Russian Doll (2019)

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1. 

   Siskoid

   I'm a sucker for Groundhog Day narratives, and Natasha Lyonne's new Netflix show, Russian Doll, is a good one. She plays the self-destructive Nadia who, the night of her 36th birthday, dies but keeps coming back to her birthday party. It's not "I Got You Babe" playing, but you get the gist. It could almost have been Happy Death Day: The Series - she tries to figure out why this is happening and it's a black comedy - but it has a more metaphysical bent than that. She isn't just looping, the universe is broken. That's where the title really takes its full meaning because it really is about going deep into her character to find the answers. This is a journey that works both as a comic fantasy and psychological drama, where arrested development and past trauma manifest in a science fiction formula. After the 8 episodes that make up the season, there is a resolution, albeit an odd one, but I wanted to see more of these characters and their world. Apparently, the show's creators pitched a three-season show, so while I don't know what would be next in terms of the topsy-turvy reality bender, I am totally up for it.
   
   Season 2: Natasha Lyonne is so damn cool, you know? Such swagger. Great to see her play Nadia again in Russian Doll's second season. Now I see how they're going to prolong this for three seasons (as pitched): The universe is broken again, but instead of a Groundhog Day situation, it's a train that takes you into the past, in fact inside your own forebears' bodies. Nadia has to navigate the subway system and her mother's messy life (as seeded in Season 1) to figure her stuff out, and depending on the rules of this reality, change things for the better or be impotent to do so. Alan also gets his turn, but his story seems an afterthought, much less connected to Nadia's than in the opening season. For her though, the title holds true. Each layer you peel off reveals another, and by the end, the show's gonna get surreal again. Time travel narrative as therapy, with an intriguing mystery at the heart of it. Still funny. Now what are they gonna do for the hat trick? 5 years 2 months ago

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