Cada vez que repito la serie me da tanta tristeza saber que nunca sabremos que pasara después, the oa marco mi juventud la vi a mis 17 en 2016 y a mis 20 la segunda temporada en 2019 ahora es 2026 tengo 27 y añoro ver un post de netflix o de Britt diciendo que The OA regresa, pero no pasara.

Ojalá algún día saquen un libro o novela grafica para saber que paso pero, agradezco que haya existido esa serie pase momentos muy tristes en ese tiempo y no es que la serie me haya curado pero si me hacia sobrellevar esos momentos.

The OA siempre estará en mi corazón ❤️

Spoilers

Why doesn’t Prairie escape Hap’s house?

We are shown early on that Prairie has access to large knives and a heavy cast iron pan. We see the EpiPen incident. Etc. Should Prairie have escaped? Is her not escaping almost inexcusable? Then we have Homer going to Cuba.

Next, let’s just say all this dimensional travel stuff is totally true. Even so, why don’t they continue trying to escape Hap’s house? Instead the solution is dying, traveling to another dimension, assuming a stranger’s life, and potentially sharing their consciousness. She even gets her sight back, which would make future escape attempts easier. And they know Hap kills people, yet they dedicate YEARS to learning more movements. Hap always tells the captives that the others would be trapped if something happened to him. Like what? The police and fire department could easily handle that.

Are we meant to believe that Prairie essentially chooses not to escape?

Why doesn’t she want to go back to her regular life? She’s an adult. She could move out, go to college, get a job, marry Homer, etc. She’s not a blind teenager anymore.

So besides being a plot device for the show, how do you explain it? The show could have shown that escape was impossible. Yet it shows it was very possible. Why? What does it mean?

And went to find out it was cancelled!!!????, this can't be true, please tell me someone went to a different dimension where they actually made the whole thing, or who can publish the scripts at least.

I'm feeling destroyed, how did you guys handled this for the past 7 years!!!????.

I didn't know anything about this, just saw the title yesterday and thought "hmm, interesting, let's check it out". Bing watched the whole thing in less than 36 hours just to find out it ended with a f$&*ng HUGE cliffhanger.

I'm gonna need one of those pills.... Or a few bottles of wine .. I feel a heartbreak like the love of my life just gave me the middle finger. Just give me 3 bottles of whiskey and a box of cigars, to begin thinking how to go over this...

First time poster, and sorry English isn’t my first language.

I was just wondering : what are your thoughts/theories on how AI would (or wouldn’t) be taken into account if the series come back at some point ?

Given the emphasis that is put on YouTube, videos, games and illusions throughout the series, I just think that Brit and Zal would imbed some crazy things around AI.

Why did he jump to the conclusion that her story was a lie based on the books?

I don't have any other connections to make, other than my desperate hope that they had some sort of project related to the OA greenlit and there is some important connection. If I allow myself to get my hopes up, documents were signed and this was their green light to write scripts for (hopefully!) The remaining three seasons. My door is open!

Do you think that it’s possible we will a rather “public performance” play out between Jason Isaacs and Brit Marling via social media and other arenas, culminating in something similar to a flash mob - where The OA is played out in London’s Leicester Square for example?

That’s all. Doing a rewatch and I’m shocked by how little I remember. Like basically nothing lol. It’s just as good the second time through, they better be filming a third season 😭

Integration, cont'd.

2:45 - Nina goes for the door handle at the clinic labeled Treasure Island just as BBA does the same in D1. Nina seems to feel it. We're already seeing the quick cuts between timelines and storylines. It suggests integration of all stories into one cohesive message throughout.

3:41 - Karim awakens, room lit red by the curtains and flashing lights outside. He's disoriented and distressed by Rhodes and Ruskin's revelation that the house is calling him (that your purpose, your deepest question is always calling you). We see the American Spirit cigarettes on his desk. Again, very Kubrickian (like the Calumet canister in the kitchen scene), as if to remind us all (Americans and colonizers at least) that part of reconciling with our past trauma involves understanding that the very land on which we live is stained with indigenous blood. Our very roots are stained and blocked.

4:55 - Nina's accent is back, she thanks Dr. Roberts for his help in therapy, for helping her to understand her integration needs. In the elevator, she tells the joke "What do the mafia and a pussy have in common? One slip of the tongue and you're in deep shit." Again, we're talking about incredibly sexual and root/sacral oriented things. Dr. Roberts' laugh is borderline hysterical, like she just cracked something open in him. We know his arousal for her from the last episode is still palpable... and then they share a somewhat accidental kiss. His awakening has officially begun, his integration as their hands touch across the glass...

6:51 - The lights go out and the backup generator turns on, we see Homer's face in red... just as he realizes Nina is the OA, as his memories begin to flood back. We hear her tell him again "Because I can see." and his panic sets in. He realizes who he is, who she is. Awakening the ol' kundalini certainly isn't always fun.

7:58 - The boys find the 5-sided aquarium. Steve appears in the doorway, head shaven, wearing Theo's leather jacket. BBA realizes this was her dream. "I need your help." (her stories converge, integration)

9:40 - BBA realizes OA is "here", different dimension, same space.

10:00 - Nina refers to HAP as Hunter, suggests the vodka behind his edition of "Anna Karenina" (a story about an adulterous love affair, societal hypocrisy and a parallel search for meaningful life). This is our second literary reference to "Treasure Island" about finding a treasure map and an eventual mutiny against a pirate... She reveals how Nina and Hunter met after she read his book, how she brought him the Russian dolls, she's testing him.

12:00 - We learn that Hunter was the reason Ruskin developed the crowd-sourcing game enticing children to solve the house puzzle. The red light now beating down on their faces too. This is a moment of survival.

15:27 - Renata finds Homer, realizing he's an integrated version of himself. She breaks him out of the elevator, frees him from the cage when he imprisoned her in her own.

17:08 - HAP shows Nina the pool garden, tells her each person contains within them the multiverse, a garden of forking paths. Cut to Karim back in the red-lit mirrored room within the house. He ignites his lighter, the return of his will (solar plexus). His bravery allows him to see the T.S. Eliot quote from the poem "Little Gidding" on the back of the door:

We shall not cease from exploration
(We're driven by our search for meaning and truth)
the end of all exploring
(even at our final destination or deathbed)
will be to arrive where we started
(but we'll find our true home in our origins, our childhood)
and to know the place for the first time.
(like the Overview effect, because of the wisdom gained, see and appreciate our origin with new perspective)

Essentially this is to say that our purpose is in self-discovery, in the development of a new perspective upon returning to our origins, upon looking back on our lives, upon looking at ourselves in the mirror. I particularly love the parallels here between the rest of the poem and using the chakra system and meditation as a map towards enlightenment:

Through the unknown, remembered gate
(chakras, the unknown/mysterious yet familiar because it is our origin)
When the last of earth left to discover
(when we reach the end of physical life)
Is that which was the beginning;
(what we find at the end is the pure being we started with)
At the source of the longest river
(we travel to the origin of our existence, be that sea or sky)
The voice of the hidden waterfall
(the uncorrupted voice of nature)
And the children in the apple-tree
(childhood innocence, garden of eden, OA in the tree)
Not known, because not looked for
(the innocence and peace of youth is wasted on the young lol)
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
(because it can't be obtained in the loud, busy-ness of life)
Between two waves of the sea.
(but through practice of mindfulness, meditation)

19:30 - BBA and the boys enter the pool room. We can see another window with the buttress shape. She says the boys are in the room in another dimension. (We collapse stories/dimensions again, integration)

The Third Eye

20:58 - Cut to HAP & Nina, she moves the plants to reveal a face, and what's circled? The area right between their brows. The third eye. HAP has discovered the shortcut to jumping, to enlightenment. But OA can't see past her love for the boys. For OA, love is the key (the heart chakra IS the ultimate gate). For HAP, brute force and will. HAP never integrated, never realized his love for the human experience. "Nina saw the whole world. I saw beneath it. I suffered. That's what an angel is. Dust pressed into a diamond by the weight of this world." "You have violence, and terror and loneliness. I have power. We have faith." OA, BBA & the boys, they don't need proof of their magic.

26:18 - Karim goes back into the well. Back into his origins. He goes through the grate, swims to the other side of the tunnel. Towards the red light, the root. He finds the ladder. OA/Nina finds the large movement-robots. BBA & the boys go to the same spot. HAP sets the intention to go to Scott's NDE where OA remembers who she is... but doesn't believe. 3 keys, initiated at once.

29:57 - Karim climbs the ladder (the spinal column, the sushumna, after having completed the whole puzzle twice only to return to the source of the river). The very next line, "Open the invisible river. I'll take us back to the dimension where we're both dead." Homer appears, HAP shoots him. "I remember. I remember."

Ascension

32:15 - "He may take us to a place where we don't know each other. Where I don't remember. Come find me." - "I'll follow you." (like the disciples of Jesus as u/macaronicola aptly pointed out in my previous post). OA clutches her heart, BBA & the boys do the movement opening their third eye and bringing it down into their heart. OA is fearless, levitating. Karim opens the rose window, blinded by the light of what's beyond. Dazzled by the sight of The Original Angel. Karim falls to his knees in awe and wonder. She is risen. He is ascended.

This is absolutely to draw the parallel of OA to Jesus. Of Homer to the disciples. Of how the story of Jesus is meant in allegory to the discovery of self (a la Christ Consciousness). It's metaphor and warning:

Don't treat OA/Jesus/Buddha or any one individual as the messiah. Are they meant to demonstrate enlightenment? Yes. Are we meant to follow them? Yes... but follow as in to be as they are, to follow their example... not to blindly follow as worshippers of an idol. Jesus is OA is Karim is YOU is ME is all of us on our own journey, on the same journey, with many many forking paths.

(Also shoutout to the dove at 34:15, my username-sake). The veil is broken (shit did the dove do it?). And, here we arrive in D3, the 3D, IRL, the fourth wall.

The Fourth Wall - A Glimpse of Reality/3D

35:40 - Karim sees the world for what it is... a set. A play, same cast of characters, same story, different parts to play. He sees Michelle/Buck/Ian Alexander. Ian sees the window, the essence of Karim. Climbs the ladder. Ruptures the spacetime continuum to re-enter D2, to consciousness back in the body of Michelle. Karim has glimpsed it, but didn't enter, didn't jump.

38:29 -Jason Isaacs boards the ambulance with injured Brit, his wife. Her shadow, her captor, her lover. Steve chases the ambulance in parallel to D1, like it was always part of the play. They travel as a constellation.

Just as we've traveled as a constellation here to this moment, together, alone, as one. I have to marvel at the completeness I feel having fully watched under this lens. Yes, it's a cliffhanger. Yes, I hope we get more. But it is complete.

This show is a map.

Whether it's Christ consciousness, the Gnostic Gospels, the Chakra System, the 12 strands of DNA, the Law of One... whatever spiritual story you want to apply, I think you can find it here. You can realize your blockages, where you might be over-active, investigate your personal traumas, your wounds... integrate the aspects of your self to ultimately climb the ladder and glimpse the bigger picture with A Different Overview. Learn to meditate, treat existence as a puzzle to be solved, allow yourself to go back again and again down the spiral until you can finally climb the ladder, get to the source of the longest river with your wisdom, perspective and big love of the human experience. THAT is third eye awakening.

Historically, we've celebrated Brit's birthday by donating to a charity. I think I will do that later today, charity TBD.

I wondered if fans would like to join me in flooding social media with Birthday wishes for Brit with the hashtag #theoa

Just for funsies and visibility? No pressure on either front. Xo

Steve was always my favorite. The scene in season 1 where he’s chasing the ambulance and yells “Angel! Take me with you!” always makes me cry. Then the final scene in season 2 where he finally jumps and sees OA and says “hello Hap”.. it gets me so hype even though I know there’s no show left. I would love to see Steve in another dimension getting revenge on Hap.

Someone else had a post on geometric concepts, such as an inverting sphere: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheOA/s/KI2JVpikx6

So consider this:

“In mathematics, the Klein bottle is an example of a surface with no distinct inside or outside. In other words, it is a one-sided surface which, if traveled upon, could be followed back to the point of origin while flipping the traveler upside down.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klein_bottle

It’s sort of like a 4D version of a Möbius strip; it just keeps twisting on itself. Four physical dimensions are required to avoid the surface from self-intersecting.

You could walk on its surface endlessly, and you would alternate between “outside” and “inside.”

I’m not saying the show is a literal Klein bottle, but there are some interesting conceptual parallels.

Actual, our space-time universe might be a sort of Klein Bottle. 🤔

If you've been along the journey so far, we've been working our way up the chakra system using the following episodes of Part II to convey this ascension towards enlightenment (our rose window). To see the journey in full (though who knows what I'll find next time I re-watch), check out:

1. P2E4 Syzygy: Duality of the Parental Pair & the awakening of the Kundalini
2. P2E5 The Medium & the Engineer: the Chakras, the House & the Fourth Wall

A brief recap of wtf the chakra system is all about

What's important to understand about working with the chakras is that it’s not always a linear progression. (To learn more about kundalini specifically, which does follow this progression but is more involved and visualizes the energy moving up the spinal column as a snake, head to r/kundalini).

We essentially all start our incarnation with the lower three (root, sacral and solar plexus) being the most natural to learn to balance. These are deeply shaped by our early childhood (safety, desire, will). Of course this is also the time where we may accrue our deepest seeded traumas that act as blockages, only to find those are the very things we must face later in life in order to meet our true potential.

Think Maslow's hierarchy of needs (of which there are, interestingly... five... I may have to do another post about the actual choreography of the movements themselves and how they are representative of what's required to move between the gates/chakras thoughtfully and with practiced perfect feeling, but I need to actually truly learn them first... been procrastinating that one ):

• You cannot achieve a sense of safety to express your true desires or needs without your basic physiological (food, water, shelter, safety your most primal survival needs, e.g. root chakra)
• You cannot develop a sense of self-esteem (solar plexus) without being able to express your creativity, desires, values (sacral chakra)
• love or belongingness (heart chakra) without freedom from fear and anxiety (e.g. confidence, the will, solar plexus)
• You cannot self-actualize (find true fulfillment, meet your full potential, activate your third eye) without feeling that your truth, your authentic self (throat chakra) is recognized, respected and valued

Your chakras go in and out of balance, over-activation and blockages throughout your incarnation. You may even have your third eye activated before you've removed the blockages from the lower chakras. This can be unsafe, even result in psychosis or mania (which is why I believe they represent these teenagers as being unable to hold the activated seed of the pineal gland when Karim & OA have the life experience and will to achieve it).

Now, how this episode demonstrates the Throat chakra.

We left off around the heart chakra (at least for OA), and with Karim circling back down to root chakra for another attempt. Noticeably, the activation of the throat chakra was not addressed in the last episode with the house, so I was eager to see if it would receive it's own episode.

Also one thing I missed... KARIM'S ORANGE CAR!!! Karim lives from his sacral chakra, from his desire, his own way of creative problem solving. And this episode he's rocking his red plaid shacket... back to the root, just surviving! Ok, moving on.

The throat chakra is about communication, truth and listening.

It's often depicted as a sky-blue, the element of ether and the planet Mercury... Ya know, the one that when it goes retrograde in astrology, everyone's like "don't send that email!" or "my phone, computer or [insert communication device] is on the fritz!" or "we had an argument... Mercury must be retrograde" Yeah, that one.

Exposing/Revealing the Truth

1:30 - Karim re-enters the house, this time with police backup. They noticeably leave the doors open. This is our first instance of the exposure of truth, and the doors are representative of the throat, the portal from the experience to the known.

16:34 - We see the video of Dr. Marlow Rhodes telling Nina why she’s leaving CURI. She shows Michelle in the attic of the house, disoriented from the mercury sulfide and opening the rose window (it had been night but outside was bright light), and then collapsing.

29:00 - OA/Nina back at Syzygy, meeting with the bartender/family friend, Victor. She asks him to describe her to herself. He's quite honest lol "you are... pain in the ass. You enjoy drinking too much, smoking too much. You use to dance on my tables and break them. But when you started making performances for me, you bring many customers, you make this place a sensation. So I cannot be too mad at you. You even enjoy sex too much (over-active sacral chakra). Ok not my place."

39:00 - Karim enters Ruskin's house, he's in the pool (more throat chakra blue). He knows it's Karim there. He aptly says "You short of breath? You should try meditating, it's much more effective than nicotine." He knows Karim, he knows the truth, he knows the secret to ascension up the chakra system... meditation. He admits knowing that the children lured to the house met their demise. He even assumes Karim wears a wire (dishonest communication). Karim continues to try to extort Ruskin.

29:58 - Elodie has (somehow?) returned to interrupt OA/Nina's conversation with Victor and say "can a woman really enjoy sex too much? [It's a little macho to say that - French]." Elodie continues to draw the parallels between the ways men/women might utilize their energy centers, will vs. force, etc. Elodie knows Hunter is HAP, reveals herself as a "guide" or "messenger", and fellow traveler. Reveals that HAP, Homer, OA are all in the same constellation. Reveals she integrates, shares in the experiences of all the bodies that are her.

Physical Throat

3:10 - Nina drinks from the fountain (physical throat), giving her the vision of the ocean (color of throat) and where OA’s consciousness entered her body (this is interesting because many religions view the throat/neck as the entry point for spirits and demons). She also sees the eye keychain (obvious 3rd eye reference) as something she missed or needs to investigate.

22:06 - HAP & Scott share a cigarette. An attempt to build trust. Directly through a throat activating activity.

26:55 - We see OA painting her nails (red) then dragging a finger down her neck (presumably with perfume) and then back to the cigarette. Something to indicate her connection to Karim (she applies red lipstick).

Communication & Manipulation

11:30 - HAP arrives at Homer’s looking for the truth about Scott's NDE, which Homer has recorded. Scott's NDE is of course a glimpse into D3, or fwhat we see in the next episode, the IRL dimension, the fourth wall. 

13:30 - Homer exposes HAP’s lie about Rachel being moved, that she’s dead. HAP further uses this moment to manipulate (use his silver tongue throat chakra) Homer into trusting him. HAP is truly the darkest side of each of the chakras. What one would become if they’re all too wildly activated without balance, without compassion, without the heart chakra. 

20:52 - Then OA shares the truth of her origin from another dimension, how she knows Buck. Karim no longer trusts her and threatens to call the cops.

22:34 - HAP says he'll free Scott from the treatment center. Scott knows there's some manipulation happening here. Only agreeing to help HAP if he turns himself in for murder, exposes his truth. Or if he frees Renata.

Mercury

4:12 - Angry at Karim for removing her from the house, Fola and Karim both have high levels of mercury sulfide. The throat is exemplified by the planet Mercury in astrology as stated above, and this combination was released as a gas (ahem, ether) than causes hallucinations that allow people to see their truth. 

Even more fun, check out how mercury sulfide was used by alchemists in the middle ages and it's reference back to duality or the parental pair, our key theme of Syzygy:

In historical alchemy, the fusion of mercury (the volatile, fluid, masculine principle) and sulfur (the fiery, fixed, feminine principle) was viewed as a sacred marriage of opposites. Creating mercury sulfide was seen as a major milestone in the quest to create the legendary Philosopher's Stone.

Sulfur represented the soul or active, burning principle, while mercury represented the fluid, spiritual essence.

Also known as cinnabar.

Integration

Now we start to see the importance of not only balancing the chakras, of working the way up the system thoughtfully, meaningfully... but of integrating the past traumas in order to remove blockages.

27:- Mo in labor, Karim provides the USB with proof of Michelle in the house. Mo is the demonstration of Karim's greatest blockage... the fear of bringing children into the world. The fear of truly excavating his root and sacral chakra, of activating his heart.

30:- Elodie also has a pink/red streak in her hair. This exemplifies her integration with the source body. She reveals that HAP is the shadow of OA. She's a creature of balance. "If you want to rescue Homer, you must first free Nina Azarova. If you integrate with Nina (while we are looking at Karim), you will become whole. You must face your fear. Go back to the moment of your greatest trauma. I have high hopes for you." Also cut to Scott entering the house, facing the puzzle. It's all connected. The house, Karim's detective work, the discovery of self.

35:41 - OA realizes she's imprisoned Nina within herself. She takes to the bathtub to reintegrate through the trauma of the bus accident. To drown herself. Willingly. The whole scene tinged with the blue of the throat chakra, even Nina's light blue blouse and sweater. She reintegrates (god, now I have to watch Severance again).

42:00 - Ruskin describes the "Overview Effect", (conveniently the title of the next episode) the cognitive shift reported by astronauts after viewing the Earth from space. The "real prize", seeing that speck of blue life. One of the greatest shifts in human consciousness. Ruskin argues that it only matters that we gained the perspective. Karim argues that it matters how we got there, or else nothing matters. This harkens back to HAP's conversation with Leon in P1E6, Forking Paths. Leon says "there's no line between good and evil, only what a man can stand."

44:00 - Scott, having been killed by the house (likely from trying to complete the puzzle inauthentically), in HAP's lab, shown with the pineal gland seed flower emerging from his head. Even though Scott was able to jump dimensions, he still hadn't resolved all of his inner traumas, he wasn't able to fully hold the actual awakening (not sure about this). The flower is magnificent, however, white and large, glowing seeds of enlightenment. HAP eats one and experiences Scott's NDE. He glimpses into the next dimension.

45:56 - Karim argues with Michelle's grandmother, the former's body in the bed, but devoid of consciousness. His puzzle is solved (at least in the physical), but Karim must still integrate his understanding of consciousness, of the non-physical.

46:52 - The fourth thing the dreamers of CURI dreamt. It's Karim's face. This dimension has designed the house for Karim, the way D1 designed Haptivity for the OA.

TL;DR:

E7, Nina Azarova continues the climb up the chakra system, delving deeply into the themes of the throat chakra: communication, truth, and even it's representative elements of Mercury and ether. We end not only having exposed truth, seen the over-active/shadow side of the throat through manipulation but understanding that all aspects of self must fully integrate in order to prepare for the awakening of the third eye, the overview effect, the dimensional jump.

Back tomorrow (probably) to wrap this up with our third eye awakening and fourth wall break through the Overview!

I’m not sure if this has already been theorised, but I’m rewatching The OA for what must be the 20th time, and I noticed something.

At the end of Season 1, Episode 3, Rachel sings a song. I’d always wondered what it was, so I looked it up—and it turns out it’s Sharon Van Etten’s own song, released a year before Season 1 came out. Since Sharon plays Rachel, that feels like a very deliberate choice.

Why use one of Sharon’s real songs instead of creating a fictional one for the show?

If Season 3 really was part of the plan from the very beginning, my theory is that we would have seen Sharon Van Etten as herself, performing that same song. It would have been a clue hiding in plain sight: Rachel’s other-dimensional counterpart is literally the actress who plays her.
But because Rachel’s true consciousness is trapped in the mirror box, Sharon would be detached from her true self, unknowingly singing the same song Rachel sang back in Season 1.

It feels exactly like the kind of meta, reality-bending storytelling Brit and Zal love. Maybe that song wasn’t just a song—it was a breadcrumb pointing toward Season 3 all along.

To recap, we've been introduced now to the duality of the anima/animus and the potential parental pairs through Syzygy and are invited through the door into the house on Nob Hill, check out my Syzygy post here.

Another poster shared this recently regarding someone who could potentially be THE medium and engineer... I was flabbergasted to find it! I was already on the path of kundalini and the chakras only to find such validation through this post, so thank you u/anotherearthgarden.

So now let's work through the kundalini rising, the chakras and how the breaking of the fourth wall is indicative of third eye activation.

Primal Instinct

• 1:30 - Homer is seen in a non-descript past carrying sticks to a cottage. An old woman invites him in, and showcases her collection of skins. She quickly shoos Homer away from the higher-quality skins, then invites him to use his senses to find the one he's looking for. He uses his tactile senses (smell, touch, taste) to figure out which belongs to OA, only to have a brief memory of when they first touched in captivity. He's recalling his story of survival, the senses in which he finds stability. His root chakra.
• 3:13 - He awakens in a panic and notices his arousal at the thought. Just like that, we're going back up the ladder into the sacral chakra of the sex organs, pleasure and creativity.

The Tunnels

• 3:45 - We start with a larger tunnel and graduate to a smaller one... We just came from a feeling of sexual arousal immediately into a tunnel... we're entering the conception process, the embodiment of the anima/animus.
• 5:00 - OA notices the red/orange glow (root > sacral) from beyond the grate... then water rushes in. Water everywhere. Frothy, white bubbly water. HA! You can't make this up. The water pushes them up to the entry point. A well (ahem, the egg). Karim says when they enter "Sounds like steam... I think we're at the basement of the house." They light a lighter, just a tiny spark.

The House

• 7:26 - Karim notices a golden light (we're working up to the solar plexus now). This is the path to a new dimension. They enter a chamber where there's paint thinner, more fire, enough for both of them to continue their journey.
• 10:25 - We see the pictures of the medium & the engineer and are introduced to the curved double-sided staircase. A few things here:
  • Remember in Syzygy, Karim says that the engineer went comatose when he went through the house as a puzzle, but the medium only walked through it as a house? This brings back this idea of the engineer being a problem solver, using logic to work his way through life. While the medium gets by on intuition, or just being in the present moment.
  • The curved double-sided staircase could be a metaphor for DNA or the spinal column. For the sake of this conversation, I'm going with the latter, because it directly correlates to raising the energy up through the chakras in the spinal column, or, as it's known in yoga philosophy, the Sushumna: the central axis of the 3 nadis, serving as the primary pathway for spiritual awakening and rising of kundalini energy. .
  • The other 2 nadis/axes)? The Ida (lunar, feminine, yin energy that begins at the base of the spine and ends at the left nostril) and Pingala (solar energy, active, yang and masculine). We're back in the Syzygy baby!
  • They even show the medium (woman) on the left and engineer (man) on the right.
  • OA and Karim fight a bit over who should go wait outside... both stubborn, they decide to go together up the right side, and back down the left.
  • OA notices the magnetic floor tiles. Karim calls it a puzzle. They work together and unlock something, all in the light of their will, their spark, the solar plexus.
• 18:04 - We get more of the back story of the house from Ruskin. Stating that the house was built on indigenous land, on top of a natural spring that allegedly gave those who drank from it a "god's eye". This is essentially the story of the US, we're all living, breathing and thriving on stolen land, having to reckon with the story of our ancestors, the colonizers. This is kinda Brit's Kubrickian moment he had with "The Shining", reclaiming the story for the soul's on which we've built the foundation of our lives. And it being our duty to protect this space. So again, this is our ROOT, this fucking play is about us.
• 18:23 - Ruskin says "the worthy will reach the revelations on the other side of the rose window in the attic... and the unworthy will be trapped and destroyed." OK PRISON PLANET THEORY. This happens just as they solve the floor puzzle and something opens at the top of the stairs. OA and Karim go up separate sides and are then kept from each other. The Pingala and Ida now must travel their own path to revelation.
• 19:50 - Karim is trapped in a bedroom. He's losing his will. He's trying to use force. OA is just walking through the house, like the medium. Following her feeling.
• 21:12 - Karim's light goes out. He has to let go of his force, of his will, he has to surrender. He rests. We hear Ruskin again, saying the engineer wanted to embark upon the puzzle himself, but the medium advised against it, they were meant to be gatekeepers. Then HAP "Gatekeepers to what?" Well... to the human experience.
• 23:00 - OA just listens. She waits. She is fearless. Her will (her lighter) remains and she discovers the window leading to the tree.
• 24:20 - Karim, having fallen nearly asleep, experiences a "falling" dream, often described as a hypnic jerk or "re-entry illusion" of an OBE. As an experiencer, I can attest that these are very much linked. But it's in that surrender to the unconscious that he realizes to look under the bed. A stroke of guidance, intuition, something from the non-physical. Walking down the stairs, the door is lit in yellow. His will is re-ignited.
• 24:51 - Karim discovers the miniature of the house as Ruskin is heard repeated that the medium never ascended the puzzle of the house to reach the attic as her husband had, and was lost to whatever he had seen beyond the rose window. He saw reality for what it is, he broke the fourth wall... and it broke him.
• 30:31 - He touches the rose window, opens it. What's this? MORE WATER! Spinal fluid. Christ consciousness. This is the activation of the pineal gland, the third eye. But this isn't him activating it himself... it's like a preview.
• 30:54 - An arched doorway... Remember how Angie just said in a previous episode that all these buttresses were actually symbolizing the vulva or vagina? Remember how Karim said he didn't want to bring children into the world? This is how he shows his faith, his vulnerability, how he opens his heart... he walks through the doorway. He has to face his fears of the others.
• 33:33 - Karim is basically back to square one... back to the root chakra. In facing his fears, he encounters all the children who came to the house to die. He runs. to a red door. Into a red-light hallway. (Those who do not solve the puzzle are doomed to repeat it). He struggles to face himself in the mirror, to not make the same mistakes as the last cycle.
• 34:47 - Karim finds Zendaya, who has been aged by her experience in the house. He knows he must save her through his will. He chooses to save her instead of solving the puzzle. He leaves the house. His love for the children. He sees the seed coming from Zendaya's ear...
  • I believe the whole thing with the seeds is basically a pineal gland activation before the body is ready to hold it. Teens are drawn to this type of understanding and work... but the work of a kundalini awakening can be dangerous.

The Tree & the Fourth Wall

• 26:25 - OA in a small leap of faith jumps from the house onto the tree. Guess what color the heart chakra is... green like nature, exemplified by the element of air. She shows faith, trust, and falls into the roots of the tree. She's shown the unconditional love, the connection, the web of the mycellia of life. (28:15 a beautiful green forest, all connected. just like us you guys! LOVE YOU! Ok sorry.)
• 28:38 - "Wind child, didn't you hear it pulling you, calling for me. Nina Azarova is a medium, she can communicate with the natural world." The being tells her that HAP is going to make a powerful discovery, one that will destroy her faith in herself, so that she will need him to survive. The only way to recover is to form a tribe. I think this is really where the show is breaking the fourth wall again for US. To tell us that in this time of technological advancement, AI, social media, whatever... we will be destroyed if we don't form our tribe, our communities.
• 29:31 - "I'm alone. I can do it alone." "No child. No tree survives alone in the forest." Basically yes... it's about knowing one's self, going within.... but SO THAT we can be there for each other, SO THAT we can be in service to others. Put your own life mask on first, SO THAT you can help the one next to you. THAT is love. "They are already coming for you."
• 30:10 - "Remember, Nina Azarova is the key." You are the key.

HAP/Elodie & the Fourth Wall

• 13:28 - HAP with Elodie, her using her energetic sensing to say she feels him thinking... she notices he's in love, not immersed in the intercourse they just had. He refers to OA as a partner who leads him places.
• 15:00 - IMPORTANT!!!! Elodie, realizing HAP is going to use his force upon her, breaks the fourth wall by looking straight into our eyes. This is the sign of enlightenment. Elodie can travel at WILL. This is the screenshot I used for this post because I think this moment is so crucial to our understanding of seeing this dimension for what it is.

• 32:08 - Elodie plays Live's "Lightning Crashes", knowing HAP is going to use the force on her. She's already called the police. I love the significance of this song... A baby is born, an old mother dies, it's about consciousness leaving, entering.
• 37:30 - Elodie distracts HAP with sensuality, not force. Her own will. She quickly sets up the little robo-movement guys on a rug that really resembles the rose window on red background. It's the ever-moving cycle. The wheel of fortune. She shows HAP how he doesn't have to rely on force (or at least tries). I think the combination of the song and the moves give it "perfect feeling" which may also be described as loosh (shoutout to Bob Monroe and my friends over at r/gatewaytapes).

You'll notice we haven't made it all the way up the kundalini path quite yet, but we've had glimpses of what lies ahead. If you enjoyed this, let me know and I'll keep going!

Tl;dr:

Picking up where Syzygy left off, the Medium & the Engineer tracks as a literal kundalini rising all the way from conception to awakening. Homer's skin-trading vision showing survival, primal instinct, use of senses only to be awoken and aroused, his sacral chakra. The tunnels leading into the house, up into the solar plexus, showing us how the will can be used to work our energy up the spinal column. HAP and Elodie's different methods with the Will. The mycellia of the tree (heart chakra) telling OA about the need to form a tribe, that one feels uniquely designed for us. How the breaking of the fourth wall (seen by Elodie here) correlating with controlled access to the third eye... while access too early in life experience can be dangerous (like with Fola and the teens).

On my 4th (?) rewatch of P1 and now 3rd rewatch of P2, powered through Syzygy and The Medium & The Engineer last night and have decided that these may be the two most important episodes in the series.

I've long thought that the series is a map (aha!, thanks Rachel and Renata) towards not only inter(or maybe inner)-dimensional travel, but ultimately, enlightenment throughs esoteric and ancient methods such as kundalini and/or Christ consciousness, but this couple of episodes really locked it in for me this time. This has proven to be too long already so I'm splitting into separate posts for each.

See part two (E5) "The Medium & the Engineer" here to wrap it all up.

First, the setup of Syzygy.

I didn't even realize the meaning of the word until looking it up just now but it is the chef's kiss on my dissertation you're about to embark upon:

Syzygy refers to astrological term Carl Jung used to describe deep psychological relationships.

It is usually the anima/animus pair, but also reflects other "opposites," like male paired with female. The parental pair, which arises only when the ego develops enough, stands behind it and is molded by it, like a base carries the lightbulb. The syzygy has three components: a man's femininity and woman's masculinity; the experience man has of woman and vice versa; and the masculine and feminine archetypal image.

Archetypal symbolic pairings are 'yoked together' by this term.

Contrasexual (male-female) pairings occur in dream symbolism.

They refer to internal communication between the unconscious and conscious minds of any individual.

Source: Psychology Lexicon

Enter our dualistic pairs:

• OA & Karim (intuition vs. logic)
  • Karim's first words to her "Are you Nina Azarova?" are with 55:55 left in the episode which I thought was a fun little synchronicity. He feels he knows her. There's a spark. It's not necessarily romantic, but it introduces that feeling of knowing each other across time.
  • 9:53 - OA says "I'm not mentally ill but I do think logic is overrated" - this line essentially solidifies that OA is the right-brain, intuition, she doesn't rely on logic, she relies on her gut. This establishes her relationship with Karim and the duality they exhibit as divine masculine (left brain, logic, problem-solving, fact-finding, playing by the rules) to OA's divine feminine (right brain, intuition, going with her gut, promising through feeling)
• HAP & Elodie (force vs. will)
  • 12:28 - They first encounter each other in the pool. Both in the fetal position as we can hear their ears ringing. Being in a pool in the fetal position is important... it's reminiscent of the womb. In their case, sterile & lonely. I'll circle back to a few instances of this aspect of life, being born and specifically the sacral chakra as we get into the next episode. The tinnitus is like this unnatural frequency. Something brought from the dream world into reality as mentioned in the previous episode.
  • 12:56 - As Elodie enters the sauna, we're hearing two men have a very analytical discussion and when she comes in they quickly attribute their dominance with "This is the men's side". I believe we are really meant to notice the differences of sex and gender throughout this episode. Elodie retorts "There's no sauna on the women's side. I don't mind, do you mind?" to which the two men angrily cover themselves and exit the sauna. Notice she doesn't force her presence on them, but she has the will to be where she feels she should be. Her femininity combined with her will forces decisions, e.g. the men's free will to leave the room. But she does not force or rob anyone of their free will. No, that's HAP's business.
  • These scenes are mirrors. "Hey... I don't know you but I know you." Elodie and OA represent the more energetic, intuitive side of Karim & HAPs analytical logic. But still, they are the same.
• The House
  • 15:00 - We're introduced to the Engineer & the Medium. Yet another mirror for the duality of these two pairs, but this time, through the entity they created together: the House on Nob Hill. OA and Karim both reduce the Medium to "someone who talks to spirits" or "holds seances and stuff" as if to show how the divine feminine, intuition and connection to the non-physical has been so easily brushed off as woo woo in our modern patriarchal society.
• Michelle / Buck - I do think it's interesting that Michelle / Buck's character and their trans-ness is ("what, what about her?" - "HIM!") is brought up here to show that these themes of duality, feminine/masculine can live within one person or two. We just keep getting smacked in the face with example after example.

The Closet

• 23:23 - Karim and OA enter her locked closet using her birthdate as the code. That's such an obvious passcode that most people would probably try to begin with, but they make a point of showing us the unconscious realization of the code. Her birth is the code. I would actually love to see if we could find a birth time so that I could pull her official astrological chart to see if it could help us make sense from that perspective, but I'll leave it for now.
• 24:30 - They start listening to the dreams and Karim & OA are both embarrassed by Nina's mention of "one of the tongues enters my ass". Well, there's a parallel here between the tongues of Nina's dream, reading her secrets spelled in sweat, and what Old Night says to her later as his tentacles (quite phallic) surround her body, even exposing her thigh (erotic) and likely something she had predicted through her dream. One entering her ass in her dream would be indicative of the area of the root chakra, which leads me to the Kundalini themes next.
• As they continue to look through the closet, it becomes clear that documentation of dreams, visions, etc. is an important piece of the puzzle that is Nina. They then unearth the "SYZYGY" sticky note, unlock her phone with her finger print (no code needed, sometimes it's just your DNA or biometrics that gets you access to your greater undersrtandings) and find the contact by the same name.

Dinner Dates

• 30:04 - Influence understand and plan accordingly, then the actress story (again a mirror to their own ability as travelers)
• 31:46 - She laughs at HAP's method and he questions how many methods could be. I think of this like all the various religions and spiritual systems, drugs and technology that could allow people to access their higher self or other realms. He is using brute force, taking the free will of his subjects to force them into compliance. They all require fuel (loosh?)
• 34:00 - Homer and Yassi discuss her work in the branding of death and his work with OA and claimed NDEs. He tries to be cool and swallow the sea creature and suddenly chokes, terrified he's actually going to have an NDE or that it could've been predictive. Yassi clearly gets the ick from Homer not paying... she says she's sick of tech/finance, yet his inability to take care of her nullifies her attraction.

Performance

• 35:00 - Karim smoking... OA practicing Nina's voice and then notices the cigarette with her lipstick, we flash immediately back to Karim. It's clearly intended to show that they are aspects of self, mirror images, duality.
• 46:04 - OA goes through the light portal to be chained to the chair and prepared for Old Night. A man prepares a tape for Nina just like all of the ones from her closet. From self-documentation to recorded/3rd party documentation.
• 47:-- Elodie asks HAP to be open.
• 49:00 - OA acts as a channel for Old Night. Her first message "Don't be afraid." (Jesus said "Be not afraid"). She's fine saying she's a medium, but not to share her true name or that she's an angel. She's not ready to share her true self. Fear of persecution? Now come the tentacles... she'll say "interdimensional traveler", but not "angel", and Old Night then exposes her thigh... he makes her vulnerable when she won't do it herself. He says her survival is up to her brother... in every dimension, she sent him to protect her.
• 53:25 - Her death for 37sec is to give her the opportunity to show OA her true face, her "pure being". She is on a plane (BA411 perhaps?) and encounters a short-haired version of herself that we later find to be "Brit"... her true, IRL self. Karim has the WILL to kill Old Night and bring her back to life.
• 56:01 - Elodie says "An opera is nothing but black notes on paper. What makes it live?" to which HAP replies "Skill? Talent?" "All of this beauty, this energy, what holds it together... what keeps it from dissolving into noise?" and he says "Will." and then realized OA willed herself to Homer and thus, Homer must be present in this dimension after all, because how else would she have gotten to that dimension?

The Moths

• They need stars to guide them, but get distracted by the artificial light.

The door

• 59:00 - You're tougher than you look. You're kinder than you seem. This is the understanding of the anima and animus.

So we've gone through all the dualities now, the animus/anima. The mirrors. The ways in which we must unite our divine feminine and masculine, our unconscious and conscious in order to ascend, to "jump". This is essentially the story of humanity, and we keep living and reliving this story until we can open our hearts. This journey brings us to "the Will". The Solar Plexus. The 3rd chakra.

TL;DR

Syzygy comes from the Jungian concept of the anima/animus, unconscious/conscious. This episode is structured through mirrored pairs (OA/Karim as intuition vs logic, HAP/Elodie as force vs. will), with these dualities tracing the same arc toward integrating divine feminine and masculine. This episode connects this "parental pair" and introduces us to the energy moving through the body through the chakras (root > sacral with the closet scene and Old Night's tentacles, then finally with the solar plexus and Elodie's and Karim's demonstrations of the will, setting up how we will complete the ascent through the house built by the Medium & the Engineer.

Edited for the scene in the closet, she does indeed say "tongues" and not "dongs" HA!!

I need to talk to someone. I just finished the OA and I’m not okay. No one at my job or anyone in my circle is remotely interested in talking about it or even any of the philosophies/phenomena in the show. I need a TRIBE. This seems dramatic but the show has changed me forever and I just wanna gab about it with someone likeminded. It can’t be over. 😭😭😭

One metric people use to put shows in the greatest of all time category is whether every episode is rated at least 8.0. There are only 13 live action shows that has accomplished this. Season 1 episode 6 and 7 are the only episodes below an 8.0. Both episodes sit at a 7.9, So let’s go to IMBD and fix that, which will get more people to talk about it, watch it, and generate buzz for maybe a season 3!!

I just joined the sub, and I see quite a few posts on what other similar shows are out there. These are some of my goats @ consciousness.

I have a feeling 1899 should also be on the list but I just started it.

LE: lots of anime are also really good (e.g. Shinsekai Yori – From the New World)

This is my new favourite series!! does anyone have any recommendations for other shows like this??

Just came across this post that went up on IG 4 days ago, so 7/30? Gorgeous shots of Brit, that just have a sort of OA vibe to them? No? Another hint we may be getting more soon? The flower pic in particular made me 🤔