I like Natasha Lyonne in the role of a software engineer called Nadia who gets caught in a time-loop. Nadia starts out in a bathroom in an apartment of a friend who is hosting Nadia’s Birthday Party (she just turned 36). Nadia smokes too much and drinks too much and doesn’t turn down friendly drugs. She’s also ready to have sex with strangers. But what drives Russian Doll aren’t Nadia’s lifestyle choices, it’s the fact that Nadia keeps dying–hit by a NYC cab, falling down a flight of stairs, etc.–and awaking up in the bathroom at her Birthday Party. Over and over again.
By the 20th time Nadia died and woke up in that bathroom, I felt annoyed and impatient. The story stalled as Nadia kept trying to figure out what was happening. I’ve seen enough DOCTOR WHO episodes and read plenty of Time Travel SF so the concept of a time-loop isn’t new or strange to me. I wanted the story to gather momentum. But Russian Doll kept to its Groundhog Day template. Tedious.
The social/psychological subtext didn’t engage me, either. GRADE: C
Sorry you didn’t like it. We did. Lyonne is terrific. It did pick up momentum and get out of the loop when she met Alan and realized he was also dying and returning.
Jeff, I thought the story sank under the repeated deaths of Nadia and then Alan. The “solution” didn’t satisfy me, either.
Reading all the rave reviews had me optimistic about this, but I just couldn’t get through it. After three episodes (well, technically 2 1/2) I gave up and never got back to it. So I’ll give it a DNF-Did Not Finish. When I first got Netflix and Prime and Hulu, all these streaming series seemed pretty interesting, but now with new ones coming along nearly every week they’ve lost their Event status. The last one I watched on Netflix was “The Haunting of Hill House”. My two favorites on Prime, “Catastrophe” and “Bosch” are returning soon, and I’ll watch those.
Michael, I’m with you all the way. When I first watched Netflix–then HULU and AMAZON PRIME Video–there was a lot of novelty. Now, I think all three streaming services are trying hard to find the next GAME OF THRONES or some similar blockbuster series. There are a lot more strike-outs than home runs on Netflix now.
Jackie picks out things that interest her. We try one episode and if it doesn’t grab us, we delete it. We’re o our third Israeli series now (WHEN HEROES FLY), We started watched series two of the Finnish cop show BORDERTOWN, but were surprised and disappointed to find that instead of Finnish with subtitles, series two has been dubbed into English!
Jeff, I watch just about everything on TV with CLOSED CAPTIONS on. But, some people hate CLOSED CAPTIONS so various programs opt for dubbing.
Can’t wait for CATASTROPHE, one of our favorites. The second series of SECRET CITY dropped on Netflix yesterday. Love Anna Torv.
Jeff, you can watch Bordertown in Finnish with subtitles. It gives you that option.
All you hipsters with your streaming and special plans! We have a 12 inch black and white TV with a coat hanger antenna, so we don’t get all that fancy stuff. In this case, just as well, it sounds awful.
Rick, more content shows up on Netflix, HULU, and AMAZON PRIME Video, but not all of it is ready for Prime Time. Of course, tastes vary so some of the series will appeal to a specific audience.
To each his own. We watched it the day it dropped — something we never do, we usually let things marinate for years before we watch them — and we really enjoyed it. Liked the actress, liked the variety of ways it played with the concept, even looked forward to the friend who had to chirp “Hey, birthday girl” the exact same way every time she came out of the bathroom. We were very satisfied with our viewing choice that day.
Jeff, you and the Meyersons liked Russian doll while Michael and I didn’t. Different strokes for different folks.