Russian Doll is better at video game storytelling than most video game adaptations
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Natasha Lyonne's Netflix series, says Alison Wilmore, "is the best and brightest of a few recent titles — including Bandersnatch, December's 'choose your own adventure='–style episode of the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror, and the majestically strange January flop Serenity — that don't just try to channel some aspect of game logic but also happen to include a central character who's in the business of creating games. They're not adaptations — not efforts to cash in on the audience of a specific title by bringing it to the big or small screen. Instead, their game-inspired structures acknowledge the degree to which gaming has been ingrained in our cultural consciousness for multiple generations now, seeping into how stories get told rather than just influencing which ones get chosen. In Russian Doll, Bandersnatch, and Serenity, games act as a canvas on which characters' dramas play out, serving as a refuge from — as well as a reflection of — personal turmoil."
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TOPICS: Russian Doll, Netflix, Natasha Lyonne, Pets and TV, Video Games
