Writing

Posted on

Bea Huffines #questuslibris

For my #questuslibris, I have used a mix of textual, visual and numerical methods. Using a medium we have not discussed (Excel), I created something I might characterize as a “business analytics” genre. I realize this might be a stretch – but I believe a spreadsheet tells a story. It provides insights, and often, through its findings, presents a certain point of view – much like any other narrative. This poses an interesting question – at what point do we draw the line of what is considered literature?

I have attached my #questuslibris both in .xlsx and .pdf form.

questuslibris (.xlsx)

questuslibris (.pdf)

Posted on

Stranger Than Fiction Review- Turner Schmidt #questusreviewus

Stranger Than Fiction is certainly a strange movie, and is about as close to a book as a movie can get considering the fact that the whole movie is narrated in the exact same way that a book is (I definitely understand why it was picked for this class). It is about an IRS auditor named Harold Crick (played by Will Ferrell) who has OCD. He pays extremely close attention to his watch, making sure that he does everything at the exact same time for the exact same amount of time each day. One day, he begins to hear a faceless narrator narrating his entire life which begins to drive him crazy. Also, at the same time, his watch begins to malfunction, and when he asks a stranger for the time, the narrator mentions that that act would result in his “imminent death.” In searching for answers as to who this narrator is and about his death, he meets Jules Hilbert, a literary professor. Jules tells him to figure out whether his “story” that the narrator is narrating is a tragedy or comedy, to which he decides it is a tragedy based off of his interactions with a baker, Ana Pascal, who he is both auditing and attracted to. Eventually, he finds his author, Karen Eiffel, who he learns has drafted his death already. Afraid to read the draft, Harold gives it to Jules to read, who proclaims that it is a masterpiece and says that he must let the ending persist, claiming that death is inevitable. At the end, Eiffel decides not to kill Harold, and instead has his watch destroyed, which was basically its own character throughout the movie.

First of all, Will Ferrell was a strange pick for the lead of this movie. I’m used to seeing him in movies like Stepbrothers, Elf, and Anchorman, so when I saw him in Stranger Than Fiction, I wasn’t particularly pleased. Seeing him as a sad, lonely, and frankly not very funny character was a bit of a bummer to me personally, which kind of put a damper on the movie at first for me. But, he eventually grew on me as the movie progressed, and by the end I was ok with his kind and loving character, especially once he sang that song at Ana’s house. Really, his whole relationship with Ana made him a much more likable character. Looking back on it, his transformation from the strange OCD hermit to the kind person he was in the end was heartwarming.

One thing that bothered me particularly was the humanization of the watch. I didn’t like that the writers tried to make it into some sort of “character” that had a mind of its own. I guess that it helped the ending come together, but I think the watch could have been less of a focus in the movie.

I did enjoy the whole narration bit of the movie. Many movies are narrated, but not in the way that this movie is- it really was meant to sound like a book rather than pure movie narration. Not only that, the whole concept of the movie- that Harold could actually helplessly hear his narration, was an interesting concept to explore. I think it would be interesting to read a book where the characters in the book could hear the narration of the book, although that might start to get extremely confusing. It would have also been humorous to hear the narrator from a comedy book narrate his life, or really just have a narrator that was positive and would say something like, “Then, Harold bought a winning lottery ticket” or something like that. Perhaps that would have been a better use of Will Ferrell as a main character- having the narrator be a comedic one.

The one thing that really bothered me about this movie was the fact that his death was so inevitable. Just because Jules said that the ending was a masterpiece, it meant that Harold had to die in the way that Eiffel wrote it. Really? This is a human life we are talking about. Surely just because a book’s ending is a masterpiece doesn’t mean that someone actually has to DIE. It would have been much more realistic in my mind if Eiffel didn’t even hurt Harold in the first place. But, I guess it makes for a good ending. In my eyes, it was just a silly that just because Jules thought it was a masterpiece, Harold had to die.

All in all, I give this movie a 4 out of 5 stars. Perhaps if the narrator was comedic, this movie could have been a major hit. It would have been hilarious to watch a funny narrator put Will Ferrell through a bunch of funny scenes. Regardless, the plot and characters of Stranger Than Fiction were interesting, and it was a good watch.

Posted on

Russian Doll Review – Hannah Alphin #QuestusReview

Russian Doll is a Netflix series about a woman named Nadia who finds herself stuck reliving the same day over and over again. Her main objective is to find out why she keeps reliving the same day and how to stop it. I enjoyed this show mostly because of its well-developed characters. Initially, I did not know how to feel about Nadia. She seemed to be a self-absorbed person with self-destructive behavior. However, the show did a great job at gradually revealing why Nadia acts the way she does. Undoubtedly, she is a complex character. She acts like she does not care about herself and avoids getting too attached to other people. Her unhealthy relationship with her mother caused her to carry a lot of bitterness and anger. Essentially, she tries to forget her traumatic past by living a carefree lifestyle. As the series progressed, I saw how Nadia is not actually a bad person, but simply someone struggling to deal with the trauma of their past.

Even though Nadia is an independent and tough character, I enjoyed her more vulnerable moments. This includes her reaction to Alan finding the photos of her mother, her discussions with her therapist, or her interactions with Horse. I like that Nadia is forced to become more vulnerable with Alan as they look for a way out of their situation.

Alan is a complicated character as well. I find it interesting how his personality is the opposite of Nadia’s, yet he mirrors her in other ways. For example, both of them have self-destructive behavior. Nadia smokes and does so many drugs people are surprised she is still living. On the other hand, Alan struggles with depression and thoughts of suicide. It is even revealed that he committed suicide for his first death. Without a doubt, Nadia and Alan’s relationship is one of the most intriguing aspects of the show.

The only issue I had with the show was with its repetitiveness. During the first few episodes, I grew tired of watching Nadia relive the same day over again. I also became annoyed every time I heard Harry Nilsson’s song “Gotta Get Up” play every time Nadia woke up in the bathroom. However, I understand the show’s creators decision for doing this. Essentially, the viewer becomes frustrated just like Nadia because they are forced to rewatch (or relive) the same scene. Overall, watching Russian Doll was an enjoyable experience for me and I rate it 4/5 stars. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a dark comedy with well-developed characters.

Posted on

Stranger than Fiction Review #3 – Richa

Richa is typing out her review for her English class thinking about how it is so crazy that yet another weekend flew by. She has to go back and fix the typo she just made because she is terrible at typing.

Stranger than Fiction is basically one-hundred and thirty pages of what I wrote above. I’m kidding… it’s not that bad; I actually found the plot quite captivating. It’s hard to categorize into a specific genre, but Stranger than Fiction is like a tangy mango salsa: it’s spicy because it’s like a drama but there is a hint of sweetness in the romance and comedy to complement it. I was pretty confident that the story was going to end in a tragedy with Harold Crick’s death. But thankfully it didn’t, and I received closure with a somewhat happy ending. I mean, at least it concluded happier than a plot ending in Harold’s death would have.

It took me a little time to warm up to Harold, but I began to appreciate his character as the plot developed. In the beginning, Harold’s suffers from OCD which causes him to count everything that can be quantified. For example, he counts the number of steps to the bus stop and the number of times he brushes each tooth. As the plot unfolds, Harold realizes that he is the main character of Karen Eiffel’s novel and whatever she types becomes Harold’s reality. This psychological “traumatic” experience allows Harold to be able to cope with his OCD more, as he realizes that he is only a few mere words away from his inevitable death. At this point, Harold turns his life around and falls in love with Ana, re-learns how to play the guitar, and enjoys life for what it is. I found Harold’s transitional phase very moving because he became a stronger individual that understood the true meaning of life. More so, Harold went from being an emotionless robot to experiencing one of life’s most complex emotions: love.

This screenplay serves as a rhetoric of life and the concept of time. Harold’s wristwatch is symbolic of his obsession with time and his monotonous routine. The illusion of time has been a common theme throughout this course. Time is a man-made notion that literally rules every second of our lives. This screenplay allows us to critically evaluate whether we control time or time controls us.

I understood Harold Crick’s character to be an embodiment of mankind. Although not everyone is a perfectionist like Harold, we are all at fault for missing out on the present moment because we are too busy looking to the future. The irony of it all is that the future we work so hard to attain, eventually becomes our present and we still fail to acknowledge it because we have found a “new” future to distract ourselves with. Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of this too. I’ve realized that I don’t want to let life bypass me and this screenplay was a much needed reminder of this.

Stranger than Fiction has also been made into a movie and guess who plays Harold Crick? Are you ready for it? Yes, it’s the one and only, Will Ferrell. I hope you were as surprised by this as I was. When I think of Will Ferrell, I think of movies like Elf or Step Brothers in which he plays a goofy character. Harold Crick is definitely a much more serious role however, I think Ferrell did it justice. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this piece of literature and appreciated the life lessons it had in store for the reader.

 

 

Posted on

Russian Doll Review by Wei Chee Chen #QuestusReviewus

Russian Doll is a comedy-drama television show that aired in 2019. The entire television show is about two protagonists named Nadia and Alan. They are both reliving the same day(s) over and over again, and they realized later on that they were dying at the same time. The plot to this television show isn’t unique, taking the idea from other shows and movies. Some examples are Happy Death Day (2017) and Groundhog Day (1993). However, the show has some unique twists that these other movies don’t have.

Since the plot wasn’t unique to me, I didn’t find the show interesting—even found it a little slow—for the first few episodes when it was just about Nadia. Once Alan was introduced for the first time in the elevator, I was finally eager to binge watch the show and learn about the new twist to the plot. Although I found Nadia’s personality annoying, I enjoyed the idea of completely different personalities for the two protagonists: one was completely carefree and another cared too much. Nadia was completely carefree and always smoking or drinking; Alan was very detail-oriented and clean, making the viewers assume that he was OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder). Nadia had a complicated past with her dead mother, and the audience only catches glimpses of the past that accumulate into what actually happened between them. Alan would recite affirmations every morning such as “I am beautiful. I am loved,” making it seem as though he doesn’t believe he’s loved or beautiful. Nadia’s death was mostly ironic and funny, and the first death was getting hit by a car because she wanted to get her lost cat. Alan’s first death was suicide by jumping off of a building since he was so sad that he was dumped by his girlfriend.

Another aspect of the show that should’ve been better was the change in the point of view (POV). Since the plot was building, I was aware of all the small details and one of them was the change in the point of view. I mainly noticed it with Nadia when she started to relive her day(s) in the beginning of the death loop. The two main point of views were first-person and third-person point of views. Nadia would walk on the street and then the POV would switch to first-person point of view, so the audience could notice the people or items that Nadia was observing. I liked the idea of letting the audience figure out about items and living organisms rotting, dying, and disappearing, even if the point of view made it obvious with the flowers drooping. I can see how the POV can be helpful if the audience thinks back to what happened in the show such as seeing the flower drooping or noticing Alan drunk at the store in the first episode.

One small improvement should be more character development with Alan. I understand that he has a girlfriend that wants to end the relationship, but I want to know why he needs to recite affirmations and why he’s depressed. Did something happen in his past with his family? The audience figures out Nadia’s relationship with her mom, but they don’t know much about Alan’s past relationship.

I enjoyed the distortion of time in the Russian Doll. Most shows have a timeline, but in the show, it would flash back into Nadia’s past life as a young girl. The audience would never know when they would be flashed back into the past, but the flashbacks helped fill in some past information about Nadia for the audience. Another distortion of time in the Russian Doll is when the two characters would live for longer by a day or two, which made me interested to see if the two main characters finally figured out how to stay alive. Some examples were when Nadia saved Ruth from the gas leak or visited her ex-boyfriend’s daughter for the first time. At other times, they would die ironically, which was sometimes funny and fit into the “comedy” genre of the show.

Overall, after I got past the first few episodes, I was hooked on the show and binged watch the rest of the episodes. I had to keep watching to figure out why two characters were stuck in the same death loop. As a comedy should, I ended up laughing towards the end after I realized how ironic Nadia’s death were. I loved the balance between the two main characters’ life, and I like how Russian Doll changed the idea of a death loop by adding two characters that live through the death loops.

Posted on

S-Town Review

I really enjoyed listening to S-Town. Brian Reed digs deep into the life of John B. and Woodstock, Alabama and reveals a lot about the nature of people. Specifically, I was surprised by how much insight the podcast gives into the difference between truth and personal knowledge and how we try to reconcile this discrepancy. This can be seen most apparently when the narrative follows the conflict between Tyler and Reta.

Brian confirms that Tyler and Reta consistently report the same facts in their retellings of the story. However, the two parties walk away from each incident with different conclusions. This paradox occurs because a person’s knowledge of the external world is always filtered through past knowledge, experiences, and personal biases. Tyler established a very close relationship with John and his mother before John’s death, but Reta sees a stranger seemingly taking advantage of her relatives. Neither side has all the information, so they fill in the blanks with assumptions. People base their beliefs on the world as they know it, and not the world as it is.

This information asymmetry also reveals the failings of S-Town’s journalism (and journalism in general). Brian’s goal in the beginning is to uncover the truth behind a potential murder and its coverup in Woodstock. In the end, he realizes that no murder ever occured, despite almost everyone in the town telling him that the suspected killer confessed to the crime. After hearing snippets and rumors, the townspeople transform a story about a fight into something much more sinister through a big game of telephone. Journalism is based in large part on interviews with people, but S-Town reveals that these testimonials can be wildly inaccurate.

Sometimes, despite Brian’s best efforts, a conclusion can’t be reached. Did John leave behind gold and where is it? Who is right, Tyler or Reta? Did John have mercury poisoning? All of these questions are left unanswered because conclusive evidence couldn’t be gathered. In the case of mercury poisoning, we have testimonials from John’s horologist friends and professional opinions, but it’s been too long since John’s death to verify his mercury levels for sure. I think Brian realizes the danger of giving the reader incomplete information. He tries to remind the reader of alternative possibilities whenever an outcome is uncertain and admits when he doesn’t know something. In this way, he allows readers to fill in the blanks, but also makes them aware that they’re doing so.

Brian’s apparent awareness of how his journalism might be misinterpreted also leads me to the problems I have with the podcast. At one point Brian reveals John’s off-the-record story about his relationship with a specific man. Brian decides to tell this story and states several reasons for doing so. He says:

First, since John died, two other people who knew him well have told me the same information on the record. Also, John was very clear that he did not believe in God or an afterlife. So John, in his own view, is worm dirt now, unaffected by this. And lastly, what John disclosed, and where it led me after he died, helped me understand him so much more. And I think trying to understand another person is a worthwhile thing to do.

The first point seems obviously flawed. Just because John shared the information privately with two close friends does not mean John is ok with sharing the information publicly. The second reason has some validity, but while John may be dead and unaffected, other people’s memory of John is very much alive and can be affected. I think the third point is valid, but also subjective. Additionally, Brian seems to tell this story with little care for the other man’s well being. He publicly reveals that a married man living in the southern US had, at one point, a romantic relationship with John. This is obviously dangerous and could ruin his life. I don’t believe Brian adequately protected the man’s identity, and I don’t think Brian could have except by omitting this section from S-Town. It’s not difficult to imagine the man’s wife, upon listening to S-Town, could deduce that her husband was the “anonymous” individual that Brian interviewed. At this point, Brian should be well aware of how giving away even a little bit of information about someone can lead way to dangerously inaccurate rumors.

I also think Brian imposes too much of his own opinion into some parts of John’s life. Brian paints John’s tattoo (church) sessions as a form of cutting – indicative of some sort of mental illness. In a Vox review of the podcast, Aja Romano talks about needle play as a sexual fetish. In this context, John’s ritual could be seen as an act of pleasure rather than a form of self-harm. However, Brian uncharacteristically fails to mention alternatives to his assumption.

S-Town demonstrates that truth is easily distorted and beliefs don’t run parallel to facts. It also shows how this makes S-Town’s very own journalism a challenge. Though Brian Reed does his best to overcome these issues, S-Town still fails in some aspects.

Vox review: https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/30/15084224/s-town-review-controversial-podcast-privacy

 

Posted on

Questus Libris: An Apocalyptic Survival Guide to Finding Academic Resources

Questus Libris: An Apocalyptic Survival Guide to Finding Academic Resources

A Personal Narrative by Heidi Garcia

The year is 2019.  Amongst the wasteland of pilfered PDF files, Wikipedia cited as a reliable source, and budding academics struggling to find time for assignments fueled by draughts of coffee, the world of UNC is a perilous place.  Parental guidance?  None.  Detailed assignment guidelines?  No…instead: Creative Freedom.  Plagiarism detection software lurks in plain sight.  A constant reminder that Our Ideas Are Not Alone (not to mention someone has probably already written a book, podcast, serial, magazine run, newspaper campaign, grocery store ad, and phone book directory on your topic).  In such a world, what is a student to do in the search for particular texts for their ENGL137 class?

Well, lucky for you, as a Senior, I have already stuck my neck out and learned how to survive this altered landscape and have created this handy 5 Step Guide to help you survive.  May the databases be ever in your favor…

 

Rule 1 — Find a bunker and use it well.  You need a home-base, somewhere that you can lie undetected and safe from the lurking Panic.  Hoard your resources there and treasure them.  Spend a lot of time there.  Acclimate and become strong, that way when you go out, you can fight to right our perilous world.  You may not know everything it contains originally, some of it will be more than you can handle at first, some of it may even be dangerous, but don’t run.  This is the first beast you must tame.  Don’t give up.

 

Rule 2 — Be Prepared.  Take everything you might need but (there’s always a “but”) be careful not to weigh yourself down.  Don’t collect every book on your topic, or download every free copy of Poe’s works, otherwise you will drown in the Sea of Information

 

Rule 3 — Watch out for pirates.  Oh yes, here there be pirates.  E-book pirates are especially rampant.  Be wary of the tools you trust.  Don’t just take any old sword and don’t just download any old version of the book you need.  Old books, especially those that have been moved to the public domain are notorious for bad formatting, inaccurate translations, or abridged or edited versions that detract from the original work.

 

Rule 4 — Document EVERYTHING. You never know what wayward soul will come across your work and need it to survive themselves.  Nothing is ever “just” a paper.  We’re at a school of academic legends, treat every assignment as such!

 

Rule 5 — Find your tribe.  Contrary to what the usual apocalypse narrative is (but consider who is still alive here (little old me)), you can’t do it alone.  Find your team and keep them close.  You need people to watch your back and teach you academic ninja moves.

 

But, what does all this look like in real-life?

Lucky for you, I am featured in this handy-dandy video of my own bunker-home-base, the Robert B. House Undergraduate Library:

https://youtu.be/Dxbs5NokiMA

This is my secret for navigating the perilous Sea of Information—and I’m sharing this deeply coveted secret as I prepare to depart one death-defying setting for another, a frozen tundra of flatlands and even more coffee.  A place known as Dakota of the North—and where I accessed every resource for this class (minus the texts available through Sakai that our lovely professor provided us).  I am a lucky soul, who has found each of the 5 Survival Steps in one place on campus.  Within the library, both working there and as a user, I have been kindly counselled about making critical choices about sources, utilizing the library landscape and Library of Congress call number system, second opinions, textual guides, and advice on reliable editions, citation formats, and brainstorming sessions.  Most of my best friends on campus are also there, offering me the support of friends, resources, information, and employment all in one convenient place!

Stereotypically for apocalyptic narratives, I have accumulated a deep fondness for this foreign landscape I have learned to navigate.  A place that once seemed so overwhelming and out of my depth has become a place of comfort and community.  A place that, when tasked with acquiring resources for ENGL137, I did not have to think twice about how I would proceed.  Education, whether within my fictional apocalypse (I really had you going, right?), or not, is a true gift, and I feel not only blessed, but privileged to count you all amongst my AANT (Apocalyptic Academic Ninja Troupe).  Thanks for fighting academic zombies and pirates with me.  I’ll never forget you.

 

 

Works Cited

UNC University Libraries. R.B. House Undergraduate Library. UNC, 2019. Accessed 8 April 2019. https://library.unc.edu/house/

 

Posted on

Russian Doll Reflection and Review – Taylor Timinskas #QuestusReview

The premise of the  Russian Doll  narrative follows the classic groundhog day situation where the a person gets stuck in a loop repeating the same day. Russian Doll could very easily have been a boring reincarnation of this idea, but it’s not. This series focuses more on character development than just the normal arch of becoming a better person. I also love the angle of having two individuals, Nadia and Alan, going through this journey together, but having to overcome their own past struggles and crisis individually. I think it was really creative to have Nadia and Alan cross paths and be put in a situation where they have to help each other become a better person, instead of going through a time of self-realization alone.

As a viewer, what I found more confusing was how Nadia’s and Alan’s timelines changed at the end of the season. My interpretation of the ending is that the first time that both Nadia and Alan are able to confront their own issues, they had their final death. Nadia’s is more evident because it is right when she approaches the kid for lunch with the book, a sign that she can move forward as see herself as a role model, unlike her own mother. Alan had his moment when he confronted his girlfriend with Nadia’s help and is able to stay calm about his relationship ending. The one issue with this is that this imperative moment for Alan’s character development happens before Nadia’s, even though they both die when Nadia starts coughing up blood, representing “her being inside her”.

Another element that I found interesting but also hard to analyze is the significance of Horse, the homeless man that appears in both Nadia’s and Alan’s lives repeatedly. Horse stands out out of all the supporting characters for not only being mysterious, but also for clearly having a symbolic meaning that is hard to decipher. The first time I noticed this as a viewer was when in a flashback, Nadia’s mom mentions how beautiful Nadia’s hair is and how its a representation of the weight her mother has on her. This made me realize how significant it was that Horse wanted to cut Nadia’s hair multiple times. It seems like Horse serves as a guide when Nadia and Alan are most lost in their struggles to face and overcome their past struggles and fears.

Overall, I would rate Russian Doll as a series as an 8/10. Even though it is based on a literally repetitive and overdone concept, the way its created goes beyond magical realism and tests of time, making Russian Doll an addictive and unpredictable show. I would definitely recommend!

Posted on

Russian Doll Review – Farris Al-Quqa

With the rise of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, we have seen a dramatic shift in the way TV shows are produced and released. Namely, as opposed to the more discontinuous, traditional style of releasing a new episode every week, full TV show seasons are now made available all at once, allowing viewers to binge watch whole seasons within a matter of days. In keeping with this new means of content delivery, “Russian Doll” embraces the growth of binge culture in television, as it tailors its storyline and production to create a more movie-like experience in the form of a television show.

“Russian Doll” follows a woman named Nadia who celebrates her 36th birthday at a party hosted by her friend Maxine in New York City. On that night, she is killed in a car accident, but instead of outright dying, she ends up reliving her 36th birthday from the beginning again. With this, she finds herself stuck in a loop where she repeatedly dies and is forced to relive her birthday party from the beginning. As she investigates this phenomenon, she meets a man named Alan who, like Nadia, is also stuck in a repeating death loop, except he continues to relive the day that his girlfriend of nine years breaks up with him. The two characters then work together to unravel this mysterious occurrence and to figure out how to escape their never-ending time loops.

While “Russian Doll’s” plot may sound very repetitious and hollow at the surface, the show deeply develops the background and personality of the main characters. Nadia is portrayed as a tough, cynical, and egotistical chain-smoker who lives largely in the moment and pushes away her problems, such as her guilt over her mother’s death. In contrast, Alan is portrayed as a caring, shy, and feeble man who struggles to get over his girlfriend Beatrice and the context behind their breakup. This foil between the two main characters creates a compelling duo that helps the story flow and makes the ending all the more satisfying. Supplementary characters like Mike and Horse also help keep the story dynamic and interesting by fleshing out their environment and creating complex relationships between the characters that help us learn more about Nadia and Alan’s true selves. Additionally, the ambiance and aesthetic from environments like Maxine’s apartment, paired with the show’s melancholic violin music and the repetition of the song “Gotta Get Out,” create an eerie mood that well suits the situation that the characters find themselves in. “Russian Doll” is not just a story about two characters who experience multiple deaths and find themselves stuck in a time loop, but rather, it is a story which explores underlying themes on friendship and on overcoming each other’s flaws.

Additionally, aided by Netflix’s ad-free viewing experience and the release of the entire first season in one day, “Russian Doll’s” overall structure very much felt like a long movie that was broken into eight individual episodes, which, funnily enough, I found to be very effective. While, in a sense, the storyline was made discrete by breaking it down into shorter episodes, the lengths of the episodes made the viewing experience feel less intimidating and less like a chore, and the plot’s overall continuity made for a very entertaining show to watch in one sitting.

Although binge watching TV shows has become more commonplace nowadays, personally, I’m not a big fan of binge watching shows. To me, binge watching a TV show is akin to scarfing down a meal as quickly as possible; you don’t have enough time to truly enjoy and appreciate its taste. I feel like it’s better to leave some time in between watching episodes of a TV show to allow you to really internalize and think through the meaning and the significance of the events in the story before continuing. However, “Russian Doll’s” premise and overall movie-like feel left me captivated, and I couldn’t help but binge watch the entire first season in a day. Its intriguing storyline, deep character development, nice mix of comedy and drama, and meticulous attention to detail keep you engrossed and leave you wanting to know what will happen next. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

Posted on

Russian Doll – Hayden Dewey #questusreviewus

From the very beginning of Netflix’s Russian Doll I loved Natasha Lyonne’s roll as the main character of the show. She not only did a fantastic job of playing the part but her character Nadia was extremely interesting and likable throughout. Her troubled past and the assortment of men in her life go along perfectly with her care free attitude on life. This perspective not only provides the audience with a decent amount of comic relief throughout but it makes it very interesting to see how she handles the weird sequence of events that are happening in her life. Almost halfway through the series we are introduced to a man named Alan who is experiencing the same cycle of death that Nadia is.  I greatly appreciated the contrasting personalities of the two characters and how they handle their predicaments differently while still working together to figure out what the hell is going on. Nadia’s care free mentality allows her to investigate her situation as calmly as one could while Alan is frantically searching for answers and jumping off of buildings. These drastically different personalities are most likely due to the fact that he is continuously living the worst day of his life while Nadia is reliving her birthday party but the character contrast adds depth to the show either way.

Despite my appreciation for the two main characters of the series I struggled to feel the same about the storyline. In first discovering that Nadia and Alan are reliving the same day over and over again I believed it would make for a very interesting plot, however, I began to realize what this repetitive aspect of the series was doing to my perception of it. I found myself caring little about what was actually happening to these individuals as they lived out the same day again and again and focussing more on when they were going to die next and appear in the same bathrooms I had seen at least fifteen times. I felt as if this repetition hindered the progression of the plot significantly throughout the series.

All in all, it seemed as if I was waiting for the “aha” moment for a majority, if not all of the show. Everything that happened up until episode seven felt like an introduction to the problem at hand that was extremely drawn out thanks to the endless repetition I mentioned above. I did enjoy Nadia and Alan coming to the realization towards the end of the series that they both had to confront the darkest points in their lives to stop their endless cycles of reliving the same day. This was not only a good message for the writers to convey to the audience but it introduced a deeper side to Nadia’s care free personality. The ending still felt lazy as the two entered separate worlds where they had to save the other from death, leaving many questions unanswered with an abrupt ending. These techniques are fine when writers make it clear there will be another season but this was not the case with Russian Doll. I didn’t know if I should feel content with the two successfully saving one another because of the uncertainty of whether or not they will continue to enter other dimensions thanks to our lack of knowledge of how it happened to them in the first place. This made for a frustrating finish to a show with a fantastic concept and characters that I genuinely enjoyed throughout.