The Many Layers of <em>Russian Doll</em>

This article contains spoilers through all eight episodes of Russian Doll.

In the third episode of Russian Doll, “A Warm Body,” Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) tries to investigate the spiritual significance of her ongoing deaths, having already considered (and rejected) the idea that she’s simply having a bad drug trip. Her attempts to consult a rabbi are blocked by the rabbi’s resolute assistant (Tami Sagher), but after Nadia eventually wears Sagher’s character down with her tenacity and her confessions about uterine fibroids, the woman offers Nadia a prayer. It translates, she says, as “Angels are all around us.”

Nadia rolls her eyes at this offering, the kind of cozy sentiment that’s more typically encountered on fridge magnets and embroidered throw pillows. A few scenes later, though, she’s compelled to spend a night guarding a homeless man’s shoes so he won’t leave the shelter and freeze to death. Then, she meets another man, Alan (Charlie Barnett), in an elevator, who upends