Why Aren’t More People Talking About The Ending Of Netflix’s ‘Russian Doll’?

*may contains spoilers*

If you haven’t heard about the multiverse theory before, let me be the first to tell you about it then. Multiple universes. Multiple of you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, everyone and everything in between–everything is the same except different in every universe.

I mean, really, think about this for a second: we are on earth, in a galaxy, surrounded by millions of other galaxies, in a universe that could definitely be one of many, if not infinity, universes.

Yeah.

The idea of multiverses is depicted in Netflix’s new series Russian Doll and honestly my brain hurts just thinking about the season finale.

I feel you, Nadia.

Throughout the show, we see Nadia die over and over again on her 36th birthday. She has to figure out why it’s all happening and if there’s anything she can do to keep herself from dying over and over and over again.

The season finale really makes you think about the show in its entirety.

Every time her life restarts, something slightly different happens. A different person knocks on the bathroom door, her friend says “happy birthday” in a different way, people are disappearing or changing characters.

If there are multiple universes, that means multiple realities and in it, people with faces and personalities different from the next reality.

Russian Doll shows the same people that are similarly occupying her life but playing different roles. If you look closely, or watch the show more than once like I did, you can see how Russian Doll shows repeating figures, specifically with the men who were rude to her: the guy in the deli, her coworker, and the EMT guy.

Trying to make sense of this genuinely hurts my brain.

Also, did anyone else notice the representation of the Russian Nesting Dolls? You know those wooden dolls that decrease in size, with one inside the other. The concept of these dolls, in a physical sense, is a perfect representation of multiverses and everything that happens in Russian Doll. In the show, there’s a scene where the Russian Doll herself plays with one of the Nesting Dolls. Coincidence? Definitely not. The writers knew what they were doing.

The season finale gives a mind-altering but vague explanation of the realities of Nadia and Alan in a completely different timeline.

In one reality, the past version of Alan, in all his self-loathing, is paired with Nadia as the self-accepted woman she is. In another reality, destructive Nadia is paired with the fulfilled, able-bodied Alan. The pairs are undeniably and inexplicably connected while they find themselves in the middle of a Day of the Dead parade, which is a celebration of the lives of those who have died.

The pairs from different realities then conflate into one reality and we see multiple versions of Nadia walking by the current-reality Nadia.

Russian Doll was made to make you think. In a way, it puts you in an endless cycle of thoughts and concepts of who we are, who we are connected to in this life, where do we go when we die, and so on. Just like Alan and Nadia in their endless cycle of life and death, we are just the same.

The show is confusing because it represents the idea of multiverses and that alone is confusing. Honestly? I’m overwhelmed just thinking about it.

I mean, seriously…why aren’t more people talking about the ending of this show?