If Nadia Vulvokov has a life motto (scratch that: death motto), it might be, “Live fast, die often.†Inexplicably stuck in a purgatory-like time loop — she gets killed on the reg, only to “reset†in her friend’s bathroom, alive and intact — Russian Doll’s irascible antiheroine (played with great bravado by Natasha Lyonne) ultimately experiences a revelation through all her resurrections. The cynical misanthrope is forced to admit, and eventually embrace, that her existence is inextricably tied to those around her, both her loved ones (like maternal figure Ruth, played by Elizabeth Ashley) and the straight-backed stranger who’s somehow trapped with her in a circle of perpetual rebirth (Alan, played by Charlie Barnett).
Still, the show never hesitates to play Nadia and Alan’s deaths for laughs — or to throw viewers for a loop with sudden downfalls. If Russian Doll’s first season still has your head spinning, reclaim your grip on reality with our handy-dandy (and, naturally, spoiler-filled) chronology of every expiration that went down in season one.
Death No. 1: Big Yellow Taxi
Episode 1, “Nothing in This World Is Easyâ€
Why did the tough-talking, chain-smoking, self-loathing New Yorker cross the road? To get to her cat on the other side. Nadia’s original death — a taxi slams into her after she neglects to look both ways — goes down at the corner of East 7th and Avenue B, at the nexus of her preferred watering hole and her cat Oatmeal’s favorite hideout.
Death No. 2: A Plunge Into Darkness
Episode 1, “Nothing in This World Is Easyâ€
Nadia finds Oatmeal, but the feline mysteriously disappears from her lap as she’s perched atop a railing along the East River Promenade. The shock causes Nads to lose her balance and plunge into the water. That darn cat!
Deaths Nos. 3 and 4: The Cellar-Door Menace
Episode 2, “The Great Escapeâ€
Every New Yorker fears falling through sidewalk cellar doors — a fate that befalls Nadia twice in a row: once while yelling at her ex, John, on the phone, then again while yelling down the street at Fahran. As Nadia rightly declares, “Those things are a menace!â€
Deaths Nos. 5 to 7: Watch Your Step
Episode 2, “The Great Escapeâ€
Our antiheroine’s most murderous foil on Russian Doll is … the stairs. In a comical death montage, Nadia wipes out on the renovated yeshiva’s steps three times in a row. Oy vey!
Death No. 8: No, Seriously, Watch Your Step
Episode 2, “The Great Escapeâ€
After her neck-breaking trifecta, Nadia declares, “I gotta figure out how to get down the stairs.†On her next attempt, she almost does — until someone knocks her over the railing. It’s always something!
Death No. 9: Killer Traffic
Episode 2, “The Great Escapeâ€
Nadia agrees to check herself into Bellevue, but en route, her refusal to remove her mom’s Krugerrand — or rather, the ambulance crew’s fragile masculinity; they sure don’t like being called “mama’s boys!†— causes them to crash.
Death No. 10: Out in the Cold
Episode 3, “A Warm Bodyâ€
With nothing but a single, shelter-issued blanket to keep them warm, Horse and Nadia freeze to death sleeping in Tompkins Square Park. As Nadia says, “Jesus fucking Christ, that’s dark.â€
Death No. 11: The Broken Elevator
Episode 3, “A Warm Bodyâ€
Nadia and Alan meet-cute in a plunging elevator. “Hey, man, didn’t you get the news?†she teases him. “We’re about to die.†Alan replies matter-of-factly, “It doesn’t matter. I die all the time.†Nadia’s not the only East Villager stuck in a time loop? We’re floored — literally.
Death No. 12: A Shock to the System
Episode 4, “Alan’s Routineâ€
A fuse box short-circuits along the rain-slicked East River Promenade, electrocuting poor Alan right after he tosses away Bea’s engagement ring — and in the exact same spot where Nadia died her second death.
Death No. 13: Crash and Burn
Episode 5, “Superiority Complexâ€
Ruth lights her stove to make tea and ignites a fatal gas explosion. Meanwhile, Alan gets into a fatal bike accident (on an ersatz Citi Bike called “N.Y. Bikeâ€) after drinking himself into a stupor at Nadia’s party.
Death No. 14: The Classics
Episode 5, “Superiority Complexâ€
Nadia: “Gas explosion again!â€
Alan: “I got hit by a car.â€
Nadia: “Classic!â€
Death No. 15: Mistaken Identities
Episode 5, “Superiority Complexâ€
Fearing an intruder, Ruth shoots and kills Nadia. Fearing he’s a creepy stalker, two girls mace Alan, inducing an asthma attack. This time around, Nadia’s death prompts an existential crisis, as she worries that each of her previous downfalls has left Ruth bereft in a different timeline.
Death No. 16: HVAC Attack
Episode 5, “Superiority Complexâ€
Are Nadia and Alan metaphysically linked? Alan hits it on the head when he says, “I think that we’re dying at the same time.†Then they’re both hit on the head by a falling air conditioner.
Death No. 17: Release the Bees
Episode 6, “Reflectionâ€
Nadia and Alan realize that they’re both deathly allergic to bees. “So I guess we run into a bunch of fucking honeybees now,†Nadia jokes. Yep — and in an underground subway station, no less!
Death No. 18: Choke Point
Episode 6, “Reflectionâ€
Nadia dies a slow and anguished death choking on a chicken bone alone in her apartment. Alan’s corresponding expiration is never mentioned; did he reenact his original death by throwing himself off his roof again?
Deaths Nos. 19 to 21: Scared to Death
Episode 7, “The Way Outâ€
Is it possible to scare the living daylights out of someone? It is if you’re Young Nadia (Brooke Timber), whose unexpected, ghostlike appearances frighten Adult Nadia to death three times: twice on the street, and once in the bodega.
Death No. 22: Getting Free
Episode 7, “The Way Outâ€
In the season’s last and goriest death, Adult Nadia coughs up a bloody mirror shard — and “gets free†from her mother’s poisonous grip. When she regenerates in the next episode, the last of the season, a more life-affirming timeline subsequently unfolds: Nadia’s party is repopulated! The fish tanks are repopulated! Sweet birthday, baby!