Off Track: Ending Explained

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We’ve been thinking Netflix needs a new content creator for a while. The synopsis of “Off Track” led us to believe it was just Lisa’s story, but it turned out to be much more than that. It’s basically about the Vasa race, a 90km ski race, and what it means for the people who participate. We had our doubts about this film as it doesn’t have an entirely original plot: a mother trying to get back on her feet uses an almost impossible feat to prove to that she’s better than everyone thinks.

Because “Off Track” was released on a Wednesday, we were seriously hesitant to tune in after a long day at work. It turns out we were about 70% right. (This is a rough estimate; please don’t ask us for explanations.) Let’s see why we think this way and what could have been done differently to prove us wrong.

Why Do Lisa And Daniel Participate In The Race?

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Lisa is an unlucky single mother who one day ends up in a jail cell too drunk. She is released the next day and asks her brother Daniel to pick her up in time for her daughter’s concert. She arrives, but after the performance, her husband tells her that he knows about her night in prison and that it would be better if Elvira spent the day with him. Lisa doesn’t like the suggestion that she is careless and takes her daughter home. But he’s right because Lisa’s carelessness causes the washing machine to overflow and flood her house. Her husband is taking Elvira with him. He advises Lisa to pull herself together if she wants Elvira to remain a part of her life. Daniel and his wife face their struggles. You’ve been trying to have children for years. but without result. Lisa is moving in with them for a while. Daniel is somewhat supportive and one day he takes her skiing where she fails miserably. Discouraged, she goes to a bar where she meets Philippa and Elvira. Seeing their team up and  Philippa being such a good role model for Elvira, Lisa feels insecure and tells her that she too will be entering the Vasa race. Lisa started training with her brother and seemed determined to do so. Child Protection Services launched an investigation after Lisa’s ex told them that Elvira was often absent from school or consistently late because of her mother. He had also complained of stomach irritation. Lisa is shocked by this but has to think about what her erratic behavior could mean for her son. She tells the officer that she is participating in the race.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Klara’s fights continue. Unable to attend one of his IVF treatments, Daniel sends his sample via a taxi driver. Unfortunately, the clinic has its own rules that the person must come themselves to verify their authenticity. Daniel arrives just in time and through their combined samples, they manage to obtain an embryo. But we also learn that Daniel doesn’t like to talk about it with others, and that’s a constant problem between the two. The two get on with their lives and the three months until the race goes by fast enough. Just before the race, the couple learns that their embryo did not survive the race. Thawing. They are both very heartbroken and comfort each other. Later there is a heated argument because Klara no longer wants to go to the races, but Daniel does, and in the end, she blames him for her situation. She refuses to come to the race, so Daniel and Lisa go alone. Their bad luck continues when Klara accidentally cancels the reservation and they have to stay at a school with the other participants. There is a sort of celebration that evening where Daniel meets Naomi, a professional skier, and Lisa Andrés, the police officer she met when she spent the night in a cell. the forest. He is impressed by her life and the freedom she has chosen for herself. Looking at Daniel here, we understand that he’s probably wanted this for a long time. He was an uptight perfectionist who cared a lot about his image. Perhaps he couldn’t handle the fact that they couldn’t have children because of him, and that’s why he seemed so distant from his wife’s efforts. It’s also possible that he didn’t want children at all and just followed his wife’s movements. We tend to believe in the second possibility.

Meanwhile, Lisa is having fun with Andres and follows him home when it looks like her brother isn’t coming to school anymore. One thing that becomes clear is that Andres is the misfit in his family and he and Lisa go together like two peas in a pod. She admits that she was on sick leave because of her depression and has been unemployed ever since. Andrés understands her when she says she can’t have a relationship with him and tells her that he will make out with her in. Daniel admits to Lisa that he wants to divorce Klara and start over. Lisa puts it down to their nerves. Elvira arrives at the finish line alone to meet her mother after her father tells her they cannot go to her. Emotions are running high and racing seems to be the solution for everyone.

Does Lisa Finish The Race?

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When the race starts, it means a lot to everyone. Daniel realizes  Naomi isn’t who he thought she was, especially when she tells him to relieve himself in her pants and drive off with yellow streaks in his. However, the fact that Naomi hasn’t been considered yet isn’t enough to clear the confusion in her mind. Andrés and Lisa ski together for a while before he has to leave because his mother gets sick on the slopes. Daniel goes off the track to avoid hitting Klara, who takes a taxi from Stockholm to meet him at the finish line. Elvira’s father and Philippa are desperately looking for her because she went to her mother’s alone. It’s chaos and madness. Lisa still has 40 km to go before she finishes the race and she is about to give up when she decides not. With great difficulty, he finally managed to complete the  90 km of the race. She was hurt and coughing up blood, but none of the factors stopped her. This ends with her being declared the true hero of the entire event. Meanwhile, Daniel gets lost in the woods, but Klara manages to track him down on a sled. The two reconcile and decide they need to work things out between themselves.

Everyone meets up at the finish line, with Elvira, Lisa, and Daniel, and it’s one of the true, if not the only, truly emotional moments in the film. Days after the race, Klara tells Daniel that she is pregnant and with this news the couple reconciles. To say we didn’t like this ending for the couple would be an understatement. We were happy when they talked about solving their problems at the race instead of taking the clichéd route of declaring their love. It made them feel more real. Their reconciliation feels like an empty thing to write for the film. But on a different note, Lisa got her life on track and resumed her practice. She is also dating Andrés, suggesting that good times are ahead for her. To be honest, we didn’t like his character arc either. She was an irresponsible person. Let’s say you have “learned” responsibility through your professional endeavors. But we didn’t see any growth in his character, which makes us feel that the ending of “Off Track” is very hollow. It lacks an emotional core. The creators should have stuck to a character and gotten it right instead of biting off more than they could chew.

What Doesn’t Work For ‘Off Track?

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The biggest problem with “Off Track” is that the story didn’t have a real narrator. We first felt this due to the glaring lack of screen time while Lisa and Daniel were training for the race. That should be transformative. Period for them: the time that forms the character and not just the career, which in the end is just the beautiful tie. Sadly, the creators didn’t give it the importance it deserved. Daniel’s character needed to be better defined, and Noemí.

He was a completely unnecessary character who didn’t add anything to the story other than make Daniel even more awkward. We liked Andrés and in the short time he had in front of the screen he was charming. Not even remotely entertaining, “Off Track” was something that played on screen while we checked our phones and did our homework. Tune in if that’s what you’re looking for, or there’s always “Friends” or “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” for that. Repeat display type.

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