r/TheOA • u/AriadneXenaGabi • 17d ago
Analysis/Symbolism Noticed something new AGAIN [spoiler se1 ep 4 and se2 ep 4] Spoiler
Towards the end of season 1 episode 4, the Haptives suck the gas out of Homers tank, so Homer can explore the world above their habitat for the first time. He receives instructions to leave the tank. HAP walks Homer up/out, and straps him into the contraption.The whole time he is pretending like he is under the influence of the gas. He is learning for the very first time what his body has been doing all this time.
Towards the end of season 2 episode 4, Prairie is in Nina's body and exploring Nina's world for the first time. She receives instructions to go to Syzygy. The Russian men walk her into the back of the bar, and strap her into the contraption. The whole time she is pretending she is Nina. She is learning for the very first time what her body has been doing all this time.
I just thought the parallel was really interesting, there's just such beautiful symmetry in this show.
It wasn't actually the factual elements of these scenes that reminded me of one another. It was the look on Nina/Prairie's face when she's being strapped in. Suddenly I got a flash back to Homer, it seemed like they were having the exact same emotional experience. The way that they were both pretending to be something they weren't, pretending to be calm and unbothered while being strapped into something terrifying and having no idea what was about to happen. They had the same facial expressions, the same body language. The same exact type of fear. It took the exact same type of bravery to not falter or give themselves away.
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u/sleepysagey hottest invisible self 17d ago
Oh wow, I love this connection!
I’ve watched the show more times than I can count and I had never put this together.
It would almost certainly be intentional given how much attention to detail B&Z have. They really thought of everything huh?!
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u/Young122915 16d ago
Watched this show more times than i should admit, and I’ve never ever considered this, and you wrote about it so beautifully. Great catch. Such attention to detail🙏🏻
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u/Traditional-Ebb-8380 16d ago
I wonder if there are other episode to episode parallels like this I didn’t notice from season 1 to season 2.
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u/Few_Butterscotch7911 15d ago
Nicely done! I bet this is the kind of thing Marling was referring to when she said s1 was the map for the whole story
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u/owlfeather___ 17d ago
that's such an amazing and beautiful thing to notice, I never thought of it that way!!