If you want to see Sadie Sink harness the power of rock to save the world, then you definitely want to watch O’Dessa on Hulu.
Written, directed and compose by Geremy Jasper (known for his 2017 drama Patti Cakes), O’Dessa is a true sci-fi rock opera that feels like it’s straight out of the 1980s. Sink, best known for playing Max Mayfield on Stranger Things, gets to flex her impressive vocal skills as O’Dessa, a 19-year-old girl with a destiny to save her dying world. On her epic journey, O’Dessa encounters both true love (a fellow performer named Euri, played Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and true evil (a sadistic game show host named Plutonovich, played by Murray Bartlett).
While O’Dessa has plenty of style, it’s a little thin and chaotic when it comes to actual story. If you lost the thread of the plot while you jamming out to the O’Dessa soundtrack, never fear. Decider is here to help. Read on for a breakdown of the O’Dessa movie plot summary and the O’Dessa movie ending explained, including the O’Dessa ending meaning.
O’Dessa plot summary:
We meet O’Dessa (Sadie Sink), a 19-year-old farm girl, in an post-apocalyptic version of the world that been poisoned by plasma, a highly flammable, oil-like liquid that kills vegetation and wildlife. O’Dessa lives with her sickly mom on their dried-up farm. We learn that O’Dessa’s father left the family to “ramble,” or travel and play music, years ago. He died on the road. O’Dessa’s mother never received a body, only his guitar in a casket. She buried the guitar. While digging the grave, she struck plasma. The plasma killed the farm. The family was able to use the plasma as an energy source, but now that’s all dried up, too.
We also learn there is a prophecy on O’Dessa’s dad’s side of the family that “the seventh son” will change the world with a song. Seven generations back, an eye-less prophet, “the Earth’s spirit,” struck a willow tree with lightning and told O’Dessa’s ancestor, Galloway, to make a guitar out of burning wood. The spirit told Galloway that “the Seventh Son” would perform a song on that guitar that would save the dying world. O’Dessa’s father told her “Pecker or not, you are the seventh son,” and that she has a song in her that will change the world.
O’Dessa’s mother dies. O’Dessa digs up her father’s guitar, the Willa, and burns down her house, and her mother’s body, with plasma. She sets out on the road to ramble and fulfill her destiny. But her guitar is almost immediately stolen by scoundrels who said they were headed “Satylite City,” one of the last remaining cities in the world. O’Dessa hitches a ride to the city to find and retrieve her guitar.
In the city, O’Dessa learns about a TV media personality that the public worships like a god named Plutononvich (Murray Bartlett). She witnesses a civilian being publicly tortured for speaking badly of Plutonovich. She runs into an old woman with dark glasses peddling electronic toys, who looks a lot like the prophet from the beginning of the movie. She also finds her guitar in a pawn shop for $250, but she doesn’t have any money to buy it back. When she finds a nightclub that pays performers, she fashions a banjo out of some trash.
At the club, O’Dessa is entranced by another performer, Euri Dervish (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Later, O’Dessa helps Euri shake off a predatory fan who likes him a bit too much. O’Dessa introduces herself, and plays a song for Euri. He’s just as entranced by her as she was by him.
O’Dessa and Euri being a passionate, romantic relationship. Euri reveals that he is basically an indentured servant/musical prostitute who can’t escape his boss, Neon Dion (Regina Hall). Neon even strictly controls who Euri socializes with, so his relationship with O’Dessa must stay a secret.
Euri encourages O’Dessa to busk for money to buy back her guitar. For a moment, they have a beautiful life of playing music and living together, in love. But soon, Neon Dion discovers them together. Neon electrocutes O’Dessa with her electrified brass knuckles. When O’Dessa wakes up, Euri is gone. But he left O’Dessa a gift: Her guitar. In a note to her, he explains he bought back the guitar by skimming money from Neon. He tells her to take the guitar, ramble, and leave Euri behind.
But O’Dessa remembers advice from her dying mother: True love is the most important thing in this world. She rescues Euri, who is strung out and high, from a disastrous performance in which he rages against Plutonovich. Then O’Dessa confronts Neon, and kills her. She nurses Euri back to health, and they agree to get married and run away together. O’Dessa gives Euri the ring her father gave her mother: A wound-up guitar string.
But on the day of the wedding, Euri is kidnapped by and taken to Onderworld, where he will be punished for speaking ill of Plutonovich. How do they punish those who speak ill of Plutonovich? By forcing them to compete in an American Idol-style reality talent show, hosted by Plutonovich. Plutonovich says he’s looking for “The One,” and will grant the winner of the show one wish. But if he doesn’t like your performance—if you’re not “the one”—you get a “face job” makeover with plasma that distorts your face, and scrambles your brain.
O’Dessa finds Euri’s ring left behind at his apartment, and hears on TV that Euri is set to compete on the season finale of Plutonovich’s reality talent show. Horrified, O’Dessa flees the apartment. We see a little electronic gadget on the bed, suggesting that the old woman with the dark glasses who sells those toys was there.
O’Dessa is too late to catch the boat that takes Euri to Onderland. But the old woman with the glasses approaches O’Dessa, takes of her glasses, and reveals that she is, in fact, the eye-less blind prophet. The prophet tells O’Dessa that because she is the Seventh Son, she has “the seventh string,” aka the guitar string ring that her dad gave to her mom, and that she gave to Euri. O’Dessa unfurls the ring and adds the string to her guitar. The prophet tells her that she “can do more than save [Euri],” and that she “can bring light to the darkness.” So O’Dessa heads to Onderland to save her love and the world.
Just before Euri is set to dance for his life, O’Dessa bursts onto stage with an offer for Plutonovich. She believes she is “the one,” and wants to perform to prove it, and spare Euri’s life. Plutonovich agrees, on the condition that it be a “sudden death round,” meaning if he doesn’t like her performance, she’ll be incinerated on the spot. He also cuts all of her guitar strings, save one, telling her that if she really is the one, then she only needs one string.
O’Dessa ending explained:
O’Dessa plays her song with only one string… and, apparently, a backing band. It’s awesome, and everyone—even Plutonovich—agrees that she is, in fact, the one. Plutonovich agrees to give O’Dessa her prize: one wish. O’Dessa, of course, wishes for Euri. Plutonovich returns Euri to O’Dessa… but he tricks her. Euri has undergone a “face job,” meaning his face has been distorted and his mind is gone. Plutonovich explains that there can only be one winner, which means all other contestants, including Euri, must be losers.
In her grief and rage, O’Dessa lights her guitar on fire and throws it into the plasma-based “Eye in the Sky” that watches over the stage. Earlier in the film, Euri had said that there was so much plasma in Plutonovich’s studio, that it would be easy to burn to the ground. So that’s exactly what O’Dessa does. Flames engulf her, and the screen goes white. When O’Dessa opens her eyes, she’s surrounded by green grass, and Euri is there, smiling at her. They kiss.
We then see the Onderland island explode and burn to the ground. In the aftermath, we see that Plutonovich’s spell over the population has been broken. Instead of being glued to their TV sets, people are socializing with each other. Green is returning to the earth. In the final scene of the movie, we see Roach, a young girl that O’Dessa met through Euri, playing on the handmade banjo that O’Dessa gave to her. She’s wearing O’Dessa’s leather jacket. And with that, the movie ends.
What is the O’dessa ending meaning?
Well, first, I think we can safely assume that both O’Dessa and Euri died in that explosion, and found each other in the afterlife. Even though we see some green returning to the real world, the sheer vibrancy of the surrounding grass in that last scene where we see them suggests that they are no longer in the real world. O’Dessa’s father said in the beginning of the movie that the bloodline would end with her, so this fits into the prophecy. She played the song that changed the world, and inspired people to free their minds of Plutonovich’s control.
As for the final scene in the movie with Roach, I believe we’re meant to see that as a sign that O’Dessa spirit and songs will live in on through Roach, and the many people that she inspired. There are a lot of ways you can interpret the movie. The plasma could be a statement on oil, plastic, and pollution. Plutonovich can be seen as the media and entertainment that distracts us from our dying world—by exploiting artist for their art, and then literally killing them if they aren’t good enough. And O’Dessa’s song is proof that sometimes good art can still get made, and help wake up people, rather than distract them.
Like a lot of rock opera musicals, the plot of O’Dessa is secondary to the songs, aesthetic, and vibes. It’s really more there as an excuse for dope songs and cool costumes. My suggestion? Just vibe with it. But hey, that’s just my interpretation of the movie. If you have a different take on the O’Dessa ending, let me know in the comments.
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