Russian Doll
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So for this recap, lets just start from the beginning and see where we end up.
Well say its on purpose, like were pulling a Nadia-and-Alan.
Kind of the black hole meetsThey Shoot Horses, Dont They?
The episode begins with Alan taking up Nadias offer to swing by her birthday party.
a surprised Nadia says when she sees him.
Hes gonna propose?
(Remember, Bea is usually on the phone with Mike when Alan comes to her door.
)Beathe change you want to see in the world, Alan!
Why do you think this is happening to us?
Alan asks Nadia, suggesting its purgatory or punishment for being a bad person.
Nadia rejects that idea.
What is this, bad person?
Theres Hitler and then theres everybody else, she says.
Even Wile E. Coyote, hes out there, hes looking for a hot meal.
(I am tempted to make my recaps nothing but Nadia dialogue.
Almost everything she says cracks me up.)
(Same as Alan, whos slowly starting to have a completely different life because of Nadia.)
You skipped out on meeting his daughter and you broke up his marriage?
Alan asks after Nadia makes the mistake of politely asking John how Lucys doing.
Alan insinuates that Nadias failure to make amends with John is a failure to redeem herself.
In turn, Nadia feels guilted enough to finally venture to do right by John and Lucy.
She says shell go home with him tonight, then meet Lucy at breakfast the next morning.
She also notices the bowl of fruit in Ruths safe, nourishing kitchen.
Its rotting just like the flowers that were wilting inepisode 2.
I thought what was happening to us wasnt hurting anybody else, she explains to Alan.
In 15 universes, shes alone.
Have there been individual timelines unspooling from each reset and somehow Alan woke up in this particular one?
So maybe Nadia is right; maybe each of these resets establishes a new, separate universe.
Yes and no, Ruth replies.
Duality is another motif in this episode.
Later, Alan tells Nadia, There are good guys and bad guys and I am a good guy.
Ill go deeper still.
The first essays first sentence begins, Of course all life is a process of breaking down.
And I havent even touched on the wholeEmily of New Moon thing yet.
Everybody loves Anne, but I like Emily.
Shes dark, Nadia says.
Rhoda, she informs Ruth, was the cunt of the story, obviously.
What does that mean?
Who is Nadia in that excerpt, dark Emily or cunt Rhoda?
Is she both, considering this episode is about accepting both sides of yourself?
I never read theEmilybooks!
Last random thought: I am not entirely sure what to make of Mike and Maxs art talk.
Those made me think of Alan and the way he counts his resets aloud.
Mike and Max also talk about plagiarism, and plagiarism is a form of repetition.
Even byRussian Dollstandards, theres a lot of repetition in this episode.
In the end, Nadia cant bring herself to meet Lucy after all.
(She even concernedly pulls John off the restaurants sidewalk cellar doors, haha.)
Her selfishness is finally being stripped away and shes taking on a guardian-of-the-universe role.
You never get punished.
Mike responds, She didnt choose me, Alan.
The only choice she made was not you.
Im the hole the abyss!
where a choice should be.
Alan has been passively waiting for a suitably cruel fate to befall the people he thinks are bad.
Maybe Nadias right; maybe they are two sides of the same person?
One theory I did manage to hit on the head: Alan and Nadias resets are indeed in sync.
Including the one that ends this episode.
And talk about hit on the head!
