The OA [Netflix] [** Spoilers **]

Mr E

Netflix just announced a surprise new show. The OA starts on December 16th (next Friday) - 8 episodes in total, all released at once.
The trailer looks good. I assume it's in Europe too - we'll have to wait and see.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/12/12/13922702/netflix-series-the-oa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvHJtez2IlY

Slydice

Looks alright... and it's netflix .. so cautiously optimistic

They've done this thing on their instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/the_oa/

where there are individual photos/videos but they combine to make bigger overall pictures. That's kinda cool.

Agent Coulson

That Instagram is pretty bloody cool.

The Black Oil

Jason Issacs - I'm in.

Occono

.....I'll wait for reviews.

pixelburp

Hello to Jason Isaacs!

Looks like an interesting mystery; hadn't seen or heard anything about it though, Netflix sneaking this one under the radar it seems.

Tristram

Will check this out over the Christmas.

And hello to Jason Isaacs!

mel.b

I've just finished watching the first episode...it certainly has me intrigued and drawn in.

The Black Oil

Opener was a bit of a strange beast.

Slydice

Yeah. That first episode.

It felt different than the trailer at first but things started developing in the second half.

That Moscow bit was good. At first I thought it was the end of the episode and was like: WHAT?!?!? That's it!?!? but then it wasn't so that was ok

Then, the Russia tie in was kinda cool with the Parent - Child bonding moment. Smashing the ice like a boss :-) and then the cold test... we've all been there... well except probably not nearly that cold!

So then this business that looks like re-incarnation. Hmmm, I've got alarms bells going all "It could be like Lost"... "It could be like Lost". Will give it a few more episodes and see though.

The Black Oil

Heavy The Leftovers vibe off it, imo.

Advbrd

Not sure whether the few beers had a big impact on me last night but it was strange to say the least.

JoeLapira

The first episode was very strange indeed but in saying that, I can't wait to watch episode 2 tonight.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Watched the first episode there this morning. I'm not sure what to make of it. I wasn't overwhelmed with desire to watch the second episode straight away.

I noticed on Twitter a lot of people seem to have issues with Brit Marling. I've heard of her before but I'm not sure what it is she's done that people dislike her so much. I saw one tweet that was something like "There's a scene where Brit Marling buries her face in a loaf of bread and it's the most Brit Marling thing I've ever seen."

As I said, I'm not sure what the issue is there but I have to say she's not exactly the most captivating of leading ladies. I find myself more interested in the kids and the teacher she's mixed with so far. On that note, the guy playing Steve (Patrick Gibson) is one of our own. He was in What Richard Did and Gold and a few other things, so good for him.

I think I'll probably watch another episode but the first episode didn't do much for me.

Phillis from the Office looks totally and utterly different.

Slydice

2nd episode develops the plot a bit. It kind of goes somewhere towards the end.

Will continue. Like.. it could be going somewhere good. With the way it's stretching out.. I'm not sure. Will see.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Slydice wrote: »

2nd episode develops the plot a bit. It kind of goes somewhere towards the end.

Will continue. Like.. it could be going somewhere good. With the way it's stretching out.. I'm not sure. Will see.

I found the second episode so annoyingly stupid that I'm not sure I can watch another episode.

Everything from the moment

Jason Isaacs shows up should have set massive alarm bells ringing in her head and yet she still ends up locked in his basement.

Also, the fact that it's just completely brushed over that the parents

bought her from a brothel where a woman was selling other babies too. Even when they took her to see a doctor nobody asked where the got a 6 year old who could speak fluent Russian from? He obviously knew she was adopted but they'd only had her 5 minutes at that point, surely a child adopted legally at that age would have proper medical records somewhere?

Also the fact that the parents went along with what the doctor suggested.

They never once thought maybe she wasn't crazy, she was telling the truth? I mean she speaks fluent Russian and they bought her off a Russian lady who made it VERY clear that nobody could know who she really was or where she had come from.

Surely those things should have been enough to make them at least consider she wasn't a looper.

Slydice

Ok, five episodes in.

Like. It's developed.

It's gotten a bit strange, a bit creepy, a bit (...more) confusing.

At this point, I'm conflicted about him repeatedly killing them versus them never dying and so the wondering about where this is all going is kicking in.

and then like what is going on with the healing and getting back to life that yer man just did. also just writing about it now.. how is he bringing them back after the experiments. we haven't seen that at all... I dunno.

Separately, there is the element of the hopeful escape story there.

but also still there in the background... like.. what if this is all just made up.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Just finished episode 4 and I don't even know how I made it this far.
It's not even the fact that nothing makes any sense yet, there's just so many little things annoying me about it that at times I struggle to see how this got made.

Some of the lines are just incredible. Like "I swallowed a sea creature"?! It was a fish, for God's sake, you took it from a fish tank!

Also with their plan to escape....

HEP has the whole place locked up tight, even has security cameras outside but never thinks to have audio surveillance on their cells? You can see when Homer is in the control room that there are cameras on the cells but HEP never sees them plotting, or sucking at the gas? Or the fact that he suddenly needs to keep giving Homer extra gas doesn't strike him as an odd thing and maybe he should watch the damn cameras when piping the gas in?

I find the relationships between the people she's telling the story to far more interesting than whatever is going on with the experiments.

KERSPLAT!

Just finished it. So lost.

Slydice

Finished Episode 6. A short episode. Feel less lost on the story.

At this point, the overall plot seems legit SciFi and looks to be based around

how some scientists are investigating quantum physics. Some saying there could be a universe for every decision, some saying every universe for every decision exists just before a result is known

also, been thinking about what happened in episode 5

where yer mans blood and injury sorts itself out. I've know idea how they are saying that works but I think it's kinda cool how they show it rather than some magic SciFi McGuffen device you'd usually see repairing peoples injuries.

I like those too... especially in Star Trek :-) but it's cool see this done differently. Kinda felt more.. i dunno.. like the non-glossly-scifi way of how it might go down if it was real

and as for the story

well, that was a cliffhanger!!!? What happens when the door was closed!?!? What a loose idea too. Why does the door need to be open. I do feel apprehensive now though cos what's gonna happen. The whole escape sounded really hard before this little complication arose anyway

Slydice

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Like "I swallowed a sea creature"?! It was a fish, for God's sake, you took it from a fish tank!

I dunno. I saw tendrils or something on some of the yokes in that tank so I was like... did he take a fish or sea urchin or something.. If it was a sea urchin, I barely have a clue what those things are but Sea Creature felt the words to use to describe it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Slydice wrote: »

I dunno. I saw tendrils or something on some of the yokes in that tank so I was like... did he take a fish or sea urchin or something.. If it was a sea urchin, I barely have a clue what those things are but Sea Creature felt the words to use to describe it.

Fish is an all encompassing word though. I suppose it may have some relevance later that it's an octopus or something rather than a bog standard fishy fish.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Finished episode 5.

Glad to see he's finally started paying attention to his surveillance cameras.

I guess we know what Kate Bush was trying to do in her Wuthering Heights video now.

Skerries

I feel like I should take up interpretive dance

Just finished it and quite an interesting end

is this a one off series or will there be more after her death?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Just finished it too. What a load of nonsense. That ending was particularly crass too. Could they think of no other way to stage that?

I called that

she was making the whole thing up from very early on simply because so much of her story made no sense. Are we supposed to believe that the kids are all so desperate and lonely that they can't think? I also assumed the canteen would get shot up as soon as she mentioned a high ceiling and glass. I had assumed one of the kids or the teacher would do it though, not that it would be a lazy fix to make them dance.

Occono

I just finished it.

If the ending is trying to be ambiguous, they really should have offered an alternate explanation for the books.

That movements scene.....uh, I don't know how well trying to confuse a school shooter would really work as a distraction. I'm guessing that scene is going to get a lot of mockery on YouTube.

I think I would have liked the ending without the school shooter climax. It works as a story of dealing with trauma. I don't mind revealing the sci-fi was all made up, just don't be wishy-washy about it.

I imagine this must be a one and done series. Prairie's dead and Homer and the rest didn't exist. Then again I didn't think Stranger Things would be ongoing so who knows.

There is an article on Variety where the creators discuss the show as a whole.

I liked the show but yeahhhh I'm not going to defend that ending just yet.

I guess it doesn't matter now, but I hated everything with the sheriff. He buys into it, and when they are at his wife's bed, it doesn't occur to them that they can free themselves then just cure her later?

Oh but apparently there's no question she's somehow suddenly not blind anymore so uhhh I guess there is magic I don't know.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Occono wrote: »

I just finished it.

If the ending is trying to be ambiguous, they really should have offered an alternate explanation for the books.

That movements scene.....uh, I don't know how well trying to confuse a school shooter would really work as a distraction. I'm guessing that scene is going to get a lot of mockery on YouTube.

I think I would have liked the ending without the school shooter climax. It works as a story of dealing with trauma. I don't mind revealing the sci-fi was all made up, just don't be wishy-washy about it.

I didn't have a problem with the overall concept of the show, but I thought the execution was pretty poor. At times I was genuinely questioning if it was a piss take.

I guess it doesn't matter now, but I hated everything with the sheriff. He buys into it, and when they are at his wife's bed, it doesn't occur to them that they can free themselves then just cure her later?

Oh but apparently there's no question she's somehow suddenly not blind anymore so uhhh I guess there is magic I don't know.

There were a few things like that I thought were confusing at best, really stupid at worst but I suppose

If she was making the whole thing up none of it matters because it didn't happen. If we go with her whole story being made up and she's just nuts does that mean her parents didn't really buy her from a brothel?

Occono

I just remembered she looks up a video of Homer in the first episode. OK, no idea how to read the ending then. Odd as the gang couldn't anything on anyone.

Slydice

Just finished. Overall my reaction is mixed.

Not sure how to break it down. Let's see..

Pros:
- The stories between the people/characters.
- Some set pieces were done well.
- Story eventually got clearer and developed hooks not present in the begining.

Cons:
- The loose start feeling drawn out and like there was no point to the show.
- It felt like I really had to try to keep up with it and I'm not sure most will.
- I don't know if they want .. or would even get a second season.

Anyway, after that last episode...

Overall plot (confusing):

I dunno. So like it's still all still up in the air.

Is she dreaming/making it all up or is it real. Like, it could be real SciFi.. somehow.. I guess.. like maybe.. but really I haven't a clue.. but they seem to be pushing the two-sidedness of it.

That just doesn't seem business smart like they don't care if they'll get a second season. Maybe they don't, maybe it's about how they want the audience to feel afterwards

Final Episode plot (overall well done):

So there was 3 parts:
- Save sherrifs wife
That was done well. I like this idea they have in this series. Stuff doesn't happen immediately. It takes years. Then this bit with the almost lifelong wait to deliver a message and they work it into the is-it-real or is-it-imagination theme.

- Split up group
Then the whole group getting caught. The discovery of the books, the idea that it's trauma. That's kind of a payoff right there. That could've been the series message. It didn't end there though so I guess that's not what they wanted to get across.

- The ending
This threw me. My head was racing: are they all gonna die, is that the premonition, what's going on, oh I hope they don't die.
but that wasn't it
They did the movements, the angels dance, the is it/isn't it real thing.
Then she was shot and taken away and
and
and what is going on
why'd we see that last scene of her??!?! What's it mean!?!
She could well have made it right, this could be a SciFi thing.
I dunno.
Then a cover of Sarah McLaughlins Angel song which is about a rap singer dying in a hotel.

Doubt Netflix will have a second season or maybe they don't plan one. Could be either low viewership or there never could be a second cos she's dead.

That's it so.

As an Aside, you know the end credit bits were done in a way I can't remember seeing much. Very silent with different sets of additional sound effects. Caught my attention. Found myself listening to them.

Slydice

So Brit Marling played Prairie Johnson/The OA/Nina Azarova:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Marling

She wrote this with Zal Batmanglij. He was also the director.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_OA

They also wrote/directed a film called The East:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_(film)

The East had Ridley Scott backing them. The OA had Brad Pitt.

This has me leaning towards the SciFi angle. I guess it all hangs on finding out in a second season if one ever gets made.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Then a cover of Sarah McLaughlins Angel song which is about a rap singer dying in a hotel.

I think the song was about people in general turning to dangerous things as an escape from the harshness of life. The original idea for it came from someone dying in a hotel room, I don't think it was a rapper, but that's irrelevant. It could have been about any one of the characters. They were all lost and struggling with staying "in" life, whether it was trauma or anger or loneliness, they were all looking for an escape.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Slydice wrote: »

This has me leaning towards the SciFi angle. I guess it all hangs on finding out in a second season if one ever gets made.

I don't mean this in a rude way, to you, but I think you're giving them too much credit. To me it read as

they wantes to make a show about society and how we need to work together and they came up with a half arsed angel side plot as a sort of hok instead of just making a well written character driven drama. I think it was the Vanity Fair review where they said the overall concept of what was happening in the real world parts was a noble attempt at dealing with grief/trauma/isolation etc. but the rest of it takes away from all of that. I am inclined to agree. I don't know that they can answer any of the questions we're left with or if they have any intention of. I really feel like the "SciFi" parts of it was just a way out for them from tying up the things that can't be tied up. There are a fair few questions left hanging but to me they just seemed like things they had no intention of answering.


The fact that all it took was a box of books under her bed to make them all lose faith completely was a bit silly too. If you wanted to explain them away then the fact she was blind before she left means they're new books bought after her experiences with NDEs and angels. Is it so hard to believe she was just reading up on the stuff she had been through? She is Russian so she may just be reading up on her own culture and the Homer one just reminded her of Homer. I mean, the kids bought everything she told them up to that point, no matter how ridiculous or weird it seemed but they lose trust completely over 4 books?

Slydice

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

The fact that

all it took was a box of books under her bed to make them all lose faith completely was a bit silly too. If you wanted to explain them away then the fact she was blind before she left means they're new books bought after her experiences with NDEs and angels. Is it so hard to believe she was just reading up on the stuff she had been through? She is Russian so she may just be reading up on her own culture and the Homer one just reminded her of Homer. I mean, the kids bought everything she told them up to that point, no matter how ridiculous or weird it seemed but they lose trust completely over 4 books?

Yes. That had also occurred to me.

I felt it they were still keeping it either way from the look of that. As in.. she could be making it all up using stuff from the books or she could well be doing what they do.. research to find out more about the situation. I can't say I know much about Homers Iliad beyond it being a story of going for an adventure. Yeah though coulda been a reminder of Homer.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Eh, I liked it mostly. It was an odd little show, and you'd be hard pushed to get me to say that it's good, but equally I'd be unwilling to say it's bad, so I'm just gonna stick with I liked it for what it was.

Occono

I liked the characters in the present day plot, actually. They felt real to me, I'd have liked a more down to earth show about them hanging out.

The actor who plays Steve is Irish, incidentally.

Slydice

Occono wrote: »

The actor who plays Steve is Irish, incidentally.

He is. He's the young lad in the group of young folks at the end of What Richard Did before the funeral.

ScumLord

Pretty odd show, I don't know if I'd go as far as to say I liked it but I don't regret watching it.

If you told people what the story was

a be group of people try to save the world through interpretive dance

it would sound utterly daft and no one would want to watch it. So well done on sort of carrying it off enough to keep a staunch atheist watching till the end.

It was a different Tv experience. There are plenty of Americans that would follow the main character and believe everything she said. They want to believe these kind of things are real.

Pikasso

As regards the books, when did she learn to read? She could only read braille up to recently.
Why was the FBI guy at her house?
How did she manage to inflict scars of intricate drawings on her back?
How did she know Hap killed the other doctor in the morgue?
Who she running from at the very beginning when she jumped off the bridge?
A lot of unanswered questions in this series

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Pikasso wrote: »

As regards the books, when did she learn to read? She could only read braille up to recently.
Why was the FBI guy at her house?
How did she manage to inflict scars of intricate drawings on her back?
How did she know Hap killed the other doctor in the morgue?
Who she running from at the very beginning when she jumped off the bridge?
A lot of unanswered questions in this series

Unanswered questions or plot holes?

I assume she could read before she went blind, but that would have been Russian, if any of that was true.

How did she know about Hap in Cuba either. If she was told all that by someone else then given how they presented the story up to that point we should have seen her being told rather than it happening.

I think she was just trying to kill herself at the start.

Slydice

I'm not going checking back into the episodes but..

Books:

Didn't yer man not offer her some books right at the start of it all

FBI Guy:

Good question. I assume her was doing more than he was letting on to her.

Scars:

Awkwardly and we watched them do it.

Other doctor:

Didn't we not see HAP tell her over one of their dinners?

Bridge:

I imagine she wanted to do the die and choose to return to Earth thing again

I'd say unanswered questions more than plot holes considering it's just season 1 and

they had 6-7 years down there without internet. Plenty of time for sharing, reading, dancing etc..

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Slydice wrote: »

I'd say unanswered questions more than plot holes considering it's just season 1 and

they had 6-7 years down there without internet. Plenty of time for sharing, reading, dancing etc..

There were a fair few bits that made no sense to me in the first 5-6 episodes. So much so that I actually thought this is either terrible writing or

she's making it all up on the spot. If you accept she was making it all up it answers a lot of the more glaring things from her story. The only questions we're really left with then are how did she get the scars on her back and where was she for 7 years.

Pikasso

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

There were a fair few bits that made no sense to me in the first 5-6 episodes. So much so that I actually thought this is either terrible writing or

she's making it all up on the spot. If you accept she was making it all up it answers a lot of the more glaring things from her story. The only questions we're really left with then are how did she get the scars on her back and where was she for 7 years.

And how did she get her sight back?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Pikasso wrote: »

And how did she get her sight back?

Yes. If we're going with

she made the whole thing up,

then there's no explanation for that either.

Ectoplasm

So...that was interesting. I've got to be honest, in the end I decided it was batsh1t crazy but oddly compelling, excluding the finale, which I found somewhat crass if I'm honest.

I would probably watch another season if they make it, if only to try to get answers to some of the plot holes that were in there.

Nate--IRL--

Have to say I didn't like this at all. I wanted to, the Story and premise had potential, but it felt unnecessarily drawn out. The pacing was al over the place. You could actually feel where they'd shoehorned in whatever trope is currently trendy.

And the end? Just ridiculous.

Nate

Ping Chow Chi

It wasnt bad, except for the ending, which as the poster above states, was ridiculous.

I don't know -- I actually liked the ending. Visually it was pretty stunning - the sheer ludicrousness of it seemed plausible against the background of everything else that was going on.

I liked this show - the characters seemed real and believable,

the uncertainty of Happ's character, as he struggles with the reality of what he is doing

,

the movements, while silly seeming, were really quite beautiful to watch

and it was a pretty intriguing story.

Something I found really well done with the ending was that

you can see the OA running to them in the background, behind the glass

.

ScumLord

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know -- I actually liked the ending. Visually it was pretty stunning - the sheer ludicrousness of it seemed plausible against the background of everything else that was going on.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if they said this was based on the true ramblings of some

angel nut

and that they actually tried to use

interpretive dance

to stop a gun man. Only in America!

Something I did find quite intriguing and was an interesting way of doing it was

the fact that it wasn't about the school shooter at all. You never see their face properly, you have no idea who they are.

. It just seemed an interesting way of doing it.

Wouldn't be surprised if it was based on reality, but when you take into account dance moves that can bring people back from the dead, that can heal severely ill people and can cure ALS, & angels, & everything else, then interpretative dance to stop a school shooter is the least weird thing out there.

I'd definitely be interested in watching a season 2.

Read an interesting theory that suggests that

the FBI guy was there to plant the books to discredit her story.