We were asked to travel to a seedy part of town, and park in a non-descript parking lot. Our valuables were to be left in the car. A van pulled up, made us all wear hoods, and took us to our next destination.

A typical Saturday night in Los Angeles, no?

This past week, I was able to check out The Tension Experience’s Ascension, the culmination of their long-running, ARG, Indoctrination, that had been going on since early this year. While we at HorrorBuzz have not followed the story as much as others, Tension made it clear that Ascension was a standalone event, allowing anyone to enjoy.

Readers to the site know that we have reported on Tension’s work in the past. We have liked some things, not really liked others. That’s fine; not everyone is going to enjoy what they have been doing. However, I am very good at leaving everything behind when doing immersive events like this, and this was no different; I went in clean and forgot about all past interactions, allowing myself to become fully immersed in the show.

I can say that Ascension is a fairly ambitious and mostly enjoyable undertaking that blends immersive theater, escape rooms, and much more into a two hour plus experience. There is no doubt that it is an ambitious and dynamic production, with several moving parts, and was quite the feat to pull off.

The story is that of the OOA, and designed to prepare guests for a new way to see the world (irony forthcoming). You journey there to see if you are strong enough to join their ranks, or even reach your own ascension.

For the time you are in there, you will be processed, you will be moved (both physically and emotionally), and you will be tested. Going in as a group of 8 people at a time, sometimes you will be with others in said group, and sometimes you will be alone. Everyone will have a different experience.

And that is one of the core things of Ascension; the paths you take. At the end, when we all re-convened waiting for the van to take us back to our cars, we discussed what we saw, and there was a lot of “Wait, I didn’t see that!” between us. Every person has their own journey, their own path to follow, and will see different things and talk to different people, allowing for repeat performances.

Ascension also has a lot of great character interactions, from people involved in Indoctrination, to brand new faces. Each and every single one of these is strong; from the woman in the reception area who gave me a butterscotch treat, to the tough as nails British gent with a penchant for the c-word, all the way to Addison, whose story was basically the focus of Indoctrination.

Months ago, during an OOA mixer at a VFW hall, I wrote about a moment with Addison, where she pulled me aside, and told me to call my parents and tell them I loved them. That powerful one-on-one ended with her telling me that I was “lucky to have been able to do that,” her eyes downcast at the floor. The Addison I met on Saturday was very different, the product of her long journey within Indoctrination. This Addison pulled me away from the others again, allowing me to shed my earthly possessions in front of only her. This Addison looked at me with almost sinful glee when she asked “Are you sure you want to keep those on?” in response to a choice I made. It was interesting to see the change within her, from the powerless little girl, to the powerful one in charge there that night.

The entire show was filled with moments like these, and they were all really a strong point of the entire thing.

There were also numerous personal touches throughout, not forced into dialogue, but that came up naturally. When the British gent threatened to send someone to the infamous “red room,” he looked to me and said, “Not that it matters to you, eh, Jeff? You colorblind bastard.” It was small things like this that really made it seem like the OOA had their eyes on us all the time, and was a nice touch.

All of the scenes played that unfolded played out perfectly. The story line fit nicely into the show overall, and it really did get you immersed from the get-go.

There was a sense of physicality to the show that I was not expecting as well. You were manhandled, which is common, but there was also a “punishment” aspect when you did something wrong. For example, I did something a little too soon, and I was reprimanded for it. This played nicely into their wanting you to fall in line with the OOA.

There WAS a point, however, where an actor struck me in the genitals. This was purely by accident, and I do not hold them at fault at all. In fact, to their credit, they even made sure I was alright, and apologized to me, all in character. It did take me out of the experience for a few moments (because let’s face it, getting hit down there hurts, no matter who you are), but that leads me to my next point.

There was also a through-line throughout it, aside from just joining the OOA. There was social commentary about how we as a society have become so consumed with looking at the screens in front of us that we fail to see what is actually there; we no longer live in the moment, see the experience, and we really need to. By stripping us away from our possessions, Tension forced us to be in the moment, in the now, and live life for what was unfolding before us.

While I absolutely agree with this, and struggle with it myself sometimes, this is where they lost me toward the end of the experience.

While the first half of the show was very much enjoyable, the second half I was quite literally blind. I’m not talking about being blindfolded (though, for sure, this happened). At one point, my glasses were removed, so I could undergo a transformation. And that’s totally fine. Hell, I love getting blindfolded and manhandled during shows like this.

However, once my blindfold was removed, I didn’t receive my glasses back until after the show was over…almost 40 minutes later.

Without my glasses, I can’t see. I can’t even make out a face directly in front of me unless our noses are touching. I am pretty blind. I went through 3 scenes like this, and their emotional impact was lost on me due to not being able to see. I was asked to go places, and do things, and had to stop the actors and tell them “You need to put it in my hand” or “You need to actually put me there, because I can’t see it,” a few times, and it kind of took me out of the show. While I can understand not having my sight for the first two scenes, as it does make sense in the context of the story, not being able to see the finale of the show was a bummer for me.

I know we were in a large room, I know there was something going on on the stage before me, and I know it was supposed to effect me in some way. Instead, I spent the time trying to ask people “Who is that? What are they doing? What’s going on?” The OOA member next to my mostly just ignored me, and shook his head.

Apparently the rest of my group was also present for the finale, and they were able to see what unfolded, where as I could barely make out white blobs moving around me. I was bummed out that I wasn’t able to partake as well. I would suggest that Tension give folks their lenses back before this final scene, so they can enjoy it as well.

But, because of how hard they hammered that through line of being in the moment, to see what life puts in front of you, the end was lost for me, since I wasn’t able to be “in the moment” because I had no idea what was happening. I think I was more annoyed than anything else. However, I felt something, and isn’t that the point of these things? To feel an emotion of some sort, as a response to their work? In that regard, they definitely succeeded.

In fact, long after we left that evening, and I was in bed, I awoke at 3AM, and couldn’t get it out of my head. I kept replaying things in my mind; what if I had done this? What if I had said that? Where would it have lead me then? One of my friends, who was also in our group, told me that several times throughout HIS experience, they called him by my name instead. What did that mean? Were we switched by accident? What else did he see? It was obvious that Tension did a good job of planting inside my brain, and slowly blossoming out, making me think of the possibilities. They achieved their goal.

Issues aside, at the end of the day, it was an ambitious and enjoyable experience. Everyone in my group loved it, and talked about going back again. Hell, even I am considering it to see what new paths I can take. It is one that you truly need to let yourself go and fully jump into it in order to really enjoy. The Tension team definitely created something unique, and for those in Los Angeles who enjoy immersive theater would do wise to see for themselves.