Animation
Disney Junior’s Ariel
Disney Junior’s Ariel is so kid-friendly, even the sea witch is now the friendly and soulful Tauntie Ursula.
Like most people, Vasiliy is just a regular guy who has a lot of complaints about the government. For instance, he’s frustrated that, as a voter, he constantly has to choose between the lesser of two evils to lead the country rather than an actual good candidate. As a history teacher, he thinks that he has some good ideas about how to run his home country of Ukraine himself. But there’s just one problem:
“A common person can’t become president,” Vasiliy laments.
Well, that’s until one of his students uploads a video of him going on an explicit and impassioned rant about his grievances regarding the government. Turns out, a lot of people agree with him. So many, in fact, that a crowdfunding website has raised the two million Ukrainian hryvnias required to register as a presidential candidate.
But still, it comes as a surprise—both to him and other candidates and world leaders—when he actually wins the election. Now that he’s in charge, however, he’ll need to learn how to adapt his old “common person” life to the presidential title.
Servant of the People follows the story of a common man who unexpectedly becomes the president of Ukraine. It was in Netflix’s large library of content from 2017 to 2021 before it was taken off the streaming platform. However, the company tweeted on March 16 that it was bringing the show, which stars Volodymyr Zelenskyy, back into its repertoire following a resurgence of interest in it.
If that name sounds familiar, that’s because in 2019, actor and comedian Zelenskyy became the actual president of Ukraine. Though he had a law degree, he instead found work acting—including being the voice actor of Paddington for the Ukrainian version of Paddington and Paddington 2. He started the production company Kvartal 95, eventually creating and producing Servant of the People through the company, taking the lead role.
In 2018, some people with Kvartal 95 registered a new political party—intentionally named Servant of the People after the show. Soon after, Zelenskyy announced his candidacy—and in 2019, he received a landslide victory, taking nearly 75% of the vote over incumbent president Petro Poroshenko.
With Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine still fresh, people have wondered about Zelenskyy’s past—and Netflix has provided them with something to explore.
Servant of the People centers on a Vasiliy, high school history teacher who has a passion for fixing injustice in Ukraine with little resources to accomplish it. He represents the common man, and he believes it’s impossible for someone like him to ever make a difference in the world.
But through that impassioned video, suddenly, Vasiliy is thrust into the hot seat. He passionately expressed himself while out of office—but now he’s got to put his money where his mouth has brought him. And it’s going to take some time for him to get accustomed to his new powerful lifestyle when he previously didn’t even outrank the high school math teacher. That’ll be the least of his concerns when he has to deal with other political players who slither around with self-serving and wicked intentions.
Because politics is often a dirty field, through Vasiliy’s journey, viewers will see the grime that comes to the surface in this TV-14 comedy. Primarily, viewers will be subjected to swears and sexual innuendos. And in one episode, a painting in the background shows naked women’s breasts. F-words and s-words are prominent in the captions, though the former are partially censored, and the occasional misuse of God’s name is also read.
When history teacher Vasiliy is unexpectedly elected president of Ukraine, he recounts the past events that led up to this moment. He struggles in adapting to the presidential life.
Vasiliy, angry with politics, goes on an extensive tirade laced with profanity, and a student of his records it without Vasiliy’s knowledge. A man attempts to calm Vasiliy down by asking him to get a drink with him. Later, Vasiliy breaks up a fight between his students by slamming his briefcase on a table. He tells a fable of a profane Japanese man who has his tongue ripped out by the emperor for his profanity. Vasiliy and his family drink alcohol during dinner. Vasiliy is also seen reading a magazine while on the toilet.
Mysterious men attempt to sway the Ukrainian election, and they talk while drinking alcohol. Vasiliy’s father, Petr, says that Vasiliy must be a drug dealer or an organ seller to have raised enough money to register with the election board. Dzidzio, a band, says “I get high over you” in a song.
Multiple people make crude analogies or euphemisms throughout the show.
In the show’s subtitles, the f-word is used 11 times, and the s-word is used nine times. “H—” is used twice. “D–n,” “a–” and “b–tard” also make appearances. A crude word for male genitalia is used. In addition, the words “butthead” and “idiot” are used to insult others. Someone says “Godspeed.” God’s name is misused once, and “good Heavens” is used twice.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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