Russian Doll

A perfect take on the popular premise of the time loop and having to live the same day over and over again. Surprisingly, it doesn’t feel at all repetitive. The creators explore many of the nooks and crannies offered by a similar premise and the series never gets boring. And all those moods! It starts as a typical comedy about the life on New York’s pissheads, but the atmosphere gradually thickens and, by the seventh episode, it has become your average psychological horror. At first sight, the main character is an unlikeable, cynical slag, but the series gradually reveals her human side, and by the it’s already impossible not to root for her. (15.02.2019)

Season 1 – 55% – One of the best plot twists for a standalone episode or film, the time loop, has been suspiciously overused lately, and Russian Doll does everything from the very beginning to discourage viewers excited about time play games. The uninspired premise, not very likable main character, absurdly annoying supporting characters, and a bunch of empty dialogue only dilutes the already unexpressive and repetitive attempts to exploit the premise. If the season weren't so short, I would consider deviating from all my habits and dropping the series. Fortunately, the charming Alan gets involved in the story in time, Natasha Lyonne confirms her dramatic and comedic talent, and the last two surprisingly thrilling episodes caught me unprepared enough that I openly rooted for the main characters. That's why I don't understand why this star-studded team of screenwriters voluntarily teeters on the edge of failure in an attempt to come up with another batch (or batches) of episodes. Season 2 – 20% – The first season took away all the fun from time loops, and the second takes away all the fun (and unfortunately all the coherence) from time travel. I didn't expect there to be casual jokes about World War II, motherhood, and drugs, the main character constantly acts indifferent (even though she has no reason to be and is often just pretending to herself), and someone is trying to convince me of the meaningfulness of all this jumping around. Alan is reduced to a character who confusedly asks what is happening, and in most cases, the answer is "I don't know" or "Are you kidding?". In short, the choice to continue is based on trial and error, which proves that some miniseries never needed to be exploited. (23.06.2019)

I like time loops and I enjoyed this one too. As far as clever comedies go, there's still no one above Groundhog Day, of course; as far as flirting with comedic horror goes, Happy Deathday is the winner, but Russian Doll also has something to offer. It's just a pity that the showrunners didn't involve Alan's character in the plot a few episodes earlier, it could have been even better, because the revealing of the main characters' connection was very interesting. (17.04.2022)

The authors of the series have really outdone themselves. The first two episodes bummed me out so much that if it hadn’t been for Natasha Lyonne in the lead role, whom I love especially for her vocal expression, I would have probably quit watching. But that would have been a shame because the writing significantly improved in the episodes that followed. It was no longer boring, and I started enjoying myself. I can't help feeling that the creators had been putting me on all along. (16.05.2019)