Birthdays are often a time for celebration, but it isn’t all parties and presents when emotional baggage is the gate-crashing guest. In the case of Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) on Russian Doll and Happy Death Day 2U’s Tree (Jessica Rothe), they both have to contend with mother issues dredged up by this particular milestone. Deep-rooted parental trauma is pretty standard storytelling fare, however, Nadia and Tree also share a time loop predicament, as they are forced to relive the same day over and over. Death stalks them at every corner whether it is a baby mask-wearing killer or a set of stairs that are seemingly impossible to navigate without dying.
A day that keeps repeating sets up a huge challenge for a protagonist to overcome; in the case of recent movies such as Source Code and Edge of Tomorrow, this loop is tied to a larger mission to save lives/and or the world. In Groundhog Day — the defining time loop movie — personal growth is the key to hitting stop on the reset button. Both Russian Doll and Happy Death Day 2U fall more into the Groundhog Day column, but there is a larger story to be told that goes beyond the trials and tribulations faced by Bill Murray as cynical weatherman Phil Connors.
Detailed spoilers for Russian Doll and Happy Death Day 2U ahead.

Credit: Universal Pictures/Blumhouse
Nadia complains about feeling “profoundly empty,” but she is also pretty sure she is in the middle of drug-induced déjà vu. She will quickly learn this is not the case. Existential dread permeates every corner of Russian Doll as Nadia tries to claim her mother is not at the root of this state of ennui; no one wants to be a psychological cliché. But sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one.

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Six months before her birthday she ended her most meaningful romantic relationship with John (Yul Vazquez) and she still doesn’t want to commit to meeting his daughter, despite her own best efforts. The latter is rooted in her childhood trauma, but Nadia uses the repeated death cycle as an excuse for postponing the breakfast she suggested — in fact, her most bloody and brutal death takes place in front of John’s daughter at the end of the penultimate episode.

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This is also the episode in which Nadia realizes — after Ruth shoots and kills her — that each time she dies there is a version of Ruth grieving for her (except in the versions where Ruth also dies in the gas explosion). The point is, there are consequences beyond Nadia’s experiences of the timeline resetting. Often in time loop situations, it is about improving the self — while sometimes saving the world — but in Russian Doll, it expands beyond both of these things. The people around her are not just bystanders in this adventure.

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“Life is like a box of timelines,” Nadia jokes in the Russian Doll season finale, an experience Tree is more than familiar with in Happy Death Day 2U. Like Nadia, Tree is forthright with her opinions and is prone to putting up emotional barriers. But unlike Nadia, Tree finds out exactly what is causing her time loop predicament.
It is not, as Tree believed, the universe trying to impart an important message, instead, it is Carter’s (Israel Broussard) roommate Ryan (Phi Vu) who is responsible for the whole multiverse mess. His science thesis project is the device that inadvertently set Tree’s birthday to repeat. In the sequel, Tree ends up in a dimension in which her birthday and baby mask killer are still the main features. This timeline looks like the one she just came from but there are some big changes: Carter is dating Tree’s frenemy Danielle (Rachel Matthews), her roommate Lori (Ruby Modine) doesn’t want to kill her, and her mother is not dead.

Credit: Universal Pictures/Blumhouse
Tree is faced with a new existential crisis after finding out what she endured in the first movie wasn’t a cosmic lesson to help her face her mom’s death, but instead part of a science experiment gone awry. Nevertheless, even though her role at the heart of this journey was pure coincidence, she shouldn’t dismiss the cathartic experience because it did make things better in her timeline. New bonds have been formed, she confronted her grief and her roommate wasn't the one responsible for killing her this time around.
The real curveball is that her mother is alive in this dimension, but this version of their relationship isn’t real. Tree finds photos of moments that didn’t happen in her world and her mom talks about their last birthday together, which this Tree has no recollection of. These are not her memories; this is a version of her life that is not hers.

Credit: Universal Pictures/Blumhouse
If in the first movie Tree let herself be vulnerable for the first time since her mother died, Happy Death Day 2U doubles down on dealing with loss and grief. However, now it isn’t just Carter helping her with this time loop and murderer predicament; she has a whole team.

Credit: Universal Pictures/Blumhouse
"We're all broken on the inside, let's do it together," said Russian Doll star/co-creator Natasha Lyonne on Late Night with Seth Meyers recently while promoting the Netflix show, which is something both Nadia and Tree learn across their never-ending birthday adventures.
Second chances aren’t always easy to come by, and neither is a clean slate, but these tales offer up a chance for both. In this age of anxiety, as a result of a tumultuous and uncertain political climate, time loop narratives can feel like a calming presence because there is the chance to get it right. Birthdays are a good way of taking stock of the last year, but hopefully, next time Tree and Nadia will get to enjoy their cake and chicken in relative peace — or, at least, with fewer baby masks and less stair-related peril.