Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Russian Doll’ Season 2 On Netflix, Where Natasha Lyonne’s Nadia Bends Time And Space In A Whole New Way

It’s been three years since the remarkable first season of Russian Doll was released, and we can understand some of the non-pandemic reasons why it took so long. The plot of season 1 was so trippy that trying to recreate it in season 2 would have been a mistake. Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland waited until they came up with a story that was different but still messed with time and space like season 1 did. Did they succeed?

RUSSIAN DOLL SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An older lady with red bouffant breaks through a sewer pipe and grabs a bag. Then, to the tune of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” we see Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) rounding a corner.

The Gist: It’s been four years since Nadia relived her 36th birthday over and over again, and now she’s about to turn 40. In the intervening four years, she’s learned that the universe is not something to be messed with, and she’s spent every birthday with fellow time loop traveler Alan Zaveri (Charlie Barnett), waiting to see what happens.

But life does go on. Maxine (Greta Lee) wants to plan a big soiree for Nadia, but she just wants to chill with Alan; her godmother Ruth (Elizabeth Ashley) keeps getting into fender benders that send her to the ER. So it’s still shocking to Nadia when she gets on the 6 train at the 77th St. station, and comes out at Astor Place — in 1982.

She finds a matchbook in her coat that tells her to meet a guy named Chez (Sharlto Copley), who seems like a slimeball, but a slimeball who knows her. She goes with him to grab a bag from an apartment, then runs back to his place when music starts playing. High on a black beauty he gave her, they start to make out. When she goes to the bathroom and sees herself in the mirror, she sees the shocking truth: She’s occupying the body of her mother Lenora (Chloë Sevigny), who’s pregnant.

She manages to go back to 2022, and tells Alan what she experienced, and invites him to “call me when you’re inside your mom, you fuckin’ sicko.” After a talk with Ruth about Chez, Nadia decides to go back to 1982, thinking that what’s in the bag are the krugerrands her mother had and lost.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Russian Doll Season 1, though now it has a bit of a Quantum Leap twist to it.

Our Take: Three years after its first season, Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland could have rested on their laurels and picked up Nadia’s story right where it left off in Russian Doll Season 1, with her and Alan figuring out life now that they’ve merged timelines and aren’t living the same day over and over again. Instead, they pick up four years later and send Nadia and Alan on a different time-bending journey, this one with more of a purpose than the first time around.

It’s definitely a conceit to the fact that the universe is going to mess with Nadia and in some ways Nadia accepts this as a part of her life. Even as she realizes that she’s zapped back 40 years, she seems to roll with it, wisecracking all the way. It’s only when she realizes that she’s transported into the body of her mother that she freaks out. Even then, though, she’s still the same sardonic Nadia, and she’s determined to use take advantage of this opportunity and right a wrong.

It’ll be fun to see Nadia, who feels like she fits into 1982 much better than she fits into 2022, comes to terms with the fact that her mom had such bad taste in men, abused her body while she was pregnant with her, and ultimately sent herself to an early grave. We know that she’ll get help from Alan, because after he has a bad blind date, he gets on that 6 train knowing that he’s going to go on the same journey as Nadia. Who he inhabits will be fun to guess, and to watch.

Another factor that we’re interested in watching is how Nadia might change the present as she traverses the past. Will she fundamentally change? Will her mother end up living longer because of what Nadia did while she was being her? How will it affect Nadia’s time-jumping?

We hope all of those curiosities are satisfied, but we’re just happy that not only is the show still uproariously funny at times, it still can carry an emotional punch. We know from Season 1 that Lyonne can handle both with aplomb, so we’re looking forward to seeing where this journey takes her.

Sex and Skin: Like in Season 1, most sex is talked about more than performed. Even when it’s performed, it’s pretty much either clothed or under the covers.

Parting Shot: Nadia chases Chez, who grabbed the bag full of krugerrands and ran. She stops in the park, and while Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can” plays, she puts her hands on her head in exasperation.

Sleeper Star: We’ll always adore Elizabeth Ashley as Ruth, especially now because she’s Nadia’s lifeline to figure out what happened with her mother in 1982. We’re also looking forward to seeing what Annie Murphy’s role, which looks to be in the past timeline, will add to the story.

Most Pilot-y Line: Like last season, it’s a funny line that doesn’t seem to match the tone of the rest of the episode: When Nadia meets a guy named Danny (Leslye Headland) in the bar where she meets Chez, he gives her a card saying he’s a Crazy Eddie sales associate. “Not to piss in your drink, but your boss goes away for securities fraud.” Which is true, but we’re not sure if Nadia’s role is to tell people what happens in the future while she’s hanging around 1982.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Russian Doll manages to pack in big laughs, real emotional moments, and an effective time-traveling plot that fits right in with what happened during the show’s trippy first season.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.