The OA is a series that truly defies description. It's a science fiction show that often bleeds into fantasy, metaphysics, and teen high school drama territory. It's also a series where the less you know going in, the better. All of which makes it a difficult project to review. But all you really need to know about The OA Part II is that it delivers more of what made Part I so appealing, with an even more concentrated dose of mind-bending weirdness to boot.

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Midseason TV Shows We Can't Wait to Watch 28 IMAGES

I'll try not to discuss the plot of Part II in any greater depth than what's revealed in the trailer until the spoiler section on Page 2, but this new batch of eight episodes picks up shortly after the events of Part I. Even as Prairie Johnson (Brit Marling) is mourned by her friends, she awakens in brand new body in a brand new reality. Whether you want to call her Prairie or Nina or The OA, our heroine discovers her odyssey has just begun. There are new mysteries to solve in this alternate universe version of San Francisco. And even as she meets a new ally in the form of dogged private investigator Karim Washington (Kingsley Ben-Adir), she also discovers she hasn't escaped the threat of self-serving researcher Dr. Percy (Jason Isaacs).Right off the bat, Part II makes the interesting and risky decision to abandon the ambiguity of Part 1. Those first eight episodes asked Prairie's new friends and viewers alike to take her at her word as she related her tragic past and touched on the secrets of inter-dimensional travel. As the first season wore on, the question of whether Prairie was actually telling the truth or spinning wild lies became more and more paramount. But with the first episode picking up her story as she adjusts to a literal new life and new world, that ambiguity is gone. No longer is there a question of whether Prairie might be an unreliable narrator.Initially, that shift in focus seems a bit unfortunate. However, it eventually becomes clear that Marling and co-creator Zal Batmanglij have bigger fish to fry this time around. Part II expands the focus on the multiverse theory even as it branches out to explore shared memories and the nature of dreams. This season even throws in a genuine haunted house subplot for good measure. The lines between genres blur even further. The series may still ostensibly qualify as science fiction, but it frequently features horror, fantasy, and even crime drama flourishes.You can't help but respect the ambition at work here. Marling and Batmanglij are clearly preoccupied with the same general themes in all their work, but they're able to give those ideas a much bigger and deeper platform with this series. Looking back, 2011's Another Earth comes across as a rough prototype for what Marling is exploring now. And for the most part, it works. This series throws out all manner of crazy concepts and big ideas. Not everything connects quite as intended, but enough does that the show resonates strongly. There's an almost Lynchian quality to the back half of this season, and that's very much a compliment.Through it all, Marling's performance helps keep Part II grounded and digestible. This new season demands much more of her, as Prairie becomes a woman out of her own body and time and thrust into an unfamiliar life. Her performance becomes very different depending on whether one universe's Prairie or the other universe's Nina is at the controls, and different still when the former tries to imitate the latter.Marling is capably backed up by Ben-Adir. Karim initially comes across as your typical no-nonsense detective, but he becomes something more the deeper he gets dragged into Prairie's world and his own search for a missing teen (a mystery that winds up having a terrific payoff, by the way). Isaacs also remains a very enjoyable villain. His performance doesn't change to the degree Nina's does, but we do see different shades to Hap as he settles into his new life in a new dimension.And luckily, Part II doesn't leave any of the major players behind. One of the bigger weaknesses of Part I was the fact that Prairie's new friends didn't always receive the attention they deserved. Viewers were expected to take their growing connection for granted, as too little of it actually played out on screen. That hurt Steve Winchell's (Patrick Gibson) character arc especially, as he basically morphed from emotionally unstable bully to tragic figure overnight. Part II gives Steve and his friends much more to do, with each struggling to cope with a world without The OA lighting the way. Gibson delivers a strong, emotionally rich performance, as do Phyllis Smith and Ian Alexander.Prairie's fellow captives from Part I also have new roles to play this season, though the less said on that front the better. Suffice it to say, Emory Cohen may well be the MVP of this new season, given the difficult emotional gauntlet Home faces in this new world.The OA also continues to benefit from strong visual and auditory sensibilities. Rostam Batmanglij and his fellow composers craft a musical score that never fails to enhance the mood and create an appropriately otherworldly feel. The series makes excellent use of its San Francisco setting, delivering set pieces that are warm and inviting or terror-inducing, depending on the situation at hand. And while occasionally the show's reach exceeds its grasp where special effects are concerned, it succeeds in bringing visual life to many of the heady concepts at play.Click on to page 2 for our spoiler-filled discussion of the ending of The OA Part II.