Why Tallulah Bankhead From The United States Vs. Billie Holiday Looks So Familiar

Time travel stories can be difficult to pull off — especially since audiences are relatively used to all the tropes that come with them at this point — but when they're done well, they're done really well. Such is the case with Russian Doll, the critically-acclaimed Netflix series Lyonne co-created, wrote and directed episodes for, and stars in.

Lyonne is Nadia Vulvokov, a video game developer celebrating her 36th birthday in the too-crowded New York City apartment of her friend Maxine (Greta Lee). The thing is, she's not really down with the party, but little does she know her life's about to get a whole lot worse than just being bummed out. Nadia... dies. That's not where her story ends, however: She finds herself in a time loop, and sets out to both escape it and keep on living.

Time loop stories are the subgenre of time travel stories that have probably been done to death the most, but Russian Doll's continual ability to surprise, crisp writing, and phenomenal performances keep it three steps ahead of the curve. Lyonne was nominated not only for a Primetime Emmy for her acting, but for her writing and the show as a whole — all that on top of a Golden Globe nomination, too. Season two of Russian Doll can't come soon enough.