Russian Doll
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Can I give this episode ofRussian Dollsix stars?
Nadia thrills me, she makes me laugh, but Alan moves me.
His forlornness is as poignant as her prickly stubbornness is endearing.
Its almost as if you could put them together and create one, perfect person.
The title card at the start of this episode is pink.
Now theyre pink a mix of Nadias red and Alans white.
Nadias so suspicious that theyre the same person, she stabs Alan to ensure theyre not.
(Alas, her experiment suggests theyre not.)
As Alan points out, their relationship vis-a-vis the video game she designed is symbiotic.
You designed it, I played it.
Alan divulges at Ruths house that people thinking Im crazy is one of my biggest fears just like Nadia.
Theyre both deathly allergic to bees!
I dont want to be attached to anyone.
And neither does her video-game avatar.
Your first death could be what started this whole thing, Nadia explains.
Its the only unknown factor we have … We gotta trigger your memory.
(EMDR is believed to help patients deal with traumatic memories.)
As always happens when Nadia and Ruth get together, they end up talking about Nadias mother.
Dont get me started on the mirrors, Ruth says.
Reflection, proof of existence, another pair of eyes, answers Ruth.
Thats why therapists are important.
Without them, we are very unreliable narrators of our own stories.
First off, thank you for my new favorite bumper-sticker slogan for why everyone should go see a shrink.
Second, lets jump to what happens at episodes end: The mirrors all disappear.
If mirrors are proof of existence, does that mean Nadia and Alan technically no longer exist?
Are they now each others another pair of eyes?
After all, Nadia winds up more or less bearing witness to Alans fateful Beatrice-breakup night.
What if I go through your night and we recreate what you did that first time?
she suggests after Ruths therapy doesnt pan out.
Hooray for that suggestion, because it means we get to see Nadia straight-up destroy Beatrice to her face.
Whered you get this art from?
Is it, like, all from Urban Outfitters?
Nadia trolls her about her apartment decor.
Beatrice is a grad student/Ph.D.
candidate and her apartment hasa full-ass separate dining room and a fireplace.)
I actually think that Alan over here is way out of your league, Nadia continues.
This guy right here can maintain erections like few men Ive known.
I feel like fucking Rocky right now.
(Thank you for my new favorite way to order a drink.)
She then tells him the backstory of her Moms pendant.
Its a Krugerrand, a.k.a.
South African gold bullion.
Im sure all of those details are just immaterial filler and wont ever factor into the plotat all.
(Outside Beatrices door, Nadia had tried to dodge that bullet by emphatically calling Mike Maxines friend.)
This is not about my first death, Alan says.
Its probably because you were fucking that Irish fucking gingerbread fisherman-looking motherfucker.
Lets have at it, Nadia suggests.
After Alan falls asleep, Nadia decides to go find Horse again.
She also gives Horse Alans shoes and her Krugerrand, the latter because its too heavy.
Or is sheactuallyseeing Alan right now thanks to some time-worm loophole?
Or does she justthinkshe sees Alan because shes going crazy?
We saw each other on the night of our first loop.
Alan goes home and plays her video game, while Nadia invites Ruth over.
Other people are garbage, she tells Ruth.
Then forgive them, Ruth says.
Alan, broken as weve ever seen him, heads to his roof.
Ruth leaves and Nadia chokes to death on a chicken bone.
Thats when she resets to the now-mirrorless bathroom and rushes over to tell Alan the mirrors are gone.
Me, too, he says.
I do not want to do this alone, she says.
I need to tell you something, he says.
I remembered my first death.
I threw myself off the top of the building.
He was on his roof, sad and alone, when she choked on the chicken bone.
Alan mustve just killed himself again.
