way to stop him. Fortunately Grom's friends grab his legs, saving both their lives.
• Talking to Themself: Initially, Razumovsky doesn't even realize that he's doing that.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Discussed constantly; the characters who struggle with this dilemma the most are Dubin and Razumovsky.
• Trespassing to Talk: After seeing his case notes on Yulia's website (which could get him fired), Grom breaks into her apartment to tell her off. She's not impressed until Grom informs her that he also left her laptop under a running tap.
• Trojan Horse: Razumovsky plants containers of fuel for his flamethrower gloves in Grom's apartment to frame him, later detonating them remotely to fake the death of the Plague Doctor (Grom was supposed to be in a cell there). Fortunately most of Grom's colleagues were outside the building holding off a rioting crowd of the Plague Doctor's supporters.
• True Companions: Yulia and Dima ultimately become this to Igor.
• Turn in Your Badge: Apparently this happens so often to Grom his fellow police officers have a Side Bet on whether he really will get fired this time. He gets chewed out by Fedor, who orders Grom to write out his resignation letter and hand in his badge. After he leaves, however, Fedor crumples up his letter and hands back the badge the next day. When Fedor is ordered to fire Grom in the final act of the movie, he's not happy, and Grom takes out the crumpled resignation from his drawer and signs it to spare him from having to do so.
• Vigilante Execution: Four of them, and that's just the beginning of the plan.
• Villainous Breakdown: Heel Realization will do that to you.
• Wham Line: "Oleg is not here".
• What Happened to the Mouse?: In the first act, Igor helps looks after Alexey, a troubled orphan boy whose sister was killed in a hit-and-run by Kirill Gretchkin. Alexey is later unmasked as one of the Plague Doctor's followers at the Golden Dragon, and subsequently joins their uprising, stopping just shy of murdering the judge who acquitted his sister's killer—after which he disposes of his mask and wanders off, never to be seen or heard from again.
  • Another minor subplot involves Grom feeding a stray dog who hangs around the shawarma stand (which the owner of the stand dislikes, because it "scares away [his] customers"). The dog is shown grieving Grom's absence after his arrest, and later reappears to protect the shawarma stand operator from the Plague Doctor's followers during the climax. However, the dog never shown again after this, leaving its fate unknown. The storyboards for the film depicted the shawarma stand operator adopting the dog, but the scene was never filmed.
• You Cannot Kill An Idea: Zig-Zagged. It's stated that the Plague Doctor lost most of his followers after having his Uriah Gambit exposed, but that was said on TV, so can we really believe it?
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The ultimate plan of the Plague Doctor is to have his followers (mostly gangsters and lowlifes) dispose of the corrupted rich people of the city, which would make the army dispose of the followers themselves, whom he also considers unsuitable for a perfect world.
• Who Are You?: At the end of the Action Prologue during which our hero catches a gang of armoured car robbers, their leader gives this this trope. Smash cut to a MAJOR GROM title card, then back to the robber complaining that Grom didn't say anything. He asks again: "Who are you, motherfucker?" only to get a punch in the face and the full Title Sequence.
• Who Murdered the Asshole: Grom's investigation into the murder of Kirill Gretchkin is complicated by the fact that literally no one liked the guy (to where the only comments on his last social media post are from people celebrating his demise).
• Working-Class Hero: As Grom points out in response to the Plague Doctor's Motive Rant, he has the same anger and frustration over injustice, but he sees it from the streets, not from a luxury skyscraper.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Grom first encounters Yulia Pchelkina being attacked by a couple of rapists outside his apartment. After inflicting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the rapists, he takes her to his apartment to treat her injuries, whereupon she photographs his case notes on the Plague Doctor and slips out the door. She then pays off the supposed rapists who are waiting for her outside, but they insist on getting 'something extra' for their injuries. Yulia pepper-sprays the both of them and calmly walks off as they scream in agony.

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