‘Review: “Russian Doll,” a Beautiful Puzzle of a Series So Good You’ll Watch It Twice’ [LA Times]

Robert Lloyd at the Los Angeles Times offers one of several reviews pointing out the show’s replay value, calling it “a beautiful puzzle piece, a circular, multiplane, existential mystery-comedy set in the villages of Lower Manhattan.” He continues: “Peopled with memorable characters large and small, it’s a show that having watched once — not hard to do straight through and hard not to do straight through — you may want to watch again, to admire its machinery and joinery and find the clues you might have missed, but also because it feels just as good the second time around.”

‘Acerbic Yet Warm, “Russian Doll” Is More Rewarding Than Any Puzzle-Box Show’ [The A.V. Club]

Danette Chavez offers a smart take on the show’s flawed protagonist, writing: “The all-woman team behind Russian Doll — which, aside from Lyonne, Poehler and Headland, includes director Jamie Babbit — know just how special their lead is, and craft a story both worthy and reflective of her. As much as we might like her, Nadia is deeply flawed, so there are no beelines to betterment, no bromides to dull the show’s stinging humor.”

Features

‘The Key to “Russian Doll” Might Be Tompkins Square Park’ [The New York Times]

Spurred by a series of Twitter posts from the critic Jason Zinoman, The Times’s Aisha Harris investigates the theory that the narrative of “Russian Doll” is “an against the grain meditation on the cultural guilt” leftover from the violence that took place in Tompkins Square Park in 1988, and notes that Headland and Lyonne responded positively to this theory.

‘How “Russian Doll” Unpacks Trauma and Emerges Triumphant’ [Variety]

Caroline Framke examines the ways in which “Russian Doll” unfolds like a therapy session in her excellent piece on the show’s deeper themes and the way they’re reflected in its structure. She writes: “By the end, “the broken man and the girl with a death wish” have to deal with the kind of pain they never thought they wanted to explore. But as “Russian Doll” ends up arguing so convincingly, the only way to stop feeling the dull throb of that pain every damn day is to stare it in the face, force it to blink, and move on from there.”

‘Returning to “Russian Doll,” Again and Again’ [Boston Globe]

It’s rare to see a TV critic return so quickly to a show he has already reviewed in order to dive deeper into its themes, but Matthew Gilbert does exactly that, writing: “In a way, ‘Russian Doll’ asks what happens when death is off the table. As her reincarnation loop continues — in episode two, that loop is so speedy that it’s played for farce — Nadia is prodded out of her perpetual sense of pointlessness; her apprehension of death is no longer making her human needs seem futile. The worst happens, she dies, but: It only brings her more life, more chances.”