Here are all the Easter eggs in Russian Doll season 2 (we think)
Netflix’s sci-fi comedy is finally back with a terrific round two—and leaves a trail of Easter eggs worth examining in its wake
TV Features Russian Doll
WARNING: This article contains spoilers related to the second season of Russian Doll.
Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan Zaveri (Charlie Barnett) go on yet another time-bending extravaganza in Russian Doll’s second season, which dropped on April 20. Netflix’s delirious sci-fi comedy sends the lead duo back in time through the 6 train: Nadia is whisked to ’80s New York City and later to 1944 Budapest; Alan, meanwhile, zaps to Germany in the early ’60s. Revisiting the past involves swapping consciousness with their ancestors, and the ensuing adventures give each of them a deeper understanding of their upbringing and lineage. What’s more, the loopy new episodes boast a ton of exciting clues and self-references about where the show is headed as well as where it was, shedding new light on details from last season. So let’s unpack as many Easter eggs as we could, planted all over the subway (and elsewhere).
1. The origin story of the infamous Vulvokov Krugerrands
Buckle up for a major Easter egg, especially if you didn’t rewatch the show to prepare. In a brief scene during season one’s sixth episode, titled “Reflections,” Nadia tells Alan the tale of her beloved necklace. Her grandparents, who were Holocaust survivors, didn’t trust banks. So their valuables were converted to 150 Krugerrands (South African gold bullion coins), one of which she wears all the time. The remaining 149? As she puts it to Alan, “My mother, ’cause she’s a fucking piece of work, spent them all.” The quick conversation ends up as the vital narrative backbone of season two.
With every trip back to the ’80s, Nadia attempts to stop her mother, Lenora (Chloë Sevigny), from spending the fortune she was supposed to inherit. She’s hoping to fix the bond between Lenora and her own mother, Vera [Iren Bordan], which would make Nadia’s childhood far more smooth-sailing. Also of note: When Nadia initially tells Alan the story, she says the net worth of the 150 Krugerrands in 2019 would be $150,780.86. In season two, while explaining the value of the coins to someone in the ’80s, she notes the cost as $280,451.21. Sweet fluctuating prices, baby.
2. Russian Doll’s motherlode of all Easter eggs
In a throwaway line from season one, when Nadia and Alan try to figure out why they keep dying repeatedly at the same exact time, she says, “Us being the same person is my current favorite [theory].” It’s not correct then, but ironically, it’s how season two works. Nadia swaps with Lenora in the ’80s and her grandmother in the ’40s. Similarly, Alan switches into being his grandma, Agnes (Carolyn Michelle Smith) in the ’60s. Technically speaking, they become the same person as those family members, albeit temporarily.
Maternal relationships actually occupy prime real estate in Russian Doll season two, whether it’s Nadia with Lenora, Vera, or her godmother Ruth (played by Elizabeth Ashley in the present and Annie Murphy in the ’80s). Heck, Nadia’s motherly instincts factor in when she brings baby Nadia to the future after giving birth to her as Lenora in the past. (It’s a dark, complicated tapestry.) No wonder season two begins with Nadia casually referencing Oedipus to a doctor while visiting Ruth at the hospital.
3. Nadia and Alan’s connections
Yes, Russian Doll has done a great job of establishing Nadia and Alan are tied together in many ways—mainly by driving home that if they would’ve helped each other on the night they met, season one’s time loops wouldn’t have happened. Alan’s ex-girlfriend, Beatrice (Dascha Polanco) was cheating on him with a coworker named Mike (Jeremy Bobb), who Nadia sleeps with in the series premiere before her first death. But season two gradually explores the characters’ deeper bond.
The journey of Alan (as Agnes) comes together with Nadia’s when it’s revealed that in the ’80s, Agnes had moved to New York City and worked as an MTA employee. She was a bystander at the Astor Street station when Lenora (or, as we see it, Nadia as Lenora) gave birth to baby Nadia. In fact, in the third episode, it was Agnes who helps a disoriented Nadia—after the gold gets lost again—get off the train before the cops round her up.
4. A full circle to Russian Doll season one with fun callbacks
There are lots of nods to the show’s breakout moments, like Nadia exclaiming “Thursday, what a concept.” The quote isn’t just a meme anymore, it’s a whole damn Twitter account. She rephrases it in season two as “Time zones, what a concept,” while visiting Budapest in 2022 with Maxine (Greta Lee). Lyonne’s striking pronunciation of “cock-a-roach” returns too. In season one, Nadia tells multiple people that a Yeshiva once stood where Maxine’s building is. In the ’80s, as Nadia walks past it, and school kids are rushing out of there. As time is breaking in the season two finale, titled “Matryoshka,” Nadia and Alan see the rabbi teaching a where Maxine’s apartment stood.
It’s scientifically impossible not to fixate on Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up” during the show. Each time Nadia springs back to life in the bathroom during her birthday party, the song blares from the speakers. In “Matryoshka,” Nadia and Alan are back at the damn party. Nilsson’s track is playing in background, and even Nadia is inspired to finally go, “Jesus Christ with this fucking song.” As a treat, Maxine busts out one more “Sweet birthday, baby.” Kudos to Russian Doll for organically bringing its treasured scenes back without feeling forced.
Even Alan’s neighbor, who was tasked to feed his fish in season one, returns. She specifically told Alan back then that she’s incapable of keeping Boba Fett alive. Nadia runs into her as she’s exiting Alan’s house, expectedly announcing the fish is dead. Also in season one, Nadia talks to Ruth about Lenora’s obsessions with the cartoon character Betty Boop. She even tried to make a business out of selling her merch. Well, when Nadia has taken over Lenora in the ’80s, she casually finds a Betty Boop keychain while trying to buy the Kruggerands back at the thrift store. Clearly, with a carefully constructed show like Russian Doll, it’s the little details that matter.
18 Comments
My pitch for season 3:Nadia and Alan get transported into different possible futures based upon choices they have made that are yet unknown to them. Maybe an elevator (going up) this time around?
I kinda doubt that Netflix is going to pay for 6+ more episodes of Natasha Lyonne compulsively chewing on cigarettes and muttering semi-intelligible quips while contrived sci-fi nonsense ensues. I guess big tobacco does have deep pockets though, so there is some possibility that there will be a season 3 in which we learn that Nadia and has actually been a cigarette this whole time, and then she smokes herself. Trippy!
The show has not been renewed for a 3rd season yet. I wonder if they even have a pitch for it, this season seemed to burn through pretty much all of their ideas and be running on fumes by the end
Wasn’t Lyonne’s original pitch a three-season arc?
I think so. Maybe she knew Netflix loves cancelling stuff after 3 seasons
Not a single one of these is an easter egg.
Yeah, they’re just references and they’re pretty blatant. An example of an Easter egg would be like, if she ran into younger versions of her older friends and no attention was drawn to it.
They also omitted a genuine Easter egg – Nadia searching Wikipedia for famous Hungarians and looking at Peter Falk’s page (A large segment of the internet has been campaigning for a couple of years now for Natasha Lyonne to be cast as Colombo if they ever do a reboot)
I think the Peter Falk Easter egg is also a reference to the 80s German film “Wings of Desire” about guardian angels who patrol East/West Berlin. Peter Falk stars as himself in the film, but also (in the world of the film) is a former guardian angel who chose to become a human being. I’m not entirely sure how the reference fits for RD, but given that both the 80’s film and the current series concern characters crossing the barrier between East / West Berlin (a major theme in WoD) and switching identities, it can’t be a coincidence.
They’re references and callbacks, sure, but you’re right. Easter eggs are supposed to be small, almost-overlooked details that reference something, but are usually subtle. These are just when season 2 references season 1.
Look closely, and you’ll notice a callback to the gold Krugerands from season one. But pay close attention – it’s easy to miss!
So, are we not getting episode reviews of this? Or The Flight Attendant? Or anything that isn’t This is Us?
They do episode reviews for Atlanta and SNL as well. Not much, but it’s something.
I don’t know if it’s an easter egg or a reference and boy howdy do I not want to get those confused, that shit is important, but my partner pointed out the significance of young Norah doing the Tarantula Dance.I’m not the one with degrees in theater and literature and I was fairly high when she explained it to me so I’ll just say Ibsen+Dollhouse+Norah+Tarantula.
That’s right! My husband and I caught this one right away and I haven’t seen it referenced anywhere online yet!
I just can’t seem to find a point to Season 2 other than it existing being its own reward. Season 1 had the Sysiphean-repeat-loop-learn-something-special-to-break it concept going on. There was a moral to the tale.Season 2….uh….some stuff happens and its fun to watch? I can’t stop thinking about what Alan experiences when Agnes needs to pee or have sex or whatever.There was also a predictable continuity to Season 1 that I felt lost with in Season 2. How much time was passing, and when was it passing? Who the hell knows, except I guess Nadia loses a month?The pointlessness of the Nadia/Maxine trip to Hungary seems to underscore a general lack of strength to Season 2s plotting. I genuinely got lost when they decided to let Nadia and Lydia interact for an extended sequence. Who was doing what and when and how and…next episode!Alans involvement in things seemed similarly structureless. My wifes take on the one scene where they see each other on trains is that one was going and one was coming from the time warp but the trains were going the same way and …isn’t there only one magic train? I mean the train number matters a bunch at the end…but…ok I’m lost again.
“It’s not just a meme, it’s a whole damn Twitter account” (that constantly reposts the meme)
The scene where preteen Nora is dressed in her dance outfit as a tarantula is a reference to A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. The main character in the play (also named Nora) dances the tarantella (tarantula dance) and it is a symbol of her passion and madness.