Natasha Lyonne as Nadia in Russian Doll
I’m a sucker for a good time travel story. For instance, Back to the Future is a perfect example of a time travel movie and what happens when people mess with time. It’s a fun movie that plays with time loops and alternative worlds.
Recently, two time traveling projects were released: the Netflix series Russian Doll and the movie sequel Happy Death Day 2U. Both involved the main character having to die over and over as each new death reboots the day. Both main characters grow and evolve with each death/reboot, and in the end, become a better person. But in my opinion, when it comes to telling a good time travel story, Russian Doll succeeded while Happy Death Day 2U failed.
Major spoilers below!
Russian Doll tells the story of Nadia, who finds herself reliving the night of her 36th birthday party. She gets hit by a car; she falls down a flight of stairs (multiple times); she falls down a cellar door; she drowns; she freezes to death, etc. etc. etc. Each death resetting the night before. At first she think it’s the result of some cocaine she took the night of her party, then she thinks it’s because she cursed. As she tries to figure out why she keeps traveling back to the night of her birthday party, she meets a man named Alan, who strangely enough, is stuck in the same predicament as her. Now working together, Nadia and Alan race to find out why they are stuck in this time loop. Along the way, they begin to develop feelings for the other person, and in one reset, even end up sleeping together. As I’m watching the show, I realize something: Russian Doll is a rom-com! Introducing Alan certainly shook things up for me. By the end of the series, we find out the night of Nadia’s birthday party, Alan killed himself by jumping off a roof, setting off his time loop. Nadia realizes she saw Alan that same night, but chose not to help him. But it’s too late. They die and reset again—only this time, they wake up in a world where the Old Alan doesn’t know the New Nadia and the Old Nadia doesn’t know the New Alan. But since they’re the “new and improved” versions of themselves, they are able to help and guide the other person now. I totally loved that twist, even though I was sad the Nadia and Alan we got to know were now separated. If there is a season two, it will be interested to see if they try to find each other again or the loop is closed permanently now.
Happy Death Day 2U‘s Tree is also stuck on a time loop the day of her birthday. Let me first say that I loved the first film Happy Death Day. It was a clever horror movie where college student Tree is killed over and over by a masked killer. Each time she resets, she gets closer to finding out who her killer is. But along the way, she also finds love with another student named Carter, and she grows from a shallow sorority girl to a strong fighter. After she catches her killer, it seems like her loop closed and she got her happy ending.
But not so fast. Happy Death Day 2U opens up on the same day Tree wakes up, thinking she has finally escaped her time loop. Only this time, Carter’s roommate, Ryan, is stuck in a time loop. We find out Ryan and some fellow students are working on experimental quantum reactor, which is causing the time loops. When Ryan tries to destroy the machine, Tree is sent back into the time loop, waking up in an alternative universe, where her mother (who is dead in her universe) is alive, but the Carter that exists here already has a girlfriend. Oh, and there’s the fact that there’s still a masked killer out there! Eventually, Tree decides to leave this universe, finally accepting the fact she can’t stay in this world. But before she goes, she finds out who the killer is. In this version, the killer is the professor who she was sleeping with in the first movie, while the original killer was her roommate. In this world, her roommate is actually a good guy (and in a way, her character is redeemed in the sequel). When Tree returns to her correct universe, the “time machine” is confiscated by the school, and the movie ends with Tree and the gang finding out the government has taken the reactor in order to study it.
While Happy Death Day was a straight-up horror movie, the sequel felt more like a science fiction tale. The tone changed in the story, and it was distracting to me. I liked that we didn’t have a reason as to why Tree was stuck in a time loop; to me, her journey and growth felt more important. Introducing the reactor as the “time machine” really didn’t fit for me. The bright spot is that actress Jessica Rothe, who played Tree, carried both films well.
Even though both Russian Doll and Happy Death Day 2U were similar to in some ways, I feel like Russian Doll told time traveling in a new, refreshing way. Granted, they had eight episodes to tell their story compared to 100 minutes, I was more invested in Nadia and Alan.
If you’ve been Russian Doll or Happy Death Day 2U, share your thoughts below. Or if you know some time traveling stories done right, I’d love to hear them.
Images from IMDB.com
Have you ever read Life After Life by Kate Atkinson? It’s main character, Ursula Todd, is born in 1910 and then promptly dies. But each time Ursula dies, she is reborn and lives a different version of her life. She lives through some of the greatest horrors of the 20th century including both World Wars and the Spanish Influenza Epidemic. World War II is my favorite historical time period and I loved how the author brought it to life. The premise sounds ridiculous but Atkinson really pulls it off. I adore this book. My other favorite time travel story is the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.
I haven’t seen Russian Doll yet, so I skipped that section, but I finally got around to Happy Death Day 2U. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but you’re right, the tone is different. I didn’t think it was the science fiction that changed it so much as the comedic aspect. There were more intentionally funny moments here, and that definitely changed things. I did like though how this movie managed to continue Tree’s growth while adding another layer. And yes, the actress totally sells it!