Tamal Kundu
Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan Zaveri (Charlie Barnett) are two main characters in ‘Russian Doll.’ In season 1, they meet as their elevator freefalls and realize that they are both trapped in time loops. Every time they die, they go back in front of a bathroom mirror. In Nadia’s case, the mirror is located in her friend Maxine’s apartment, where Nadia is attending her 36th birthday. Meanwhile, Alan’s mirror is in his own home. Nadia and Alan can’t be more different. While she is brash, confident, outspoken, and resourceful, Alan is reserved, insecure, withdrawn, and deeply unhappy.
As a result, their responses to their unusual circumstances are also different. Nadia tries everything she can to get out of the loop, whereas Alan stringently attempts to follow the same routine, despite it making him experience the same painful events. As they meet, their separate existences collide and amalgamate into each other. If you are wondering whether Nadia and Alan end up together, this is what you need to know. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Do Nadia and Alan End Up Together?
In season 1, Nadia and Alan have sex. But it was an alcohol-driven desire to prove something on Alan’s part and curiosity on Nadia’s. In season 2, Nadia even states it was the “greatest sex” she ever had, but there is a significant chance she is just being facetious. Nearly four years have passed between the two seasons. And it seems their relationship has grown, but in a very platonic manner, even though both of them have seemingly moved on from their respective romantic interests of the first season.
Although Nadia has become somewhat restrained, and Alan has opened himself up to new experiences, things haven’t changed much for either of them. Nadia’s childhood trauma and Alan’s depression continue to be contributing factors to their actions. While Nadia tries to rewrite her past in 1982 New York and ends up having sex with her mother’s unscrupulous boyfriend Chez, Alan, inhabiting the body and mind of his grandmother, begins to develop genuine feelings for her boyfriend, Lenny, in East Germany in 1962.
Lenny and his friends are planning to go to West Germany through a tunnel. All his life, Alan has chosen the safer alternative, so he can’t fathom why they will take such a risk. He knows they are eager to meet their families but thinks they should simply wait for 27 years until the Berlin Wall comes down. He later frets over his actions, wondering whether they were the reasons that drove Lenny to the tunnel in the first place.
Alan learns later that his grandmother doesn’t know what happened to Lenny, and she is at peace with it. However, that brief experience of being his grandmother might help Alan find genuine and prolonged happiness in his own life. The show seems to make not-so-subtle implications about Alan’s sexuality and gender identity. It will be interesting to see where the writers take the story from here.
As for Alan and Nadia, Barnett believes that their relationship will keep evolving, and they will continue to support each other. “With life, there’s always going to be something ahead,” the ‘Chicago Fire’ actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “As soon as you get over one mountain, another one is right there in the distance. It never stops. But it’s so much easier to do with a person you trust and who can call you out, and I think this show is really trying to encourage people to build relationships and seek help from the loved ones around you.”
Read More: What Are the Krugerrands in Russian Doll? Do the Krugerrand Exist in Real Life?
