SOME SPOILERS AHEAD.
I don’t know how I feel about this episode. But before we get to the ending and that apparent twist, let’s talk about the end of Prairie’s story.
I was very disappointed in the Sheriff for listening to Hap and not immediately arresting him and taking him down to the police station. I get it, his wife is gravely ill and dying and Hap offered him a cure. It’s totally understandable why he decided to make the deal with Hap. I was hoping he would get his wife healed and then turn Hap in anyway and not be so selfish and cold as to leave Prairie and the others trapped. But of course that never happened because as soon as Prairie and Homer healed his wife, Hap shot them both.
I wanted Prairie to go with Homer’s plan of feigning doing the second movement and not actually healing the Sheriff’s wife. The Sheriff would have arrested Hap and saved them if they made him look like a fraud, I think. But that would only make them as selfish and cold as the Sheriff if he had, indeed, left them there. Prairie, being the kind person she is, refused Homer’s offer and healed her.
A good thing she did too because, surprise, the Sheriff’s wife had the fifth movement and gave it to them. It makes me wonder what the point of Rachel was if she was never going to be the recipient of the fifth movement. Arguably, Khatun gave it to someone else to give them so that Hap wouldn’t get it. But that was decades ago. Unless Khatun, knowing the future, gave it to her then to prevent Hap from getting it. But if she knew the future, she would see that Hap got it anyway? I don’t know.
Being one of the “angels” is not necessary to perform the movement so the extent of Rachel’s usefulness, it seems, was to be a fifth person to perform the movements.
I never thought that Prairie’s escape would simply be Hap letting her go. He had no reason to really and if his statement of “You’ll be all alone. With nothing. With no one.” is any indication, he was just being spiteful.
And now…the twist.
I was so happy that Steven and Alfonso were being proactive about finding proof that Prairie’s story was real. That they were really trying to help her out. And I was so hopeful that they would find proof and finally Nancy and Abel would understand everything that’s been happening to her since she was a child and believe her. That their parents and everyone else who crashed their session would see the truth. Then they run off and save Homer and the others and everyone lives happily ever after.
None of that happened.
Because Alfonso found books that point directly to Prairire having made up the entire thing, under her bed. I was wrong in my recap of episode two; all of it being a lie and Prairie just being crazy was not as impactful – or satisfying – as if it were all real. Not because I didn’t get the ending I had wanted, just because it felt like a slap in the face.
After reading other articles online I can say that there were definitely somethings that hinted at her not being entirely truthful; it didn’t just come out of nowhere. But I never once doubted Prairie’s reliability as a narrator or the veracity of her story. That was the point of course. Prairie and the show itself were so good at presenting the story that some of us – like me – never questioned it.
I haven’t made up my mind about if I believe she was lying or if I believe she was telling the truth, but after all is said and done I don’t think it really matters. Prairie helped Steve, Alfonso, Buck, Jesse and Betty as much as they did her. True or not, telling them that story began the healing process for her and the others listening started it for them as well. So in that way it was still impactful and satisfying, just not as much.
The school shooting felt very, very random and out place in this narrative. Again, this was something that upon doing some reading I found that there were, in fact, hints to it scattered throughout the show but those maybe have been a tad too subtle. Although, I did know there was going to be a school shooting the second Prairie told Abel she knew what her premonition meant. Not sure why. Perhaps those hints subliminally planted the idea in my mind so that I would make the connection later. Because those hints were not obvious to me at all.
I enjoyed the ride The OA took me on right up until the end. Not that I hate the ending, I just really don’t know how I feel about it.
Random thoughts:
- Don’t listen to Hap Sheriff!
- Hap: “…there is only grey. There is only what a man can stand.” If that helps you sleep at night.
- How did all of these people know to crash their session?
- How did the media find out about this already?
- I knew Nancy had the note!
All episodes of The OA are available for streaming on Netflix.
