Warning: Contains spoilers for Russian Doll season 2.
Russian Doll season 2 saw Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) embody several female figures in her family history, and her time inside her mother Nora’s (Chloë Sevigny) body generated some pesky time bugs. Netflix’s existential dramedy brought Nadia to a place even worse than the inescapable death of season 1. She is forced to relive her family’s past through the eyes of Russian Doll season 2 characters Nora and Vera (Irén Bordán and Ilona McCrea) and slowly come to terms with the fact that she can’t rewrite her troubled family history. One of the signs Nadia gets when playing with time are Nora’s time bugs in 1982.
In Russian Doll season 2, episode 1, Nadia discovers that the 6 Train can take her all the way back to 1982, when Nora was pregnant with her. Soon enough, she realizes she inhabits Nora’s body and is in charge of her decisions. This prompts Nadia to attempt to rewrite her past, patch up Nora’s relationship with her own mother, Vera, and return the stolen family goods: the family heirlooms stolen by the Nazis and Vera’s prized possessions, the Krugerrands. But it’s easier said than done: anything she does becomes the cause of what she knew already happened. Moreover, Nora becomes the host of some pretty disturbing bugs.
Nadia ends up spending a few days in the 1982 timeline in Russian Doll season 2’s third episode. As days progress, she notices bumps on her arms. Finally, as she notices mold on her hands and goes to the bathroom, she sees a strange bug on the mirror. Then, to her horror, she pulls one of these bugs out of her skin; she’s so disgusted that she chooses not to deal with it. Nadia herself comments on the root cause of these bugs: “Maybe it’s been too much Mommy-and-me time.” Indeed, she spent one too many days inside her mother, and Russian Doll season 2 made it abundantly clear there are repercussions for playing with time. But there’s another reason: Nora was pregnant with Nadia at the time, and this caused great psychological discomfort for Nadia, something that can be explained through the time bugs.
The Vulvokov family is a troubled one, and by time-traveling in Russian Doll season 2, Natasha Lyonne’s character plunges into these issues. Vera is a bitter mother, hardened by the war and paranoid about losing all her family valuables again; Nora keeps stealing from Vera as she suffers from schizophrenia, and on top of it all, she’s nine months pregnant. In a bizarre twist, Nadia ends up giving birth to herself on the subway platform. Being pregnant with herself is indeed very uncomfortable for Nadia as, not only is the situation disturbing, she is all too aware of the terrible childhood she is about to have. She wants to save the baby version of herself from her own past and rewrite a new, better life for her. The time bugs crawling under her skin are a good metaphor for how Nadia felt at the time she was about to give birth to herself.
Russian Doll‘s season 2 finale sees Nadia attempt to bring baby Nadia to 2022, only to realize this is causing time to collapse. As she finally accepts she can’t rewrite her past without being “the most selfish person ever,” she returns the baby to 1982 and attends Ruth’s (Elizabeth Ashley) present-day funeral with a more accepting and appreciative attitude. The time bugs are one of Russian Doll‘s many ways of showing her she simply can’t change her past, but she can (and should) appreciate the present.
