Orphan Black - Season 3 Discussion

[Christopher]

They used to do stuff like this all the time in 'Buffy, so I had no problem with the show going into the spiritual...

To each one's own, of course, but to me, the difference is that Buffy was a fantasy from the start, so supernatural things fit right in. But Orphan Black is pretty much a hard science fiction show, one of the very few, so injecting mysticism would be a conceptual and stylistic mismatch. There are certainly plenty of shows that treat SF and fantasy as overlapping and interchangeable, but that's just why I like it on those frustratingly rare occasions where a show sticks to hard science, and why it's even more frustrating when a show that was one of my few oases of science in a landscape of fantasy ends up swerving into the paranormal.

So I take solace in the idea that the scene can be interpreted merely as Sarah's dream/hallucination. It's not actually Beth's ghost talking to her, it's her mental manifestation of her guilt about Beth. Which is why the dream happened in Siobhan's kitchen rather than someplace from Beth's life -- because it's tangled up in Sarah's memories and associations. (Also because it's cheaper to use a standing set than to rebuild Beth's apartment set.)

I love how Dyad is kind of back in the picture now, what with their absence from most of the season. I really like how they're integrating Rachel into the story line. Could she maybe become a part of clone club in Season 4? I know it seems implausible now, but I never thought Helena would be dancing with the rest of her sisters in Season 2 when we first met her in Season 1.

That's an excellent point. Helena went from Sarah's most feared enemy to someone Sarah cherished and wanted to take care of. Maybe Sarah and the others can find a way to embrace Rachel, now that she's so vulnerable.

 

[Aldo]

So I take solace in the idea that the scene can be interpreted merely as Sarah's dream/hallucination. It's not actually Beth's ghost talking to her, it's her mental manifestation of her guilt about Beth. Which is why the dream happened in Siobhan's kitchen rather than someplace from Beth's life -- because it's tangled up in Sarah's memories and associations. (Also because it's cheaper to use a standing set than to rebuild Beth's apartment set.)

OK, I get what your issue was now. I think it's a non-issue really, because I never thought it was anything more than Sarah hallucinating the whole thing herself. I don't know what the writers intentions were so I could be way off base, but reading other reviews at other websites it seems to be that's what the consensus is.

That's an excellent point. Helena went from Sarah's most feared enemy to someone Sarah cherished and wanted to take care of. Maybe Sarah and the others can find a way to embrace Rachel, now that she's so vulnerable.

Yep, Rachel was instantly my favorite clone-that-wasn't-Sarah in Season 2 (sorry Helena, still love you though!) so I'm eager to see her get integrated back into the story line of the show.

I kind of had a feeling she'd be important this season when we had that seemingly throw away scene of that one doctor working with her to help her rehabilitate. Shows don't normally include stuff like that if it's not important down the line.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

OMG!

I died laughing

"Are your underpants tearaway mister?"

"No but the elastic's wearing out.."

They are as dorky as each other. I'm so glad to be seeing more of Alison.

GREAT episode.

Helena eating the scorpion. Felix ready to eat Rachel. Delphine stalking Cosima..

 

[Forbin]

Finally watched it last night.
Just.... wow!

I agree the dream sequence was a dream sequence, not anything supernatural. But I really love sequences like that.

Hand grenades are the ultimate fuck-yous.
They really aren't that powerful, though. Blow up a room sure. Send a blast wave down a tunnel shielded by multiple adobe buildings on the other side of the compound? Nah. It's dramatic, though.

 

[Christopher]

Finally watched it last night.
Just.... wow!

I agree the dream sequence was a dream sequence, not anything supernatural.

I hope so. But the ambiguous part is that the tunnel where Sarah saw Charlotte in her dream/vision strongly resembled the tunnel she escaped through later on (complete with the stereotyped near-death blinding light at the end). That implies some kind of prophetic vision. But maybe she subconsciously noticed such tunnels on the base during her trips from cell to lab?

Hand grenades... really aren't that powerful, though. Blow up a room sure. Send a blast wave down a tunnel shielded by multiple adobe buildings on the other side of the compound? Nah. It's dramatic, though.

Maybe the grenade set off some other explosive substance that was in the lab?

 

[Forbin]

Hand grenades... really aren't that powerful, though. Blow up a room sure. Send a blast wave down a tunnel shielded by multiple adobe buildings on the other side of the compound? Nah. It's dramatic, though.

Maybe the grenade set off some other explosive substance that was in the lab?

That's acceptable - happens all the time in Bond films.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

There are dozens of different types of modern grenades (stun, smoke, concussion, fragmentation, chemical, incendiary & high explosive).

The one Paul had was pretty large (of course it was).

 

[Reverend]

And who knows, maybe the fuel and/or ammo dump just happened to be right next to the lab?

 

[Morpheus 02]

i'm surprised no one has commented on the drastic change of Rachel...absolutely helpless.. Tatiana has essentially created a new character...and just adding to her resume of who/what she can protray

Or really moreso, just how MEAN Felix has been...not just to Rachel (which is somewhat understandable) but also to his new houseguest. He's judging her harshly...has he even met her previously? Or just has a bigotry toward religious people?

He's gotten so...nasty. It's not a good look for him.

And regarding Christopher's concern..... I just re-watched the latest episode and saw Kira's vision version....since that one is clearly different from the real one...I 'll just chalk Beth up to Sarah's subconscious interpretation. Did Sarah get a chance to read to view any journals or notes from Beth? Or get information from the Clone Club on who Beth was as a person?

 

[Christopher]

Did Sarah get a chance to read to view any journals or notes from Beth? Or get information from the Clone Club on who Beth was as a person?

Well, sure. She spent the first half-season impersonating Beth, remember. The first thing she did, once she decided to take Beth's identity, was to study her home movies and go through her stuff and learn all she could about how to be Beth Childs. And she learned quite a lot about Beth during the course of her impersonation -- from Art, from Paul, from the police psychiatrist, and so on, as well as from Alison and Cosima.

 

[Forbin]

There are dozens of different types of modern grenades (stun, smoke, concussion, fragmentation, chemical, incendiary & high explosive).

The one Paul had was pretty large (of course it was).

But don't forget, they're made to be thrown. Yeah, you're supposed to throw from cover, but a grenade shouldn't have a blast/concussion radius greater than the distance a person can throw it.

But again, for drama's sake, what the hell.

 

[Christopher]

^Perhaps that particular grenade was manufactured by the ACME Corporation...

 

[Aldo]

I like the explanation someone made up thread that the grenade might have set off some other munitions that might have been nearby.

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, that was me. Though I was thinking more in terms of explosive chemicals in the lab, pressurized gas cylinders, that sort of thing. Still, fair point, it is a military base, so it stands to reason there would be other munitions lying around.

 

[Christopher]

Well, someone remarked earlier in the thread (I think it was this thread) that we'd never seen a clone impersonation that didn't involve Sarah as either the faker or the fakee, but now we have, with Cosima press-ganged into imitating Alison. And now we know why it's best left to the con-artist sister. Although Cos did have a moment at the podium where she mimicked Alison's cheerful expression pretty well.

And it seemed the show was kind of metatextually acknowledging their own visual shortcut that "bangs = Alison." All Felix had to do was stick fake bangs under Cosima's hat and boom (or bang), everyone accepted her as Alison.

Still, I found this one a bit too sitcommy, especially with the gag of the swapped envelopes. The Hendrixes are so organized all the time -- wouldn't Alison have insisted on clearly labeling both envelopes? I mean, not with "DRUG MONEY" emblazoned on one, but maybe color-coded masking tape or something.

My favorite visual gag, if it was a gag, was that shot where Siobhan and Helena were sitting opposite each other with Sarah behind them at the bar. The classic, simple split-screen setup would be to have the two Maslany characters on opposite halves of the screen -- Sarah behind Siobhan on one side and Helena alone on the other. Instead, they had Sarah behind Helena on one side and Siobhan alone on the other. It's such a perfect subversion of the old split-screen doubling-shot cliche that I have to believe they did it on purpose, just to show off. (Although there were a couple of less convincing composites with Cosima and Alison in the bathroom, when Cosima handed Alison the packet and hat and then when she walked out.)

 

[QCzar]

Nice to get a Clone Club only ep, first of the season unless I'm misremembering. Also, are any of them not some kind of criminal at this point?

Also, I miss Kira. Her absence is noticeable, even if understandable.

Oh and it looks like we're finally going to meet Crystal next week (I'm assuming that was her in the teaser).

 

[tomalak301]

I really liked that episode last night. It was nice to focus the show more on the girls and Sarah and Helena took a back seat to Alison/Cosima which was a nice change of pace. Even the Sarah and Helena parts of the episode were excellent but this was Alison's story, which was just fun. After the major developments of last week's episode, it was nice to take a step back and do a comedy show, and this one was great all the way through. I didn't think it was sitcomy at all, and even if it was, it added to the episode for me, not detracted.

I also thought the stuff with Rachel and Scott was great, and Scott really is becoming one of my favorite characters in the show. He's so likable, and his teaching the game to Rachel was funny.

Looking foward to Rachel with the Eye Patch next week.

 

[Christopher]

Nice to get a Clone Club only ep, first of the season unless I'm misremembering. Also, are any of them not some kind of criminal at this point?

The only illegal act I think Cosima's guilty of is using controlled substances. I'm not sure that constitutes being a criminal per se. Dictionarily speaking (yes, I used "dictionarily" as a word -- deal with it), a criminal is someone who either makes a living through crime or has been convicted of a crime.

I suppose that impersonating another individual would constitute fraud, but Cosima really, really didn't want to do that.

But let's see...

Sarah: Con artistry, fraud, theft, drug trafficking, probably drug use here and there.

Alison: She's probably not technically guilty of a felony where Aynsley's death is concerned, since she didn't create the situation and didn't have a duty to rescue. But she's an accomplice in covering up Donnie's kidnapping and second-degree murder of Leekie and is guilty of the illegal disposal of a body, or whatever it would be called. Becoming a drug dealer is kind of an anticlimax after all that.

Rachel: Kidnapping (of Kira), assault (on Felix). Complicity in illegal human experimentation and probably an assassination here and there.

Helena: Murder. Lots and lots of the murdering.

Oh and it looks like we're finally going to meet Crystal next week (I'm assuming that was her in the teaser).

I'm not sure. She looked a bit different from Krystal to me, with longer hair and heavier makeup, but I suppose that could just be because the security footage didn't give a very clear view. I'd had the impression Krystal was from overseas somewhere, but the Wiki says she's from Toronto.

By the way, we got one of our rare bits of proof that the show takes place in Canada: The Canadian cash that the drug dealer's niece was counting in the car.

 

[auntiehill]

Rachel OKed the extermination of six clones and 32 collateral" in..what was it? The Helsinki Protocol? Something like that.

Alison, of course, is also quite happy to be a drug dealer.

I just LOVE Alison's storyline. I really liked seeing her mother, who explains a GREAT deal about why Alison is the obsessive control-freak she is. The thing about her that I love is that she seems so normal, so bland and, in many ways, is a very good person with very good intentions. HOWEVER, she is so single-minded and obsessive that she is capable of doing anything--ANYTHING--in order to meet her goal and the morality of it seems...inconsequential. She fascinates me.

 

[QCzar]

I'm not sure. She looked a bit different from Krystal to me, with longer hair and heavier makeup, but I suppose that could just be because the security footage didn't give a very clear view. I'd had the impression Krystal was from overseas somewhere, but the Wiki says she's from Toronto.

Yeah, anything is possible given how out of context it is. Teaser and everything. I'd assumed the local connection* due to Seth having escaped yet rescuing Rudy seemingly soon after he got in Dyad's custody. The Wiki may have come to the same conclusion, unless they have a link to the showrunners I'm unaware of.

* = I always assume a show is set where it is shot unless on-screen evidence suggests otherwise. Thus, Toronto.

By the way, we got one of our rare bits of proof that the show takes place in Canada: The Canadian cash that the drug dealer's niece was counting in the car.

I got that in last week's Hendrix twerk session. I don't get why they're still so aloof about it, though.