The second season of this very unique comedy-drama, Russian Doll, came out over a year ago and I’m really disappointed in myself that it took me this long to watch it.
I did watch the first episode not too long after it dropped, but for whatever reason the first episode didn’t grab me enough to keep going. Which is dumb on my part because that’s exactly how I felt about the first season, but by the end I fell completely in love with it! I will say that this time around, I wasn’t in love, but was satisfied nonetheless. I’d certainly be interested in seeing what direction a third season could go!
The first time around we meet Nadia as she’s forced to relive her 36th birthday over and over again, dying at some point during the evening. After meeting Alan, they finally realize that it’s because neither of them attempted to help each other the first time they were set to die. That season ended nicely with the pair becoming friends, and sometimes friends with benefits, in both timelines that they found themselves in.
This time around, Nadia is on the precipice of her 40th birthday when she finds herself on the 6-train and ends up back in the 80s as her mother who is pregnant with Nadia at the time. Nadia decides to use this opportunity to get back some gold that could potentially change the course of her life. I personally don’t think it probably would have ended up changing too much, but no matter how hard Nadia tries, she cannot hold onto this money. Instead, she messes some things up in the present day.
Perhaps she could have come this realization sooner if Alan had been around more, but they spent most of the season apart. In fact, Alan was in this nearly enough! I did like that this time around they explored Alan’s queerness, though ultimately it felt a little underdeveloped to me. A lot of the season also spent time with Nadia’s mom’s best friend, Ruthie. She’s not doing so hot in present day, and I think Nadia came to appreciate her even more after meeting her younger counterpart.
In the end, Nadia and Alan struggle in different timelines but still make the right decisions that lead things back to the way they were meant to be. I like that both seasons of this show end concretely so that each potential new season could almost be treated as a variation of an anthology. Again, I’d be very interested to see what kind of new time-bending abilities Nadia and Alan pick up in a third season. We shall hopefully see!