Starring: Natasha Lyonne, Greta Lee, Yul Vazquez, Charlie Barnett, Elizabeth Ashley
Release: February 1
Sometimes in our lives, we go through so much hardships, the only thing that gets us through is the hope of a better tomorrow. But imagine being stuck in one moment in time, reliving it over and over again, until you find a better moment to get you out of the loop.
Nadia Vulvokov is a software engineer celebrating her 36th birthday with a wild party at her friend Maxine’s apartment. Saddened by the disappearance of her cat, Nadia sets out to find the cat and she is run over by a cab.
Next thing, she wakes up over the sink in Maxine’s bathroom back at the party. Nadia starts realising that she keeps dying and is stuck in a time loop. But every time she dies, she wakes up to find herself in Maxine’s bathroom back at the party.
To find answers to her time loop existence, Nadia is forced to address her issues. Her relationship with drugs, her relationship with her friends, her sexual relationships and the effects of her childhood.
Every time Nadia is sent back in time, she realises the world is deteriorating, and she must find a way to subvert the time loop before she’s completely lost to it. Nadia meets Alan, who is also stuck in a time loop. Alan is stuck in a time loop of the night his girlfriend dumps him. Nadia and Alan are forced to help each other get out of the brutal cycle.
Whether it’s dark comedy or dark drama, ‘Russian Doll’ is certainly a dark show. It openly addresses dark issues in an even darker language, ultimately causing a terrifying re-examination of our lives. But the writers manage to do it so effortlessly with Natasha Lyonne’s coarse but loveable persona. Her tough New York accent and her quick-witted replies are what makes the whole thing seem like a bad joke we all want to laugh hard to. The best part of the show is that it manages to keep us chortling, even as they address serious issues of death and mental illness.