Summary
Nadia and Maxine take a trip to Budapest in this trippy installment. The detours are starting to appear random and repetitive, but the show is hopefully working towards something special and surprising.
This recap of Netflix’s Russian Doll season 2, episode 4, “Station to Station,” does not contain any significant spoilers.
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Possibly the most exciting scene in season one of Russian Doll involved Nadia dying in an elevator accident. The lift plummeted to the ground, she turned to face a seemingly calm, random man stood next to her. She said to him that they’re about to die and he replied with, ‘it doesn’t matter, I die all the time’. It’s a sensational moment that completely revolutionised the show. Alan’s perspective is always insightful and intriguing to watch, so of course in season two, he gets involved in the time hopping action too.
Russian Doll season 2, episode 4 recap
“Station to Station” (a nod to David Bowie) opens with Alan’s time travelling story. The twist this time is he transforms into a female, his grandmother Agnes. She’s a student in 1962 East Berlin, a time when the Berlin Wall still stood and racism was rife in the world. Surrounded by all this suffering, Alan still manages to grin, he’s evidently content in this time period. He enjoys the attention of the police guards and gets a cheeky kiss from a man called Lenny. Alan is totally embracing this new lease of life.
Nadia questions Alan in the present as they play a game of chess. It’s interesting to see the characters express their different goals with the time travelling scenario. Alan is just enjoying the ride, happy to hide behind the mask of someone else. Whereas Nadia wants to change the past. They talk of movies and Alan explains how you should never change things, it’s just too dangerous. Nadia calls checkmate and wanders off. Alan looks closer and it’s actually a stalemate, Nadia was cheating. Like at chess, she wants to cheat the past as well and rewrite history for her own gains.
The time travelling cheat shows the Nazi receipt to Ruth and talks of journeying to Budapest to find out more about the history of the gold train. Nadia is desperate to retrieve her family’s fortune and sees this as an apt opportunity to explore her roots too. Ruth suggests taking Maxine along for the ride. With the free-spirited, casual Maxine there for support it is sure to be one hell of a trip. The dynamic duo hitch a plane ride to Hungary and utter chaos ensues.
The ending
Alan’s exciting sixties romance falls apart when he’s introduced to a scheme to tunnel under the Berlin Wall. His dreams of a consequence-free fling are dashed and he’s left in a compromised position. Is the magic of the time period and the lure of his disguise worth the danger? Meanwhile, Nadia and Maxine’s fantastic voyage leads to a warehouse rave and a meeting with the grandson of a Nazi captain. There’s the chance for a trippy montage and some further twists to the tale.
The series continues to carve out a path for Nadia’s investigation whilst meandering into tangents on Nazi memorabilia, religion and Dracula. The show is consistently funny and thought provoking, although at this moment it seems unclear where it is all heading. I have faith that it will all pan out, but some of the digressions aren’t as original as others. The show risks delving into repetition. With only three more episodes to go, let’s hope the series improves and the madness makes sense.
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