"The OA" on Netflix, with spoilers

it actually reminded me of when i tried to get maria and then my kids to watch that first loooong rehearsal scene in Out 1 and i thought they were going to jump out the window and run screaming down the street. they couldn't watch it. it made all three of them really uncomfortable. rufus especially couldn't comprehend why i would want him to watch it. like i was showing him some horrible horror movie or something. i thought it was cool! buncha squares at my house. OA is obviously nothing like that. but modern dance moves in general can make people squirm/giggle/uncomfortable.

i dug it in this show just because when do i see that kind of movement in a show like this?

Season 2!! Woop :)

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*wJR2xpSTqFeS41xfVqLJpw.gif

Hurrah!

I kept meaning to bring this up but:

When she was little Nina, did she learn to read/write English? Because she lost her sight BEFORE coming to the US, which suggests that the Amazon shipment wasn't hers. (Although she did know how to Youtube.)

i assumed the amazon box was from after her sight returned

oh wait i get what you're saying. but she knew english braille so it wouldn't be that hard.

Yeah, that's my question: is the transition from Braille to sight reading(?) that easy, at least IRL?

imo it's another piece of possible evidence that casts doubt on the Nina narrative

couldn't she have learned it during all those years in captivity? they had books

i thought it was ridic that she couldn't figure out the words on the statue of liberty plaque.

Finally watched this.

I loved the moments between all of the different characters. Between her parents, the boys in the school with each other, with their families, and together in the abandoned house. And Phyllis Smith just has this tragic desperation in her face that makes up for her tiny backstory.

Good to know that there is a season 2, I guess, given all of the huge plot holes/unanswered questions? OTOH, I feel like The OA is similar to John From Cincinnati in that I'm not sure either really needed another season - in a good way. The OA has such a woozy, psychedelic tone that I'm not sure if it will be satisfying as a mystery box type show. I mean, I guess I want to see where the OA went, but I would have been fine with this series as one-season of great TV.

finally watched Another Earth btw, which is a great little film, highly recommended to anyone who liked the OA

gonna take this additional opportunity to point out that Another Earth is in fact a very bad movie

Hmm, you both make pretty convincing arguments

I feel like The OA is similar to John From Cincinnati

That was my impression as well.

I didn't think it was a bad movie at all.

Mentioned on another thread, but wife and I watched the first episode and decided not to proceed. We essentially turned to each other after the first ep and said "this is like Stranger Things if the leads of Stranger Things were all assholes." This one even had its own lead asshole named Steve. Skimmed the show's synopsis and glad we made the decision. Several friends had recommended it, flaws and all, but different strokes, etc.

How is Another Earth a "very bad movie"? Genuinely curious.

It's far from unique or mind blowing but it's concise and not overly pretentious and I found that kind of refreshing. I compared it a more mainstream "Melancholia" above - i dunno, I think it's a good movie about processing grief.

I just watched the first episode of this and found it sluggish and boring for the most part until the weird detour into her Russian backstory. Its intriguing and unusual enough to keep watching.

the more i think about it, the more i think the last ep was fucking idiotic.

I was intrigued by this at the start, right up until the point where I realised they were going to end up trying to heal an ALS sufferer via the power of interpretive dance and I just couldn't bring myself to continue.

Series 2 is out....very little talk or hype about it this time. Watched first three last night and it's great, though some of the mystery is def. removed this time. Also took a while for me to remember everything about series 1.

yeah i put on the first episode and i wasnt sure what the hell was going on with Method Man and the vietnamese lady

well they're completely new.

also that is not method man

I finished the first episode of season 2 ready to nitpick it to death, but then I watched the following episode and am firmly on board, like wOAh.

Ok soundtracking a pivotal scene to "Lightning Crashes" is rmde.

Homer really likes "Ordinary World". I love this show.

Hahah I had no idea what the fuck was going on with this as I'd never seen S1 and happened to be in the room when bf binged S2.

I do recall the general mirth at the stupid dance in S1.

That dreadful Live song aside, actually this ended in a rather entertaining WTF manner, I liked the rug being pulled out.

One thing I've noticed this season is that the episodes written by the showrunners are weaker than those written by others. I wonder if there are many other shows like that -- Chibnall Doctorb Who comes immediately to mind.

And that was a wholly unexpected finale!

That was amazing. I really hope this show keeps going.

episodes written by the showrunners are weaker than those written by others. I wonder if there are many other shows like that

I mean, the most obvious/famous example of this is The X-Files, plenty of Carter-written garbage but a handful of consistently great other writers working on it

Also, while this shows draws legitimate comparison to other crazy things (the Leftovers, Stranger Things (they even reference the Upside Down in this season; Twin Peaks....there was one scene with red drapes that seemed fairly explicit, and the 'communing with the tree/octopus' reminded me a lot of the conversations with Bowie Teapot in Season 3), what this series really reminds me of are David Mitchell novels. Particularly the Bone Clocks and Slade House.

What was the deal with that telepathic octopus anyway!? It just casually got introduced and then turned into sushi.

I don't there there is more to it other than it's a giant octopus that can talk to her and she can understand it. Really with about 30% of this show I just take it as it comes and don't try to wonder 'why'.

I'll also say that the movements remain completely thrilling to me. Like, chills and spine tingling when they begin doing them, every time. Even the robots were kind of thrilling. There's something about the synchronous nature of those incredibly complicated gestures that honestly seems to tap something.

I did think the way they got robot arms to replicate the dance was very cleverly done.

I'll also say that the movements remain completely thrilling to me. Like, chills and spine tingling when they begin doing them, every time.

Yeah, the actors commit so fully to the movements, it could've easily come off as terribly derpy otherwise.

I loved the the first four episodes of Season 2. I just watched Episode 5, which was one of the worst hours of television I've ever endured in my entire life. There is no way that two people in the weird house like OA and Karim would suddenly run up opposite sides of the staircase. This was Lost levels of sheer offensive stupidity.

really? that's where this show tipped over to implausibility for you?

It's where the show tipped over to, "I'm getting jerked around by bad writers who need to move plot in volume." I thought I was watching someone play a scratched CD-Rom of Myst.

i just finished bingeing both seasons - i really liked this show! i can see the problems people have with it, but it kept me hooked all the way through. i have a lot of questions though.
why is there so much purple in the first season
how did hap build those giant robots so fast - elodie left him with the 5 tiny ones, then suddenly they're enormous??
who tf is elodie??
who tf is the fbi counsellor?? why did he suddenly understand what was going on??
THE FUCKING OCTOPUS????????????????????
how did steve catch up with the group on treasure island so quickly? he literally turned up minutes after they did. he didn't even have a phone anymore!
i didn't really get the brain seed/blossom thing either. or how hap got scott into the tunnel from treasure island??
really, though, the fucking octopus.

the whole meta tv show/real actors thing was a bit much for me

last scene was very Holy Mountain

and still no clue why young nina has hazel eyes, while adult nina has blue eyes. it's def not just 'we can't find a russian speaking blue eyed blonde girl', since they make such a point of her eye color. nancy looks directly in her hazel eyes and refers to them as 'blue as the prairie skies'.

i just go with the stuff that doesn't make sense (octopus, tree). I think this show is seond only to twin peaks in making its preposterous assertions and set pieces somehow believable...at least, you want to believe them.

Yeah! We just rewatched the first season in preparation for the second and I was also thinking that it reminded me of Twin Peaks while being somehow completely unlike Twin Peaks and not something that I would necessarily recommend to fans of Twin Peaks.

It damn well holds up, though. Nuts to the haters, this thing is gold.

I ended up enjoying Season 2 a lot, with the exception of Episode 5 shenanigans, which felt like the writers moving pieces on a chessboard. I love that she went for such a WTF ending. If there is a Season 3, it’s got to be very warped.

who tf is the fbi counsellor?? why did he suddenly understand what was going on??

I think he's supposed to be similar to Elodie? Someone with at least familiarity with the whole traveling concept.