The OA

Season 1 Trailer.

Season 2 Trailer.

Available Summary:

"A woman missing for seven years turns up at a hospital with strange scars on her back, but can't (or won't) reveal where she's been." -Netflix.

Jack's Summary:

This is one of the most polarising, love-it-or-hate-it shows out there. I come down on the "hate it" side of that equation. Maybe avoid my review if you'd prefer to enjoy it.

The protagonist, a woman who calls herself The OA (The Original Angel), was born in Russia and named Nina, then adopted by parents in America and renamed Prairie. As a young adult, she is abducted by a man researching near-death experiences, imprisoned by him for seven years. She falls in love with Homer, a man who is also being held captive in the same basement. All captives are repeatedly killed and revived, with the torturer recording what happens to subjects' brains throughout.

The captives come to believe that they are connecting with a celestial being in another dimension, and from her they eventually learn an interpretive dance which can open portals, resurrect people, and cure incurable illnesses. Eventually, the torturer decides he's gotten all of the information he needs (particularly this magical dance), and he abandons Prairie out in the world. She is hospitalised, reunited with her adoptive American parents, and connects with four students at a local high school. One of them, Buck Vu, is a trans boy who is accessing testosterone on the black market and lives with an unaccepting family.

Season 1 sees Prairie monologuing at the four students, interspersed with flashbacks and drama. The show takes itself (and its annoying characters) incredibly seriously, all for the finale of season 1 to throw Prairie's entire story into doubt by having you believe that she was making up this stuff all along. What the finale of season 1 also offers is a ridiculous scene where the main characters perform the interpretive dance moves to stop an out-of-nowhere school shooting, which doesn't work particularly well, because Prairie get shot and dies in the ambulance. All the dance achieves, seemingly, is bewildering the shooter so that a brave cafeteria worker (the only real hero) can tackle him while he's distracted.

...And that's it. That's the ending of season 1. Utterly unsatisfying, and a trivialisation of school shootings. Any satisfaction could only come from watching season 2 to get some answers, which is not worth it in the slightest, unless you want to learn how truly over-complicated a show could possibly make itself.

In episode 5 of season 1, Homer (a man who has been tortured and kept in physical isolation for years) is mentally unstable and increasingly confused when flown by his abductor to Cuba. In a state where he cannot possibly consent to any sexual activity (he does not even know how old he is), he is forced by his captor into a room with a woman that wishes to have sex with him. He pleads with her to leave him alone, saying, "please go," and hyperventilating. She does not do as asked, proceeding to touch and kiss him. The pair have sex. Despite the fact that Homer was clearly unable to give mentally-coherent consent, the show prioritises the protagonist's jealousy and anger, framing the rape as an act of being unfaithful rather than an extremely traumatic experience for Homer. It all feels very victim-blaming and gross.

In season 2, Prairie (after being shot) inhabits a different version of herself in another reality, transferring there after death. This has happened with several other characters, too. In this dimension, Buck's alternate self is still going by the name Michelle, and has not transitioned. Buck aside, season 2 gets very, very stupid, and I don't have any deep insights to offer about this self-indulgent mess which involves a giant octopus, a talking tree, and brain seeds. There are many, many analyses authored by people who liked this show, so I encourage you to read those, if you are actually interested. Or just watch it.

Eventually, the dimension-hopping drama escalates to the fictional characters entering the "real world" and being addressed by the real actors' names. Michelle even finds herself in the body of Ian Alexander (the actor), which Alexander discusses in this interview, also admitting that the show's confusing plot affected filming due to actors and staff being unsure what was going on.

Would I recommend watching this show for the trans representation? Absolutely not. But I hated The OA, so of course I wouldn't. If you love this show, more power to you.