Amazon’s The Romanoffs tells the stories of people who believe they are descendants of the Romanovs. Each episode tells a new story in a different part of the world. The Romanoffs season 1 episode 2 was about a couple living in Indiana, Michael and Shelly Romanoff, who are having problems in their marriage.
Marriage Counseling
The couple was seeing a marriage counselor. Shelly struggled with Michael’s disinterest with life, and Michael was unsatisfied with his career as a test prep counselor with his wife as the boss. He talked a teenager down from his unrealistic hopes of getting into Harvard. An employee, Jesse, who got Shelly stoned in exchange for her doing his taxes, reminded him that he had jury duty. Shelly had to change their flight since they were going on a cruise that would help Michael explore his heritage.
Jury Duty
While waiting for jury selection to begin, Michael noticed a beautiful woman named Michelle. He was instantly attracted to her and tried to chat her up during a cigarette break. Throughout the trial the next day, he watched Michelle obsessively. The murder trial seemed like an obvious guilty conviction. But when it came time to vote, Michael was the sole holdout. He insisted on reviewing the case. During a break, he called Shelly to tell her she should go on the trip without him.
Michael convinced Michelle to investigate the crime scene with him. She was interested in murder, and though she was married, she was on her own that weekend. Michael took her to his lake house, and they slept together. When the jury deliberated again, Michelle convinced him to vote guilty with the rest of them.
Romanov Family Society
The Romanov family cruise that Shelly attended was a conference during the day and Tsarist-Russia-inspired festivities at night. She met Ivan Novak, another attendee like her. They had both married into the family, but were there without their spouses. They fell for each other and almost went to her room together. But they ended up in front of the wrong door, and she ended it.
Homewrecker
With jury duty over for Michael and Shelly back home, they went back to marriage counseling. Shelly told him she felt she understood him more, and Michael cried, saying he realized what it was like to truly love someone. Michael was having trouble getting a hold of Michelle. He called multiple times. While at a gas station, he was able to get through to her and convinced her to meet him. When she got in the car, Michelle told him that they couldn’t be together because they were both married. She had been the homewrecker before and didn’t want to go through it again. She got back into her car and drove away, and Michael thoroughly cleaned out his car.
At home, Michael convinced Shelly to go for a hike with him in the morning. When they got to the top of a cliff on the trail, he shoved her off, but she survived. Shelly knew he was trying to kill her. She pepper-sprayed him, kicked him in the crotch, and drove away.
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