I don't think anything could be as bad as Voyager's finale, and I liked Voyager as a whole.
Orphan Black Season 5 - The Final Trip
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I don't think anything could be as bad as Voyager's finale, and I liked Voyager as a whole.
It's ironic -- the promo for the finale was all "WHO... WILL... MAKE IT... OUT... ALIVE?", priming us for violence and tragedy and shock value, and then it turns out that nobody dies except the bad guys and 2/3 of the episode is childbirth and recovery and family and interpersonal bonding. Heck, only three of the good guys were even endangered in the final conflict. Just goes to show how little you can trust advertising.
Still, I wish Sarah hadn't killed Mathieson/Westmoreland. He was dying of old age anyway, pretty much driving himself to a heart attack. Even if he'd survived the immediate event, it would've most likely been in a badly debilitated state and he wouldn't have lived long afterward or been in any condition to pose any more threat. I think it would've been better poetic justice for Sarah to leave him alive to face the inevitable natural death he'd been fighting off for so long.
Still, I wish Sarah hadn't killed Mathieson/Westmoreland. He was dying of old age anyway, pretty much driving himself to a heart attack. Even if he'd survived the immediate event, it would've most likely been in a badly debilitated state and he wouldn't have lived long afterward or been in any condition to pose any more threat. I think it would've been better poetic justice for Sarah to leave him alive to face the inevitable natural death he'd been fighting off for so long.
I don't think anything could be as bad as Voyager's finale, and I liked Voyager as a whole.
Roseanne, Will and Grace and Voyager are probably the three worst finales I've seen, two of which will be fixed soon. Thankfully Orphan Black avoid what made Voyager's so awful, and had the peace and love and family that the characters were searching for. (Voyager is like 'We made it home!' but didn't show any of the character's reactions So bad.)
But once again I feel like we should have had more. Felix was missing from half the season, he had an art show and I swear said he and his ex fling guy were moving to NY. Art's storyline is just there, all the cops are corrupt and might want revenge. I jut wish the whole last episode dealt with the post everything life so we could have a little more closure with the characters.
Did anyone here watch Once Upon a Time when they did the Peter Pan storyline? Neverland went on 10-12 episodes and had like 2-3 episodes of plot, story and point. I feel like Orphan Black should have learned a lesson from that and cut the island storyline in half.
Decent finale, kind of a shit season, but overall I'm glad the show was made.
If I had to rate the season best to worst there be: 1, 2, 4, 5..... 3.
Deep Space 9 and Enterprise finales?I don't think anything could be as bad as Voyager's finale, and I liked Voyager as a whole.
I liked the DS9 finale and I choose to accept Terra Prime as the real Enterprise finale.
That's kind of hard when he's about to kill her by suffocation. Maybe the shot to the face might have been a little overboard, but I still liked it.
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A lovely ending, if an imperfect one, to a fantastic series. Despite the all too-clean transition from the childbirth to the denouement, I was relieved that episode provided the necessary time to give each of the main characters closure and a sense of hope for the Clone Club.
I also appreciate how the writers didn't go for the easy route of everyone having a happy ending. It makes sense that Sarah would return to her earlier struggles in the wake of the devastating loss of Siobhan, and that in the months after the time jump, she would still be having a difficult time processing that loss. I was disappointed but not surprised she walked away from her GED test, but I did enjoy how that moment contrasted with the wonderful flashbacks with Siobhan.
Likewise, Rachel didn't get a happy ending as she's rightfully ostracized from the Clone Club, and perhaps she didn't deserve one after all the hurt and suffering she has caused. At least, she did one more good thing for the Clone Club by providing the complete list of Leda clones.
The dual childbirths was perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of the whole series and I was crying alongside all of them. After all the pain and misery they've all experienced, I loved seeing them have a moment of pure joy. I expected the twins to be girls and to be subsequently named Beth and Siobhan, but I think I actually prefer the creative decision to have them be boys named Arthur and Donnie. Temporarily naming them Orange and Purple was so Helena that I half expected those names to stick.
I only have two complaints about the episode. The aforementioned clean transition from childbirth to denouement quietly swept aside issues of how Helena, Sarah, Art and the twins escaped despite at least one more goon out there. Further, there must've been questions of how "Westmoreland" (John, I think?) and Coady died and the physical evidence against Sarah, Helena, and Art (who also has another murder on his hands that was quietly ignored). This is compounded by the fact that Enger was released and can hold evidence against Art and company. This isn't a big deal, but the way it's not dealt with stands out.
My other complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I hoped for some reference to Cal. The episode to bring up Tony and Krystal with no problems, so it would've been nice to have something for him, too.
I also appreciate how the writers didn't go for the easy route of everyone having a happy ending. It makes sense that Sarah would return to her earlier struggles in the wake of the devastating loss of Siobhan, and that in the months after the time jump, she would still be having a difficult time processing that loss. I was disappointed but not surprised she walked away from her GED test, but I did enjoy how that moment contrasted with the wonderful flashbacks with Siobhan.
Likewise, Rachel didn't get a happy ending as she's rightfully ostracized from the Clone Club, and perhaps she didn't deserve one after all the hurt and suffering she has caused. At least, she did one more good thing for the Clone Club by providing the complete list of Leda clones.
The dual childbirths was perhaps one of the most beautiful moments of the whole series and I was crying alongside all of them. After all the pain and misery they've all experienced, I loved seeing them have a moment of pure joy. I expected the twins to be girls and to be subsequently named Beth and Siobhan, but I think I actually prefer the creative decision to have them be boys named Arthur and Donnie. Temporarily naming them Orange and Purple was so Helena that I half expected those names to stick.
I only have two complaints about the episode. The aforementioned clean transition from childbirth to denouement quietly swept aside issues of how Helena, Sarah, Art and the twins escaped despite at least one more goon out there. Further, there must've been questions of how "Westmoreland" (John, I think?) and Coady died and the physical evidence against Sarah, Helena, and Art (who also has another murder on his hands that was quietly ignored). This is compounded by the fact that Enger was released and can hold evidence against Art and company. This isn't a big deal, but the way it's not dealt with stands out.
My other complaint, and it's a minor one, is that I hoped for some reference to Cal. The episode to bring up Tony and Krystal with no problems, so it would've been nice to have something for him, too.
Boys who will be raised by three or four strong women, and by two male role models (Donnie and Felix) who defy conventional definitions of masculinity. "The future is female" doesn't mean men can't be part of it, just that it won't be defined solely by masculine power and norms anymore.
I meant after that, of course. After she kicked him away, he was defeated, lying helpless on the floor, possibly having a heart attack through his own exertions. She should've left him there alone to face his mortality, either within the next few minutes or perhaps within a few days or weeks in the hospital if he'd lasted long enough. Even aside from my distaste for hitting a person when they're down, and for killing in general, I just think it would've been better poetic justice -- better revenge, even -- if this man whose evils were driven by his desperate attempts to reverse aging were condemned to the fate of dying of old age.
I think the closing montage (which ran a couple of minutes over the hour, so I hope nobody missed it) showed that Sarah had changed her mind about moving and had recommitted to parenting, so she probably did go back and take the GED after all.
I interpret Rachel's resolution more positively. She may have lost her wealth and power, but those were just the gilding on her cage. Now she has independence, a chance to start over from scratch and live her own life for the first time ever. I think that's the happiest ending she could've had, all things considered.
The goons were in the process of evacuating the building, because they were afraid the alarms and such would attract the authorities. So presumably they bugged out once they realized Coady and Mathieson weren't coming.
There are a lot of crimes these characters have gotten away with. But I think we saw a week or two ago that Art decided his boss was on the right side and told him what was going on, so I imagine said boss may have helped clear things up for Art and the others, once the full magnitude of the Neolutionist conspiracy and its infiltration of the police came to light.
The fuck is this?
Sarah went straight from chav to champion of the clones in the first couple of episodes. She never stopped once along the way to deal with where she had been in her own life. Then, all the shite was done, just like that, in the last couple of episodes.
It's perfectly natural she wouldn't know how to adjust to a "normal" life since she didn't have one to begin with.
^Yes, that's basically the same thing I pointed out last night. But the scene I'm referring to here is after all that. She was having trouble adjusting, but her sestras helped her through her doubts, and so she recommitted to trying.
I only watched the episode today, so...
Yup, that's pretty much why I liked that the writers defied expectations and made the twins boys. This show strongly focuses on its female characters, but also shows great male characters that go against the norm of masculinity conventions, and not just Felix and Donnie, but also Art and Scott.
Okay, I can see that interpretation. I thought it was a bit more open-ended as in Sarah was still hedging but keeping an open mind. Your take makes sense and is more positive. Either way, I still appreciate that the writers didn't go with the quick easy route with Sarah.
That's true. I was thinking strictly in terms with the Clone Club, but I agree that on her own, Rachel does finish out in a positive light and that it's the possible and believable ending for her.
That makes sense, but I wish the episode spent a minute or two to make that a bit clearer, especially regarding the legality issues and Art's situation with the police.
This was a much better show when it was about science, ethics, morality, and the power struggles were between women. Part of what I loved so much was that this show as so entirely different from anything else, in terms of roles for women. Sarah starts off as a criminal who abandoned her child, and its pretty atypical for a woman to play such an unsympathetic character. Helena is along similar lines. For a while the real villains were all women...Rachel, Susan, Coady, Marion, Evie and even Delphine since we're not sure about her motivations for a while. Susan Duncan is more the mad scientist, while her husband is a decent man. Coady oversees a program that pumps out male clones for use in a military program. Evie was the director of Brightborn, who blackmailed Duko into working for her. Rachel became CEO of Dyad, herself a clone, and she had no problem using men to serve her needs. This season's 3rd wave feminist 'we're all oppressed by the patriarchy' schtick really rings so hollow, since its a complete 180 from the first 4 seasons. Its even more silly since there were female (LEDA) & male (CASTOR) clones.
Whatever happened to Marion Bowles & Topside?
I'm so glad I quit watching weekly after episode 2. I watched ep 3-10 yesterday, and it was nice to get it over with. There was none of the complexity or multilayered plots to this season, which was extremely disappointing. I just rewatched seasons 1-4 before this season. I didn't watch any trailers or the Comic Con panel, and I didn't read any articles either. I was 100% spoiler free, but everything just felt so entirely predictable.
The last time I felt like this was after the finale to Lost. I liked both series, but both finales make me wish I never started to watch either series to start with.
Whatever happened to Marion Bowles & Topside?
I'm so glad I quit watching weekly after episode 2. I watched ep 3-10 yesterday, and it was nice to get it over with. There was none of the complexity or multilayered plots to this season, which was extremely disappointing. I just rewatched seasons 1-4 before this season. I didn't watch any trailers or the Comic Con panel, and I didn't read any articles either. I was 100% spoiler free, but everything just felt so entirely predictable.
The last time I felt like this was after the finale to Lost. I liked both series, but both finales make me wish I never started to watch either series to start with.
Just finished it...overall, it was a great finale...though the last 1/2 felt like a coda, but worked for me.
A couple minor things:
FINALLY we have a Spanish speaking clone. Not a whole lot of time for it, but glad we saw her. But, now waitaminit.. 230+ more seestras??? So each one of them had a watcher? And I presume there will be possibilities for sequels, with brand new characters.
WOw -- Helena is a REALLY good writer ...great imagery of the story.
And, now that I have seen it -- OK, so sounds like the writers ALSO know the name is strange & has nothing really to do with the story.
Oh, and the "tidy" ending, for Art, in particular. Well, if Dyad collapsed, mostly offscreen, in just an episode, then sure, why not.
Interested that Charlotte is now staying with ARt & his daughter...I mean,i guess, the most stable and able to take care of a ew child, and she'll have lots of aunties.
A couple minor things:
FINALLY we have a Spanish speaking clone. Not a whole lot of time for it, but glad we saw her. But, now waitaminit.. 230+ more seestras??? So each one of them had a watcher? And I presume there will be possibilities for sequels, with brand new characters.
WOw -- Helena is a REALLY good writer ...great imagery of the story.
And, now that I have seen it -- OK, so sounds like the writers ALSO know the name is strange & has nothing really to do with the story.
Oh, and the "tidy" ending, for Art, in particular. Well, if Dyad collapsed, mostly offscreen, in just an episode, then sure, why not.
Interested that Charlotte is now staying with ARt & his daughter...I mean,i guess, the most stable and able to take care of a ew child, and she'll have lots of aunties.
First off, not complaining the twins were boys, I was thinking one of each.
That out of the way. Less island, more police storylines closing up. I mean the cops didn't mind the fact there was a murder/murder of Mrs. S and what's his name? The police was a huge issue of the shot season and a little throughout, and it was just dropped.
There was an interview where the twins alone wet back to the island for the birth, but they realized that was too much.
And this is awesome. (It's a blooper reel in case of stupid country copyright issues and you can't see it.)
That was a lot of fun.
The cast and crew say goodbye and thank you:
I'm going to miss this show so much.
I hope I see Tatiana in something else soon. I know she is acting opposite of Gyllenhall in a movie later this year. Might be worth checking out.
I realized something watching that blooper reel, seeing so many of the Ledas in quick succession. I always had trouble remembering that Alison was played by the same actress as the others, because she just seemed the least like them somehow. I always figured it was as much due to the bangs as to Maslany's characterization. But even with the new haircut, Alison is still remarkably distinct from the others.
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