Reaction! Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart
Here’s the deal. I‘m glad I went to Omega Mart, but I was so overwhelmed. It was doing way too much — from requiring you to interact with certain things to unlock an anticlimactic video to commenting on the brainwashing that comes with commercialization and, let’s not forget, the ancient space aliens, Omega Mart left me feeling whip-lashed and needing a drink.
Like House of Eternal Return, Omega Mart had a deep and winding story, but unlike my experience in Santa Fe, my time in Las Vegas felt incomplete. At House of Eternal Return, I spent over 6 hours and felt like I truly understood the story, the depth of love between Piper and her missing son Lex, and the context of their universe. But after 5 hours in Omega Mart, I realized how much more I had to learn and yet, I wanted to leave.
I’m going to do my best to summarize the plot of this immersive experience followed by detailing my reaction to some of the spaces. Shout out to Acornllama for helping me piece some of this together!
Plot of Omega Mart
A family tree has branched out into the multiverse. Cecilia Dram is in search of her daughter, Marin, who is stuck in Forked Earth, which is a different dimension that collided with our dimension of Earth long ago and has an abundance of The Source. The Source is a kind of energy that is foundational to the cosmos and inter-dimensional travel. Cecilia’s father, Walter Dram, has also gone missing.
In Walter’s absence, Cecilia appoints herself acting CEO of Dramcorp, the family business, although Walter has appointed someone else, and she unfolds a plot to capitalize on The Source through the LAT (Leadership Ascension Track) and open a portal to find her daughter, Marin. Cecilia doesn’t seem all that concerned with finding her father, though, as she knows he has gone into The Source, obsessed with its potential power.
Cecilia wants to sell you on enlightenment made possible by additive S (The Source) which is a key ingredient in her family’s Omega Mart products. As she says at the entrance to Omega Mart, “your higher self on every shelf.” The Dramcorp Advanced Research Team, DART, discovered that The Source is made of Desire, Purity, Power, Unity, Transition, Mystery, and Creation. She’s made these 7 concepts the foundation of the LAT, a program she markets for experiencing transhumanism in the vein of her father’s leadership style. In the process of making Omega Mart products, the Dramcorp factory has started leaking a Source byproduct into the surroundings. Charlie Dram, Cecilia’s uncle, bottles and sells this runoff.
Charlie Dram is an eccentric man, not just bottling energy from the cosmos but also taking people on paranormal tours through Forked Earth. Right outside Alpha Service, the gas station he owns, is the Source Well which allows him and some daring tourists to travel between Las Vegas and 7 Monolith Village in Forked Earth. While he comes across as crazy, he also helps raise Marin in Cecilia’s absence, who communicates via letters explaining the time-consuming things she is up to back on Earth.
A rebellion of people that know Marin, and look to be about her age of 17, form to preach the devastating effects of additive S on yourself and the environment and set out to find Marin before Cecilia does. One of the leaders, Jesse, is romantically involved with Marin, so the stakes are especially high for her. At the end of the day, neither the rebellion nor Cecilia succeed in “saving” Marin, but rather, Marin finds her own way out of Forked Earth, into The Source itself.
Understanding Marin
Marin is not so much human as inter-dimensional — she was born of The Source after Cecilia encountered some ancient space creatures in the Grand Canyon, the Zenions.
The Zenions existed underwater off of The Source some 50,000 years ago. They had priests who controlled how the Source was used, but one of the Zenions caused a disaster at the Source Well which made their waters recede and their livelihood collide with Earth itself, right around Las Vegas. Las Vegas acquired a high density of The Source, which opened up gateways to Forked Earth in another dimension.
Long after, human settlers needed to escape the Dust Bowl of 1936 and found haven in Forked Earth by entering what may have been the Grand Canyon. There, they built a home, 7 Monolith Village, among the Zenions’ ancient ruins.
Why does this backstory matter? Well, this helps explain how Cecilia is able to encounter the Zenions at the Grand Canyon and ultimately have a Source baby. I believe Cecilia is able to encounter the Zenions in modern day not just because of the location, but because of who she travels with: Rose. Rose is an herbalist and caretaker of the Dram family, but most importantly, her ancestors founded 7 Monolith Village in Forked Earth. Rose is able to communicate across dimensions thanks to spirits called Shadow Nula. During this trip to the Grand Canyon, I think Rose channels a Shadow Nula through Cecilia to experience the powers of The Source, and so, experience the ancient civilization that once controlled it.
After this experience, Cecilia bears Marin who becomes stuck in Forked Earth. She is propelled to not just do everything she can to retrieve Marin, but to get other people as close to The Source as possible so they, too, can have this kind of transcendent experience.
Eventually, Marin makes her way out of Forked Earth by making her own portal, straight into The Source. I’m not sure why Marin goes there, but perhaps it’s a homecoming, back to her true “source.”
Reaction to Omega Mart
Omega Mart was much more than the grocery store you experience upon entrance. I thought it was just going to be a place full of funny products where you could pretend you were shopping in some alternate reality. And honestly, I think I would have been happy if that’s all the experience was. I might have wanted the ticket to be cheaper, but I would have had a good time.
On the surface, Omega Mart was a clever, quirky, and enjoyable grocery store of addictive substances. It was clever in that all of the products on the shelves were hilarious puns with products that were actually for sale; however, the very thing you shouldn’t have been doing is buying these products because they supposedly had an addictive chemical called additive S, that was harvested from a cosmic force in another dimension.
Eventually, I noticed there were entrances into other rooms from the grocery store. Enter through a freezer door to make your way into Charlie’s Alpha Service and experience a desert, made glittery by Marin’s dreams. Walk through an opening covered by industrial, vinyl strips to find a hallway lined with tiny roombas wearing hard hats, leading straight to the Dramcorp factory.
The lighting design of the Dramcorp factory was particularly striking. The reds and blues brought both an urgency and brooding quality to the scene that matched Cecilia’s obsession with The Source and bringing Marin to Earth.
Even the factory run-off was mesmerizing. For being a toxic byproduct, I sure didn’t mind being close to it.
Step inside Marin’s room, and you’ll find this enrapturing, surreal video of her, her mother, and one of the rebellion members, Jesse. (You can actually watch it on YouTube! I recommend it as it will help you visualize the paragraphs below.) I think I accidentally watched it several times in a row; it just put me in a trance. I saw the video as an example of Marin’s glitter dreams which help her create portals, as I learned by reading her emails.
The dream was powerful in the moments of sorrow, romance, and jarring behavior exhibited by Cecilia. A scene shows Cecilia pouring cereal and milk into a bowl in Omega Mart. Cecilia’s movements were jarring like a robot’s and she was dressed like a house wife from the ‘50s. But she was laughing inaudibly with a wide-open mouth and eyes; she looked nuts. The milk she poured into the bowl was juxtaposed with milk falling down on Marin’s head. The cereal had additive S in it, Marin is of The Source, and both had milk pouring down on them — if this is one of Marin’s dreams, perhaps she fears that if she were to exit Forked Earth and go be with her mother, that she would just be a “product,” not have a life of her own. This would explain why she starts smashing the cereal in the store, rejecting the life she might have on Earth.
A couple scenes show that Marin and Jesse had a little thing going, as they smooch after Marin was let down at prom by Heart Throb Boy. It rains Omega Mart cheerios, which makes me think Marin finds joy being surrounded by The Source, that The Source feels more like home to her than Cecilia does. It’s a way of her claiming the Source and rejecting the Dram’s commodification of it. Marin’s discomfort with Cecilia compared to the happiness with Jesse makes me wonder if Marin ever wanted to leave Forked Earth, and whether it’s just Cecilia who wants her in Las Vegas.
In Marin’s room, you’ll also find her computer where you can read all of her emails. One of these emails was sent from Morgan, the daughter of the Pastore family of House of Eternal Return. Morgan acknowledges the power of Marin’s glitter dreams and her ability to form portals. She even relates to being stuck in Forked Earth for a long time, but makes it back to Earth (which is something you don’t learn in House of Eternal Return!!!). I geeked out over this email.
There was another hat-tip to House of Eternal Return in Charlie’s Alpha Service. In Meow Wolf’s Santa Fe exhibit, there’s an ego-maniacal uncle named Lucius who develops an inter-dimensional resort for his spiritual cult called Portals Bermuda. In Charlie’s office of Alpha Service, right above one of the doors, you see a picture of each of the destinations of Portals Bermuda, which makes total sense because Charlie is going back and forth through his own portal, the Source Well, to take travelers on tours of Forked Earth. He probably admires Lucius!
While there was plenty to experience and enjoy within the attraction, I wish the information had been more accessible. Something I really appreciated about House of Eternal Return was that I could scan a QR code to read much of the documentation around the house. This meant I did not have to wait in line for someone to finish reading the physical document before I could dive in. In Omega Mart, I was able to save some videos and documents to my Boop card Dramdrive (more on that later) to read later, but it was not the core, essential information to help me understand the plot. So I was left to stand in lines and, fearing I was holding up too many people, leave before I finished all the documents on Jesse and Marin’s computers.
The Boop Card
Now for the Boop card —I think this card was intended to provide some direction through the exhibits, but instead it took me out of the experience. It was a card I was handed upon entrance that I was able to scan over certain devices, like Marin’s computer, to learn some information or unlock achievements. Using it to save information was great. Using it to achieve things and unlock information was not.
At one of the Boop stations, I learned I could earn three achievements in each area of the attraction: the Omega Mart store, the Dramcorp Factory, and the Dramcorp offices. It was meant to guide you through your training for becoming part of the Dramcorp enterprise. I did not understand that, however, until reading one of the rebellion’s documents after experiencing the exhibit. Maybe it should have been clearer to me, maybe there were other signs, but I was too overwhelmed by the crowd of people and plethora of art.
In addition, I was so confused when an Omega Mart attendant told me why I couldn’t unlock the last video on my journey through boops: I had to interact with 8 boop-able areas on my Omega Access Card AND send an email to Cecilia before I could unlock something on Cecilia’s computer. And what was the last thing to unlock? A video telling me I was accepted into the Leadership Ascension Track... It felt so anticlimactic. I didn’t even want to participate in Cecilia’s whole charade, but evidently that’s what I did.
One of the Omega Mart attendants told me I could choose a side between the Rebellion and Cecilia/Dramcorp based on which computer I went to send the email from, so it’s possible I went to the wrong one (Charlie’s computer in Alpha Service). But then I realized there was likely more to choosing a side than that, after reading the rebellion’s documents. Again, I read them on my Dramdrive after going through the attraction, so maybe I wouldn’t be this frustrated had I read those earlier. But they showed a different layout of boop-able areas that would have benefited the rebellion, rather than sending me down the more obvious Dramcorp training!!
If my understanding is right, then how was I to know these documents would take me down another story path or choose a side in this battle when most other documents were simply informational, revealing the story of the Dram family and the context of The Source? Choosing sides to me just feels like way too big a thing to leave to a few brief documents. On the one hand, it’s clever — surely a rebellion wouldn’t publicize to Omega Trainees how to join their side. On the other hand, couldn’t this have been a bit more obvious?? We’re only participatory audience members. We just want to have fun.
Ok, you may want me to move past the Boop card now, but I have a few more things to say.
Another confusing thing to me was that what I was asked to boop, frequently did not advance the plot or my understanding of the attraction. For instance, it was cute, but meaningless to take a Spill Quiz on what different colors of cones to use based on the type of spill. Sure, if I was being trained to become an Omega Mart Employee, I may need to know that. But it did not provide any advantage for the rest of my experience. In the factory, there were two boop-able areas right next to each other called “Motivate the Workforce” and “Source Flow Optimizer” that, similarly, provided no additional information on The Source or the factory workers’ roles in the Dramcorp enterprise. The plot came from elsewhere.
It felt to me that the achievement boops lacked intention and were interaction for the sake of giving people some sense of direction without any real direction in the narrative. The closest thing to meaningful guidance came from the Dramcorp achievement boops, which were labeled in a way and forced you to interact with Cecilia in a way that put you on her side. But it did not help me understand why.
All in all, I think Meow Wolf needs to improve the Boop card and make information more accessible in the Omega Mart attraction. I think a lot of my issues with the Boop achievements would be remedied if I could have chosen between an Omega Mart Boop card and a Rebellion Boop card from the start. The achievements could take you to the main information and plot points for each side. It would be particularly fun if you’re in a party because you could split up between sides and then reconvene to share different perspectives on The Source, Dramcorp, and Marin. You would have some assurance that you’re getting useful information from both sides of the issue. On the other hand though, I don’t think the Boop achievements are necessary to explore and have a good time.
I would go back. And I do recommend anyone who enjoys immersive narratives to check out Omega Mart. I think with more user testing though, the exhibit will become more enjoyable in a few years.
