Finding Ola Hits Home for Some Audiences

By: Mariam Rabah

@MariamRabah10

 

Netflix’s Finding Ola, which debuted in late January, surprised audiences with its unique take on a woman’s life after divorce.

 

The series which was initially thought to be a sequel to Ayza Atgawez (I Want to Get Married), turned out to be a completely different series inspired by the characters of the original show.

 

Six minutes into the first episode, Ola [played by Hend Sabry] finds herself picking up the pieces after her dream life is shattered when her husband Hesham [played by Hany Adel] declares that he wants a divorce. In the episodes that follow, we see her grapple with being a single mother, starting her own business and finding herself.

 

Adjunct Faculty and Professor of Media Economics in the Journalism and Mass Communication department Mireille Barsoum praised how well Ola’s character was written.

 

“In Ayza Atgawez, Ola was blinded by her and her mother’s dream to get married and didn’t find time to explore or understand herself. She was only capacitating herself to be a good asset for marriage and that paved the way to build her character and the storyline in Finding Ola,” Barsoum told The Caravan.

 

Barsoum noted that in the show, Ola strengthened all her relationships, including the one she has with herself. She learned how to accept herself, be a good friend, and set boundaries for people meddling in her life.

 

“For me, this show fixed all Ola’s deformed relationships with everyone in her life; she found herself, so she started being good with herself, her friends, and she started putting boundaries to all aspects of her life,” Barsoum stated.

 

Audience reaction to Finding Ola was somewhat conflicting. For some people, it represented reality and was praised for inspiring women to love and accept themselves; for others, the series was seen as an entertaining work of fiction.

 

“It is an entirely different show that I like better than Ayzaa Atgawez. It’s a bit unrealistic how Ola’s social class has changed in Finding Ola [from the middle to the upper class], but her character development was impressive. Ola Abdel Sabour has changed a lot,” Malak Mostafa, a junior majoring in Psychology, said.

 

But Adjunct Professor in the Sociology department Hind Fatfat believes that the series did not effectively handle the social issue of divorce because it mainly focused on the emotional costs. The show didn’t focus on the legalities such as parental custody and finances, as well as showing the societal stigma against divorced women.

 

“Finding Ola is a work of fiction that is trending because it’s full of wishful thinking like Turkish serials that can’t be representative of the Egyptian population. It represents a selected portion of privileged women from the upper class, so it is not a show that allows deep analysis of society,” Fatfat said.

 

She added that the series presented an idealized scenario of a woman having a divorce where it was smooth and civil, leading viewers to wish it could be true for everyone. Additionally, Fatfat  noted that the pace with which Ola overcame her grief and depression to start a business from scratch and move on was too fast to be realistic.

 

There are some scenes where Finding Ola depicted real situations and emotions that audiences could relate to regardless of their socioeconomic differences. For example, both parents and children could relate to the fifth episode when Ola and her children, Nadia and Salim, join a parents’ camp – Basecamp Ain Sokhna.

 

Originally, this camp was meant for fathers to bond with their children. For health reasons, Hesham did not accompany the children – Ola did. Viewers witnessed a deeper level of bonding between Ola and her children after opening up to one another.

 

“Episode five was very emotional, and I personally related to it because I have been to this camp with my kids. Ola’s conversion with Nadia telling her that she is her mother before being her friend was on point,” said Public Administration alumna Amany Abdeen.

 

The psychological weight represented in the series was also considered to be accurate. Adjunct Professor in the Psychology department Dina Elturky praised the show for highlighting Ola’s psychological awareness as a mother.

 

“In episode one when Nadia tells her mother ‘I am on your side’ when she knew about her parents’ divorce, Ola’s response ‘We are not in a war; you’re not taking sides; we both love you’ was the right thing to do as a parent who cares about their children’s well-being,” said Elturky.

 

Finding Ola is a series that touched on social issues but did not present solutions. It provided viewers with various perspectives about divorce, parenting, and friendship, making it relatable to a broad spectrum of audiences.

 

“The ending was fair to all audiences allowing all generations to think of what Ola would do next according to how they view women,” said Management of Information and Communication Technology junior Ahmed Sherif.