I was talking to my friend and fellow Fangirlish writer Lyra recently about the OA returning to Netflix for season two, on March 22nd. Lyra exclaimed that she started watching it, but then stopped because she was also watching other shows and she couldn’t get into it. I was aghast of course and I promptly shamed her! Ha! How can you possibly watch Stranger Things and not The OA? Shame on you, Lyra! For those of you feeling like my friend Lyra, let me quickly recap season 1 for you (warning: spoilers!), and also give you my top 5 reasons why you should be watching with me on 3/22. The OA is a mix of supernatural and folklore and mysticism wrapped into 8 hour-long episodes. If you into to any of those things, you will love this show. Trust me, I am never wrong about shows! Like, ever.
The first season introduces us to a girl named “Prairie” who has been missing for maybe 7 years give or take. Her parents find her in a hospital in NYC recovering after she jumped off a bridge with the hope of dying and seeing her friends again. Very depressing I know but get this, Prairie used to blind, but now she can see and the doctors cannot explain why or how this happened. Her parents take her home and reintroduce her to society, only to find out she has been held captive this whole time with a group of other people but she is unable to tell them where or who these other people are. Prairie says she needs to help them, and so she was jumping off the bridge to go back to them, her parents think she is just suffering from PTSD and the police think she might be lying to protect her captor.
As the episodes go on we learn that Prairie was adopted by her now parents and she was really born in Russia, where her real name was Nina. Her father was newly rich and hated by the corrupt Russian government. Once when she was on her way to school, a hit squad shot at her school bus and it plummeted into the cold ocean below where everyone drowned and died, including her. Prairie was given the chance to go back to the living world but the goddess Khatun asked her if she wanted to stay with her or go back to her father. Nina chose to go back and Khatun plucked her eyes out to spare her from all of the sadness she would have to endure. I KNOW RIGHT!!! Nina’s father later dies and she is sent to live with her aunt who runs a brothel/ adoption agency. Nina is adopted by her now parents who rename her Prairie.
The OA jumps frequently between the past and the present. We see how/why Prairie went missing. She was actually abducted by a man named “Hap” who took her back to his cabin somewhere in the woods and held her in a glass cage with 4 other people. Guess the one thing they all have in common? They have all had near death experiences and been brought back. Hap is trying to prove that when you die you go somewhere else first and you are then reborn as someone else.
How is this not enough to intrigue you! I wanted to tell you the entire story in this post but that’s called a SPOILER. So I didn’t.. You’re welcome!
Again, tell me why you are not watching this show! I’ve basically just laid out the entire season for you and given you compelling reasons to watch. Oh wait! You still don’t think my synopsis was enough?? Read down below, I have a list of my top 5 reasons why I’m excited for season 2.
The Storytelling is amazing, if you’re into mythology, folklore, and mysticism
It will make you think DEEPLY about life and death and the power we give to both
3. Khatun, the goddess whose face is covered in braille that reads in Hebrew and Arabic she is still an enigma and I want to know more about her
4. The entire cast needs to be nominated for Emmy’s the acting is sublime, everyone seems real and genuine and engaging. I’m telling you I cried a lot in season one, mainly because the acting is so good.
5. You can binge it in one weekend! Its’ only 8 episodes. I will have my popcorn ready and my eyes will be bugging out of my head, but it’s totally worth it, to be able to view all the episodes at once.
The OA starts it’s second season as of yesterday, March 22nd. You can binge watch season one right now on Netflix.
All photo’s courtesy of giphy