Netflix's Russian Doll Season 1 Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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Cheers for the headsup, Cas. Going to give this a go later. I was used to seeing Lyonne with Chelsea Handler and found her amusing in spells.
BTW, did you watch Handler's; Chelsea Does, Cas? Only 4 episodes but quite interesting and amusing at times.
 
Cheers for the headsup, Cas. Going to give this a go later. I was used to seeing Lyonne with Chelsea Handler and found her amusing in spells.
BTW, did you watch Handler's; Chelsea Does, Cas? Only 4 episodes but quite interesting and amusing at times.

I haven't had the chance yet mate. Lyonne definitely wasn't on my radar after just Orange, but now she certainly is, so I'll dip back in and check it out.
 
Thanks for the recommendation on the podcast last night Cas. I'm already four episodes in and loving it so far. I'll finish it off tonight, after I've watched the latest episode of True Detective.
 
Watched 4 last night, it's really really good.

She's 39 at the moment, she'll be lucky to see 40 smoking how she does.
 
I coincidentally watched the first episode last night, I really like the central performance and think I'll enjoy this series. And yes, the smoking reminds me of how I felt watching Mad Men, eg, thought I'd gone through a packet of bensons and a quart of the brown stuff by the end of each episode :D
 
Sadly I am not a fan of dramas. Simply don't like them and don't have the patience and time for them.

Also I despise too much forced smoking and unnecessary swearing.

However skimmed through this to check how it looked in DV and it did look beautiful.
 
First episode was terrible, and the main character is an annoying, mouthy gobshite, but I tried the second and it does improve overall. It is mercifully brief so I let it run to ep7 and I'm still not engaged with either of the characters, mind, I'm just interested in how the show will try and give the events meaning.
As a software developer though...yeah that bit of the character was proper tacked on.
 
Brilliant show. I thought it was going to be "Happy Death Day: The Series" but it was way more than that. Lyonne was great (and looking over some interviews with her and reading up on her history I'd say there's nothing forced about her character smoking or swearing; Lyonne's a feisty person with quite the past and perfect for the role), when the show took the darker turns towards the end it really got under the skin (Dan Gilroy pay attention, this is how it's done!). It also didn't overstay its welcome either. Great stuff. 8/10
 
Finished it last night, great little show, which introduced a new element every other episode just to keep you guessing. Went quite dark in the final stretch, but had a great pay off. Nadia was a very enjoyable character to spend time with and the small world concept worked well in a short season, perfect for a quick watch.
 
Well-executed take on the Groundhog Day concept. Only up to ep 6 but so far I've found parts of it genuinely funny and others profound and sad.

Always enjoyed Natasha Lyonne's dry and acerbic wit even going back to the days of American Pie and the like.

Not too sure about the guy who is introduced about halfway through. His episode had its moments but I was still itching for Lyonne's character to come back.

Yul Vaquez is great too. Good chemistry with Lyonne's Nadia. Love Jeremy Bobb but didn't realise he was on House of Cards. Must have been a small role.

Great concept, great wit and insight and Natasha Lyonne.

Edit - The song that's used to signify a reset is now stuck in my head. Heard it in my sleep last night! Pretty good soundtrack in general. Couple of other songs have caught my ear.

This one

 
Haven't watched any series' in a long while, but had to give this a watch on the back of your review Cas (okay only half read it, as I feared too much of a flavour spoiler on how it was going to develop). Really enjoyed it, as a lover of Groundhog Day and of good character development - happy to say this borrows well from GHD, but casts its net a bit wider and prods a bit more. Lyonne's character fascinates and annoys in equal measure which is great, and she was a great casting choice. Thanks for the recommend!
 
Edit - The song that's used to signify a reset is now stuck in my head. Heard it in my sleep last night! Pretty good soundtrack in general. Couple of other songs have caught my ear.

This one



Oh I know - and I've found myself adding it to my Spotify playlist now I've finished the series.
A little tip for you - I find Sonny & Cher's "I got you babe" helps shake it out of your head...
 
If you like trendy, detestable stereotypes then this series is for you
I could see every cliche coming, every stereotypes clichéd comments were predictable.
Russian doll just tries too hard and fails miserably.
Compare this to the work of Neil Simon whi started the new York style of this type of satire and humour
The sunshine boys lead characters are very dislikable but Simon is able to show us the person's behind the masks we all wear.
Russian doll is pointless and a waste of so called talent.
Comedy and irony has a problem. It's all been done before. There's nowhere to go anymore. The trenty swearing fails to impact. The awful stereotypes have no impact as we see these awful people every day.
I concede it's difficult for writers and directors nowadays totbe original.
Stylistically nothing has really changed since the days of laurel and Hardy, Marx brothers and Bob hope. Yes the content is the different but the methodology is the same.
Russian doll is empty. Hollow, facile and predictably boring.
Those who like this should take a look at where all this comes from and see how comedy etc is really done. If you like this type of particular comedy then look at Neil simons work.
Carnage by polansky shows how this type of humour can be done. All of the characters are detestable and yet they draw us in to this tale of social stereotypes and their hypocrisy.
I don't believe that theres a paucity of talent out there but theres a paucity of expectation where the viewing public seem content to gorge and be sated by endless amounts of swearing sex and violence.
In those circumstances the plethora of series like Russian doll is as predictable as the the programs themselves.
In the final analysis, Russian doll has learned nothing from these innovators and boy does it show.
Not that many will care or notice.
 
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/\ I don't think Mark6226 liked it...

The wife and I watched the 1st 4 eps last night and are enjoying it. Her indoors is really liking it, which has surprised her as from my description of it she didn't think she would. Probably get it finished tonight, depending on wifey sleepiness.
 
Binged this over the last few nights, great stuff. The last couple of episodes were skillfully done, mixing elements of horror, hope and poignancy. I don't see any value in a sequel series though so hopefully this is it.
 
Binged this over the last few nights, great stuff. The last couple of episodes were skillfully done, mixing elements of horror, hope and poignancy. I don't see any value in a sequel series though so hopefully this is it.
We completed this just now and totally agree.

8/10 for me too.

Edit: This is worth a read, there was one small thing that happened right at the end I'd missed: https://www-vulture-com.cdn.ampproj...02/russian-doll-netflix-ending-explained.html
 
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Finished it last night, I loved it. Agree with the others in that it's equal measures laugh out loud funny and profoundly moving. I thought they really went out of their way to maximise to concept while bridging it with latent trauma that's pretty much present in all of us as human beings. Wonderful stuff and a instantly iconic performance from Natasha Lyonne.

No need for a second series at all with that conclusion. They'd have to bring in a completely different set of characters anthology style for me to be interested.
 
Hmmm. There's half a day I'll never get back! Although I enjoyed the performance of Tasha, I really don't think it went anywhere as a series and both me and my Mrs didn't really see the point of it all and what was tied up at the end.. We just ended up thinking 'is that it'? and 'what was all that about'!
 

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