SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
Oh Hap, why did you tell Leon anything?
I was unsure of whether or not Leon knew about the specifics of Hap’s experiment. It wasn’t made clear right away – not for me at least – and I thought Hap may have been speaking in non-specific terms just so he wouldn’t give away that he’d kidnapped people and was holding them captive in his basement. But Leon knew and was even more callous and unscrupulous about Prairie and the other’s than Hap was. Hell, in general; he tried to kill Hap for his information. At least Hap cared enough to be resentful of their closeness.
I’m surprised that Hap’s study is not the only one of its kind. I’m interested as to what exactly Leon’s study entails but it seems to involve working on the dead and not the living? Or all of those dead people are subjects he killed but he has the luxury of storing them in a morgue.
Given that Hap and Leon have known each other for a while – Leon said he trained Hap – then I would’ve thought that Hap would know not to tell him anything about what Prairie and the others seemed to be uncovering. Just the look on his face when he urged Hap to tell him of his competing theory was enough to deduce that he could not be trusted. It was obvious that he was luring Hap into a trap.
Perhaps the fact that they knew each other for so long was why Hap was so easy to fool.
And Hap’s response of “I can’t” when Leon demanded he tell him about where Prairie and the others travel to was a call back to when Prairie said the same thing to him. Now he knows how it feels to be on the other side of being threatened to reveal information.
It occurred to me during this episode that we don’t know why Hap is doing any of this. He’s probably just afraid of death and the unknown and as a scientist, he’s seeking to nullify that fear by finding answers.
And as much as Prairie doesn’t want to admit it, they are working together; although I would not go so far as Hap and call them collaborators (his desperation to connect with her and the others – her more than them – is so twisted). He needs them and they need him. Their goals are different but they all need the same thing to accomplish each.
Hap was caught in such an unassuming, unexpected and irresponsible way. Why was his door even unlocked? I think Hap is going to find a way out of this situation. Maybe even involving killing the Sheriff. Based on what Prairie has said, the others are still in captivity. That means that whatever the Sheriff does next did not stop Hap, nor did it result in them being saved. So this little ray of hope doesn’t mean much.
I imagine the episode was shorter than the previous ones because Buck’s father closed their front door. Given that an open door is a requirement of participating in Prairie’s sessions, I think his closing the door cut it short and by extension the episode itself.
Random thoughts:
- So that’s where the scars came from.
- What is with this purple liquid?
- Hap constantly saying “the work” reminds me of Bill and Virginia from Masters of Sex.
- Hap is so desperate and lonely.
All episodes of The OA are currently available for streaming on Netflix.
