TV review: Russian Doll season 2 is more annoying than funny

Russian Doll (Netflix) makes me feel old.

It’s back for season two and it feels like everyone thinks it’s hilarious and meaningful. I didn’t laugh once and couldn’t find a trace of meaning.

It’s not that it’s terrible. I like d the premise in season one  — it’s a more tragic version of Groundhog Day, where two New Yorkers, Nadi a and Alan get to re-live a period of time where they both die at the end, and then go back to the start. Strangers at the outset , the trick is that both their days intertwine and they both have the ability to save the other, to heal their broken hearts. Nadia blames herself for her mother’s death, Alan’s relationship fails, and they need each other to help the pain go away. It’s a good idea, if you like people gaining self-awareness . But then, a bad idea well executed is better than a good idea badly executed and this idea is more hung, drawn and quartered than executed.

I blame Girls. The TV show, rather than young females. That showed what could be done with some young misfits navigating life in the big city. It had heart and laugh out loud moments, even for someone like me who was at least 10 years older than the target audience. The writer Lena Dunham made it look easy, at least for the first series. It was a TV show for people of all ages (over 18).

Which is more than can be said for a slew of other shows such as  The Big Bang Theory and Schitt’s Creek —  quirky American comedies that left me without a single laugh. It’s definitely an age thing, because they were big hits over here. It feels like they've stopped making good comedy for people going grey.

Russian Doll is more annoying than funny. In the first episode of season two, Nadia gets on a subway train and ends up in 1982. I liked the clean break with season one and hoped for better, but it never came. She went to a bar and got off with a sleaze-ball sporting a terrible moustache, on a whim.

In fairness, this was well portrayed. The sleaze-ball was compelling, she was funny in her scattered kind of way, everyone was smoking, it felt like 1982. But it also felt like the writers just went with the first thing that came into their minds.

In the end, I didn’t care a jot for Nadia, or Alan when we met up with him again. It’s not that I’m heartless or don’t like women in a mess. Aisling Bea’s This Way Up is a master-piece, I’d watch it again.

It must be an American thing. The culture wars there have warped what can be done with a comedy, unless it’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is deliberately made for people over 50.

Russian Doll might be your thing if you’re younger than that and like looking at New York city. I won’t be watching episode two of season two. Or any more American comedies on Netflix if they’re like this.