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Spoilers below forRussian Doll.
That isnt a spoiler.
Its the premise of the entire series.
(Plus one of them, Janet, is technically a robot.
But I digress!)
Theres a reason that Nadia inRussian Dollhappens to be a game developer.
The primary goal of a time loop story in the sci-fi or action genre is usually straight-forward.
(Sensing a pattern?)
There are other side plots and subtexts that make each of these stories more complex than those descriptions sound.
There are certainly elements of that formula inRussian Doll.
Neither gets the chance to go back and re-do those relationships from square one.
Thats not how life works.
Those conversations, the show implies, wouldnt have happened if they didnt keep dying and being reborn.
A glitch in the Netflix source code?
I mean, she can do anything.)
But the choices that Nadia and Alan make also have an obvious impact.
Personally, I find it most satisfying to readRussian Dollas a commentary on addiction.
But they never acknowledge the obvious: that both of them are addicts.
Alan has a drinking problem that he has sometimes manages to overcome in the loop, but not always.
Both of them also have addictions of a less dangerous sort, too.
She becomes his drug of choice.
Thats really what addiction is: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
