TV #24 of 2022:
Russian Doll, season 2
The story of a couple New Yorkers repeatedly dying in a loop of the same birthday party was always going to be a difficult act to follow, and this second season makes the smart choice to keep those characters but totally reinvent the premise. This time, there are subway trains that mysteriously lead back into the past — only as Nadia and Alan soon learn, they are actually inhabiting the bodies of their direct ancestors Quantum Leap-style when boarding. This allows the heroine to see a new side of her mother and grandmother and try to change their family fortunes, while her counterpart is off on a similar adventure a few generations back himself. In a way, it’s honestly a better fit for the title “Russian Doll” than the first year ever was.
As for what else works, the members of this cast still feel sharply written as people, and the dialogue is funny, particularly in that “only in New York” fashion where everyone is half-listening and overlooking one another’s eccentricities including their blabbering about time travel and alternate identities. But the two leads are separated and unevenly balanced in their share of the plot for too long, and the ending ultimately collapses in a confusing and dissatisfying mess. To be fair, I think the writers are trying to say something here about trauma and grief as messy, nonlinear processes, but the trippy execution itself is so muddled and contradictory that it’s hard to especially follow or appreciate.
I’ll come back for round three if Netflix grants creator/star Natasha Lyonne her stated wish to take this program into the future next, but this past edition has been a bit of a letdown compared to the original present one.
[Content warning for Nazi antisemitism, racism, institutionalization, drug abuse, and child endangerment.]
★★★☆☆
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