Orphan Black 2.02
Apr. 27th, 2014 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakLoved this one, which I found character oriented as opposed to the season opener being plot oriented.
Mind you, I can't decide whether I find it more worrying or more understandable that Alison, while angsting about her part in Ainsley's death in general, doesn't start to go "what have I done?" and feeling driven-to-drink guilty until she discovers Ainsley was not, in fact, her monitor. I mean, murder is murder. And not stopping a really gruesome death from happening would have been murder even if Ainsley had been reporting on Alison. Then again, if Ainsley had been the monitor she'd have been part of a constant violation of Alison's life for years, so Alison telling herself it was retaliation/self defense works psychologically. In any event, this was the follow-up to Ainsley's death I'd been waiting for. Alison going to her funeral before finding out the truth and being gossiped about by the rest of the suburbian clique (due to the sex with Ainsley's husband) was already in a way Alison punishing herself, but she still could cling to feeling justified until finding out the truth about Donnie, which btw I'm glad she did, both on a Watsonian and Doylist level - I didn't want them to drag this plot point out, and we've already done the "Alison suspects Donnie" episode last season. I'm a bit surprised Felix took Alison's confession re: Ainsley in such a stride, but then I suppose with the Sarah and Kira and Mrs. S. events he was mightily distracted.
Alison's suburbian existence never felt more like a trap. Of course she can kick Donnie out, but she can't go on the lam with her two kids the way Sarah just did with Kira and Felix (not that I expect them to get far, after all, this show isn't going to change into the Sarah, Kira and Felix road trip through the US and Canada), and she did sign that agreement with the Dyad institute that's probably legally binding. And now she knows for sure that the husband whom she got together when they were both in high school has been lying to her through all these years.
Trust in life long certainties shattered is also what happens with Sarah and Mrs. S., though the episode does make clear Mrs. S., whatever her original connection to Project Leda, is an independent operator these days and did go on the run with Kira in the s1 finale not on anyone's behalf but her own, and based on the correct assumption that Dyadian kidnappers were on their way. (Incidentally, how this squares with the last scene from the season opener where we see Kira getting photographed I don't know, but I suppose given we find out in this episode Mrs. S. herself got doublecrossed by her old contacts who sold out to the Prolethians I suppose the photographing was arranged by them.) However, this doesn't change the fact that she's lying to Sarah point blank when asked about the photograph Amelia gave Sarah, which turns out to be the tipping point for Sarah in the "to trust or not to trust" question.
(Mythical sidenote: After coupling with Zeus-as-swan, Leda gave birth to the Dioscuri... and to Helen and Clytaimnestra. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, are twins, one mortal, one immortal, with the immortal one choosing to share the fate of his twin and both of them ending up as stars. In most versions, Helen is Zeus' daughter, Clytaimnestra the daughter of Leda's husband Tyndareios. Because this show so far hasn't privileged blood dies over adopted ties, I don't expect Mrs. S. to turn out to be literally the egg donor for the clones - though her colouring would fit - but my current guess is that she was an important member of the organization before breaking things off with the Dyad folk and disappearing with Sarah and Felix. In any event, this is a show where "who is Leda?" is a more important question than "who is Zeus"?)
This was the most we've seen of Maria Doyle Kennedy in an episode so far, and she was great, from reasonable (pointing out to Sarah that she's done a better job keeping Kira safe so far than Sarah did, or could) to cold blooded and ruthless (dealing with her old friends once she's figured out said old friends are double crossing her) to heartbroken (that silent exchange of looks with Sarah when Mrs. S. after killing a man she's known for decades when he's attacking Sarah lets Sarah go). Morally ambiguous Siobhan (rather than villainous Siobhan or unjustly accused Siobhan) is what I'd been hoping for ever since Amelia dropped her bombshell, so I was captivated by this outing, believe her early statement she's been on Sarah's side all along but also understand why Sarah right now doesn't trust her anymore.
Meanwhile, we find out more about the American branch of the Prolethians: Tomas, last season's Ukrainian religious nutter, gets killed off by this season's new main Prolethian character the All-American pastor who is a scarier type of villain, since instead of signalling his evil via floggings and rantings he's presented as a family man, gentle with animals, a community organizer and supporter of science in his religion while also cheerfully getting rid of anyone not inclined to following his lead. And the casual way in which he points out that if Helena is Sarah's twin and Sarah is fertile, chances are Helena could be, too, was absolutely terrifying to me. (I really hope being used as breeding stock isn't Helena's subplot for the season, but that scene with the cow early on gives me the chills in this regard, too.)
Also causing bad feelings, though of a less terrified kind: Daniel causing professional trouble for Art. I suppose it's possible Art will lose his job that way but it wouldn't make much Doylist sense - they don't need another man on the run but an ally at the police department.
Fascinating to watch: the Rachel and Cosima scene. Because that's the first time we've seen Rachel interact with another clone when she's not making a pitch. There is dislike/resentment there, and I don't think just because she's not buying Cosima's claim of not having known about Sarah impersonating her; but also a not completely hidden concern and need, because I don't think Rachel brought Cosima that material just as part of the project. Rachel would be aware that with the late Katya's illness and Cosima's current one, chances are that whatever defective streak is in the clones could surface in her, too. And of all scientists Cosima is of course the one with the most motivation to figure it out. Last season, Helena was the antagonist clone, and she had all of her scenes with Sarah, not with one of the others; I had assumed this would be the case with Rachel as well, but the scene with Cosima makes me suspect Rachel's counterpoint will instead be Cosima, which, now that I think about it, strikes me as a far better narrative choice on various levels. It doesn't mean the show has to come up with justifications for Sarah making an escape every time she meets Rachel and neither of them doing something permanent to the other. Cosima now working at the Dyad Institute already places her in Rachel's immediate surroundings. And it gives Cosima a subplot that's not about her relationship with Delphine (not that I have anything against Cosima/Delphine, but we've done the "falling in love with your monitor" thing) while we'll find out more about Rachel in her interactions with another clone.
Lastly: bring on the new clone phones, well done, Felix! They do need ways to communicate with each other that aren't monitored.
Mind you, I can't decide whether I find it more worrying or more understandable that Alison, while angsting about her part in Ainsley's death in general, doesn't start to go "what have I done?" and feeling driven-to-drink guilty until she discovers Ainsley was not, in fact, her monitor. I mean, murder is murder. And not stopping a really gruesome death from happening would have been murder even if Ainsley had been reporting on Alison. Then again, if Ainsley had been the monitor she'd have been part of a constant violation of Alison's life for years, so Alison telling herself it was retaliation/self defense works psychologically. In any event, this was the follow-up to Ainsley's death I'd been waiting for. Alison going to her funeral before finding out the truth and being gossiped about by the rest of the suburbian clique (due to the sex with Ainsley's husband) was already in a way Alison punishing herself, but she still could cling to feeling justified until finding out the truth about Donnie, which btw I'm glad she did, both on a Watsonian and Doylist level - I didn't want them to drag this plot point out, and we've already done the "Alison suspects Donnie" episode last season. I'm a bit surprised Felix took Alison's confession re: Ainsley in such a stride, but then I suppose with the Sarah and Kira and Mrs. S. events he was mightily distracted.
Alison's suburbian existence never felt more like a trap. Of course she can kick Donnie out, but she can't go on the lam with her two kids the way Sarah just did with Kira and Felix (not that I expect them to get far, after all, this show isn't going to change into the Sarah, Kira and Felix road trip through the US and Canada), and she did sign that agreement with the Dyad institute that's probably legally binding. And now she knows for sure that the husband whom she got together when they were both in high school has been lying to her through all these years.
Trust in life long certainties shattered is also what happens with Sarah and Mrs. S., though the episode does make clear Mrs. S., whatever her original connection to Project Leda, is an independent operator these days and did go on the run with Kira in the s1 finale not on anyone's behalf but her own, and based on the correct assumption that Dyadian kidnappers were on their way. (Incidentally, how this squares with the last scene from the season opener where we see Kira getting photographed I don't know, but I suppose given we find out in this episode Mrs. S. herself got doublecrossed by her old contacts who sold out to the Prolethians I suppose the photographing was arranged by them.) However, this doesn't change the fact that she's lying to Sarah point blank when asked about the photograph Amelia gave Sarah, which turns out to be the tipping point for Sarah in the "to trust or not to trust" question.
(Mythical sidenote: After coupling with Zeus-as-swan, Leda gave birth to the Dioscuri... and to Helen and Clytaimnestra. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, are twins, one mortal, one immortal, with the immortal one choosing to share the fate of his twin and both of them ending up as stars. In most versions, Helen is Zeus' daughter, Clytaimnestra the daughter of Leda's husband Tyndareios. Because this show so far hasn't privileged blood dies over adopted ties, I don't expect Mrs. S. to turn out to be literally the egg donor for the clones - though her colouring would fit - but my current guess is that she was an important member of the organization before breaking things off with the Dyad folk and disappearing with Sarah and Felix. In any event, this is a show where "who is Leda?" is a more important question than "who is Zeus"?)
This was the most we've seen of Maria Doyle Kennedy in an episode so far, and she was great, from reasonable (pointing out to Sarah that she's done a better job keeping Kira safe so far than Sarah did, or could) to cold blooded and ruthless (dealing with her old friends once she's figured out said old friends are double crossing her) to heartbroken (that silent exchange of looks with Sarah when Mrs. S. after killing a man she's known for decades when he's attacking Sarah lets Sarah go). Morally ambiguous Siobhan (rather than villainous Siobhan or unjustly accused Siobhan) is what I'd been hoping for ever since Amelia dropped her bombshell, so I was captivated by this outing, believe her early statement she's been on Sarah's side all along but also understand why Sarah right now doesn't trust her anymore.
Meanwhile, we find out more about the American branch of the Prolethians: Tomas, last season's Ukrainian religious nutter, gets killed off by this season's new main Prolethian character the All-American pastor who is a scarier type of villain, since instead of signalling his evil via floggings and rantings he's presented as a family man, gentle with animals, a community organizer and supporter of science in his religion while also cheerfully getting rid of anyone not inclined to following his lead. And the casual way in which he points out that if Helena is Sarah's twin and Sarah is fertile, chances are Helena could be, too, was absolutely terrifying to me. (I really hope being used as breeding stock isn't Helena's subplot for the season, but that scene with the cow early on gives me the chills in this regard, too.)
Also causing bad feelings, though of a less terrified kind: Daniel causing professional trouble for Art. I suppose it's possible Art will lose his job that way but it wouldn't make much Doylist sense - they don't need another man on the run but an ally at the police department.
Fascinating to watch: the Rachel and Cosima scene. Because that's the first time we've seen Rachel interact with another clone when she's not making a pitch. There is dislike/resentment there, and I don't think just because she's not buying Cosima's claim of not having known about Sarah impersonating her; but also a not completely hidden concern and need, because I don't think Rachel brought Cosima that material just as part of the project. Rachel would be aware that with the late Katya's illness and Cosima's current one, chances are that whatever defective streak is in the clones could surface in her, too. And of all scientists Cosima is of course the one with the most motivation to figure it out. Last season, Helena was the antagonist clone, and she had all of her scenes with Sarah, not with one of the others; I had assumed this would be the case with Rachel as well, but the scene with Cosima makes me suspect Rachel's counterpoint will instead be Cosima, which, now that I think about it, strikes me as a far better narrative choice on various levels. It doesn't mean the show has to come up with justifications for Sarah making an escape every time she meets Rachel and neither of them doing something permanent to the other. Cosima now working at the Dyad Institute already places her in Rachel's immediate surroundings. And it gives Cosima a subplot that's not about her relationship with Delphine (not that I have anything against Cosima/Delphine, but we've done the "falling in love with your monitor" thing) while we'll find out more about Rachel in her interactions with another clone.
Lastly: bring on the new clone phones, well done, Felix! They do need ways to communicate with each other that aren't monitored.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-27 11:27 am (UTC)Poor Alison. She was already cracking up over Aynsley. But this episode made me wonder if in fact he wasn't her watcher last season, and Leakey has only just recruited him, possibly with a bogus story.
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Date: 2014-04-27 11:55 am (UTC)Re: Donnie, it's possibe - certainly it would be an irony if he got only just recruited and agreed because of how Alison treated him when she suspected him the last time - and Sarah had a good point when she said to Alison that Paul met Beth only two years ago whereas Alison knew Donnie from high school, which makes it a far longer to time to deceive someone on an intimate basis. Otoh Paul has his murky mercanary past as a leverage used against him, Delphine was recruited by appealing to her curiosity and ambition as a scientist, but Donnie? With Donnie it would make more psychological sense for a kid in high school to be recruited by being told he gets to be part of something big (though not what; like Paul originally, I suppose he has no idea Alison is a clone) than for a suburban husband to be recruited.
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Date: 2014-04-27 12:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-04-28 03:26 am (UTC)Yeah. I want to watch his season one moves again because I remember him as performing more professionally than he did in this episode.
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Date: 2014-04-27 02:29 pm (UTC)Re: Kira's photo: Mrs S did just have two new passports made in their names.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-27 03:30 pm (UTC)Canadian actors: let's face it, there's a tradition. I mean, William Shatner became an American icon and hails from your side of the border, too, doesn't he? :)