The first season of Netflix's "The OA" is undoubtedly one of the strangest television experiences ever created. Season two manages to almost outdo its predecessor's peculiarity through a more structured storyline and probably the most meta cliffhanger ending of all time.
Cliffhanger endings are familiar for the series. Season one ended on a massive cliffhanger that left audiences assuming the main character, Prairie Johnson, was dead. Viewers had to wait almost two-and-a-half years for a resolution to that episode.
This season wasn't too far of a departure from the first in terms of theme and narrative outline. The first season told two stories at once through the use of flashbacks, where this season tells two stories through separate dimensional timelines.
There's also a subplot with a few new characters thrown in to spice up the narrative.
Season two follows Prairie in a new dimension after having jumped to an alternate dimension in the finale of the first season. It also focuses on other people who managed to make the dimensional jump as well as characters who helped her make the jump in the first season.
"The OA" has gotten to a point where viewers expect that every rule the show can break is going to be broken, but it seems to be taking too many liberties at times. The creative direction is exciting and innovative, but I'm not sure that it's going to be sustainable.
This is where the spoiler comes.
Season two ends in a massive fourth wall break-in, which several characters jump from their "dimension" to actual "reality" and into the bodies of the actors who play them on the show. It's more than a fourth wall break. They practically just deleted the wall.
Television shows that explore things like time and interdimensional travel are prone to plot holes and that proclivity is intensified when the fourth wall is completely dismantled.
"The OA," through all of its quirks, projects a unique luster that I have yet to find anywhere else on television. I think it will continue to be a successful series, but how it handles the massive fourth wall break will determine whether or not it's a longstanding series for Netflix. Maybe keep the characters on the TV screen.
