The OA Episode 2 Season 1 Theories and Explanations
For the record, episode one of The OA was truly an awesome way to kick off a series. And if you haven’t read that post yet, you can find it here. Episode 1 left me wanting all kinds of more. But I had decided to not continue watching more until each blog post had been properly posted and online. And so, with the episode 1 posted I rewarded and regaled myself with episode 2, which did not disappoint. And so, in an effort to get to episode 3 sooner than later, let’s jump right in and walk through the overview and then we’ll go through the current revelations and theories. And so, let us away to The OA episode 2 season 1 theories and explanations!
The OA Episode 2 Overview
So, last time, in ep1 we saw that Nina’s bus was attacked and as a result died underwater struggling to reach the surface. And yet, somehow Nina survived, but her father kept this a secret from anyone else in order to protect her. The only real negative consequence to the attack was that she lost her eyesight. And yet, this initial death of Nina’s? I really do think it is a critical piece to the puzzle of which this OA is all about, and what is really going on.
Post attack, her dad smuggled her to America and put her in a boarding school for the blind. She was checked in on by her maternal aunt… who I might add, was a fairly lecherous woman. And yes, she had money problems, but what was she doing, running a baby store front? And then, along came Able and Nancy Johnson, desperate for a child of their own. But everything’s changes when they see Nina. Nancy makes an audible at the scrimmage line and they pay for Nina instead. And now, Nina becomes truly hidden from the Voi when the Johnsons name her Prairie and take her home with them. Nina is now really dead, and risen from the ashes is Prairie Johnson.
Nina begot Prairie begot The OA
Then, Prairie begins having terrible nightmares about her father. She starts to think that’s he is sending her messages in her sleep. That he was a mobster. That he needed to meet with her somewhere, and sometime soon. When the Psychiatrist sees what is happening, he’s certain that this is a psychotic episode and that it needs to be handled without drugs. And then, Prairie tells the five… she was medicated for 13 years.
And that is when everything changed. On Prairie’s 21st birthday she runs away in order to meet her father at the Statue of Liberty. That did not go well at all. Obviously, BECAUSE HER FATHER IS DEAD (or is he?) – Regardless, Prairie meets someone while playing her violin and they hit it off.
Dr. Homer Hap. Nice guy! Sweeet. And he likes a nice Chianti with his fava beans. Holy crap what has she gotten herself reared into? At first the the conversations around Near Death Experiences (NDEs) pulls them together. And then is her demise. Because the next thing Prairie knows? She’s in a human habitrail locked up beside several other people as well. Guinea Pigs all, used as experiments to satisfy Dr. Hap’s insatiable curiosities.
Who Are The Five?
In my opinion, the five are just as interesting as Hap and his habitrail of death. Why were they chosen? How were they chosen? Why are they needed? And what’s with all the doors needing to be left open? But who are each of the five?
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| Steve Winchell – The bully and the one that is constantly at risk of expulsion. |
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| Jesse – Little to nothing is known about Jesse at this point, not even his last name. |
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| Betty Broderick-Allen – The teacher that almost got Steve expelled, but then was convinced by The OA to save him. |
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| French – I couldn’t even find a shot of French from the show’s production stills. And then there is the girl taking testosterone? I can’t even find her name. Is she Buck Vu? |
As I get more information on each one I’ll double back and fill it in. But at this point, not all the characters have been introduced in the show and we don’t know a whole lot. But each one is interesting, and I’m guessing they will all have an important role to play once the narrative moves further up the matryoshka doll chain. And it’s in this episode that the five start searching into the validity of The OA’s story. Searching for the Aserov Mine, for more information on Nina’s father. They began tracing back to the bus accident and the details in the news.
The OA – “Big mistake, I thought that if I cast a beautiful net I’d catch only beautiful things.”
And that is when we meet Dr. Hunter Hap, the researcher of near death experiences. Is he the one that will make the flatliners club happen? Is it imposed on Prairie, as opposed to happening willfully? One quote that stands out to me that Dr. Hap says to Prairie, is that “You are special because you have traveled outside this coma.” Which means he thinks real life happens outside of this life, and only when a person is dead?
And then the last thing I wrote in my notes last night before the episode ended was, “Oh my gosh, he’s going to flat line her.”
Current Theories and Explanations for The OA
During episode 1, I spelled out 4 or 5 plausible theories that could explain the show The OA, but it was from a very limited vantage point… 1 episode in. Now that we have been introduced to Dr. Hap? I still feel like several of those theories are still legit, but have to be tweaked to explain his involvement and interdiction into Prairie’s story.
The OA Flatliner Theory
I still believe that the flatliner theory is legitimate, but now it isn’t a willing thing that Prairie was doing intentionally, it was something that Dr. Hap was inflicting on his guinea pigs. Instead of competing for the longest flatlined person, like Keifer and Julia did in the movie of old… instead, it is Dr. Hap who is killing them each and then bringing them back to life again? At episode 2, we still don’t know much about this man, or his ‘research’. We don’t know if that is exactly what he’s doing. But it would sort of pull a number of pieces together if it was in fact the case.
The OA Mafia Theory
The mafia, and the Voi are going to come back. There will be some enormous tie in back to the Russian mafia in this story I’m sure. Either Nina’s father will return? Or some other competitor of the Aserovs will come back to attack Prairie. Maybe not this season even. But I’m willing to go all in on that particular bet. But that doesn’t explain “The OA”, or the mental way Prairie has been acting… her attempted suicide. Or anything else for that matter. It’s just a hanging chad of sorts that will play out eventually.
The OA Psychotic Rip Theory
And obviously, there is nothing that we have seen so far that doesn’t exclude the fact that Prairie could be stark raving mad. We did see that the five have started to research the backlog of Prairie’s story for truth, and corroboration of her story. So that could help to discount this particular theory somewhat overtime. But I doubt that we’ll see a ton of evidence proving everything that has happened so far as it excludes so much and shuts the doors to the screenplay author.
Overall thoughts of Episode 2
When I found out that Prairie actually walked away from home, and wasn’t abducted, I was like what?! She just spent 7 years out and about doing whatever she wanted until she came home again? I was more than a little confused. But then, with the introduction of the truly malevolent evil genius to the story… the amiable, the charming Dr. Hap – we now have true evil in our midst. And it is even worse because he probably believes he is doing these terrible things for the good of science and medicine. Right? That’s the really scary part about what is happening there in that basement.
The show doesn’t cease to surprise, and doesn’t cease to give us a run for our money and I’m only two episodes in so far. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
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