By: Zoe Dmuchowsky
“Russian Doll” is a recently released thriller series on Netflix. It is a modern-day twist on the classic “dying and waking up” storyline. The show opens with the main character, Nadia, looking into the bathroom mirror at her friend Maxine’s house while having a birthday party thrown in her name. This scene becomes very prominent to the development of the show as we see it many times. A song plays in the background, “Gotta Get Up” by Harry Nilsson, and is of key importance to the show; this song plays every time Nadia “wakes up” from dying.
Looking for a new show to binge? Russian Doll is your answer! Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Our main character is like any other tough New York woman living her life without much thought for any supernatural events. She is very hardcore and does not let anyone try to put her down. Every decision she makes has a consequence, and that is a focus of this show. When Nadia leaves the party, she gets hit by a car and “dies.” She then wakes up at least another 10 times and dies in unique ways such as having a gas explosion in her friend Ruth’s apartment or getting shot by a friend when they thought she was an intruder. The show goes on to “kill off” Nadia in almost every episode. The show seemed very repetitive as every time she “died” she would wake up with the same look as she stared into the mirror at the party with “Gotta Get Up” blasting in the background. It is similar to the cliché plot that was done in the movie “Happy Death Day.”
Nonetheless, give “Russian Doll” the benefit of the doubt. This show will blow viewers away. Expect to get connected to the show. I ended up binge-watching all eight episodes in two days. The episodes run roughly 30 minutes apiece, so they are worth your time during breaks between classes.
Back to the show, the plot thickens immensely throughout the eight episodes. Nadia eventually finds someone else in her world that is experiencing the same thing; the man’s name is Alan. He shares the spotlight for every single episode after he is featured. He ends up being someone who must relive their life every time they die, and it is remarkable how connected these two “strangers” are. Throughout the show, we see how all the little connections add up to show that people we see in passing every day may have more of a link than we think.
All the characters in Russian Doll are interconnected in some way. Watch how even minor interactions have major consequences! @nononsensenadia
As these two die and come back, they realize that whenever one of them dies, the other does as well. It is fascinating how the universe aligns to make them restart at the same time as each other. This is one of the major mysteries of the show that doesn’t ever really get answered. It is one of those things you have to assume the answer by yourself.
“Russian Doll’s” overall intent is to show that these people are troubled and for some reason, the universe decided they both needed to be each other’s savior. Alan is a mirror opposite of Nadia. He is soft-spoken, and very OCD as Nadia is not afraid of anyone and outspoken. I liked seeing their relationship grow throughout the show as anything either of them did, stayed in their memories when they woke up from their next death. These are the only two people in the show that can remember what has happened in the past. Everyone else restarts when time restarts. There were many times Nadia and Alan had conflicting views about what was going on; however, at the end of the day, they knew they needed to stick together as they are ae the only ones to know what they were going through.
All in all, I highly recommend watching “Russian Doll.” After about the third episode, I was hooked and could not wait to see what would happen next. This show is very well written and explores a lot of significant issues that many shows oversee. Without giving too much away, Nadia’s mission from all this is to revisit her childhood with her verbally abusive mother and fight her demons while Alan’s is to pick himself up from a hard place and not take his life. In the end, Nadia and Alan are each other’s saviors. You’ll want to watch this show from beginning to end; you won’t regret it.
