Orphan Black - Season 2 Discussion

[Mister Fandango]

I'm not saying she's not doing a phenomenal job. I'm just saying that I doubt she's the only person who could do a great job of it. There just isn't much demand for it, so there's hardly any basis of comparison. I just don't think it's fair to say she's the only person who could pull it off.

 

[bigdaddy]

Did you see Dollhouse? Eliza Dushku is a pretty good actor,

She was the weakest pat of that show.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Eliza was fine.

Don't be a grumpus.

She head a very important job.

Eliza was the beard.

By prancing around as hypersexual T and A for the first 4 episodes getting into ridiculous action sequences, the Network Executives were lulled into a false sense of douchiness and they left everyone who was fantastic alone.

It's like in Airwolf when the baddies would fire missiles, and Ernest Borgnine would launch countermeasures so that Airwolf would be safe and they could come back next week.

Same fricking FX stock footage every damn week for 4 years.

 

[QCzar]

I'm not saying she's not doing a phenomenal job. I'm just saying that I doubt she's the only person who could do a great job of it. There just isn't much demand for it, so there's hardly any basis of comparison. I just don't think it's fair to say she's the only person who could pull it off.

Thing is, I don't think anyone here is saying that except you. Most people are simply stating that she definitely deserves all the praise that's coming her way for her astounding performances and that she does, in fact, probably have to work a lot harder than most actors.

Yeah, I'm sure she's far from the only one who could've pulled it off, but she is the only one who did. And that's what we're talking about. While even I wouldn't say "no one deserves it more", she's definitely earned the gushing and I hope she gets her due (i.e. the little shiny statues).


You are correct though in stating there's not much room for comparison. The concept of clones is among few that can plausibly apply this method (along with parallel universes, and multiple personalities).

Battlestar Galactica is the only other notable genre manifestation of the clone trope and, ironically, it was the one instance where the kind of spectrum of characterizations you see among the OB clones would have been counter-intuitive, as they are literally carbon copy machines. Having them be too different (even the Sixes) would've broken the premise, IMO. Given the necessarily narrow range, I think Helfer convincingly gave each significant Six their own "tick".

For parallel universes, we have Olivia/Altlivia from Fringe, where I also think Anna Torv did a great job establishing the "there but for the grace of God" differences between what were essentially two versions of the same exact person (same name, family, job, etc). Especially evident in the scenes where Otherlivia was pretending (badly) to be our Olivia. I always got a kick out of Altlivia's very distinctive walk.

Although it's a far different beast, Toni Collette definitely did her thing in United States of Tara (for the multiple personalities example). It's nowhere near as heavy a load (being mostly dramedy) and most of the personas were exaggerated (as often happens with real DID), but it stands on equal grounds in terms of overall quality.

Again, not a lot of examples, but quality to be found in them all. And all eclipsed by Maslany, IMHO.

 

[Mister Fandango]

I'm not saying she's not doing a phenomenal job. I'm just saying that I doubt she's the only person who could do a great job of it. There just isn't much demand for it, so there's hardly any basis of comparison. I just don't think it's fair to say she's the only person who could pull it off.

Thing is, I don't think anyone here is saying that except you.

And you'd be wrong.

I am constantly amazed at the abilities displayed by Tatiana. This girl had better get a best actress Emmy. No one on television deserves it more.

For instance. And as I said, I'm not saying she doesn't deserve praise. I'm saying that I seriously doubt she's the only person on television that could do it or deserves similar recognition.

 

[Christopher]

For parallel universes, we have Olivia/Altlivia from Fringe, where I also think Anna Torv did a great job establishing the "there but for the grace of God" differences between what were essentially two versions of the same exact person (same name, family, job, etc). Especially evident in the scenes where Otherlivia was pretending (badly) to be our Olivia. I always got a kick out of Altlivia's very distinctive walk.

Yeah, Anna Torv did a great job with that. Also there were those episodes where Olivia was possessed by William Bell and Torv did a really good Leonard Nimoy impression.

So yeah, it's something that a number of actors can do, but it's something you have to be a really good actor to do.

 

[QCzar]

I am constantly amazed at the abilities displayed by Tatiana. This girl had better get a best actress Emmy. No one on television deserves it more.

For instance. And as I said, I'm not saying she doesn't deserve praise. I'm saying that I seriously doubt she's the only person on television that could do it or deserves similar recognition.

That not what it says. Whether you can see that or not, I'm not going to belabor the point.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Are we talking about a lot of wigs, or is her hair going to fall out after another season of this?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Sestras go camping.

 

[Christopher]

Helena is rather sweet and funny when she's not murdering people. She's a fan of The Archies! Her sister act -- err, seestra act -- with Sarah is terrific, and it's a shame they've already been split up again.

I loved Rehab Buddhist Vic, and I'm so disappointed that he's not sincere. On the other hand, it looks like Angela is using him, so maybe he's being pushed into doing something he doesn't want to do.

I got kind of confused, because Angela and Siobhan both have long dark hair and angular faces and were wearing caps, so I had trouble telling them apart. I thought Angela was Siobhan until Vic called her "Detective," and then I thought Siobhan was Angela until I heard her accent (I'd forgotten about her accent until then, I guess).

And just when it looked like Leekie was the cuddlier of two evils, it turns out he's a bigger bastard than Rachel after all. What a shame.

So are the stem cell cultures in Cosima's treatment from Kira? That seems to be what they were implying. I guess that's why Sarah figured out that Siobhan was in with the Dyad, or something. I'm so confused!

 

[Guy Gardener]

I was wondering why her eyes are always red and puffy?

Maybe Cosima is not a hipster poser and they all need glasses, but every other clone from the first world has contacts or had lasac surgery?

Helena is psychotic and angry because she is frustrated about being half blind.

 

[tomalak301]

Wow this episode went from fun to serious very quickly did it? We started this episode with Sarah and Helena actually doing some Seestra bonding with some really fun scenes in a tent, and then Helena doing a bad sing along to Sugar Surgar (Which reminded me of Alison's Bitch sign along last season) and ended it with some really big revelations.

Helena in this episode, again, was great. Loved her flirtations with Jesse, and I am a little sad she is going back with the Prolethians. I guess it had to be considering what they did to her, but I was hoping we would get more Sarah/Helena time. Maybe there really isn't much you can do with them other than a short fling, and her going back to be with her "babies" is a storyline this show needs to address now.

I had to watch the Ethan/Sarah conversation a few times to get everything, but I think I've come to the realization of not believing everything. Was a little surprised to see Mrs. S answer the door, and, who knows, maybe she is the mastermind of it all. Yeah they said it was Leekie, but there seems to be more there that we still don't know yet, and I can't figure Mrs. S out. If it really is Leekie who is behind everything, that makes last week's episode a little more interesting, considering the "showing of good faith" scenes. Of course he does want the experiment to go full term so you can't do that if the clones are dying off.

Nice to see a return of Alison, but I feel the same way I do last week with Vic. I don't like him, and his little thing with Angela confirmed that.

I am still amazed at the consistency this show offers though. Every week the episodes are just as good if not better than the last, and we got some great stuff this week. Can't believe there are only 4 more episodes left of this season. Wish there were more than 10 episodes, but 10 does make the plots seem tighter, which is nice.

By the way, how did Felix get out of Jail? Did I miss something from last week's episode to this week's?

 

[Guy Gardener]

before this started, 75 percent of Allison's life was about being a mother.

Even though Sarah told Allison that Vic was not the father, Sarah lies, and if Vic is Kira's daddy, then maybe Sarah is not special and Vic has magic sperms?



Never mind.

Adopted children are real children, but it's still nice to bake one from scratch.

There's magic sperms somewhere.

 

[Christopher]

By the way, how did Felix get out of Jail? Did I miss something from last week's episode to this week's?

IIRC, that was part of Sarah's deal with Leekie, that he'd pull strings to get the charges dropped (since his people trumped them up in the first place).

 

[Guy Gardener]

No sirs.

They gathered evidence, fingerprints, and when Paul feels like submitting that smoking gun to Johnny Law, the wheels of justice will begin turning... But that doesn't kick off for another 3 days.

Sword of Damocles y'know?

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ Yep, 3 days Leekie said. Probably why Sarah didn't wait around to see what Helena had gotten herself into.

On a side note, I don't think I've ever heard Helena say "seestra", with the double E sound. I always hear sestra or sistra.

 

[tomalak301]

By the way, how did Felix get out of Jail? Did I miss something from last week's episode to this week's?

IIRC, that was part of Sarah's deal with Leekie, that he'd pull strings to get the charges dropped (since his people trumped them up in the first place).

I just rewatched the end scene to last week's episode and you're right. I thought it was find him and then Felix was released.

 

[Christopher]

On a side note, I don't think I've ever heard Helena say "seestra", with the double E sound. I always hear sestra or sistra.

I checked, and apparently it is sestrá (сестра) in Ukrainian and Russian. I saw a screencap earlier of a subtitle saying "seestra," but I guess that was a typo.

 

[Aldo]

So the big news is that Duncan started the experiment because he wanted a daughter? I think that's what they were saying, and then Dyad showed interest and essentially stole the project from him? Perhaps killing his wife was a way to get him off the project? I'll have to rewatch it again soon, because they did impart a lot of information in a short period of time.

I was disappointed that Vic was putting on an act towards Allison. I thought they had some interesting chemistry and was sorry to see it was all an act.

I looooooved seeing Helena dancing with that guy in the bar and (if only for a brief moment) being happy, or at least content. As I was watching this episode I was reflecting on the fact that Helena is definitely not the same character we saw last season. I guess that's what happens when you escape the shadows of the Proletheans. It's too bad they snatched her back up, I was enjoying seeing her with Sarah, and when the cop came up to Helena and said her sister showed up, I was hoping she'd stand aside and Sarah would spring Helena.

And Christopher: I too figured they were implying that Kira was the source of the stem cells that were (hopefully) curing Comisa. Which makes the fact that Delphine told Scott (I think?) not to tell Cosima this at all.

Still no news on if we're getting a season 3 or not (I just checked). But that doesn't mean anything, there is still plenty of time for them to decide to renew it

 

[Mister Fandango]

I think it might be darker than that, actually. Didn't Cosima say the stem cells came from crushed baby teeth? I know she was half-joking when she said that, but it implied that they weren't just something you could easily extract from a living host, so Kira wouldn't be the "donor."