Russian Doll

The series is probably too weird to win a bunch of Emmys, but God willing, Lyonne will be nominated. She’s so good. ... Already one of the best shows of the year.

It’s pure binge-watching magic; a show that’s not only expertly designed to compel viewers to the next episode but invests just as much in the integrity of story and character.

If in the end it's just a long meditation on the idea that people need people, a four-hour metaphorical expression of the fact that you have to abandon old patterns to move forward, it is wonderful all along the way and magnificent in the end. Its last minutes are as deftly handled, wise, unpredictable and rewarding as television ever is. And these ideas are no less powerful for being obvious; the world is choked with people trying to realize them in their own lives. Lyonne, especially, is marvelous, playing Nadia.

Unlike so many puzzle-box shows, Russian Doll doesn’t rely on its twists and clues, though there are plenty of those, all expertly deployed across each of its eight exquisite half-hour installments. ... Russian Doll’s investment in its characters makes it a binge-worthy show that demands an immediate rewatch.

What Russian Doll has is heart--but heart without cheap sentiment or bosh. ... It is matter-of-fact in acknowledging modern failure and disillusion, without ever trying to nail it down, avoiding the tones of hectoring obviousness that mars recent items-in-vogue like “BlackKkKlansman” and the bratty jabber of Aaron Sorkin scripts. In a soothing, down-to-earth way that doesn’t have all the answers, Lyonne and company show us how to deal with the deaths, literal and figurative, we face every day.

2019’s best new show to date, a cerebral yet propulsive eight-episode dramedy. ... [Nadia’s] arc feels like the ideal fusion of Lyonne’s gruff authenticity, Headland’s acerbic humor and the warm, humanistic perspective that defines Poehler’s work.

The show is so striking and smart that I made a note to include it on my favorite TV shows of 2019 immediately after blowing through the season--which is saying something, since that was back in December of 2018. But part of what makes the series so special is how it’s meticulously constructed, shedding layer after surprising layer until the bittersweet end.

It is, in the eight shaggy, smartly-constructed puzzlebox episodes of its debut season, nearly perfect.

There’s much more to appreciate about this quick hit of brilliance, from the leads’ soulful performances to the edgy, adventurous direction, but “Russian Doll” must be treated like its namesake. Unpacking it over and over again will reveal fresh insights. Each piece is worth admiring for different reasons, and each episode offers its own rewards.

Scene by scene, it finds raw, affecting themes about mortality and grieving, and it has some legitimately cool plot twists. ... Russian Doll is propulsive and joyful.

Russian Doll is a two-hander, and when it gets to that portion of the series--around Episode 4--the whole thing elevates even further, both emotionally and logistically. Russian Doll is a tightly plotted, high-concept puzzle-TV comedy.

The elements in Russian Doll may sound somewhat familiar, particularly the “Groundhog Day” repetitions; but they are all recombined to form something that is both fresh and revelatory.

Lyonne, Headland, and Poehler have a larger purpose in mind, one that elevates Russian Doll from being a simple dramedy about one woman’s wackiest night ever. As the series proceeds, it gets more ambitious and more complicated in a way that’s gratifying to watch.

It’s eight short, acerbic, wittily profound episodes with a richly satisfying ending(s).

It’s a great show, both surprising and affecting, and it neatly dodges the standard tropes of its familiar premise. By the end, Russian Doll builds to a climactic discovery that involves Nadia reconsidering her past, sorting through her childhood and her relationship with her mother without ever collapsing into a simple reductionist takeaway.

Much of Nadia’s predicament is hilariously absurd but the show also never loses sight of the fact that she’s dying, again and again, often in front of people who care about her more than she’s comfortable admitting. That blend of tones, and the controlled mania of Lyonne’s brilliant performance, makes Russian Doll feel like something wholly new, even as it cops to its many influences.

In the dark and funny and whip-smart and spiritually intriguing and intellectually challenging “Russian Doll,” Natasha Lyonne is rock-star great as a New York woman named Nadia, who dies on her 36th birthday, wakes up--and dies again.

Russian Doll ultimately has an uplifting message about life, death and the importance of human connection. Fans of Brooker-style contrarian technophobia will be underwhelmed. Everyone will be too busy having their cockles warmed to notice.

Russian Doll is an acquired taste. But do persist: there is such a fine, idiosyncratic, impressive show nested within.

With its comically erudite repartee and an edge filed to an almost Pinteresque point, Russian Doll defines its TV moment: It is recklessly paced, dealt out in small, furious bites, and its finger has found a comfortingly absurdist pulse in the culture.

As a show with a particular and confrontational attitude, Russian Doll won't stick for all viewers. For those with early doubts, my own nesting doll of reactions went from "This is reasonably clever" to "This is actually good" to "Huh, that was pretty impressive." Go in knowing as little as possible and stick it out for the ride.

While the resolution of her predicament is somewhat vague, it remains sweetly fulfilling, because, while the series deals in opaque supernaturalism, its protagonist is easy to root for as she fumbles toward happiness.

There are a whole lot of ideas here--a few thrown against the wall to see if they'll stick--but the real pleasure of this four-hour head trip are the performances. Lyonne is outstanding.

Just at the moment when you’re getting tired of the “Groundhog Day” antics and thinking Nadia’s rerun rumpus is a trip to anywhere, Russian Doll drops a twist in its third episode that changes everything.