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 What is The OA? I honestly don't want to answer that question. The show comes from creators Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling (whom it also stars), who were previously responsible for such films Another Earth and The Sound Of My Voice. Like their previous collaborations, The OA is a weirdy genre fiction hybrid designed to keep you guessing as to what it's doing and what it's trying to say until the final minutes. It's also the first real show to take advantage of Netflix's streaming system to the fullest, and does some really interesting things with its structure in terms of episode lengths and stuff like that. If that sounds like your thing, you should stop reading now, and just go watch this. The journey to working out what's actually happened and where the show is willing to go is a whole lot of fun, and I'd really prefer not to rob you of it. It's about seven hours long and it's on Netflix. Go. We'll wait. Because goodness knows, everything else in this thread is going to completely full of spoilers. I'm not doing that. I have a (life / baby / headache) and can't be buggered to do what you want. What's it actually about?  Seven years ago, a young blind girl named who disappeared suddenly and without explanation. Now she has returned -- mutilated, suicidal and with the miraculous and inexplicable return of her sight. While her parents attempt to reintegrate her into her former life, the girl -- who now goes by the name of The OA -- begins to hold secret meetings in the dead of night. No, that's not quite right.  The OA is a fantasy story, about Nina, a child with superpowers. The heiress to a Russian oligarch, she was separated from her family at an early age and forced into indentured servitude by cruel relatives. The only thing that keeps her going is her certain belief that her father is still alive and that the two of them can communicate in dreams. No. That's not right either.  The OA is about Dr. Hap, a scientist obsessively invested in the study of near death experiences. He's found a new lab partner, a young woman by the name of Prairie. Perhaps together, the two of them will finally find the breakthrough he needs to complete his life's work. It's interpretive dance  (...) Yeah, okay that's goofy as gently caress. There's a lot to really love about the show. It's got some absolutely breathtaking ambition, a murderer's row of great performances, frequently gorgeous cinematography and some really great characterization, particularly when it chooses to focus on the various people who begin to orbit The OA in the present day storyline. It's also completely batshit. Think of it this way: if Peak TV was an actual mountain peak, and Netflix were one of that mountain's many, many pioneers, then The OA would be a teeny tiny little cocktail flag jammed into the very top of that mountain. It's kind of amazing that it even exists, while being simultaneously confusing and kinda hilarious.
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Dec 28, 2016 04:02
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| # ? May 7, 2024 19:36 |
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Was "OA" a play on the word "away" the whole time?
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Dec 28, 2016 08:46
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Just finished the season. Disappointed in myself for watching it all the way through, it's awful
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Dec 28, 2016 10:49
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Let me say this again: the O.A. is the worst tv show that has ever been made. I don't go into show threads to crap on them normally, but this one deserves it. It starts out great, with a lot of promise, and then goes completely to poo poo in the last 4 hours. The best way to describe this show is imagine the leftovers. But instead of world class acting, immersive world building, and perfect pacing, you had Garvey doing a monologue for 8 hours about how karaoke can help people stop online bullying, except for 2/3s of those 8 hours you think he is talking about some world changing act and some world changing result, and you only find out its karaoke and online bullying at the end. Alternatively, imagine one of comedic X-Files episodes, except it is played dead serious. You can imagine some exec somewhere going "the leftovers is critically acclaimed for dealing with mystical events with ambiguity, people are going to love the OA!" joepinetree fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Dec 28, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 16:50
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Odoyle posted:Was "OA" a play on the word "away" the whole time? It starts that way
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Dec 28, 2016 17:01
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Jason Isaacs' character was the most interesting thing about this. The reveal that he had a crazy scientist buddy doing the same thing he does made me laugh in horror.
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Dec 28, 2016 17:04
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I highly recommend watching this show, worst thing I've seen all year and I want everyone to suffer as I have. 
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Dec 28, 2016 19:03
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I have really mixed feelings about this show. I feel kinda bad slagging it off because I like a lot of what they did. The 3rd episode was unbelievably tense and overall I liked the way they told the story (until the end, which was garbage). I thought it was great up to episode 5 and then the pacing seems to go out the window and they start making leaps and bounds to resolve the plot, bringing it to a completely unsatisfying ending. I will watch the second season because I'm interested enough, but I feel like this is just going to keep getting worse. I liked it best when I understood the least, and the more they revealed, the less I liked it. The school shooting/dance finale made my eyes roll into the back of my head. Completely unearned and totally laughable. Also there was a point where I thought they were going for an "and it was all a dream" ending. Overall I think it's ambitious and kind of interesting if you see it as a story about trauma, or even as some have said, a story about narratives, but it was incredibly frustrating to watch.
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Dec 28, 2016 19:14
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I pretty much agree with this. I'm kind of curious to learn more, but I'm not sure I'll sit through season 2. Not that the "truth" about OAs experience is at all important for season 1, but my guess is that she was in some sort of military research program dealing with nerve research. Maybe stem cell stuff, who knows. It would explain why she brings up captives who could master instruments really quickly, how she regained her sight, and why she doesn't seem to feel physical pain. There were probably actual lab rats there, so I doubt the glass cages with feeders/stream were really for humans. It would explain the copper in the scars on her back, which where clearly in places she couldn't have cut herself. The movements? Maybe exercises to retrain nerves? If it was a show about narrative, it's hard to disassociate that with being a show about religion, and I thought this was done kind of clumsily. This was probably on purpose, but it pulled me out of the narrative a bit. I liked the acting. I don't think the ending bothered me as much as most people- it was consistent with the rest of the show in trying not to tip it's hand one way or another.
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Dec 28, 2016 20:12
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I really liked it. I think its the best thing I saw on TV this year and one of the best series Ive ever seem. Ive loved the end and cried like a baby at the shooting scene Maybe Im weird?
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Dec 28, 2016 20:32
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Great show. Looking forward to all the suicides and/or contemporary dance moves it may inspire.
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Dec 28, 2016 20:40
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There's a great series of themes about magic realism and metafiction that I love in this show but it happens to be hidden behind some terrible terrible writing executed in an attempt to go full  on the viewer. And that's not even scratching the surface by including the last episode which is a giant, unforgivable clusterfuck that literally forces you to view everything that came before through its lens. I was most interested in the Hap/test subjects plotting, and glazed over mightily during the small town family stuff. strangemusic fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Dec 28, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 20:48
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I still cant understand myself why Ive liked so much, but it just worked for me, it touched me. I really dont see why you all found it so bad and even "hillarious", I dont think its funny at all. Maybe is not a show for everyone, but I certainly felt it was for me Yeah, the dance is ridiculous, and all the talk about angels and stuff, but I dont think the series is really about that. Or about NDE, or the afterlife, or any pf the mysteries and sci-fi subjects it touches Its about a broken person telling a crazy story to a bunch of lost, problematic kids and one lost sad teacher. The story she tells is absurd and over the top, but at the same time her charisma and sincerity makes it believable, it captivates them, and by listening to her they heal and become better people, it works like a therapy to all. The show intentionally makes it ambiguous: yeah, its obviously a crazy story invented by a crazy girl, but then how the gently caress the got her sight back, and where was her all that time and etc But while we dont know if the story is real or not, the feelings it evoke, the empathy, the compassion, the courage, the hope, it is real, and so strong, and the effect it has on those people is real. And so I was convinced, like them, even if when it sounded ridiculous, almost because it sounded so absurd And then at the end, after French find the books, like the kids I was disappointed, and sad for her and for all, and frustrated. But then, out of loving nowhere, that shooting scene. I was "WTF?? What does it have to do with anything we've been watching for the last 8 episodes??", but right after they get up and start performing the movements, everything suddenly makes sense if it doenst, and the movements are not ridiculous anymore, but so strong and dramatic. I really started sobbing And then its over and we dont know if the show was about a miracle, or is a real sci-fi story, or just a drama about this crazy girl who made up a story to a bunch of kids that for some unlikely coincidence ends up saving them all from a tragedy. We are left wondering as they are, torn between believing that it was all real and supernatural and amazing, or that they were just very lucky I dont even think it needs a 2 season, its probably better if there is not. Just leave it like that and its perfect edit: if anyone else but me liked it, I recommend watching "The Sound of My Voice". It shares a lot in common with this show, and it is also written by Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling (and also starred by her) Elias_Maluco fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Dec 28, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 21:02
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I am definitely going to check this out, thank you thread and OP. Most of the shows I've loved have had the harshest critics so any show that seems to be such a love it or hate it phenomenon like this is probably right up my alley.
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Dec 28, 2016 21:57
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There's no way this was meant to be a one season show. There's too many cliffhangers like what the hell Elias was doing at the house at night, how the hell Steve was back at school with nobody caring that he was back and somehow not in the military place, and the whole part about if Homer is even a real dude.
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Dec 28, 2016 23:06
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I liked that they wrote an entire show around Pearl Jam lyrics: Daughter, Deep, Better Man, Animal, Why Go, Alive, Oceans, Porch, Bugs, Jeremy, I'm sure there's more.
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Dec 28, 2016 23:14
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Luvcow posted:I am definitely going to check this out, thank you thread and OP. Most of the shows I've loved have had the harshest critics so any show that seems to be such a love it or hate it phenomenon like this is probably right up my alley. I would recommend against it. I just finished this series and I'm very pissed off that I wasted the time. I was hoping for something cool and sci-fi, but it ended up being stupid and self-help with all the popular hot-topic issues of 2016 represented. I so desperately wanted some awesome inter-dimensional cosmic stuff. I even overcame my distaste for the interpretive dance(I know he doesn't think it's interpretive dance) "movements" and gave them a chance... I feel cheated and I'm pissed. edit; I wish it was about magical realism and near death experiences... but it's not... it's a lovely show about getting over something traumatic or troublesome. It should be on lifetime. \/\/\/ PRECISELY! I think the only reason I finished it was hoping that they got back to the intro themes. They never did. RizieN fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Dec 29, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 23:47
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It wouldn't be so dissapointing if the premise and set-up weren't so fantastic. Like if it started out poo poo and ended poo poo you would just write it off as a lovely show, but it started out great and it should have been fantastic, but then it just completely poo poo all over everything. It started out as sci-fi and ended as a hosed up breakfast club remake.
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Dec 29, 2016 00:05
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Like others have said it started interesting but it kept moving the line if that makes any sense. It felt like they had three of four people write different scripts and then tried to link them together. I'm going to try to finish this but it'll be tough.
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Dec 29, 2016 01:24
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i actually thought the movements were really loving cool. i'm looking forward to a potential season 2 
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Dec 29, 2016 02:31
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RizieN posted:I would recommend against it. I just finished this series and I'm very pissed off that I wasted the time. I was hoping for something cool and sci-fi, but it ended up being stupid and self-help with all the popular hot-topic issues of 2016 represented. I so desperately wanted some awesome inter-dimensional cosmic stuff. I even overcame my distaste for the interpretive dance(I know he doesn't think it's interpretive dance) "movements" and gave them a chance... I feel cheated and I'm pissed. Thank you for the honest opinion but I'm watching this now, 2 episodes in and it's amazing.
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Dec 29, 2016 04:28
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This show pissed me off for days and I'll probably watch season 2 if there is one.
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Dec 29, 2016 04:31
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Luvcow posted:Thank you for the honest opinion but I'm watching this now, 2 episodes in and it's amazing. The reason everyone hates this show so much is because everyone thought the same 2 episodes in.
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Dec 29, 2016 04:37
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The show is like opening a box for Christmas, you don't know what the present actually is, it's just a bunch of cool looking parts. You start building and holy poo poo this is one cool looking machine. I can't wait until it's done and I can see what it does. Welp, machine's all done, let's push the button and see where it *gets kicked in nuts by machine and dies*.
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Dec 29, 2016 07:17
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Grem posted:The show is like opening a box for Christmas, you don't know what the present actually is, it's just a bunch of cool looking parts. You start building and holy poo poo this is one cool looking machine. I can't wait until it's done and I can see what it does. Welp, machine's all done, let's push the button and see where it *gets kicked in nuts by machine and dies*. Exactly this, except that the machine instead plays the most beautiful music and you cry
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Dec 29, 2016 12:22
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Lilikoi posted:Jason Isaacs' character was the most interesting thing about this. The reveal that he had a crazy scientist buddy doing the same thing he does made me laugh in horror. This was the most memorable and chilling part of the show for me. It highlighted the banality of evil, as Hap and his colleague casually talked about their NDE experiments over sandwiches in the morgue. Then the other guy said he didn't have Hap's problems keeping his test subjects captive because he had access to an incinerator. drat. And after Hap killed him, it was interesting and out of character for him that he asked that nurse to call the police because there were some people who needed help. Interestingly, nobody in Prairie's hometown had heard about that -- probably because it never actually happened.
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Dec 29, 2016 16:22
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Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:This was the most memorable and chilling part of the show for me. It highlighted the banality of evil, as Hap and his colleague casually talked about their NDE experiments over sandwiches in the morgue. Then the other guy said he didn't have Hap's problems keeping his test subjects captive because he had access to an incinerator. drat. While it was a cool scene and I liked it, it was also hugely representative of how this show was a muddled, overreaching mess that undermined itself many, many times. If it's like you pointed out and it never actually happened, then why tf are we even shown it? It's not from Prairie's POV, or from one of her fellow captives who could've relayed it to her, so it in no way really supports her narrative outside of being sort of a red herring that's a lot more tense and interesting than the majority of the scenes that are actually relevant. Count me in as someone who really dug the show up to a certain point, but grew very frustrated with it. I was even able to ignore the goofiness of the interpretive dance movements until the final school cafeteria scene, at which point I was hoping the school shooter would mow down the participants mid movements to save me from the cringe inducing corniness joepinetree posted:
I love this description
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Dec 29, 2016 17:18
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There isn't enough hard science in this Odyssey allegory.
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Dec 29, 2016 18:17
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Four episodes in, still loving it.
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Dec 29, 2016 18:27
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Grem posted:The show is like opening a box for Christmas, you don't know what the present actually is, it's just a bunch of cool looking parts. You start building and holy poo poo this is one cool looking machine. I can't wait until it's done and I can see what it does. Welp, machine's all done, let's push the button and see where it *gets kicked in nuts by machine and dies*. The ending did nothing but drive home the themes of the series, for me, and I thought it was masterful. OA felt so much guilt and sorrow over not being able to help those she left behind, so she did what she could with her limited scope of influence, and saved a few people who were going down paths to destruction on their own. We don't know exactly what happened to her- only that she suffered unimaginably tragic events. When they talk about death and coming back and making a sacrifice and gaining artistic abilities they aren't talking about *death*- it's a metaphor for severe trauma, and choosing to "come back" is the choice of living to fight another day and attempt to move forward in life, rather than letting your trauma consume you. The school shooter is someone who suffered but chose to die, because they were alone. The power of relationships and shared trauma were able to win out against the loneliness and lashing out. I liked it!! quote:You can imagine some exec somewhere going "the leftovers is critically acclaimed for dealing with mystical events with ambiguity, people are going to love the OA!" I can't disagree more. The writers clearly had a story they wanted to tell. I can't imagine a production with less executive meddling.
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Dec 29, 2016 19:13
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This show could use some executive meddling.
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Dec 29, 2016 19:22
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Mu Zeta posted:This show could use some executive meddling. Absolutely not. The story could not have been told any other way. The people who were focusing on the sci-fi elements and hoping for some explosive universe hopping shenanigans totally missed the point. The show was always about the relationships between the characters and how they were influencing one another's lives above all else, from the very beginning.
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Dec 29, 2016 20:20
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The show is too sloppy and the ending shooting bordered on crass even for me. I think there's a lot of positive stuff in the show but the wet fart of an ending is the result of creatives being given too much power.
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Dec 29, 2016 21:07
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How was it a wet fart? That line of thought makes me so sad. gently caress milquetoast focus-grouped lowest common denominator endings. As I said, it drives home the themes of the entire series. How traumatic circumstances and isolation destroy individuals and those around them. How talking and getting a window into one another's lives heals us. How it isn't easy.. the dance was painstaking and required sacrifice and dedication to complete. No other ending would have done the story justice.
Trash Trick fucked around with this message at 21:17 on Dec 29, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2016 21:14
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2 episodes left, will hopefully have time to finish this tonight
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Dec 29, 2016 21:19
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Trash Trick posted:How was it a wet fart? That line of thought makes me so sad. gently caress milquetoast focus-grouped lowest common denominator endings. As I said, it drives home the themes of the entire series. How traumatic circumstances and isolation destroy individuals and those around them. How talking and getting a window into one another's lives heals us. How it isn't easy.. the dance was painstaking and required sacrifice and dedication to complete. No other ending would have done the story justice. I guess we just don't care about weakness and trauma and cyber bullying and trannies and hot topics, and care more about afterlife, other dimensions, mystical sci-fi themes, and awesome mad scientists. They should've billed it differently, and the stupid girl that told me about this show should've finished it before recommending it to me.
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Dec 29, 2016 23:18
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RizieN posted:I guess we just don't care about weakness and trauma and cyber bullying and trannies wtf?
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Dec 29, 2016 23:25
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Luvcow posted:wtf? Those are the things that the show ended up being about, not the latter. What do you mean wtf?
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Dec 29, 2016 23:31
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RizieN posted:Those are the things that the show ended up being about, not the latter. What do you mean wtf? Why is that a bad thing?
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Dec 29, 2016 23:43
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| # ? May 7, 2024 19:36 |
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I don't think it's a bad thing, sorry if I came off that way, its just that I thought I was getting into a show with the latter attributes, but instead I got a show with the former attributes. I feel like I've been baited and switched. I'm not ripping on people with issues/trauma/gender whatevers, I just didn't want to watch a show about that stuff.
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Dec 29, 2016 23:47
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