Russian Doll Season 1 Review

February 2, 2019 at 6:25pm
By Jason Stettner

This is a Netflix Original Series about a woman, Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) that's stuck in a time loop. On the night of her birthday at her party, she continues to die. This is shown in a number of ways, across a selection of scenarios. It might come across as a typical take on this somewhat growing in popularity genre, but it actually has some unique elements.

There are levels of humor present throughout the series while still being rather dark. It also becomes more interesting as she begins to learn about the origins of this problem. It doesn't take too long for things to get rolling and for her to deploy some detective-like skills to gain an understanding of the situation. There's also a nice duplication of this process, which is something I don't want to spoil. It really does grow, and develop better with a later introduction that changes up the situation around these deaths.

There's a great, and wacky set of characters present here. It's interesting to see things get twisted, while also developing each of the side characters. You get minor glimpses in the episodes and you continue to learn more about them through the slightly differing situations presented prior to each death. You're also not quite sure for the longest of times, what exactly the problem is or what the situation that started this hole setup might be.

The cast is excellent, with Lyonne taking point as the lead and nailing her care free yet tough character. It's great to see a sense of progression there throughout. Despite using the same environments, there are some interesting adjustments and tweaks to keep it fresh so that it's not just the same day. They don't go wildly out of the way to adjust where you are, but certainly change up the scenes.

The Conclusion

Russian Doll Season 1 brings a memorable take on time loops and presents something different. It has a great cast of characters and is to the point. Time isn't wasted, despite there seemingly being an eternity of it potentially. There's a sense of character progression, and development throughout the course of the season.

They generally cover all important elements and do so in a way that's interesting. You're wondering about the problem, perhaps getting chilled by some possibilities and generally along for a different sort of ride. It can certainly be dark, but it's grounded and seems like an almost realistic situation of past meeting the present against this stuck loop.

Russian Doll Season 1 Review at Home with Streamed Viewing

Rating Overall: 8.0