The OA: Champion
December 18, 2016 10:00 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
A journalist approaches the family with an offer. At Hap's, a bond is forged with Homer and the others as they hatch a desperate plan.
In the present:
*The journalist, Patricia (Rosalind Chao), approaches Nancy at Costco, and pitches the family about the financial and emotional rewards that they would get from her writing a book on Prairie's story, but Prairie turns it down because there is no ending to her story, it has just begun.
*In the storytelling house, Steve and The OA talk in the bathtub, but she jerks away when he tries to touch her. Downstairs, French and Steve get into a fight, which French wins.
*In the school parking lot, Betty deletes several voicemails from a Rod Spence about her brother's will, then listens repeatedly to an old voicemail from Theo, presumably her late brother. In her classroom she finds someone has drawn a crude caricature of her on the whiteboard - instead of erasing it she draws a cube around it.
*Steve begins attending alternative school - a room full of students taking classes online via headphones and virtual teaching.
In flashback:
*Hap allows Prairie out of her cell to come upstairs and feel the sun & air. When she feels a knife and bread on the counter, she uses it to make a sandwich, but won't eat it unless she can make them for her fellow prisoners. Homer tells Prairie about how he hid his championship ring in Hap's medicine cabinet, asks her to find it and steal a bill so he can mail the ring and his money to his son's mother, Mandy.
*Gas floods Scott's chamber and he passes out, while the other prisoners block their vents.
*Hap allows Prairie to continue coming upstairs from her cell to do housework; she steals some of his sleeping pills and doses a stew with them, but Hap has an allergic reaction to the tomato paste. When his epipen fails he sends her to the bathroom for the spare; she finds Homer's ring but drops it into the bathtub where she finds August's dead body, but manages to retrieve the ring and steal a stamped bill.
*While Hap is outside burying August, the captives craft a message to slip into the Verizon bill along with Homer's ring and his $500, but when Homer puts it back in the stream to Prairie, she loses hold and it is carried away by the current.
*Homer gets Prairie to stop crying by getting her to do jumping jacks. Rachel tells the story of her NDE, how she ran away to Nashville with her little brother but the van flipped, and that when she came back to life her voice was something special, and then she sings to the captives the song she wanted to sing to her brother.
*Prairie pushes Hap down the stairs and smashes a window with a frying pan to escape. She runs to the top of a hill, but stops as she can hear the vast emptiness around her, then is knocked unconscious by a rifle-butt to the head.
In the present:
*The journalist, Patricia (Rosalind Chao), approaches Nancy at Costco, and pitches the family about the financial and emotional rewards that they would get from her writing a book on Prairie's story, but Prairie turns it down because there is no ending to her story, it has just begun.
*In the storytelling house, Steve and The OA talk in the bathtub, but she jerks away when he tries to touch her. Downstairs, French and Steve get into a fight, which French wins.
*In the school parking lot, Betty deletes several voicemails from a Rod Spence about her brother's will, then listens repeatedly to an old voicemail from Theo, presumably her late brother. In her classroom she finds someone has drawn a crude caricature of her on the whiteboard - instead of erasing it she draws a cube around it.
*Steve begins attending alternative school - a room full of students taking classes online via headphones and virtual teaching.
In flashback:
*Hap allows Prairie out of her cell to come upstairs and feel the sun & air. When she feels a knife and bread on the counter, she uses it to make a sandwich, but won't eat it unless she can make them for her fellow prisoners. Homer tells Prairie about how he hid his championship ring in Hap's medicine cabinet, asks her to find it and steal a bill so he can mail the ring and his money to his son's mother, Mandy.
*Gas floods Scott's chamber and he passes out, while the other prisoners block their vents.
*Hap allows Prairie to continue coming upstairs from her cell to do housework; she steals some of his sleeping pills and doses a stew with them, but Hap has an allergic reaction to the tomato paste. When his epipen fails he sends her to the bathroom for the spare; she finds Homer's ring but drops it into the bathtub where she finds August's dead body, but manages to retrieve the ring and steal a stamped bill.
*While Hap is outside burying August, the captives craft a message to slip into the Verizon bill along with Homer's ring and his $500, but when Homer puts it back in the stream to Prairie, she loses hold and it is carried away by the current.
*Homer gets Prairie to stop crying by getting her to do jumping jacks. Rachel tells the story of her NDE, how she ran away to Nashville with her little brother but the van flipped, and that when she came back to life her voice was something special, and then she sings to the captives the song she wanted to sing to her brother.
*Prairie pushes Hap down the stairs and smashes a window with a frying pan to escape. She runs to the top of a hill, but stops as she can hear the vast emptiness around her, then is knocked unconscious by a rifle-butt to the head.
I think I need to finish this series before I can comment on it. I am enjoying it but until I know what it adds up to, I'm not sure how to discuss it.
posted by crossoverman at 11:23 AM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by crossoverman at 11:23 AM on December 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think I need to finish this series before I can comment on it. I am enjoying it but until I know what it adds up to, I'm not sure how to discuss it.
Same here. I should have the rest of the threads up tonight.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:31 PM on December 18, 2016
Same here. I should have the rest of the threads up tonight.
posted by oh yeah! at 1:31 PM on December 18, 2016
Three attempts to escape the death house, three attempts to leave the community (am I counting right? military school, the offer to return to the doctor/fbi, the scholarship). There may be more structural connections than currently seen.
Now is Prairie a reliable narrator? She clearly is set up in the first episode to be fluent at making up the story that is useful at a given moment.
She certainly has her five 'listeners' hooked!
posted by sammyo at 5:25 AM on December 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
Now is Prairie a reliable narrator? She clearly is set up in the first episode to be fluent at making up the story that is useful at a given moment.
She certainly has her five 'listeners' hooked!
posted by sammyo at 5:25 AM on December 19, 2016 [3 favorites]
I have to say the allergic reaction did give me serious pause. He's the only person buying the food and everyone I know with food allergies is very careful about that kind of thing. I would imagine someone with the ability to abduct five people would probably be together enough to check the ingredients for tomato paste. I'm still, like the other five, very curious about where this is going, but it really took me out of the story.
posted by miss-lapin at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2016
posted by miss-lapin at 9:52 PM on December 19, 2016
What's up with all the Costco? Like, do people just shop at Costco for a jug of a milk? Very confused about all the Costco action so far.
I'm wishing I could binge watch this series to get to the point. Alas, my spouse likes to draw shows out (one one episode at a time, and not necessarily every day unless it's really, really good, grr) and isn't into the show so far, so I may never finish it :/
posted by slipthought at 8:33 AM on December 20, 2016
I'm wishing I could binge watch this series to get to the point. Alas, my spouse likes to draw shows out (one one episode at a time, and not necessarily every day unless it's really, really good, grr) and isn't into the show so far, so I may never finish it :/
posted by slipthought at 8:33 AM on December 20, 2016
Why would Hap have any ingredients in his kitchen that he was deathly allergic to? It's not like anyone else is doing the shopping...
The OA says in her narration that he let her order the ingredients needed to make a stew from her childhood.
I was absolutely delighted to hear Sharon Van Etten sing on the show. I think choosing her, with the story of coming back with a transcendental, haunting voice was a great pick.
I'm very confused about what happened with Scott- his chamber got the gas, but he was there at the end of the episode. Was he brought back again?
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:00 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
The OA says in her narration that he let her order the ingredients needed to make a stew from her childhood.
I was absolutely delighted to hear Sharon Van Etten sing on the show. I think choosing her, with the story of coming back with a transcendental, haunting voice was a great pick.
I'm very confused about what happened with Scott- his chamber got the gas, but he was there at the end of the episode. Was he brought back again?
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:00 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
The OA says in her narration that he let her order the ingredients needed to make a stew from her childhood.
Yeah, but nobody with a deadly food allergy would be taking a sip of "surprise me" stew. (And, yes, Scott was gassed, taken away, and brought back afterwards.)
posted by oh yeah! at 6:43 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but nobody with a deadly food allergy would be taking a sip of "surprise me" stew. (And, yes, Scott was gassed, taken away, and brought back afterwards.)
posted by oh yeah! at 6:43 AM on December 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, but nobody with a deadly food allergy would be taking a sip of "surprise me" stew.
True, but that wasn't your question.
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:06 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
True, but that wasn't your question.
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:06 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
It wasn't meant as a question--regardless of how that narration was phrased, Hap would have been the one doing the actual buying (unless we're also meant to believe he gave her unsupervised internet access to use his Amazon account) and it's just completely implausible that someone with a deadly food allergy wouldn't check the shopping cart to make sure everything was safe, and double-check by reading the ingredients when they were delivered.
I mean, this show throws plausibility out the window and drives a steamroller over it a few times for good measure. I enjoyed it anyway, but there's not much point in trying to defend its realism. There's worse coming (or better, depending on what floats your boat), you kind of have to embrace it. Or MST3K it. But I think trying to puzzle out the logic is an exercise in frustration.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:20 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I mean, this show throws plausibility out the window and drives a steamroller over it a few times for good measure. I enjoyed it anyway, but there's not much point in trying to defend its realism. There's worse coming (or better, depending on what floats your boat), you kind of have to embrace it. Or MST3K it. But I think trying to puzzle out the logic is an exercise in frustration.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:20 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm not bothered by the tomato allergy thing. It makes enough sense for the larger story to advance. And the implausible escape plan with the mailed ring is actually a plot point, The OA notes in her storytelling it wasn't likely to work but what was important was they tried, together.
I'm much more confused about the relationships between the other prisoners. They've been hanging out together long before The OA got there, and have learned things like how the gas vents work. Shouldn't they have relationships and stories? OTOH this show is all about The OA, and we're hearing her narrative, so it makes sense.
I really hate Steve. I think we're meant to, so OK, but I also fear he's going to be redeemed somehow and ewww.
This show reminds me a whole lot of The Leftovers. It's another slightly magical realist show that explores some very uncomfortable and unusual emotional territory.
posted by Nelson at 11:55 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm much more confused about the relationships between the other prisoners. They've been hanging out together long before The OA got there, and have learned things like how the gas vents work. Shouldn't they have relationships and stories? OTOH this show is all about The OA, and we're hearing her narrative, so it makes sense.
I really hate Steve. I think we're meant to, so OK, but I also fear he's going to be redeemed somehow and ewww.
This show reminds me a whole lot of The Leftovers. It's another slightly magical realist show that explores some very uncomfortable and unusual emotional territory.
posted by Nelson at 11:55 AM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Nelson,I think we're meant to see that the OA has a special power with people even without being able to touch them. The captives are not that involved with each other until the OA arrives to unify them. Even Hap isn't immune as he admits he's given her more concessions than any other prisoner.
But yeah, the tomato allergy still annoys me. I don't know a single person with a food allergy who would be that cavalier ESPECIALLY if the person preparing the food doesn't know about the allergy. I really enjoyed the first episode, but the writing has gone downhill quickly.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:03 PM on December 21, 2016
But yeah, the tomato allergy still annoys me. I don't know a single person with a food allergy who would be that cavalier ESPECIALLY if the person preparing the food doesn't know about the allergy. I really enjoyed the first episode, but the writing has gone downhill quickly.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:03 PM on December 21, 2016
What's up with all the Costco? Like, do people just shop at Costco for a jug of a milk? Very confused about all the Costco action so far.
Bulk buying is part of every overly optomistic suburban dystopia
posted by srboisvert at 7:07 PM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
Bulk buying is part of every overly optomistic suburban dystopia
posted by srboisvert at 7:07 PM on December 21, 2016 [3 favorites]
I go to Costco for just milk. But yeah, it's odd to see Costco in a tv show.
posted by Stewriffic at 4:38 PM on December 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Stewriffic at 4:38 PM on December 23, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's something really alluring about this show. On the surface it's a pretty silly 'life is mysterious and full of the immutably incomprehensible' part that sits somewhere between stoner nose picking and pseudo 'I read some of it' mysticism. The really strange part, or unfamiliar or simply different part is SubUrbia as depicted. I've been through SubUrbia, I've spent tiny bits of time there in the past, it's all recognizable but at the same time it's the place this happens. Light blue collar, regular America. It's not the glamorous city, or the gritty dark city, or the fertile plains of the honest heartland. It's fucking SubUrbia. Hap's house as well, is a bit of a shit-hole, or at least, it feels cobbled together.
This is pretty great, to see quotidian mediocrity play such a large role.
Similarly 'The OA' is a fucking weirdo, and the others as well are both fucking weird and also really well developed. Steve, though only barely human, is at times sympathetic. Thankfully I don't feel like the show has told me I have to sympathize with him yet, just that he has feelings and they are recognizable.
Whether it's a 'good' show, in that it does or does not succeed as a story-telling vehicle, I'm not sure yet - but it is definitely fucking weird and that's not bad.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:54 AM on February 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
This is pretty great, to see quotidian mediocrity play such a large role.
Similarly 'The OA' is a fucking weirdo, and the others as well are both fucking weird and also really well developed. Steve, though only barely human, is at times sympathetic. Thankfully I don't feel like the show has told me I have to sympathize with him yet, just that he has feelings and they are recognizable.
Whether it's a 'good' show, in that it does or does not succeed as a story-telling vehicle, I'm not sure yet - but it is definitely fucking weird and that's not bad.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:54 AM on February 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
When the OA tells the journalist there's no ending to the story, she's also telling me how frustrated I'm going to be when this ends with no resolution, isn't she?
Maybe that's why I watch this sort of thing anyway. I can't explain much in the world, life just happens, so why should I expect my TV shows to do any better? :)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:39 PM on March 11, 2017
Maybe that's why I watch this sort of thing anyway. I can't explain much in the world, life just happens, so why should I expect my TV shows to do any better? :)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:39 PM on March 11, 2017
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I'm still curious to see where this is going though.
posted by oh yeah! at 10:09 AM on December 18, 2016 [4 favorites]