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(edited)

Ok finished this.  

Still don’t get how this is a comedy. It doesn’t even really fit into dark comedy.   I originally looked for this in genre which with the day repeat I figured this would figure nicely in or even drama.   

But then who wants to compete with Game of Thrones.  (Yes I am bitter)

Anyway I thought the story was really well done and I like how Nadia figures everything out and even how Allan plays into it.  How they both end up helping each other.  I actually think my favorite scene was when Nadia follows Allan on his day and goes with him to the breakup with his girlfriend and she changes the whole flow of the conversation.  I also really liked the subtle way Allan helped Nadia by telling Lizzy that Nadia regretted being mean to her that one time.  I am surprised this got a second season.  Netflix rarely renews shows I like but I am glad they did.   

Edited by Chaos Theory
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Natasha Lyonne was at her most Natasha Lyonne which is the best version of Natasha Lyonne for me. This was time well spent. 

I thought Horse was controlling the loops or something because they both interacted with him on separate occasions, and he was leading the parade at the end where they merged. 

I actually thought that killing the professor would break the cycle since he was essentially a common point on the night of their first deaths. 

I'm confused what would be in two more seasons, but if they had it planned out already, I can roll with it. Maybe they'll be controlling loops for other people. I don't see doing the same thing just with different characters would work. 

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On 8/30/2019 at 8:14 AM, Milburn Stone said:

Natasha was on Fresh Air yesterday. Could have been a rebroadcast with a new intro, I'm not sure. (The news peg was her Emmy nomination.) Anyway, I'm sure it's available on the Fresh Air website, or will be shortly.

Yes, it was a re-broadcast. 

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707104057/natasha-lyonne-on-being-a-tough-guy-and-finding-herself-inside-russian-doll

I stayed in this weekend (stomach bugs are fun), and got around to watching this. It was great. I loved Natasha in OITNB and in this. Not sure why it took me so long. 

When Nadia repeatedly died on the stairs, I lost it, I thought it was hilarious, and when she was like "fuck this," avoided them, and used the fire escape. Same when she repeatedly fell through the cellar.

The death when Ruthie mistook her for an intruder was the saddest. 

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On 9/3/2019 at 1:42 PM, ShortyMac said:

Yes, it was a re-broadcast. 

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/27/707104057/natasha-lyonne-on-being-a-tough-guy-and-finding-herself-inside-russian-doll

I stayed in this weekend (stomach bugs are fun), and got around to watching this. It was great. I loved Natasha in OITNB and in this. Not sure why it took me so long. 

When Nadia repeatedly died on the stairs, I lost it, I thought it was hilarious, and when she was like "fuck this," avoided them, and used the fire escape. Same when she repeatedly fell through the cellar.

The death when Ruthie mistook her for an intruder was the saddest. 

I agree. 

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Netflix has announced the season 2 premier date as Feb 1, 2020. 

Where do you see that? There's no announcement on Netflix's or RD's social media.

I just read a new interview from Natasha Lyonne, and they are still writing Season 2. It probably won't be out until summer.

http://www.awardsdaily.com/2019/11/22/natasha-lyonne-on-designing-netflixs-russian-doll/

Edited by ShortyMac
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I Googled "Russian Doll Season 2" and first in the results was a box that showed all the movies and TV shows that were coming up on Netflix in the winter months, and RD2 was in there for 2/1/20.   (Sorry can't link to it. ) It appeared to be an official teaser from Netflix, but perhaps I'm misinterpreting it. or giving it too much credit.   I've certainly seen my share of results that imply they know the release date for a show and when you read it all it says is "Well, we really don't know when the release date is, but..."  This appeared, as I said, official. 

On 2/9/2019 at 4:28 PM, MisterGlass said:

  There were several references to video games, including to Nadia's somewhat meta game about a lone female protagonist, and game Easter eggs.  On some level I think the decay in the loop and disappearance of objects is the game life counter for Alan and Nadia. They have a certain number of stored lives, until they unlock the opportunity to go back to the first night where they went wrong.

 

I would add a meta-Easter Egg that a video game is how Christopher McQuarrie got the idea for the time-loop movie Edge of Tomorrow. He apparently played the same level of a video game over and over so many times, learning where each trap was and where every bullet was coming from, that eventually he got through it perfectly thanks to the knowledge of all the previous attempts (something that wouldn't actually work for someone doing that for real). I remember doing the same thing trying to beat the best times for levels of the game GoldenEye. Thinking about that inspired McQuarrie to write EoT, and we watched Alan attempting the same thing playing Nadia's video game in the show, but neither of them could ever get past the last trap.

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Update on Season 2:

https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/russian-doll-season-2-everything-we-know-so-far-09-2020/

Where is production up on Russian Doll season 2 and release date?

According to our source Production Weekly, filming for the second Russian Doll was scheduled to begin on March 30th, 2020.

New York was heavily impacted by Coronavirus and as of September 2020, the series has yet to have a new filming data announced.

In September 2020, Daniel Richtman (an entertainment scooper who is known for posting exclusive casting grids) posted about a new role for season 2 of Russian Doll, specifically a new “series lead male”.

Here’s how the character is described:

“New main character for the season. He’s a male love interest role, chaming, but tums out to be a hustler/con artist type. He’s being described to us as a “young Benicio Del Toro” type, and Natasha is envisioning names like Oscar Isaac or Andre Holland.”

***

Chloe Sevigny, who plays Nadia's mom, Lenora, teased this in February:

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a34251986/russian-doll-chloe-sevigny-season-2/

Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Sevigny, who plays Nadia's mother Lenora Vulvokov, revealed that we'll be seeing more of her character as the story unravels further.

"Well, the character comes back more. It still has… 'abstract' is not the word. There are some situations where… There is more time-travelling, maybe," she said.

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16 hours ago, ShortyMac said:

Season 2 will finally begin filming next month.

‘Russian Doll’ Season 2: Filming to Begin in March 2021

Yeah! Wonder if it will take a year before it airs?

However, 

On 10/12/2020 at 12:45 AM, ShortyMac said:

He’s a male love interest role, chaming, but tums out to be a hustler/con artist type.

Nice way for the article to spoil everybody.

On 2/3/2019 at 2:38 AM, Miles said:

Edit: I just read an article that said that a season two was almost certain because of the "cliffhanger ending". Did I miss something? That was the least cliffhangery ending of a season of any show I've seen in a long time.

I just binged this so maybe I was tired and missed something but I thought he merged and she didn’t merge. His issues did seem more straightforward. 

Entertainment Weekly: Natasha Lyonne teases a 'wild ride' in first look at Russian Doll season 2: 'It is deeply off-the-wall'

Quote

What she will reveal is that the new season picks up four years after her character, Nadia, and Alan (Charlie Barnett) escaped a deadly time loop. The plot once again explores existential themes as the duo discover a fate even worse than dying over and over, when they must sift through their pasts via an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan's most iconic locales.

In other words, all the humor and sci-fi dramatics from the first season are intact, but the new episodes take it a step further: "We all pushed ourselves to the limit of what we thought we could make happen visually and through the storytelling."

 

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S02E01:

I was wondering why that red baret guy was so concerned about Nadia. With the reveal that she is in the body of her very pregnant mother, that suddenly made sense.

I guess Alan's parents were in germany at the time his mother was pregnant with him? The doors closing behind him said "Keine Tür blockieren". To which I have to give my usual nitpick that that isn't the correct tranlation. Correct would be "Tür nicht blockieren". Even more correct, as in you'd actually might see it in germany, would be "Tür frei halten".

Wondering who that woman in the first scene was. Was it Nadia's mother and she's not really dead or was it Nadia in the future?

Very glad this is back. Can't wait to see the rest of the episodes.

Edited by Zonk

E05: Nora really didn't get it until all was said and done that she was how her grandma got the family jewlery back? That seemed pretty obvious.

I'm a bit disappointed so far. I had hoped her and Alan would do more together this season. Not that Nadia isn't interesting, but I think it would be more interesting if she had somebody to consistantly bounce off of. Also I liked the connection they had forged in the last season and would have liked to see more of it. I guess I won't get much of that either since there are only two episodes left.

Edited by Zonk
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Okay I'm through. This season was certainly interesting TV. Not as good as the first one, but that is a very, very high bar and unlike with a lot of other shows, this season certainly didn't invalidate or outright destroy the great first one, which is what I was kinda afraid of.

But my complaint from above still stands. I want to see Alan and Nadia do more together. It's when those two are connecting that this show really shines for me. I guess there could always be too much of a good thing and the writers might be afraid of that, but at the moment they are really blue balling me.

I'm also a bit dubious on the point of this season. Season one had very clear themes. This, either not so much or I didn't get them. Nadia explored her mother issues and family history further, but that was all relatively well dealt with in season one. I guess there will never be total closure with something like this, but not sure if it warranted a whole nother season.

Not sure what Allan's story is all about, at all. He is still unhappy in his life. He is anxious and he explores that a bit in the past in his grandmas body, but not that much comes of it. Except for the conversation with his grandma where she reminds him that he is her "perfect baby boy". But does that really change anything or is it important? I'm not sure.

What I did think was interesting was how happy he was being seen and treated as a woman, even when it was something as unpleasent as catcalling. I thought the show might explore that angle a bit more. But nothing ever came off it. Maybe setup for the next season? It seems weird to just drop it.

Also why would somebody asian be stuck in east Berlin and have family in west Berlin? I mean it's possible and might totally have happened, but doesn't seem very likely. It's a really odd choice to make. Does Charlie Barnett have some asian ancestry and it was implied that that guy might have been his grandfather? They did say the grandma was a single mom. Otherwise I really don't get the choice.

 

I hope this gets another season and I hope that there they'll explore Alan more, with Nadia at his side, this time.

 

Nitpicking time: Why did those Germans only speak super broken german? Is it really that hard to find a half way decent actor who speaks german? There have to be thousands of them.

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On 4/20/2022 at 1:12 PM, Zonk said:

Also why would somebody asian be stuck in east Berlin and have family in west Berlin? I mean it's possible and might totally have happened, but doesn't seem very likely. It's a really odd choice to make. Does Charlie Barnett have some asian ancestry and it was implied that that guy might have been his grandfather? They did say the grandma was a single mom. Otherwise I really don't get the choice.

Is this about Lenny? I didn’t realize he was Asian. I looked up the actor but I didn’t see anything about him being Asian.

Season 1 was so amazing and this season didn’t live up to it in any way really. It’s disappointing. 

I just really wanted way more Alan and way more Alan and Nadia together. That relationship is what made season 1 so special imo.

5 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Is this about Lenny? I didn’t realize he was Asian. I looked up the actor but I didn’t see anything about him being Asian.

Maybe I'm just super racist, but he looks asian or of asian descent to me. Most likely he is american in reality, like all the "germans" on this show. So I didn't mean "residing in asia currently", of course.

Who is the actor? My googlfu doesn't seem to be as strong as yours. Can't figure out his name.

8 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I've watched Episode 1 and 2, and I am confused as to what's been happening the last 4 years.  We last saw Nadia celebrating her 36th birthday over and over, and now she's 40.  Did she re-live 36 for 4 years?  How much time has gone by since her last "death"?  It seems some time, as Alan referenced dating quite a bit. 

It's just been 4 regular years. It's been a little over three years since season 1 aired in our time, but I believe that was set when it was filmed, so in 2018. With season two they likely made the decision to set it in 2022 instead of 2021 to skip over the pandemic.

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26 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Sandor Funtek

Thx. So I was wrong, he's not american but french.

His father is from hungary. While that's of course a very west country of the ex-soviet union there weren't and aren't an insignificant amount of asians there, the soviet union being mostly located in asia and workers migrating within it. So it might not be unreasonable to think that he might have asian ancestry.

Edit: I dug a bit further and stumbled upon this:

"The debate about Hungary’s origins rages to this day between archeologists, philologists, and historians, but on one thing all agree: Hungarians are more Asian than European and their story includes an almost epic migration in one direction or another across the great steppe of Russia to their current homeland in the Carpathian Basin. "

https://www.alexanderroberts.com/blogs/blog/october-2015/how-the-magyars-became-the-hungarians.aspx

So seems like hungarians are mostly of asian descent.

Edited by Zonk

By far my favorite exchange was when Nadia told Maxine she had looked something up on the internet.

Nadia: Don't worry, your nudes were very tasteful.

Maxine: (disappointed) They weren't supposed to be.

Greta Lee was great, but I really wanted to see more of Nadia and Alan together. I kept thinking that their stories would somehow merge -- that Nadia would take a trip to Berlin to track down the loot the Nazis stole, and she'd run into Alan. Instead, their stories just merged when Alan's grandmother Agnes turned out to be the MTA worker who helped Nadia. I just didn't otherwise see the point of his story at all. 

 

 

 

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This season was more confusing than entertaining.  At the end of each episode I felt like I missed something.  I think if this were a normal 1 episode per week show it would have lost me by episode 2.  I only kept watching because they're short episodes and it was all there at once.

I agree with the above posts - I wish they kept Nadia and Alan together this season.  I really didn't see the point of Alan's time traveling.  Nadia got a lot of insight on her mom, grandma and Ruth, and therefore herself. 

High point - I thought Annie Murphy was excellently cast as young Ruth.  And whoever the young girl is that they cast as young Nadia was a great casting job, too.

I was so impressed with Season 1, and was so looking forward to Season 2.  I don't know if I'll be in for Season 3, if there is one.  This one was just a bit too weird for me.

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