This show has some major positives including great casting, good cinematography, and moving scoring. All of these things contribute to the pulling at your emotions, which I suspect is why this show received such a high rating on this site.
However, there are problems I just couldn't let go of, no matter how much I wanted to like this show as a whole. I don't mind slow-paced shows. Take The Leftovers for example. That production accomplishes a kind of beauty in storytelling that I think The OA had the potential of doing. It just fell short unfortunately due to failures in plot and character development.
Some of the chosen Five don't get enough background or development and then some get too much without really any meaningful explanation behind their actions or transformation (i.e. Winchell or Betty). Dr. Hunter is perhaps the clearest one to follow in terms of motivation and is expertly played by Jason Isaacs. Then you have other great actors like Scott Wilson and Alice Krige (Abel and Nancy) who get these few "revealing" moments that leave the audience sighing with boredom.
Not to mention the late entrance of Paz Vega (Renata) who is also under-used after her introduction. Overall, things would be more forgivable if the ending actually delivered anything we were lead to believe we'd get. The climax arrives through a school mass shooting, which had no lead-up whatsoever. OA apparently has a premonition and says she knows what it all means now, but she neglected to clue us in.
So in this shooting no one saw coming, our Five decide to do the movements that are meant to lead to a new dimension. An interesting choice to say the least, but you keep watching thinking maybe they'll transport all the kids to safety. Or maybe they'll transport themselves to another dimension where the gunman makes a different choice, etc. I don't know. ANYTHING than the nothing that ensued.
The gunman gets taken down with no explanation of who he is (I expected it to be the singer who got punched by Winchell) and we assume OA dies in order to see Homer. Still, we're left wondering if it really was all in her head, even though the bath nosebleed and her saying, "Homer" is supposed to be evidence enough that her story is true.
If that was the point of 8 episodes - deciding if she was making it all up - then that's a monumental disappointment as I was already invested in her story (8+ hours) and would expect something a little more conclusive, but despite its originality, it would seem this story is setting you up for frustration.
Even the title draws you in with a question. After realizing its center theme in the afterlife/alternate dimensions, I thought, "what if 'OA' stands for 'Original Angel'?" Like OG? And then you find that's exactly what it stands for. Build up for a less than satisfying conclusion.
OA: 5.6.
However, there are problems I just couldn't let go of, no matter how much I wanted to like this show as a whole. I don't mind slow-paced shows. Take The Leftovers for example. That production accomplishes a kind of beauty in storytelling that I think The OA had the potential of doing. It just fell short unfortunately due to failures in plot and character development.
Some of the chosen Five don't get enough background or development and then some get too much without really any meaningful explanation behind their actions or transformation (i.e. Winchell or Betty). Dr. Hunter is perhaps the clearest one to follow in terms of motivation and is expertly played by Jason Isaacs. Then you have other great actors like Scott Wilson and Alice Krige (Abel and Nancy) who get these few "revealing" moments that leave the audience sighing with boredom.
Not to mention the late entrance of Paz Vega (Renata) who is also under-used after her introduction. Overall, things would be more forgivable if the ending actually delivered anything we were lead to believe we'd get. The climax arrives through a school mass shooting, which had no lead-up whatsoever. OA apparently has a premonition and says she knows what it all means now, but she neglected to clue us in.
So in this shooting no one saw coming, our Five decide to do the movements that are meant to lead to a new dimension. An interesting choice to say the least, but you keep watching thinking maybe they'll transport all the kids to safety. Or maybe they'll transport themselves to another dimension where the gunman makes a different choice, etc. I don't know. ANYTHING than the nothing that ensued.
The gunman gets taken down with no explanation of who he is (I expected it to be the singer who got punched by Winchell) and we assume OA dies in order to see Homer. Still, we're left wondering if it really was all in her head, even though the bath nosebleed and her saying, "Homer" is supposed to be evidence enough that her story is true.
If that was the point of 8 episodes - deciding if she was making it all up - then that's a monumental disappointment as I was already invested in her story (8+ hours) and would expect something a little more conclusive, but despite its originality, it would seem this story is setting you up for frustration.
Even the title draws you in with a question. After realizing its center theme in the afterlife/alternate dimensions, I thought, "what if 'OA' stands for 'Original Angel'?" Like OG? And then you find that's exactly what it stands for. Build up for a less than satisfying conclusion.
OA: 5.6.