Orphan Black 5.08.
Jul. 31st, 2017 03:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which there is a lot of board clearing. Hmph.
Other than the narrative tradition of killing the mentor figure before the big finale as the ultimate step into adulthood, is there any reason why Siobhan needed to die? I mean, at least it's not to motivate anyone, but seriously - why, other than said tradition? And why, on a Watsonian level, let her be so sure she would die (all the significant goodbyes to Sarah, the putting roses together for Felix etc.) and not ensure some backup for her confrontation with Ferdinand? I mean, if it were a character she has a deep and personal history with, I'd understand wanting to have the final draw out alone, but she didn't have that with Ferdinand. Or maybe the scriptwriters thought the other way around: they needed to kill off Ferdinand before the show finale, thought only Mrs. S. was badass enough to do it, but figured she'd have to die as well?
I'm not thrilled about Gracie's death, either, which in an episode where Mrs. S. and Ferdinand die feels crammed in as an afternote. Look, show, if you brought Gracie and Mark back just to kill them off (because clearly, Mark isn't going to survive the next episode, and probably won't even want to once he finds out what happened), there really was no need. I'd have been perfectly fine with them having departed to an unknown fate but ALIVE and more or less okay with our lot.
These two factors aside, I enjoyed the rest of the episode. Both the feel good part of Felix' art opening and his presentation of the original triad - Alison, Cosima and Sarah - to his audience, complete with hugs all around, and the suspense thriller part featuring Rachel, Ferdinand and Siobhan (minus S dying, see above). Siobhan contacting Ferdinand to help Rachel after she pulled out her own eye because she needed the additional info only Rachel could provide was just the smart, insightful (into the Ferdinand/Rachel relationship) and ruthless thing Siobhan would do. And of course he helped her. Ferdinand and Rachel managed to become one of my all time favourite villain/villain relationships. Now I had expected Ferdinand to die ever since he killed Mika, which narratively sealed his fate on this show. (Killing off unseen Leda clones, as he did in Helsinki, wouldn't have done it, because that's true for Helena, too, but killing an audience favourite in the final season? Death sentence.) And I sort of expected it would have something to do with Rachel, though I hoped it wouldn't be a simple betrayal, because, see above, re: relationship. And it wasn't; I loved Rachel's reply to Siobhan's "you did the right thing": "But to the wrong man. He was the only one who truly loved me." Which is true. He did. And I think as much as she was able, she did love him; her last minute suggestion to him to run away together in freedom instead of going for the blackmail-the-board option came from that place.
But in the end, Rachel chose freedom. (And burning Neolution to the ground; that, too.) Realism might have factored in there as well; long term blackmailing the remaining Neolution board the way Ferdinand wanted to would have painted an even bigger target on her back, and Rachel, who was on the other side of corporate power bent on killing people for much of her life, probably didn't rate her survival chances in such a scenario that highly. Otoh she also made no move to get out with S or fight back when it was clear Ferdinand had survived the board meeting and would come back with vengeance on his mind, so survival right then might not have been her top priority. It might really have been freedom. More than any other clone (Helena excepted), she was property (and property knowing she was property) all her life, so completely part of the system that living without it seemed utterly unthinkable. And this was one last chance - taking vengeance within the system (via blackmail) versus taking vengeance by destroying the system and be free for however long for the first time.
I had vaguely assumed Rachel and Ferdinand would end up killing each other, "Duel in the Sun" style, but what we actually got - Ferdinand coming close to killing her but in the end unable to go through with it and Rachel surviving (for now) - I liked better. Mind you, I'm still not sure Rachel will survive the show, because she did a lot of terrible things, and as opposed to Helena, she did them throughout the entire show and most of them in cold blood. However, now at least it's not impossible. I'm still 70% sure she dies (only without Ferdinand and with Susan & Ira dead as well, and with Sarah lost of a motive now that Kira is back and more or less safe, I can't guess yet how and by whom - Not!Westmoreland? Helena? Suicide?), but for the first time, there's a tiny bit of hope she just might not and could make it out of the show alive (and with A LOT to atone for, I hasten to add, my Rachel fondness is not in denial of her villainy).
Next up: showdown on Dr. Moreau's island, I suppose, with Not!Westmoreland & Dr. Coady and assored minions, Helena's near giving birth state ensuring this isn't such a no-brainer as it would be with Helena in peak physical condition. Whatever became of the cop supposed to supervise Art at all times?
Other than the narrative tradition of killing the mentor figure before the big finale as the ultimate step into adulthood, is there any reason why Siobhan needed to die? I mean, at least it's not to motivate anyone, but seriously - why, other than said tradition? And why, on a Watsonian level, let her be so sure she would die (all the significant goodbyes to Sarah, the putting roses together for Felix etc.) and not ensure some backup for her confrontation with Ferdinand? I mean, if it were a character she has a deep and personal history with, I'd understand wanting to have the final draw out alone, but she didn't have that with Ferdinand. Or maybe the scriptwriters thought the other way around: they needed to kill off Ferdinand before the show finale, thought only Mrs. S. was badass enough to do it, but figured she'd have to die as well?
I'm not thrilled about Gracie's death, either, which in an episode where Mrs. S. and Ferdinand die feels crammed in as an afternote. Look, show, if you brought Gracie and Mark back just to kill them off (because clearly, Mark isn't going to survive the next episode, and probably won't even want to once he finds out what happened), there really was no need. I'd have been perfectly fine with them having departed to an unknown fate but ALIVE and more or less okay with our lot.
These two factors aside, I enjoyed the rest of the episode. Both the feel good part of Felix' art opening and his presentation of the original triad - Alison, Cosima and Sarah - to his audience, complete with hugs all around, and the suspense thriller part featuring Rachel, Ferdinand and Siobhan (minus S dying, see above). Siobhan contacting Ferdinand to help Rachel after she pulled out her own eye because she needed the additional info only Rachel could provide was just the smart, insightful (into the Ferdinand/Rachel relationship) and ruthless thing Siobhan would do. And of course he helped her. Ferdinand and Rachel managed to become one of my all time favourite villain/villain relationships. Now I had expected Ferdinand to die ever since he killed Mika, which narratively sealed his fate on this show. (Killing off unseen Leda clones, as he did in Helsinki, wouldn't have done it, because that's true for Helena, too, but killing an audience favourite in the final season? Death sentence.) And I sort of expected it would have something to do with Rachel, though I hoped it wouldn't be a simple betrayal, because, see above, re: relationship. And it wasn't; I loved Rachel's reply to Siobhan's "you did the right thing": "But to the wrong man. He was the only one who truly loved me." Which is true. He did. And I think as much as she was able, she did love him; her last minute suggestion to him to run away together in freedom instead of going for the blackmail-the-board option came from that place.
But in the end, Rachel chose freedom. (And burning Neolution to the ground; that, too.) Realism might have factored in there as well; long term blackmailing the remaining Neolution board the way Ferdinand wanted to would have painted an even bigger target on her back, and Rachel, who was on the other side of corporate power bent on killing people for much of her life, probably didn't rate her survival chances in such a scenario that highly. Otoh she also made no move to get out with S or fight back when it was clear Ferdinand had survived the board meeting and would come back with vengeance on his mind, so survival right then might not have been her top priority. It might really have been freedom. More than any other clone (Helena excepted), she was property (and property knowing she was property) all her life, so completely part of the system that living without it seemed utterly unthinkable. And this was one last chance - taking vengeance within the system (via blackmail) versus taking vengeance by destroying the system and be free for however long for the first time.
I had vaguely assumed Rachel and Ferdinand would end up killing each other, "Duel in the Sun" style, but what we actually got - Ferdinand coming close to killing her but in the end unable to go through with it and Rachel surviving (for now) - I liked better. Mind you, I'm still not sure Rachel will survive the show, because she did a lot of terrible things, and as opposed to Helena, she did them throughout the entire show and most of them in cold blood. However, now at least it's not impossible. I'm still 70% sure she dies (only without Ferdinand and with Susan & Ira dead as well, and with Sarah lost of a motive now that Kira is back and more or less safe, I can't guess yet how and by whom - Not!Westmoreland? Helena? Suicide?), but for the first time, there's a tiny bit of hope she just might not and could make it out of the show alive (and with A LOT to atone for, I hasten to add, my Rachel fondness is not in denial of her villainy).
Next up: showdown on Dr. Moreau's island, I suppose, with Not!Westmoreland & Dr. Coady and assored minions, Helena's near giving birth state ensuring this isn't such a no-brainer as it would be with Helena in peak physical condition. Whatever became of the cop supposed to supervise Art at all times?
