There is no time loop in Matryoshka Lives Season 2. But it is dedicated to family ties
Miscellaneous / / April 23, 2022
The project unexpectedly changes the genre, and at the same time helps to understand oneself.
On April 20, the sequel to the popular TV series Matryoshka Lives was released on the Netflix streaming service. The first season, which appeared back in 2019, was about Nadia (Natasha Lyonne), who, on the day of her 36th birthday, gets stuck in a time loop. The girl dies endlessly and after that invariably returns at the same moment. Later, she meets Alan (Charlie Barnett), who finds himself in the same situation, but has long come to terms with what happened.
The series was enthusiastically received by critics and viewers. But it seemed like the end of the story. Therefore, the information about the extension of the "Lives of Matryoshka" for the second season caused not only joy, but also bewilderment. After all, too often sequels, even well-staged, are completely superfluous.
The worst thing the authors could come up with was to launch Nadia into another cycle of the same kind, depriving the finale of the first season of any meaning. But in the continuation of the series, Natasha Lyonne herself took the place of the showrunner, who not only came up with a completely new plot, but also added even more personal experiences to the project.
deceptive form
Four years have passed since the events of the first season. Nadia and Alan broke out of the cycle a long time ago and even stopped being afraid that history would repeat itself. A few days before her fortieth birthday, the heroine goes to the hospital to Ruth (Elizabeth Ashley), a family friend who once actually replaced her mother.
After that, Nadia gets on a subway train, passes several stations and realizes that she has fallen into 1982. Moreover, she ended up in the body of her pregnant mother Lenora (Chloe Sevigny), who, along with her boyfriend, steals family jewelry. Nadia decides that she must return the family wealth.
The first season of Matryoshka Lives was often compared to the famous "groundhog day». This happens with any time loop story, but in this case, the analogies are somewhat valid: both stories are filed with a considerable amount of humor, and it is not the fantastic component that is more important in them, but the crisis of the hero associated with his age.
However, if you look closely, this resemblance was a hoax. Or even a deliberate trap by the authors. If “Groundhog Day” can be reduced to finding yourself and getting out of the cycle of gray everyday life, then “Matryoshka Life” was about accepting the inevitable. After all, it’s not for nothing that Nadia didn’t just get stuck in one day - she died over and over again, just not to cross the threshold of her 36th birthday. And so the season finale did not look like a banal happy ending, but rather an emotional release.
This long reminder is simply necessary to understand in advance: the second season is exactly the same snag and reasoning about the next age milestone.
In continuation, the authors take the form historical detective, which sometimes turns almost into a quest. Like the characters in some Da Vinci Code, Nadya studies documents to find the mythical The "Golden Train" is a train with jewels that the Nazis allegedly hid at the end of World War II. war. At the same time, the heroine travels to different times and countries to change history and return the family jewels.
But in fact, the new season of "Matryoshka Lives" is not about search for gold, but about returning to the roots and studying a kind.
Looking for roots
“I was never young,” Nadia jokes in the first episode. She perceives herself only as an adult, distancing herself from the family past. And it can be understood: the mother did not look like a role model, the heroine did not know her father at all.
But at the turn of her forties, Nadia literally finds herself in the place of Lenora - a pregnant woman with a difficult relationship and a completely unclear future. Her mother Vera (Irene Bordan) at any appropriate or inopportune moment reminds that she has suffered war and the Holocaust. She practically blames her daughter for living in calmer times, and at the same time says bluntly that she has no prospects.
The theme alone, when Nadia begins to understand all the problems of Lenora, which became the cause of her tragic fate, would be enough for a small second season. However, the authors go even further. At some point, Nadia finds out what Vera went through. And, supposedly correcting the mistakes of her mother and grandmother, in fact, the heroine will finally forgive her relatives.
All this looks, if not a confession, then some kind of self-therapy by Natasha Lyonne. In some episodes of the new season, she acts as a screenwriter and director. And a significant part of the plot is written off from her history: life without a father, ancestors who survived the Holocaust from Hungary. Yes, and Nadia herself largely reflects the fate of Lyonne, who suffered from addictions and repeatedly got into trouble due to her quick temper.
The conclusion suggests itself that for the author, and at the same time for the audience, the continuation of the "Lives of Matryoshka" is an incentive to understand the history of your family and past traumas.
Although this is also partly a hoax.
A story about lost time
In the first season, Nadia found herself in a time loop against her wishes and was looking for ways to get out of it. In the second, she voluntarily travels back in time and embarks on an adventure. But it's hard to shake off the idea that she's doing this to escape her own life. By the end, it will become clear that the main emotional line is connected not at all with Nadia's past, but still with her present. And a kind of rebirth of the heroine is needed for something completely different.
At the beginning of the season, the heroine bursts into the frame with the audacity of a rock star, walking down the street under Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus. By the way, her image is partly copied from the founder of the punk band The Cramps, Poizon Ivy Rorschach (and not from Alla Pugacheva, as some Russian viewers think). But in the last episode, Shine on you crazy diamond from Pink Floyd will already sound. And with a much more restrained gait, Nadia will go where she would least like to be.
Indeed, in pursuit of the past and the search for her roots, the heroine, like many, simply misses important moments in life and does not notice the person who needs help. Moreover, “Matryoshka Life” does not go into moralizing and does not accuse Nadia of such actions. Lyonne, rather, says that at some point everyone will have to face the inevitable tragic events. And it's very human to try to ignore and avoid them. Only then will there be a feeling of regret.
The only thing that can upset fans of the first season: Alan has become an almost unnecessary character. He seems to be given an interesting storyline, and even tied to real events (for those who are interested, look for the story of "Tunnel 29"). But still, it seems that he just takes time so that the viewer has something to be distracted by. Yes, and other secondary characters finally fade against the background of the character of Natasha Lyonne, only Greta Lee competes with her in her infrequent scenes.
But otherwise, the second season of "Matryoshka Lives" only pleases. It came out completely unexpected: the authors did not go into self-repetitions, but retained the drama and emotionality. And especially it will sink into the soul of all viewers aged 35-40, who will surely see themselves in some words and actions of the heroine. And, perhaps, the series will even help to better understand personal experiences and family relationships. Unexpectedly deep for comedy fiction.
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