By A. Kirana
“Happy Birthday, baby!’
Have you ever had one of those days, where a strong sense of déjà vu continually nags at you; wish you could change a monumental decision, changing the course of your life; or better yet, reset your life through a hard reboot? Russian Doll somewhat tackles those ideas; a dash of Groundhog Day; a sprinkling of Edge of Tomorrow (disclosure: I’ve never seen EoT) and 100% entertaining. Russian Doll is another one of Netflix’s gems, I mentioned previously. A dark comedy, created by the minds of Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, and starring Natasha as Nadia Vulvokov, a 36 year old software engineer, whom on the night of her 36th birthday party, thrown by her friend Maxine (Greta Lee), unexpectedly dies when she gets hit by a car while leaving her party, but finds herself suddenly back in Maxine’s bathroom at her party.
Unsure of the reality of her current situation, she begins to search for answers, all the while, stuck in a time loop, continually dying and reappearing in Maxine’s bathroom. No matter how she tried to avoid it, her death seemed inevitable as was her ‘rebirth’ as her life rebooted each time and returning to the night of her party.
Unable, no matter how she tried, to convince her friends of her experiences, each death/rebirth began eroding on Nadia’s sanity. As Nadia resigned herself to her fate of her ‘accidental immortality’ and the gravity of her situation, fate stepped in. During one of her journeys towards death, in the ensuing panic of those around her, she came across Alan Zevari (Charlie Barnett) whom, as she was, was completely unaffected by death.
Russian Doll is not what you would expect and by the end, you will be glad you stayed for the whole ride. As an added bonus, as of June 11th, Russian Doll has been renewed for a second season! Looking forward to further adventures of Nadia and Alan and cannot wait to see where the journey will take us next season.
