It is released this week and it looks properly hilarious.
Co-created by Amy Poehler (Parks & Rec, Sisters), Netflix’s new comedy is a high-concept mix of Groundhog Day and Happy Death Day.
Russian Doll stars Natasha Lyonne (Orange Is The New Black, American Pie) as a woman trying to escape a party that is being thrown in her honour, but upon leaving, she is killed in a car accident, and then wakes up… back at the party.
Over and over, she is killed and killed again, and each and every time she winds up back in the middle of the party she is trying to escape.
That is the mysterious set-up for the show, and already critics in the States are raving about it:
“The show is so striking and smart that I made a note to include it on my favorite TV shows of 2019 immediately after blowing through the season–which is saying something, since that was back in December of 2018. But part of what makes the series so special is how it’s meticulously constructed, shedding layer after surprising layer until the bittersweet end.” – Variety
“2019’s best new show to date, a cerebral yet propulsive eight-episode dramedy. … [Nadia’s] arc feels like the ideal fusion of Lyonne’s gruff authenticity, Headland’s acerbic humor and the warm, humanistic perspective that defines Poehler’s work.” – Time
“Much of Nadia’s predicament is hilariously absurd but the show also never loses sight of the fact that she’s dying, again and again, often in front of people who care about her more than she’s comfortable admitting. That blend of tones, and the controlled mania of Lyonne’s brilliant performance, makes Russian Doll feel like something wholly new, even as it cops to its many influences.” – Rolling Stone
“What Russian Doll has is heart – but heart without cheap sentiment or bosh. It is matter-of-fact in acknowledging modern failure and disillusion, without ever trying to nail it down, avoiding the tones of hectoring obviousness that mars recent items-in-vogue like BlackKkKlansman and the bratty jabber of Aaron Sorkin scripts. In a soothing, down-to-earth way that doesn’t have all the answers, Lyonne and company show us how to deal with the deaths, literal and figurative, we face every day.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Russian Doll: Season One arrives on Netflix in full from Friday 1 February.
Check out the trailer right here:
Clip via Netflix
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