Russian Doll
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As Nadia spends more time in the past,Russian Dollcommits to 1980s aesthetics.
Brain Drain is the most harrowing episode yet tinged with paranoia, its humor giving way to body horror.
On my second viewing, it took on more of an eerie look.
But as we head toward the seasons halfway mark, its Nadia whos changing.
She has the same vaudevillian voice, but her cadence is much more rushed, her thinking jumbled.
It actually started in Coney Island Baby, when Nadia interrupted the racquetball game.
The tight 1980s shorts joke is hers, but the stuff about beaming up sperm to the Federation starship?
Even she looked unsure of what she was saying at the time.
Shes still technically herself, though all her mentions of Nora arent lost on her friend.
Ruth looks concerned, as does Nadia, who now finds that she enjoys menthol cigarettes.
Nadia-Nora tries to reassure her: Well, inexplicable things happening is my entire modus operandi.
After everything shes been through, Nadias prepared to believe anything.
I interpreted Ruths words as one of the ways people view the notion of inherited trauma.
Hell, even the episode title sounds like a riff on a Cronenberg movie.
Nadia-Noras behavior isnt lost on Vera or Ruth.
It probably doesnt help that Nadia introduces herself as, well, herself while saying shes merely eccentric.
Nadia asks, Is this what every day was like for you, Mommy?
as Nora nestles against her.
Shes almost childlike even as she talks about figuring out how to fix her mother.
Nora reassures her as a mother would, telling Nadia that nobodys gonna lock us up.
Its probably the closest theyve ever been to each other, and it may just be a fantasy.
Get back far enough suggests venturing further into Noras past to head off the looming tragedy somehow.
Between Im the Norm of thisCheers and Weird, weird, weird.
Little Jodie Foster,Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore?
Thats around now, right?, Nadia really wants one of her references to land.
What did he find on his trip aboard the time-travel train?
Im ready to see their stories converge a bit more this season.
From Noras notepad: Accountability is the answer.
When the Judgement Day reveals the ugly underbelly of discontent.
We are forced to agonize over the delicate balance between truth and reality.
The masses cannot adequately evaluate the substance of this conundrum.
At some point, the will of your soul supersedes the needs of daily life and physical needs.
