Warning: Spoilers for The OA are ahead.
Even though we’re in a brand new dimension for Season 2 of The OA, that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to stop in and see what’s happening back in the first dimension. We’re met with all the same faces we got to know during Season 1 — from Steve to BBA — and yes, that means that Riz Ahmed’s FBI Psychologist Elias Rahim is back on The OA.
But, don’t get your hopes up to see Rahim throughout the entire season, as he only pops in for one short, but certainly memorable, meeting. During Season 1, Rahim spent a lot of time talking to Prairie as her new therapist with the FBI, but in the end more questions were raised about him that his patient. Thanks to some conveniently timed appearances, and books, many viewers began to wonder if Rahim was actually working against Prairie, in order to do… something. At one point during Season 1, French discovers a bunch of books with really similar plots to the same tale Prairie has just told them about growing up in Russia and being held captive by Hap. Even weirder, for some unknown reason, Rahim shows up at Prairie’s house, at night, at this exact same time, leading many to believe that he actually planted these books for the kids to find, and poke holes in Prairie’s story.
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Rahim’s appearance in Season 2 is also really convenient and suspicious, but, it doesn’t sound like he’s actively trying to hurt Prairie (or the OA). Rather, he’s here to help her, because he knows she needs it.
At the end of Episode 5, “Magic Mirror,” Ahmed makes his grand appearance as Rahim, and it lasts about five minutes, give or take. The kids are in trouble (because they’re literally on the run heading across the country to try and help OA, and also Jesse has just killed himself and the kids, along with BBA, fled the scene). French, realizing they need help, calls Rahim who shows up at the motel they’re staying at.
You’d think Rahim would either: 1) bring them back home, because there’s an amber alert out for Buck after all, and he’s FBI; or 2) immediately spring into action and start helping them because he’s in this greater mystery, too. Instead, he just asks a bunch of puzzling questions to try and get the kids to come up with answers on their own. He definitely alludes to dimensions, which BBA decipters to mean that dimensions are connected between these “spaces.” It’s interesting, because Rahim sure seems to know A LOT about how dimensions work and what’s going on between them.
Rahim ends his visit with the reason he’s actually meeting with the kids right now. As he says, as creepy as possible, he’s not here to help them, he’s here to help “her,” because he knows “she’s going to need it.” He’s obviously referring to OA, there’s no doubt about that. But, uh, why? What do we still not know about Rahim and what he’s doing with the FBI?
There’s another added twist to this, because earlier in the season Old Night (you know, the octopus) references OA’s “brother.” After dropping that tidbit of information, now every male on the show could be OA’s brother. Rahim showing up and saying he’s here to help OA, not necessarily the kids, makes a strong case for him being the mysterious brother. And if he is this brother, that for sure means that Ahmed is coming back for the potential Season 3 of the show, and maybe then we’ll finally learn what he’s up to, and why.