Russian Doll Quotes

I take requests, so have at it. Bless this show for some incredible dialogue. A sideblog, run by @blueindeed.

[featuringthecreatures]

Any character portrayed by Natasha Lyonne, experiencing horrors beyond human comprehension: “Oh, hello, very good, okay then, understandable. Horrors, horrors, horrors, et cetera, I’ll be getting the fuck out of here now, thank you for your time.”

[fairweathermyth]

RUSSIAN DOLL 2.04 Station to Station

[magicgirlboss]

gay people will say "i know a spot" and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then it's a time loop and then

[puttyarrow]

One thing I really love about Russian Doll is that they eliminated any “will they won’t they” tension (because it’s not the point of the show) by just having Nadia and Alan get drunk and fuck nasty a few episodes in. Then, proceed with the plot. These characters were never destined for romance and I love their friendship so so much.

[televisiongifs]

Russian Doll (2019-present) Exquisite Corpse (S02E05)

[featuringthecreatures]

Any character portrayed by Natasha Lyonne, experiencing horrors beyond human comprehension: “Oh, hello, very good, okay then, understandable. Horrors, horrors, horrors, et cetera, I’ll be getting the fuck out of here now, thank you for your time.”

[tangentiallly]

[tvandfilm]

Russian Doll (2019-present) Matryoshka (S02E07)

[hypnoticvamp]

Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov, Russian Doll (2018-)

[screenshotingmonstertv]

[beingharsh]

[beingharsh]

"Matryoshka", Russian Doll (2019-) / "The Worm King's Lullaby" by Richard Siken, War of the Foxes / “American Legend” by Ocean Vuong, Time Is a Mother

[hauntedeyes]

shes a 10 but shes stuck in a timeloop where she dies over and over again

[fucking-monday-and-thursday]

[lyonnezone]

what it feels like reading the news sometimes 

[nero-neptune]

the inherent terror of becoming your mother (aka i enjoyed season 2 of russian doll)

[cozysleepyraccoon]

Thinking about how the point of origin for Alan and Nadia is the bathroom. But for Alan, it’s the bathroom in his apartment, and for Nadia, she’s so afraid of truly facing herself that it’s the bathroom at her best friend’s apartment.

She shirks away from anything remotely maternal or comforting or about brining people together. She’s not hosting her own birthday, that’s too much responsibility to face and accept (both in the sense of believing and being willing to receive) that that many people love her, or at least would care enough about her to show up. It’s easier to pretend she has no friends and to be surprised when she shows up at the party, than having to be the one that brings everyone together.

It’s established that mirrors are a point of reflection, so it makes sense that both of our players start in the bathroom—they aren’t reflecting or acknowledging that there is something wrong in how they are living their lives. But Alan has just finished taking a shower (he’s not wearing a shirt so that’s what I’m assuming has happened) and he’s brushing his teeth, symbolizing his compulsive need to be clean and over-prepared and looking like he’s put together even if he isn’t, truly, on the inside.

Nadia, we don’t even know if she washed her hands, we just know the water is running. Maybe she only turned it on so people wouldn’t bug her and she’d have a minute to herself (not working out too well, by the sounds of the insistent rapping on the door).

Just thinking about how Alan keeps coming back to his home—somewhere familiar and safe, even if gravely cold and sterile—while Nadia is somewhere warm and busy and where she is the reason for the party, but it’s not her home. It’s not her space, no matter how comfortable she is in Max’s apartment. But, honestly, she doesn’t seem that comfortable. At first she points out that it used to be a Yeshiva as a kind of cool fact, almost an armor to show off how much she knows and how intellectual yet unorthodox and anti-authority and devil-may-care she is, pun intended. Yet, as we continue to follow Nadia, we learn that she’s actually unsettled and uncomfortable with the fact that Max lives somewhere that used to be sacred and religious, it should be untouchable, but instead it’s forgotten and renovated.

So there are those differences in the two “first positions”, but also the differences in how the characters are portrayed with their hygiene. As Natasha Lyonne has said, we’ve never seen Nadia take a shower (have we even seen her brush her teeth or wash her hands?). The last difference is Alan rebooting shirtless while Nadia is wearing so much black clothing. Alan doesn’t have issues with isolating himself, he actually depends on his inner circle too much, hence the willingness to be open to other that him rebooting shirtless symbolizes. His issue is not being honest with himself, that’s an internal, personal thing. Nadia, doesn’t let people in, hence the cost and shirt and the jacket. She goes through the journey of realizing it’s okay to have people in your inner circle, it’s okay for relationships to be permanent and healthy rather than meaningless one night stands (or sexualizing self hatred, which is such a perfect Nadia quote). Alan realizes that he has to look at himself directly instead of ignoring how he feels. Sort of like the fruit being rotten on the outside but ripe on the inside, but backwards. Things look alright from an outsider’s perspective (he’s clean, he’s healthy, he’s taking care of himself), but it’s performative and he’s rotting on the inside. The same with Nadia, just different specifics. It’s easy to fool people with confidence and good looks.

Writing and thinking about all this really makes me realize how perfect the season 2 finale is, I love the final shot so much. Nadia stares back at herself, fully accepting her past and her heritage and herself, and smiling. It’s comforting and haunting and familiar yet so mature and loaded. She’s smoking and it’s a bit of a distance, a smoke screen, if you will, from the audience and possibly herself. But it’s also familiar and habitual, we can’t expect to be perfect all the time or become perfect overnight. And she just went through a really wild and rough experience, I think a cigarette is warranted.