What is Paradise? It’s subjective, in the end. Growing up in one of the snowiest cities in the country, with a depressed, Rust Belt economy, paradise always sounded like a warm tropical island to me. But warm tropical islands have depressed economies and natural disasters of their own, making the people who live there want to find a different sort of paradise just as much. This episode looks at the expectations we have for escape, for each other, for paradise, for whatever we think should be perfect in our lives.

Hap is in a bar in Cuba to listen to a woman who plays flamenco guitar. After the performance, he approaches her on the patio. They chat, and he steers the conversation toward his study. She is an NDE survivor, and only took up the guitar after her experience. Hap makes her his usual offer, and includes helping her escape from Cuba. But she’s not as young or desperate as his other subjects. She rejects him, even though she wants to get off the island. He looks shocked, like it’s the first time this has ever happened. She dances away with a much younger man.

Continue reading “The OA Season 1 Episode 5: Paradise Recap” →

The beginning of episode 3 looks like a normal family shopping trip out to a discount store, until Nancy Johnson is accosted by a reporter and the illusion is shattered, for her and for us. The reporter, Patricia Knoller, specializes in telling the stories of young people who have been held hostage for long periods of time, and then returned to their families. She wants to turn Prairie’s story into a book. Nancy is unhappy with the intrusion into her family’s privacy, and dismisses Patricia. Before she goes, Patricia gives Nancy a copy of one of her books and her business card. She explains that she works closely with the victim and the family, and tries to make the experience something that is beneficial to the family, especially financially beneficial.

Nancy shops for a little longer, then sees Prairie, who is trying on a sweatshirt that reminds her of Homer. They look at each other across the store aisles. The love shared between the two women is palpable, but so is the concern and fear Nancy has for her daughter. She invites Patricia to dinner to discuss the book deal. Everything is going well, until Patricia mentions the sense of closure that finishing telling their stories can give the victims. Prairie gets upset, and tells her that she can’t give her that. Her story isn’t over. It’s just beginning. Prairie runs from the room. Nancy, Patricia, and Abel all look at each other, confused and worried.

Continue reading “The OA Season 1 Episode 3: Champion Recap” →

This episode finds Nina in a boarding school for the blind in America. Her father has kept her survival a secret to keep her safe from the Voi. Her maternal aunt checks in on her periodically, while Nina and her father speak on the phone every Sunday. In the opening scene, the blind students are holding white snakes. Nina is comforting her snake, trying to make it more comfortable with being held. She can hear its heart beat.

Nina plays violin for her father during their weekly phone calls. He loves her playing, and would recognize her unique playing style anywhere. They both live for those phone calls. Every week they shed their skins and renew each other. Her father is in hiding from the Voi, and tells her she must be careful as well. She must stop speaking Russian until he tells her it’s safe again. He’s trying to find a safe home for them, but doesn’t know how long it will take. Until then, they both have to hide.

Nina gets called to the Headmistress’s office. Her aunt is there, and tells her that there was a terrible accident. Her father is gone, and Nina needs to leave the school.  Nina insists that her father has gone into hiding to escape the Voi, and he will come for her. She goes to live with the aunt, but without the money Nina’s father was sending for her support, the aunt can’t really afford to take care of a blind child.

Continue reading “The OA Season 1 Episode 2: New Colossus Recap” →

The OA is the intriguing story of a young woman who returns home after 7 years in captivity. She was blind when she left home, but now her sight has been restored. She’s unable to talk about her ordeal, and seems changed in indefinable, mysterious ways. The pilot, at least, focusses more on character and setting up the mood and world of the show than getting a fast-paced plot going. The feel of the show reminds me of The Man in the High Castle in that way, even though they are otherwise very different shows. It slowly builds tension and doles out clues, allowing us to piece together the mystery and understand the show’s universe.

The pilot begins with a phone video shot through the windshield of a car as it crosses a bridge in St Louis. A young woman in a flowing sundress dodges between cars to cross the bridge and climb over the side rail. She briefly looks back toward the camera with a blank face, then steps off the bridge to let herself fall into the Mississippi River below.

Continue reading “The OA Season 1 Episode 1: Homecoming Recap” →