Summary
In a world of swarming autopilot, Ola is the case study in finding the best in ourselves.
This review of Netflix’s Finding Ola season 1 does not contain spoilers.
Divorce. Existential crisis. Finding Ola adds to the plate of stories that represents a growing insecure world of failing relationships. From the first scene, Ola breaks the third wall, talking to the audience about the frailties in her family, and it reeks of unhealthiness. The series is attempting to represent a fundamental change in one’s life and one that is unexpected.
Ola soon learns that her husband wants a divorce after a quick bicker with each other. Divorce is always seen as a lose/lose situation, but it’s traumatic for the person on the receiving end. The story does well to absorb that initial shock for Ola, who is immediately in denial.
Finding Ola is exactly the kind of story we need. In a world of swarming autopilot, Ola is the case study in finding the best in ourselves. Failures, defeats, and setbacks are human. We should expect them. But navigating a loss is difficult, but so ironically victorious when it’s overcome and it’s realized that there’s a better person at the end of it.
I believe that’s the overwhelming message in Finding Ola. The “breaking the third wall” procedure is not compelling and could be argued as irritable and cheesy, but the sentiment of the story remains when the character sets into her universe. The Netflix series swivels family life and the many levels of divorce crisis. This is a self-aware story, embedded into a comedy, and it works rather well.
At six chapters, Finding Ola finds its feet in a small window. Its comedy is light, but not silly. The drama is surface level, but specific enough to keep the audience engaged. There is a clear intention from the writers to make Ola as relatable and quirky as possible, and it works, with the actress finding thresholds to the character to get the messages across. This series may not be trending worldwide or hyped about on social media, but it is worth a shot because it’s a satisfying story.
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