Russian Doll review: Natasha Lyonne is as brilliant as the show’s writing

Natasha Lyonne channels Kathleen Turner in the dark and edgy groundhog day style series Russian Doll.

Russian Doll has a 100 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is not an easy feat and means you really need to devote some time and watch. Netflix dropped it Feb. 1, 2019 and the buzz around it hasn’t stopped. The show is unique and inventive, Orange is the New Black’s Natasha Lyonne stars as Nadia, a game coder who keeps dying and then reliving her 36th birthday.

While this is a high concept series, it is also a character study. Nadia starts the series in a sort of crisis that she isn’t even aware of. She has been just going through life on auto-pilot, not straying out of her comfort zone and having become somewhat of a sad existence where she isn’t truly living.

For those of us old enough to have gone through some personal mid-life crisis, Nadia seems familiar to us. The problem with becoming an adult is that often we fall into these zones of comfort where we simply exist without feeling and experiencing life. This series explores what it means to be alive and what risks would you take if you knew you couldn’t die.

At first, Nadia is understandably confused when she initially resets to the same day after dying. Once she understands she keeps reliving the day, she decides to try to stop it. Of course, she has no idea how to do that or why this is even happening. Is she in purgatory, hell or some sort of alternate world?

Just when you think you know what the next episode holds for you, the writers shake it up and take it in a direction you didn’t see coming. I’ve watched thousands of films and TV series and I still was caught off guard with each new twist.

Enter protagonist number 2, Alan. Somehow linked to her, but a complete stranger dealing with his own rut and lifeless existence. If you want to know how these two connect and relate to each other, I suggest you watch the series as I don’t want to spoil the fun for you!

Both characters have things from their past that they must deal with in order to move forward. I think it shows how while our past may haunt us, we need to deal with it and lay it to rest in order to move forward and actually live in the now, instead of living in the past.

How many of us have been Nadia or Alan? Letting the past hold us back from an incredible future? I know that there have been times where I spent too much time dwelling on things or people who hurt me in the past and that only by letting those things “die” was I able to move forward. Russian Doll really plays with that as part of the story and it really connected me to the characters and story.

Let’s spend a moment talking about how this series came about. The show was created by the all female writing and creative team of Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland. Seven years ago, the first inklings of what would eventually turn into Russian Doll were hatched. Poehler and Lyonne created a pilot called Old Soul, but it was never picked up as a series.

The pair went back to the idea and broke it down to what they were really trying to say. This was the base for Russian Doll. Three short years later and they brought on Headland and the trio took close to another three years to solidify the concept, series and pitch it to Netflix.

Having a female creative team means we got a strong female character who is authentic and real. Nadia doesn’t fit into any of the female character tropes that are often used, and instead feels like someone I know. She isn’t feminine by any means and dresses and behaves in a way that is more gender neutral than typically female, this gives her character a broader appeal to audiences.

I can’t talk about this series and not speak to how amazing Natasha Lyonne is. Every moment she is on-screen I am fully engaged in her and she holds each scene like the pro she is. I also feel like I am watching a young Kathleen Turner as Lyonne plays Nadia, husky voice and internal strength oozing out. It shows what a brilliant and underrated actress Lyonne is and Hollywood should be casting her in more roles, especially complex ones like this show.

Russian Doll is the new series you need to binge this weekend if you haven’t already. It’s well written, funny and emotionally deep. And can someone please make a film with Natasha Lyonne playing Kathleen Turner’s daughter?

Have you seen it? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.