Nowhen

Russian Doll Season 2 starts with a mysterious woman in the underground, chipping away at a wall and taking a bag out. This is a brief tease of what’s to come though, as we finally skip across to Nadia, who has been freed from the time loop. Nadia’s 40th birthday is coming up, conforming that 4 years have passed since she was trapped in the “eat, sleep, death, repeat” loop of the opening 8 episodes. Nadia is still smoking and drinking, Horse is still lurking about, and the universe is about to open another Pandora’s box for Nadia. ..

Nadia is returning home after a day of work and is thrown back to 1982 when she sees billboards, adverts and general aesthetic of the world. She quickly realizes that this is real and that she’s in another surreal nightmare.

Nadia has no phone, so she relies on a matchbox with the words “See you at 8, Chez” written on the inside. When she arrives at the bar, she finds herself face-to-face with a young version of Crazy Eddie. Anyway, this Chez character soon shows up and takes her outside, offering her a pill and heading off to a strange house which Nadia appears to have the keys for. The goal here is a bag under the sofa, which they take together and head back to Chez’s apartment. Only… there’s something far more strange going on. ..

Nadia heads into the bathroom and checks the mirror, looking completely different. She’s actually adopting her mother’s identity, right down to pregnant belly and being called Lenora. Nadia decides to run, heading back to the subway and on the train back. And by back, we mean to 2022.

Nadia heads over to see Alan, who confirms through his confusion that this is only happening to her. She believes they have unfinished business and this is the universe messing with them again, courtesy of the time travel train. ..

Nadia visits Ruthie in hospital, and finds out that she is still in a coma. Nadia is heartbroken, and decides to go home.

Nadia heads back to the subway station and recalls the time she spent with Chezare in 1982. She remembers how he mentioned that they were going to steal gold from Lenora. Nadia realizes that this is the man who stole her gold coins from her apartment in 2017. When she asks him about it, he denies any involvement. However, Nadia is not convinced and decides to head back to 2017 and right this wrong. ..

Nadia is using the bathroom when she hears a noise coming from her apartment. She goes to investigate and finds that her roommate, Chez, has run out the door. Nadia chases after him, but he manages to get away. ..

Alan, a recent date, finishes his date and heads on the subway train himself. He appears to be very worried and breathing heavily as he boards his own time travel train.

The Episode Review

Nadia is back and instead of a recurring time loop, the universe has thrown another twist our way in the form of a train heading back through time. It’s a nice way to mix things up, and it would appear that Nadia is going to try and change the past but in doing so, inevitably mess up the future. That’s just a theory at this point so we’ll have to wait and see.

The show manages to reintroduce all the key characters in a natural way, while simultaneously keep the same beating heart intact – that being the humour and sci-fi elements from season 1.

The show has a lot of potential with this intriguing opener. Hopefully the rest of the show can live up to it. ..