Over-bizarre sci-fi series that is too hard to follow

THERE was a time when movies, television shows and music albums were all driven by hype in the lead-up to their release dates. But, these days, the trend is to drop surprises as Radiohead and Beyonce have done with their latest records.

While the film industry has yet to catch on, Netflix recently pushed out its latest original drama series The OA with no prior fanfare about a fortnight ago.

Naturally the Internet went wild, especially since the network's previous sci-fi offering Stranger Things was a big hit. But besides sharing the same genre, the two series are as different as chalk and cheese.

The OA, created by Zal Batmanglij (TV's Wayward Pines), together with and starring indie writer-producer-actress Brit Marling, is definitely less accessible (there are no cute kids like Stranger Things, for one) and more of an acquired taste.

Both Batmanglij and Marling are regular collaborators, having worked together on psychological thrillers Sound of My Voice (2011) and The East (2013).

Like Twin Peaks, it's near-impossible to summarise the plot and when both of The OA's creators first pitched the series to network executives, it confused many of them. Kudos to Netflix for giving them a chance but consider that also as a gentle warning to proceed with caution because the convoluted pilot doesn't really do the series any favour by pointing it in a particular direction.

In the opening scene, we see a cam-shot footage of a woman (Marling) dashing across a busy road, climbing onto a bridge and jumping off it. She survives, though, and wakes up in hospital where an elderly couple comes forward and identify her as their long-lost daughter Prairie Johnson.

The latter doesn't recognise them because she was blind when she went missing seven years ago but goes home with them anyway.

Ditching her name and calling herself "The OA" instead, she also begins recording video messages for a certain "Homer", before recruiting the town's misfits, including bad boy Steve Winchell (Patrick Gibson) to help her locate others who have gone missing like her.

That is the plot in a nutshell as the series also includes stories within stories, alternative universes and other things that are often so cryptic it's just plain frustrating and too baffling to figure out.

But that is the kind of stuff the Internet loves and there are already plenty of websites explaining and deconstructing the meaning of The OA, including one of the most bizarre (hint: this is not necessarily a compliment) finale in television history.

Taking a peek at fan pages might involve some spoilers being revealed but it's advisable and worth the risk before you decide to binge-watch all eight episodes.

Rating: C