Russian Dolls: First Impressions Of The Cast



After watching three episodes of Russian Dolls, I already have formulated impressions of some of the cast members, some positive, some negative. Let’s put aside all the stereotypical behaviors and customs that they try to focus on. I am going to look at them as individuals, not necessarily Russians or Brighton Beach residents.

Michael Levitis is an attorney who is supposed to support and uphold the law and yet has faced a trial and been sentenced to probation for three years with a $15,000 fine. Obviously, this is not an ethical man or an upstanding man of the community. He has clearly broken the law and jeopardized his license to practice law. However, maybe he isn’t too concerned about that, after all, he has Rasputin, his restaurant, which brings in a good enough income to cover his wife, Marina, with all the fine jewelry and furs her heart desires. It seems to me he does not have his priorities straight.

Marina Levitis is supposed to be part owner of Rasputin. Instead of coming across as a professional business woman, she comes across as a shallow, materialistic bimbo, who constantly criticizes her mother in-law, Eve, maybe out of jealousy. Her high pitched voice really grates on ones nerves. Her values seem skewed and she is teaching her children the wrong things are important; money and things over family.

Eva Levitis is a delightful older woman, at 56, she is far from old as Marina would have us believe. She comes across as very sweet and trying to make the most of living her life. She is passionate about dancing and entertaining and now is making the most of her opportunities, but Marina keeps trying to be a real killjoy.

Anna is young and ambitious. She is working hard to have a modeling career and because she realizes that a modeling career cannot last forever, so she has opened a modeling school. Her objective is to help her family get out of their small, overcrowded apartment. She is trying to become successful and I really admire her work ethic and goals.

Anastasia is more self centered. At 25 years old, she has spent many years in college and still hasn’t made up her mind what she wants to do. At the same time, her parents have been footing the bill for her education and we get the impression she thinks they have endless resources. Meanwhile, she isn’t concerned about their retirement and what they will do while she changes majors time and time again. Now she is talking about law school, which is more expensive and another three years beyond her bachelor’s degree, if she ever gets one.

Diana’s goals are to have a business. I am not sure what kind of business. The first impression we got was that she was looking for a rich Russian man to take care of her. In my opinion, with her beauty and her degree, she should really be trying to make a career for herself before looking for a man. However, she wants to have children at 25 (she is 23) so she can look like a “hot” mother. I think she needs to rethink her goals and ambitions for the near future.

Eddie is hard to take seriously. He comes across as a “Jersey Shore” character without the success. He has an inflated idea of his importance to the show. He already thinks he is a star and going places. He will be lucky if all twelve episodes of the series air. They already changed the time which I suspect is because no one is watching. I think Eddie needs a plan B. He is not going to be the next “Situation!”

Albert? We haven’t seen enough of Albert. I cannot form an opinion based on the little we have seen.

Renata is a very lovely woman. She comes across as loving her life and her husband and enjoys helping people. Her accent is a little strong and at times I don’t understand everything she says, but what I have seen of her is all positive.

Boris is Renata’s controlling husband. His intentions may be good, but he really takes over too much of the time when he should back off and allow Renata some space and freedom. Renata is a grown woman and has had a successful career on her own. There is such a thing as constructive criticism which is meant to help someone and taking over and trying to dictate everything she should do. I’m sure Boris would not like it if Renata walked into his office and told him how to run his business.

Svetlana has played a small role and I have not been able to form an opinion of her, but she did give Renata some good advice about Boris.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? We’d like to know.

Picture Credit: Lifetime