In season two of Netflix' Russian Doll, the characters magically go into past lives, such as their parents or grandparents, and sometimes back to WW2 Europe.
These generations merging back-and-forth reminded me of the Prior Walters in, Angels in America. As well as the grandmother’s funeral at the beginning of Angels in America.
## chat gpt 4
That’s an insightful connection! In Russian Doll Season 2, the merging of timelines and generations—especially with Nadia embodying her mother and grandmother in 1980s Europe—does indeed parallel the intergenerational themes in Angels in America. Both works delve into how personal identity is shaped by the legacy of trauma, family, and history, often blurring the boundaries between past and present.
The Prior Walters in Angels in America serve as a striking counterpart. The spectral appearances of Prior's ancestors underscore how deeply his identity is intertwined with the burdens and wisdom of his predecessors. Similarly, Russian Doll explores Nadia’s attempts to reconcile with her maternal lineage, showing how unresolved generational trauma can ripple across time.
The grandmother's funeral at the start of Angels in America is particularly evocative in this context. It sets the stage for themes of inheritance—both cultural and emotional—while confronting mortality. In Russian Doll, Nadia’s journey back to her grandmother’s era in Hungary unpacks similar questions about cultural survival, historical upheaval, and how one generation’s actions echo in another’s psyche. Both stories layer the mystical with the deeply personal, making the past a living, breathing character in their narratives.
