Russian Doll - General Discussion

[BetterButter]

[helenamonster]

Just watched the first episode--the reviews I've read so far have been glowing (critics got access to the whole season) so I'm really excited to see where this goes.

I'm also learning something about myself: between this show and Happy Death Day, I apparently have a thing for stories about women stuck in death time loops on their birthdays, and for those birthdays to have significant resonance regarding their mothers.

I absolutely love Natasha Lyonne and am glad she's getting a starring vehicle. I'm looking forward to seeing what exactly a combination between hers and Amy Poehler's comedic sensibilities looks like.

[Jade Foxx]

On episode three and I am SO HERE FOR THIS!!

Love me some Natasha.  Look forward to the discussions. 

[Jade Foxx]

This series is brilliant. 

A mashup of Run Lola Run, Sliding Doors, Groundhog Day, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hang the DJ, The Butterfly Effect, and perhaps a dash of Memento? (What else?)

Will re-watch, I’m that intrigued and obsessed. This is one you watch twenty times and still pick up something new with each viewing. 

[Stiggs]

Omg, on ep 3 and LOVING it! Brilliant! 

[helenamonster]

8 hours ago, Jade Foxx said:

A mashup of Run Lola Run, Sliding Doors, Groundhog Day, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Hang the DJ, The Butterfly Effect, and perhaps a dash of Memento? (What else?)

I mentioned above Happy Death Day (and it's sequel, presumably, which comes out in a couple weeks) which shares a lot of the same plot points as this show: main character stuck in a time loop where she keeps dying on her birthday, though Tree in HDD is deliberately being murdered instead of just encountering increasingly ridiculous accidents.

I love how this show is an amalgam of so many other works that deal with time loops and memory and still manages to be its own unique thing. Tropes are not bad, indeed.

[QQQQ]

Finished all eps, and it felt very much like Black Mirror to me. However,  I don't think I understood the ending, so if anyone would care to elaborate...

[braziliangirl]

 It reminded me of The Good Place. How we need to connect to people even if it causes us pain. How we have to be able to feel not only pleasure but also displeasure so we can feel responsability for our actions and have the power to repair things, It's about the hardships of having relationships and how vulnerable they make us feel (if we have something we can lose them, right?). And also understanding that being involved with others it's the best solution to sustain this very hard task that we all have: existing. I loved it. I'll take all the optimistic (but not delusional) takes about humanity that comes my way. 

[HollyG]

1 hour ago, QQQQ said:

Finished all eps, and it felt very much like Black Mirror to me. However,  I don't think I understood the ending, so if anyone would care to elaborate...

They seem to have gotten out of the time loop... but I don't fully understand it either, but I loved it anyway. I'm going to rewatch and see if it becomes more clear.

[Samsnee]

I love any good Groundhog Day type of story.

Acting was great all around. Nadia was the right balance of funny and self-absorbed. You liked her character even though she could have easily gone overboard. Alan was also well thought out. His progression seemed more significant and the actor playing him did a great job.

I thought the ending was a little too rushed in the way that the the original versions of themselves so quickly trusted the versions that had been through the loops. It took them several tries to get that trust and the original versions had it in 15 minutes. I took the ending to mean that the timelines got merged. 

Not sure what they could do for a second season but I’ll be interested. 

[Miles]

Well this was amazing. I'm just so sad that the premise and character development doesn't lend itself to a second season. I'd love to see more of these characters.

Glad the writers made it clear in the end that their timelines merged and they were together. That was the ending my little heart needed.

 

4 hours ago, Samsnee said:

I thought the ending was a little too rushed in the way that the the original versions of themselves so quickly trusted the versions that had been through the loops. It took them several tries to get that trust and the original versions had it in 15 minutes. I took the ending to mean that the timelines got merged. 

I choose to believe it was bleedover from the other timelines. That on an instinctual level they knew they could trust the other person.

 

But I think you could explain it without this.

Alan knew personal information about Nadia he couldn't have known and then saved her life.

In the other timeline Nadia was there when Alan wanted to kill himself. Sometimes that's all it takes, somebody being there.

 

10 hours ago, QQQQ said:

Finished all eps, and it felt very much like Black Mirror to me. However,  I don't think I understood the ending, so if anyone would care to elaborate...

First they had to unfuck themselves (which stopped the timeloop from decaying) and then they had to save each other (which mergde their time streams back to together).

I think Nadia's original theroy was right. It was all about them saving each other.  Hadn't she been so selfinvolved and hadn't he been so drunk and depressed they could have saved each other that first night they died. But as old wisdom goes "you first have to save yourself before you can save others". So they had to come to terms with and and overcome their own problems and shortcomings first.

 

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.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Miles

[jcin617]

In the first loop, Nadia was in an active position to save Alan if she had helped him when he was drunk; Alan was in a passive position to save her just by being someone to occupy her time and not be out getting hit by the car.   (Had he been sober I’m not sure how he would have crossed her path.)   But that’s just the physical way; they also both saved each other existentially within the loops.   I took the final scene as the two separate timelines merged with the Loop versions meeting up again.   The fact it was in the middle of some random midnight parade was a little strange.   (Also, the homeless guy’s timeline made no sense to me if I tried to follow it.   For a long time I thought there was more to him than met the eye.)

Nadia’s four loops that ended with her falling down the stairs trying to leave the party made me laugh; did we ever find out what happened to poor Alan in those loops?     He couldn’t have gotten very far.

This also reminded me of Happy Death Day, which is a good thing as I really like that movie.

Loved the series though;  not sure what a season 2 would entail, but I would like to see more.

Edited February 3, 2019 by jcin617

[Samsnee]

Yeah the homeless parade at the end came out of nowhere. The whole series Horse seemed like a loner but then all of a sudden had a homeless army at the end. I thought there was more to him too, but there wasn’t. 

And the Nadia’s relationship with her ex lover didn’t really have a satisfying conclusion unlike Alan’s relationship with Bea  

Not really sure sure what they are going to do with a second season without it being a repetitive storyline of being in another time loop. 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

I was ultimately glad that there wasn't more to Horse.  It seemed like they were setting up the magical hobo trope.  Nadia seemed to be looking for some great wisdom from him.  But, nope, he's a homeless person with the complexities often found when someone is on the street - mental illness, substance abuse, connections with people in similar conditions, etc.

In the last episode, I saw it as two concurrent timelines still in play at the end.  One in which Nadia is on loop one and Alan is on loop 18 (approx. I lost count) and the other where Alan is on one and Nadia on 18. Season two could be getting them to the same timeline. 

I liked how different they were as people but still had the same need to connect.  I rarely binge a whole show at once.  I typically break it up some.   Watched the whole thing in a day because I wanted to see where it was going.  

[SomeTameGazelle]

20 minutes ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

In the last episode, I saw it as two concurrent timelines still in play at the end.  One in which Nadia is on loop one and Alan is on loop 18 (approx. I lost count) and the other where Alan is on one and Nadia on 18. Season two could be getting them to the same timeline.

But even though they were in different loops (and strictly speaking the first one hadn't looped yet because the other life was saved before it ended and the first loop began), their reaching an understanding and joining the parade in both regardless of what it had taken to get there seemed to show that both relationships had met up and synched so that they were in a stable timeline either way.

There seemed to be a suggestion that even in timelines where the characters think they are experiencing something for the first time, they have some knowledge of another timeline -- at least, even before Nadia's first death, she found Horse familiar.

Are the other characters meant to be always the same and it is just perspective that catches them at different moments that makes them seem different? Most of the characters seemed to be consistent -- but in the loop where Alan doesn't go to Bea's until the following morning and he admits to her that he should have realized how unhappy she was sooner and that he was getting help, when Mike shows up with his kid he doesn't seem like the complete asshole he does in nearly every other timeline. Likewise in the loops where Nadia seeks out Horse it seemed like Horse was not dangerous, but when Alan runs into him and he takes him to his group and says he's found "another one" or something like that, that felt very ominous and I was worried about what they might do to him.

I averted my eyes when Nadia started spitting up blood on Lucy (John's daughter). Was it her finally meeting Lucy and giving her her copy of Emily of New Moon that somehow healed some of Nadia's issues with her mother? What about the trauma she caused Lucy by dying violently in front of her?

I enjoyed the series a lot and although I don't think that the ending left real scope for another season, I feel as if I would would be interested in seeing more of Nadia's life. I loved Ruth (although 1991 Ruth looked much much younger than I expected) and Maxine and Lizzy and I would like to see more resolution for John.

[Miles]

3 hours ago, Samsnee said:

And the Nadia’s relationship with her ex lover didn’t really have a satisfying conclusion unlike Alan’s relationship with Bea  

I think it did. The whole thing was about her being too afraid to commit to anybody because of her mother. In the end she actually met his kid and let go of her mother. That was the conclusion of that arc.

 

3 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

In the last episode, I saw it as two concurrent timelines still in play at the end.  One in which Nadia is on loop one and Alan is on loop 18 (approx. I lost count) and the other where Alan is on one and Nadia on 18. Season two could be getting them to the same timeline. 

Their timelines merged at the end. You can see by her new shirt, she got because her friend spilled a drink on her and his Karma-scarf, he got because he was nice to one of Nadia's friends. Both of them are in the same shot at the end.

I was almost rolling my eyes about how contrived it was how they got them in those distinctive clothes. But I think the show had earned it at that point and it was good visual storytelling.

 

Edit: Some visual aides: https://imgur.com/a/GEvtU9y

What's interesting is that in the second picture both Nadia's have the gray coat, when the left one should have the black one. In the fourth picture, there are three Nadia's, not two. That doesn't seem like it could be a msitake.

So it seems like they made the deliberate editing choice to replace black-coat-Nadia with another grey-coat-Nadia in the left panel and make it three Nadia's in total. Where is that third Nadia coming from? Maybe that would be something that could be explored in a second season.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Miles

[Duke2801]

Binged this show in record time and absolutely loved it. I’m not sure how they could do a second season, but I’d surely watch the hell out of it if they did. 

And can I just say how much I adore Natasha Lyonne? Her brand of snark and cynicism really speaks to me. She looked so beautiful in this particular show, too. 

[Straycat80]

Just got done bingeing this show. I liked it very much. First time seeing Natasha Lyonne and am now a fan. I don’t know how they can do a season two either but I would watch it. 

[Sentient Meat]

I'm counting on Russian Doll and The Good Place to unravel the meaning of life before either the environment or nuclear holocaust send us into oblivion or some thoughtless studio executive replaces either with Albania's Got Talent: The Runners Ups.

Natasha's a genius...  Amy too and the other women whose name I was too thoughtless to memorize.

I only wish she would stop her bizarre, affected, Bukowskiesque, Tom Waits like diction that carried over from OITNB... who knows, maybe that's the way she talks all the time but it's distracting and takes me out of her character.

Gonna go now to see if she wrote any novels because the script was amazing.

Edited February 4, 2019 by Sentient Meat

[Duke2801]

8 hours ago, Sentient Meat said:

I'm counting on Russian Doll and The Good Place to unravel the meaning of life before either the environment or nuclear holocaust send us into oblivion or some thoughtless studio executive replaces either with Albania's Got Talent: The Runners Ups.

Natasha's a genius...  Amy too and the other women whose name I was too thoughtless to memorize.

I only wish she would stop her bizarre, affected, Bukowskiesque, Tom Waits like diction that carried over from OITNB... who knows, maybe that's the way she talks all the time but it's distracting and takes me out of her character.

Gonna now to see if she wrote any novels because the script was amazing.

I think that's just the way she talks.  She spoke like that in all the American Pie films she was in, too. 

[Samsnee]

There were two other Natasha’s in the last scene during the parade. Any thoughts what this means? There are separate timelines and they are all merging?

 

 

[Rickster]

I’ve seen five episodes, and the problem I have is that to me, Nadia is such an annoying unappealing character (or maybe it’s the actress), that I sort of hope she stays in the loop forever.

[Corgi-ears]

On 2/3/2019 at 10:20 PM, jcin617 said:

The fact it was in the middle of some random midnight parade was a little strange.

 

On 2/3/2019 at 11:33 PM, Samsnee said:

Yeah the homeless parade at the end came out of nowhere.

 

The parade was probably a reference to the 1988 Tompkins Square riots. That, at least, is the theory put forth by critic Jason Zinoman on this twitter thread, which you can also read Gothamist's summary of. Natasha Lyonne and Leslye Headland tweeted back and essentially confirmed Zinoman's reading.

[Stiggs]

3 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

The parade was probably a reference to the 1988 Tompkins Square riots. That, at least, is the theory put forth by critic Jason Zinoman on this twitter thread, which you can also read Gothamist's summary of. Natasha Lyonne and Leslye Headland tweeted back and essentially confirmed Zinoman's reading.

In a million years I never would have gotten any of that and I still loved it, heh. 

[Samsnee]

Has anyone seen Homecoming on Amazon? The last episode of this series reminded me of the last episode of this show. A white female protagonist who bonded with an African American male throughout the series is trying to reconnect with him and help him remember the past. Both had excellent finales. Except this show had a much happier ending. 

10 hours ago, Rickster said:

I’ve seen five episodes, and the problem I have is that to me, Nadia is such an annoying unappealing character (or maybe it’s the actress), that I sort of hope she stays in the loop forever.

 

It’s annoying at first but it grew on me. It’s a very New York caricature in some ways. 

[BetterButter]

All the Death Scenes in 'Russian Doll'

[pasdetrois]

I enjoyed it. I thought the pacing was great and only got bored with the bazillion bathroom scenes a couple of times.

Charlie Bartnett is great; don't recall seeing him before.

The Washington Post critic likes the series, but mentioned that the ending had a Leslie Knope feel to it (a cheery ending).

Edited February 6, 2019 by pasdetrois

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 10:48 AM, SomeTameGazelle said:

Are the other characters meant to be always the same and it is just perspective that catches them at different moments that makes them seem different? Most of the characters seemed to be consistent -- but in the loop where Alan doesn't go to Bea's until the following morning and he admits to her that he should have realized how unhappy she was sooner and that he was getting help, when Mike shows up with his kid he doesn't seem like the complete asshole he does in nearly every other timeline. Likewise in the loops where Nadia seeks out Horse it seemed like Horse was not dangerous, but when Alan runs into him and he takes him to his group and says he's found "another one" or something like that, that felt very ominous and I was worried about what they might do to him.

At one point, Nadia theorized that they weren't only in a time loop but that each time they died they created (or entered) a new, distinct, parallel universe. Thus, people and fish and stuff disappearing as they continued to die.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Quilt Fairy

[quarks]

General note: I'm not entirely sure that this show belongs in the comedy section. The first two episodes, sure, and the black comedy feel stays without, but episodes 6 and 7 really seem to be more horror than comedy.

On 2/5/2019 at 8:03 AM, Rickster said:

I’ve seen five episodes, and the problem I have is that to me, Nadia is such an annoying unappealing character (or maybe it’s the actress), that I sort of hope she stays in the loop forever.

That was my feeling in the first couple of episodes, but the other characters grew on me, and I got involved with the rest of the show.

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 can't speak for Netflix, but my guess is that a season two has a lot less to do with how cliffhangery the ending is and a lot more to do with how many Netflix subscribers binge the series.

That said, yes, I did think the series ended on somewhat of a cliffhanger, with several unanswered questions:

1. Why were there now three Nadias?

2. Did the Nadia in the white blouse/black coat see the Nadias in the grey coats? Alan (scarf Alan) seems to have seen at least one of them. How does that change future timelines.

3. The parade didn't appear in the previous timelines. What happened to cause the parade to appear? It couldn't have been just stopping the original car accident/suicide, since that happened in previous timelines. Alan and Nadia accepting themselves?

4. Why did the first Nadia, before all the dying, think that she recognized Horse?

5. Was Horse manipulating both Alan and Nadia? And in the last episode, was Horse working/on friendly terms with the guy who stole his shoes in the homeless center in the previous timeline? Basically, what's up with Horse?

6. In the new timeline, will Nadia remember to get the book to Lucy (the timelines merged before the breakfast with Lucy)? If not, what happens?

Not to say that the second season will bother to answer any of these questions.

[helenamonster]

Finally got the chance to finish this and loved every second. It was just the right blend of humor, horror, and existentialism. Will definitely be going through it again soon in the near future to try and catch some of the foreshadowing/easter eggs. There were a lot of moving parts they had to balance and I thought they did it all wonderfully.

I've loved Natasha Lyonne since American Pie and I was happy to discover with this series that she has just as much a knack for writing as she does for acting. This is the sort of content that makes Netflix such an essential part of today's media-viewing experience. You just couldn't tell this story one episode per week on a regular channel without losing momentum, and there's too much going on to attempt to cram it into even a two-and-a-half hour movie. Netflix let the series breathe and tell the story it needed to tell.

I don't know how they would do a season two, though I'm not necessarily opposed to it. Them getting stuck in another time loop would have a lot less impact, but it would be strange if this turned into just a straightforward series about Nadia and Alan navigating their lives after their experience. If this does become a multiple-seasons thing, maybe each one can have a different magical time-related element to it. They were bringing little Nadia into the present--maybe Nadia and Alan can time travel to their pasts and/or futures.

I also loved how contained the story felt in terms of space. I don't think they left the Lower East Side/Alphabet City once. I guess Nadia did have to go up to 14th Street for the synagogue, but other than that they seemed to keep it all to the same five-block radius.

I too was expecting there to be more to Horse, but I liked the poster's theory above that, given the parallel universes theory, First Loop Nadia had some subconscious knowledge of the other loops before she'd even gotten hit by the cab.

1 hour ago, quarks said:

1. Why were there now three Nadias?

The three Nadias at the end were the two Nadias from the two last time loops (the one where Nadia saves Alan and the one where Alan saves Nadia) merging into the, for lack of a better term, Definitive Nadia, who has escaped the loop with all the knowledge she gained from having gone through it.

[quarks]

3 hours ago, helenamonster said:

The three Nadias at the end were the two Nadias from the two last time loops (the one where Nadia saves Alan and the one where Alan saves Nadia) merging into the, for lack of a better term, Definitive Nadia, who has escaped the loop with all the knowledge she gained from having gone through it.

Except that the two additional Nadias were still visible AFTER the merging - and those two additional Nadias were both wearing the coat/costume associated with the timeline where Alan Saves Nadia.  The merged Nadia was the one wearing the Nadia Saves Alan costume. 

So those two additional Nadias couldn't have been Nadia Saves Alan Nadia (wrong costume) and Alan saves Nadia, given the costumes.

[MisterGlass]

I thought the other Nadias were supposed to symbolize the parts of herself she is moving passed.

There was a lot that was interesting in this, though I got a little weary of the over-the-top Bohemian party.  It was a good use of the time loop concept.  The idea of a degrading time loop is not one that I remember seeing.  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.

As far as the homeless man, in the original timeline he met Alan, and was seen by Nadia.  I think he and his friends took suicidal Alan's money, then went to the shelter, where one of his friends stole his shoes, leading to his death the second night in most timelines.  He's a foil for both characters as someone who couldn't make it in a different way.

If there were a second season, I think it would have to be other characters stuck in a loop.

[Quilt Fairy]

In one of the reviews read, it mentioned that the show is plotted out for 3 seasons.

[helenamonster]

20 hours ago, quarks said:

Except that the two additional Nadias were still visible AFTER the merging - and those two additional Nadias were both wearing the coat/costume associated with the timeline where Alan Saves Nadia.  The merged Nadia was the one wearing the Nadia Saves Alan costume. 

So those two additional Nadias couldn't have been Nadia Saves Alan Nadia (wrong costume) and Alan saves Nadia, given the costumes.

Don't have an explanation for the costumes (actually didn't notice that on first viewing) but I really do think the explanation is just as simple as the timelines merging and the loop finally breaking.

Honestly I think it was just supposed to be a cool visual moment. We see the two additional Nadias from behind, walking in the opposite direction of Definitive Nadia. This is after the split frame of the two parallel timelines where Nadia and Alan have to save each other. The frames merge, and the Nadia from each keeps walking until she disappears in the center, where she's merged into the definitive one.

Again, don't really have an explanation for the costume. But I'm not sure what else it could be tbh.

[Mockingbird]

On 2/6/2019 at 8:04 AM, pasdetrois said:

I enjoyed it. I thought the pacing was great and only got bored with the bazillion bathroom scenes a couple of times.

Charlie Bartnett is great; don't recall seeing him before.

The Washington Post critic likes the series, but mentioned that the ending had a Leslie Knope feel to it (a cheery ending).

I was so relieved that this had an optimistic ending. I’m a sucker for shows in which flawed people genuinely care about other flawed people and end up making each other a little better and making each others’ lives better. Like The Good Place, Russian Doll flips the “hell is other people” trope. And, sure, that’s Leslie Knope-ish. (Or, actually, Mike Schur-ish.) But it’s also kind of the only way to make it through life. I thought each episode of Russian Doll got progressively better, though now if I ever hear “Gotta Get Up,” it might cause a panic attack. 

[tennisgurl]

So what happens when you combine Groundhog Day, Happy Death Day, The Good Place, and every hipster comedy set in New York, and stick them all in a blender, then a Matryoshka Doll? You get this show! I wasn't totally sure what I would get when I started this, but I am certainly happy I decided to watch! I have a soft spot for these sort of quirky existential dramadies about dealing with your baggage, and I was really fascinated by how this all played out. 

Love seeing Natasha Lyonne getting a starring role here, and this was a real showcase for her talents. And the whole cast was really good, even though I am not familiar with most of them. I recognized Daya from OiTNB (nice to see her bringing friends over!) and a few people that I knew from random stuff, but I liked that I didnt know much about the other actors. They were more of a blank slate to me. I do wish there had some more closure with some of the supporting characters (like her foster mom and her ex) but I think that we will be getting more seasons, so we will have more time probably later for that. 

I found it really fascinating that Alan and Nadia seemed to be, on the surface, such totally different people, but ended up being so much alike, and really fundamentally getting each other in ways that even the people in their lives who knew and loved them couldn't fully understand. I think there is something here about being willing to reach out to others, even people you might not be drawn to automatically, to help out, even in small ways. Although Alan and Nadia both had people in their lives who did very much care for and love them, they both felt alone and isolated, especially in the loop when it started. Nadia pushed people away and felt isolated even in the middle of her own party, and Alan was stuck in a rut and terrified of any kind of change, even change for the better, and that left him in a dull relationship with a person who had checked out years ago just because it was what they were used to. I wonder if that was a part of the theme about mirrors throughout, with the mirror they both started the loops looking into, the mirrors being the first things to disappear when time got all weird, Nadia's mom breaking mirrors in the past, and later Nadia spitting up a mirror. Nadia and Alan are reflections of each other. 

And I always love the theme that people need each other to survive their problems, even when people caused problems in the first place. There was a lot here about isolation and companionship, and how people reach out or dont, and how much of a change that can lead to. Like, Mike the snooty academic who spent most of the show being an insufferably pretentious, uncaring ass, had that great line about how he isnt a choice, but "the hole where a choice should have been made", which is just so deeply sad and well spoken, that its kind of amazing in how self aware it is, even for such a dickhead. Maybe even people like that can find spiritual redemption? 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ruth: Should I call my guy at Bellevue?
Nadia: Is it the nicest psych ward?
Ruth: It's definitely the closest one.

Mike: So when people say working class, what they really mean is people who can't afford to go to college.

John: Just so you know, I'm not Jewish but I am circumcised.

John: Did you kill someone?
Nadia: Seriously? Come on. No, I did not kill somebody. If I killed somebody, I'd play it cool, move to Mexico, start a band.

Audrey: How do I know you're not a murderer?
Nadia: My sparkling personality? 
Audrey: How many people have you murdered? 
Nadia: None.
Audrey: That's what a murderer would say.

Edited February 12, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[DrSpaceman]

I generally enjoyed the show.  I binge watched it in a few days. 

And I like Natasha Lyonne.  However, I feel like she plays pretty much the same character in everything she is in.  The outspoken, quick witted, sassy, tough girl, often drug addicted.  I like the characters, but they all pretty well blur together for her.  Not sure if its the roles she chooses, how she plays them each time or both. 

Also don't understand where season two would go, unless it delves into one of the alternative realities created by the many different timelines in season one.

I thought the ending was rather abrupt and surprising. 

[helenamonster]

20 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I found it really fascinating that Alan and Nadia seemed to be, on the surface, such totally different people, but ended up being so much alike, and really fundamentally getting each other in ways that even the people in their lives who knew and loved them couldn't fully understand. I think there is something here about being willing to reach out to others, even people you might not be drawn to automatically, to help out, even in small ways. Although Alan and Nadia both had people in their lives who did very much care for and love them, they both felt alone and isolated, especially in the loop when it started. Nadia pushed people away and felt isolated even in the middle of her own party, and Alan was stuck in a rut and terrified of any kind of change, even change for the better, and that left him in a dull relationship with a person who had checked out years ago just because it was what they were used to. I wonder if that was a part of the theme about mirrors throughout, with the mirror they both started the loops looking into, the mirrors being the first things to disappear when time got all weird, Nadia's mom breaking mirrors in the past, and later Nadia spitting up a mirror. Nadia and Alan are reflections of each other. 

I found the mirrors to be representative of where Nadia and Alan were fucking up with the loops. Until the last one, they assumed that they each had to fix something about their own lives in order to escape. Despite having found each other and realizing that they were going through the exact same thing (and that even their deaths were linked) it wasn't until the final loop that they realized that the only way to save themselves was to save each other.

In some ways I think this show was a commentary of not only constantly looking inward and focusing on your own problems, but of being afraid to reach out for help. We see Nadia mask her issues with substances and snark, and Alan is terrified of going to therapy in case they confirm that he's crazy. It doesn't make light of either of the things they're going through, but the lesson is that you don't have to go through things alone, and you might find help in the most unlikely places.

Lots of great little lines of dialogue in this show as well. I loved the moment when Nadia compared her experience to the movie The Game. "And I'm Michael Douglas!" Nice deep cut there.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E5 quotes:

Quote

Nadia: Why do you think this is happening to us?
Alan: I'm pretty sure that it's purgatorial punishment for being a bad person.
Nadia: What is this bad person? I mean, you know, there's Hitler and then there's, uh, everybody else. Even Wile E. Coyote. Yeah, he's out there. He's looking for a hot meal.

Nadia: My new theory is that it's an incredibly dense gravitational field that's gaining consciousness and is now deliberately fucking with us. Kind of the black hole meets They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Alan: Yeah, my bathroom doesn't have a black hole, so-
Nadia: This isn't going to be very fun if you keep rejecting my theories.
Alan: You rejected mine.
Nadia: Yeah, because it was morally simplistic and narcissistic. I mean, the universe is moral, but it shares your views on morality.

Nadia: Have I ever done anything, you know, memorably bad to either of you?
Lizzy: Yeah, you said I shouldn't adopt those two Neapolitan mastiff puppies cause I have a small space, but they needed a home and I could've made some changes.
Nadia: Okay. Do you want to get in on this?
Maxine: Oh, no, no. I love that you're a c***. It makes me feel morally superior.
Nadia: Okay, that's a good way to not judge people. Is there anything else? 
Lizzy: Yeah, Gina. When you said Gina wasn't really my type, I really took that to heart. I mean, if it weren't for you, I'd be married. I'd be living upstate. I'd be raising two mastiffs. I'd have a completely different life.

Nadia: Okay, check it out. I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me I'm a bad person. Nobody did it because I fucking rule, so there goes your theory.

Nadia: This is Alan. He's basically a child that the universe has tasked me with babysitting. Would you say that's a fair assessment? 
Alan: Sure.

John: Why'd you even bring [Lucy] up though?
Nadia: You're supposed to ask people about their kids. It's polite. It gives everybody a moment to pretend there's gonna be a future. 

John: I'm going to get a seltzer.
Alan: Oh, hey, they have alcohol over there too, so-
Nadia: No, no, no, no, no. That's his deal. He's like sober, white-knuckling it so he doesn't drink. That's why he's such an asshole.
Alan: Oh, I thought it was because you were pissing him off.
Nadia: Alan, sexualizing self-hatred is the hallmark of any relationship that begins with extra-marital infidelity.
Alan: You skipped out on meeting his daughter and you broke up his marriage?
Nadia: With the amount of guilt, I'm surprised you're not a Jew.

Maxine: I think there's a lot of merit in copying. I'm interested in plagiarism as an art form.
Mike: But haven't you wondered why visual art no longer carries the weight it did 30 years ago? 
Maxine: I've literally never wondered that. 
Alan: The internet.
Mike: AIDS. The AIDS crisis, it wiped out nearly every meaningful critical voice in every medium, so now the artist's intention is buried in a sea of likes and thumbs up.
Alan: But if the intention's still there If it's clear, it doesn't matter what the critic thinks.
Mike: What are you, a collector?
Alan: I don't really understand art. My dad used to say that I don't have a single creative bone in my body.
Mike: So we're talking about your dad now.
Maxine: I'm really into dads. 
Mike: I'm a dad.

Nadia: Pancake breakfasts private cars, You know, all my mother gave me was a subway token and an eating disorder.

Nadia: You okay?
John: My bones hurt every morning.
Nadia: You should get checked for Lyme disease.

Nadia: Hey, Ruth, if you were going to die today, would you be ready for it? Like would you feel at peace with your life?
Ruth: Yes and no.
Nadia: So how do you get to just yes?
Ruth: You don't. See, holding two incompatible ideas in your head at the same time and accepting both of them, that's the best of being human. Yes, no. Good, bad. Life, death.
Nadia: Wax on, wax off. Tomato, tomato. Potato, two potatoes.

Alan: Listen, I know you think I'm a moral narcissist, but there are good guys and bad guys. And I am definitely a good guy. And that piece of shit, he he is a bad guy.
Nadia: Okay, so then why are you the one in purgatory?

Alan: Why you?
Mike: Why me what?
Alan: Bea. She chose you, and you don't love her. You're not faithful. You never get punished. So why you?
Mike: She didn't choose me, Alan. The only choice she made was not you. Nobody chooses me. I'm the hole where a choice should be.

Edited February 16, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E6 quotes

Quote

Nadia: The trick is you got to find a labyrinth keeper. You know, she's based on Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon, but with my hairdo.

Alan: Do you mind smoking outside?
Nadia: Look, if I smoke outside, then I could die. And if I die, you die. So basically, you're welcome, all right?

Ruth: Darling, that is not how I work. I see patients regularly for years before even trying EMDR.
Nadia: Right, right. Uh hypnosis. Or, um I don't know, ayahuasca?
Ruth: Listen to me. I'm a therapist, not a shaman.

Alan: Therapy is one of my biggest fears. It's like if you said that you were afraid of spiders and then I was like here's a bunch of spiders. 
Nadia: Ruth isn't a spider. She's got more of a praying mantis vibe, which, as somebody who's always been allergic to bees, I find highly comforting.
Alan: That's weird. I'm allergic to bees, too.
Nadia: Seriously? Oh, so I guess we run into a bunch of fucking honeybees now.

Beatrice: We've been together since we were kids and basically, you're like my best friend. But if I'm honest with myself this isn't what I want. I want more for my life. I want to make mistakes. I want to get my degree. There's so much I want to do, and you just want to stay exactly the same. I love you, but I've been taking care of this, us, you, for the last nine years, and I just can't help but realize that I've been worrying about you and managing us, and it's just becoming a job. And I already have a full-time job.
Nadia: Oh, you have a job?
Beatrice: Yeah, I'm working on my PhD in literature.
Nadia: Wow, that is totally useless. I'm so sorry. I actually I just came over because I wanted to tell you that these gluten-free crackers are dynamite.
Beatrice: Who do you think you are?
Nadia: I think I get the picture. So you think you can do better. It's interesting cause I actually think that Alan over here is way out of your league.
Beatrice: No one asked you, okay?
Nadia: Where'd you get this art from? Is it, like, all from Urban Outfitters or just a couple of the pieces?

Alan: I knew she was unhappy. I don't know why I thought proposing would be a good idea.
Nadia: Sometimes Hail Marys are the best Marys we've got.
Alan: You ever been married, engaged?
Nadia: You know, I've thought about it, but then I realize that's just a base instinct mostly for suckers and, you know, mediocres.

Nadia: I told you my grandparents are Holocaust survivors, right?
Alan: No, we basically just met.

Nadia: I was fucking Mike from the party.
Alan: Beatrice Mike?
Nadia: Yeah. What are the odds, right? I mean, like, she's cheating on you, he's cheating on her. Ipso facto, it's like we all fucked Beatrice. I mean, you the most, of course, but, you know, in a kind of fun gang-bang way, it's like a mash-em-up.
Alan: You fucked Mike from the party? 
Nadia: Oh, here we go.
Alan: You You know what? This is not about my first death. This is probably because you were fucking that Irish that Irish fucking gingerbread fisherman-looking motherfucker.
Nadia: All right, man. First of all, I mean, this guy's hands are so fucking soft, there's no way he's done a day's worth of hard labor in his life, let alone that, you know, hardcore fishing. And second of all, the sex was, I want to say, mediocre at best. Like medium, you know? And there's no way that it set off a whole world-bending multiverse wonderland fucking splitting level shit, all right? Let's slow down. Bukowski's not your greatest look.

Nadia: Alan Zaveri, how do you know him? 
Ferran: We're good friends. We worked at a cannery together in Alaska.
Nadia: Wait, what?
Ferran: Nah, I'm just kidding. We actually pledged Alpha Delta in college. That cannery thing though, it's pretty good. I put in my novel.

Edited February 16, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

S1.E7 & S1.E8 quotes:

Alan: You're pretty smart.
Nadia: Thank you for finally noticing.

Nadia: Did you ever hear the one about the broken man and the lady with a death wish who got stuck in a loop?
Alan: Tell me.
Nadia: Once upon a time there was a very special boy named Alan. And one day life got to be too much for him. So he decided to take a walk off the side of the roof. But on his way down, a very tough lady, who looked like if Andrew Dice Clay and the little girl from Brave made a baby, she caught him in her crazy hair like it was a dolphins' net.
Alan: I love Brave.
Nadia: And I love Dice which I'm sure will eventually become problematic.

Edited February 16, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[snarktini]

On 2/5/2019 at 5:03 AM, Rickster said:

I’ve seen five episodes, and the problem I have is that to me, Nadia is such an annoying unappealing character (or maybe it’s the actress), that I sort of hope she stays in the loop forever.

On 2/2/2019 at 7:30 PM, Samsnee said:

Acting was great all around. Nadia was the right balance of funny and self-absorbed. You liked her character even though she could have easily gone overboard. Alan was also well thought out. His progression seemed more significant and the actor playing him did a great job.

I found her more annoying than likable. Happily, just about the time I was wondering if I could make it through, Alan appeared. I liked and identified with him a lot. He really grounded the story for me. The other characters were good, too. Her friends were fun.

 

On 2/3/2019 at 7:33 AM, Samsnee said:

And the Nadia’s relationship with her ex lover didn’t really have a satisfying conclusion unlike Alan’s relationship with Bea  

I'm wondering a little about this too. What bothers me about the explanation that she had to meet the girl is that while it gives Nadia an opportunity to be vulnerable and connect, it also was somewhat inappropriate and insensitive to Ex and Daughter. When she bailed on meeting Daughter the first time, I inferred Nadia realized she was stringing him along and creating chaos for them -- I took that as growth on her part. If she didn't intend to stay in the picture, why should she meet the daughter?  It closed her past loop perhaps, but it shifted some chaos to them.

18 hours ago, helenamonster said:

In some ways I think this show was a commentary of not only constantly looking inward and focusing on your own problems, but of being afraid to reach out for help. We see Nadia mask her issues with substances and snark, and Alan is terrified of going to therapy in case they confirm that he's crazy. It doesn't make light of either of the things they're going through, but the lesson is that you don't have to go through things alone, and you might find help in the most unlikely places.

My nutshell: She had to stop being so self-absorbed and help someone else. He had to stop being so self-reliant and accept help.

 

[snarktini]

BTW, is anyone else having trouble getting Nadia's Reboot Song out of their head?!

Gotta get up, gotta get out...

[nachomama]

My theory is that this is all something Bodega guy is writing. None of them actually exist

[Xantar]

So in a series that pays a lot of attention to the details, I was surprised to catch a continuity error. In the final timeline when Original Nadia is about to cross the road and Reboot Alan pulls her back before a car can hit her, we can see in the shot that the Walk sign is on above Mike’s head on the other side of the road. However, in a matching shot to Alan, we see that the sign on his side of the road is on Don’t Walk. The perspective changes a few times between the two, so we know the two sides of the road are supposed to be simultaneous. I guess if the traffic lights aren’t matching up, that could also explain why a car speeding through an intersection where there should be a red light.

[snarktini]

5 hours ago, nachomama said:

My theory is that this is all something Bodega guy is writing. None of them actually exist

That thought crossed my mind, too, when we learned he was writing a novel! Or maybe they DO exist, like in the movie Stranger Than Fiction, but their lives are being controlled by the writer.

Edited February 13, 2019 by snarktini

[marcee]

On 2/12/2019 at 1:03 PM, snarktini said:

I'm wondering a little about this too. What bothers me about the explanation that she had to meet the girl is that while it gives Nadia an opportunity to be vulnerable and connect, it also was somewhat inappropriate and insensitive to Ex and Daughter. When she bailed on meeting Daughter the first time, I inferred Nadia realized she was stringing him along and creating chaos for them -- I took that as growth on her part.

I didn't read it as her realizing she was stringing him along. I read it as she was panicking about making such a commitment. I got the feeling she really liked him but was afraid of making a real, long term commitment which was echoed a bunch with regard to her belief that she bailed on her mother. It also showed how Nadia and Alan fit so well together and were able to ultimately help each other... he was ready to jump into commitment (even though he really wasn't) and she's terrified of commitment (even though it would've probably been a good relationship).

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Russian Doll’s Lizzie on Acting in Her Wife’s Breakout TV Hit

[Grammaeryn]

Just finished the show and absolutely loved it! I cared about the mystery, Nadia, and Alan. It made me cry, laugh, and sigh with happiness. My first though that this had to be a one and done season. But if there are other seasons, Nadia’s line about “What if everybody else goes on.” sticks with me. Maybe two other characters are in a loop for season 2 like Ruth and bodega guy?

I’m pleased they didn’t go the Nadia’s mom wasn’t crazy, she was just reacting to her own loop route. With the multiple timelines, I kept thinking about the Rick and Morty episode where uncertainty broke time.