Julia Brazer
Review on “The OA”
To start, I have watched this show three times. The first time was in High School, when it was first released. I was confused and skeptical and blown away and enchanted all at once. The second time I watched “The OA”, it was about a year later with a few of my friends. We sat for an entire Saturday and watched every single minute of the show in amazement. While they were feeling the same way as I had when I first saw the show, I was in deep analysis of every single moment. While I do not remember exactly what I was thinking at the time, I could just remember how brilliant I thought the writers and producers were for putting something so masterfully together, while leaving so much ambiguity and suspicion. For my third watching of this incredible Netflix original, I was assigned to watch it for an english class. During this viewing I was more keen to pay attention to the more literary devices of the show. Since the original manuscript was obviously written as a play or a story, every episode is a chapter, giving insight into the sectors of the “play”.
The ideas of prosperity and adaptation are key elements in this series. All of the negative events that Prairie reflects on during her gatherings with the people around the neighborhood, proves her resilient nature as she has basically risen from the dead. In the grand scheme of series, you begin to question if the stories that The OA is telling are fact or fiction. There are a plethora of literary allusions and apparent foreshadowing throughout the show, so you are left wondering what really happened, or if her being imprisoned for 7 years has played tricks on her mind. The main thing that seems to fully support her claims is the fact that she was blind when she disappeared, and then came back and was no longer blind. The OA’s cleverness proved essential during her capture in order to trick Hap into believing she was still blind, so she could spy on him and plan ways to outsmart him in his own house.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, “The OA’s” unique approach to the set up of the show makes it slightly hard to gain interest, but once you force yourself past the first few episodes, you will without a doubt be in for a treat. The shows unexpected twists and absurd plot seems so out of reach from the real world (as it should be since it is characterized as drama/fantasy/mystery), yet firmly grip one’s attention as you just want to know more and more about her goal of the meetings, and how she finally escaped Hap. The ritualistic endeavors that the captives perform allow insight into the spirituality that goes into the hope of the research they are involved in (i.e. dimensional travel, the back markings, dance movements).
Since the second season is airing within the next few weeks, after a long three year stretch, dedicated viewers are expected their questions to be answered further. There remains a lot of questions up in the air, but with no doubt in my mind I would recommend this show to any individual who appreciates a mindf*ck every so often. I give the incredibly captivating imagery and plot get a 5/5 on my end, as I clearly have some sort of obsession with this show and its dark and twisted demeanor.
Tl;dr: Watch the show and you’ll know!