The OA caught everyone by surprise. It was known in the industry that Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the well-known duo of the American independent scene, were working on an original series for Netflix. But only. There was no synopsis, trailers, images or cast set. In a day, suddenly, the streaming platform does what it is already accustomed: it releases a surprise video, stirring the public's curiosity. The most insane is that the debut was set for days later. Without much time to think, everyone saw the program arrive and surprise with its different plot of everything already seen. Although risky (who does not advertise your product nowadays?), It is a wise decision: The OA depends on the surprises in its chapters, it needs the public to be disarmed and open to possibilities. With a great marketing campaign, it is quite likely that much of the story would be discovered before, spoiling the experience.
Let's start with the easiest. At least two interesting meanings to the term OA are explicit. The first, suggested by Prairie in the middle of the season, comes from the word "away." The sonority of "away" recalls the sound of the vowels O and A in English. In addition, the word away has much meaning in the plot itself, since the "distant", the remote and the beyond, are always in vogue. The other meaning is more explicit and accessible, but yields a series of questions. In the final stretch of the season, Prairie refers to herself as Original Angel, which makes total sense within the story, as the protagonist considers himself and his captive partners as angels.