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selenakNo new Clone adventure to contemplate today, so a few thoughts on why season 2 as a whole - while offering many good things - didn't work as well as s1 for me.
Season 1 had a clear narrative and focus. The first half has Sarah's intended grift - quickly stepping into and out of Beth's life to get her money, then leave - go wrong, so she's trapped in Beth's existence, and simultanously finds out about being a clone, meeting other clones and starting various relationships with them. There were three quickly established and ongoing mysteries - the basic ones of the clones, the question as to who is killing them, and the question of why Beth shot Maggie Chen and subsequently committed suicide -, and they all turned out to be interconnected (Helena is the kiler, Helena does this because she's a clone herself and brainwashed, by the same organization to which Maggie Chen belonged, the Prolethians, which is why Beth shot her). The second half of season 1 both made the Dyad Institute (and its representatives, from Oliver to Leekie to in the very last episode, where she gets introduced, Rachel) more and more into the major opponents and gave Alison and Cosima parallel storylines to Sarah's (Alison's - justified - paranoia about Donnie, her clash with Ainsley, Cosima falling in love with Delphine despite knowing Delphine is her monitor), but these still interlaced with Sarah's ongoing story (Sarah helps Alison out re: Donnie, not to mention that Sarah's discovery that Paul was Beth's monitor starts Alison's fear about Donnie monitoring her to begin with, and Sarah introduces her to Felix, which starts the Felix and Alison friendship; simultanously, Sarah and Cosima clash about the whole Delphine situation). During this time, Sarah also starts her relationship with Helena (who goes, show narrative wise, from threat to the other clones to wild card). Overall, you have Sarah starting as a loner with just two, maximum three people she gives a damm about (i.e. Kira, Felix, arguably Mrs. S.) to Sarah having become a part of a small community, having formed new connections with Alison, Cosima and Helena, though in Helena's case Helena killing Amelia causes Sarah to reject her in an (intended to be) lethal way in the last episode..
Now, s2 couldn't repeat the "getting to know you" part of s1, obviously (other than everyone getting to know Rachel as their antagonist); the clones already know each other. And from a Doylist pov, it's understandable to give Tatiana Maslany not too many scenes with herself; an actor wants other actors to play against. But on a Watsonian level, the relationships between the clones are the ones we're most invested in (other than Felix & anyone, and Mrs. S. & Sarah), and so to keep them mostly separated in their own storylines takes away from that. Alison's storyline, for example, has almost no connection to anyone else's, and the one point where Sarah shows up in Alison's story only serves to underline that because Sarah impersonating Alison in a scene with Donnie comes across as a fanservicey "repeat of Greatest Hits" kind of scene (as opposed to the s1 original, where Sarah-as-Alison-with-Donnie had an emotional point and was part of one of the best episodes of s1). Helena's storyline does touch Sarah's repeatedly, and her scenes with new character Gracie were great, ditto the few with Art, but the way both Sarah and Art completely ignored what happened to Helena after her barfight arrest (never mind sentiment; Helena has a serial killer past, the results of which Art investigated last season, so at the very least Art should want to know what the hell became of her in the interest of public safety) made no sense, especially combined with them happily embracing Helena when she returns. The attempt to match the s1 revelations beats named above didn't work so well because as opposed to the s1 twists and turns, they were rarely interconnected, and sometimes didn't receive an explanation/pay off. Or not yet shown as such. I mean, there's obviously something Cal hasn't been telling yet, what with the fake IDs and convenient getaway vehicle, but the season never tells us whether or not this is connected to the increasing relevance of the military as the third party of the clone project. Just which role Mrs. S. played in the past is as uncertain by the end of the season as it was at the beginning. And Sarah - who may not be everyone's favourite clone but who is the lynchpin around which the narrative revolves - has become a static character, essentially repeating her s1 arc from loner-with-only-Kira-Fee-and-Mrs.S. to part-of-sisterhood (even the momentary surrender in the finale to Dyad and subsequent defiance is repeated), only in a more scattered and less focused way, whereas Alison, Helena and Cosima all move forward, and new character Rachel is fleshed out and given a trajectory of her own (negative, but still moving).
Again: this isn't about favourites. Sarah isn't my favourite clone, either. But as it turns out, making her static and keeping her interactions with the other clones to a minimum really dislodged the overall story, and I hope this won't happen again in s3.
Other fandoms:
Penny Dreadful:
Short but very interesting interview with Timothy Dalton about a certain scene in 1.05 and the Vanessa-Malcolm relationship in general.
Star Trek:
We learned the sea : beautiful love declaration to the various shows (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voy), their captains, and their relationships.
Season 1 had a clear narrative and focus. The first half has Sarah's intended grift - quickly stepping into and out of Beth's life to get her money, then leave - go wrong, so she's trapped in Beth's existence, and simultanously finds out about being a clone, meeting other clones and starting various relationships with them. There were three quickly established and ongoing mysteries - the basic ones of the clones, the question as to who is killing them, and the question of why Beth shot Maggie Chen and subsequently committed suicide -, and they all turned out to be interconnected (Helena is the kiler, Helena does this because she's a clone herself and brainwashed, by the same organization to which Maggie Chen belonged, the Prolethians, which is why Beth shot her). The second half of season 1 both made the Dyad Institute (and its representatives, from Oliver to Leekie to in the very last episode, where she gets introduced, Rachel) more and more into the major opponents and gave Alison and Cosima parallel storylines to Sarah's (Alison's - justified - paranoia about Donnie, her clash with Ainsley, Cosima falling in love with Delphine despite knowing Delphine is her monitor), but these still interlaced with Sarah's ongoing story (Sarah helps Alison out re: Donnie, not to mention that Sarah's discovery that Paul was Beth's monitor starts Alison's fear about Donnie monitoring her to begin with, and Sarah introduces her to Felix, which starts the Felix and Alison friendship; simultanously, Sarah and Cosima clash about the whole Delphine situation). During this time, Sarah also starts her relationship with Helena (who goes, show narrative wise, from threat to the other clones to wild card). Overall, you have Sarah starting as a loner with just two, maximum three people she gives a damm about (i.e. Kira, Felix, arguably Mrs. S.) to Sarah having become a part of a small community, having formed new connections with Alison, Cosima and Helena, though in Helena's case Helena killing Amelia causes Sarah to reject her in an (intended to be) lethal way in the last episode..
Now, s2 couldn't repeat the "getting to know you" part of s1, obviously (other than everyone getting to know Rachel as their antagonist); the clones already know each other. And from a Doylist pov, it's understandable to give Tatiana Maslany not too many scenes with herself; an actor wants other actors to play against. But on a Watsonian level, the relationships between the clones are the ones we're most invested in (other than Felix & anyone, and Mrs. S. & Sarah), and so to keep them mostly separated in their own storylines takes away from that. Alison's storyline, for example, has almost no connection to anyone else's, and the one point where Sarah shows up in Alison's story only serves to underline that because Sarah impersonating Alison in a scene with Donnie comes across as a fanservicey "repeat of Greatest Hits" kind of scene (as opposed to the s1 original, where Sarah-as-Alison-with-Donnie had an emotional point and was part of one of the best episodes of s1). Helena's storyline does touch Sarah's repeatedly, and her scenes with new character Gracie were great, ditto the few with Art, but the way both Sarah and Art completely ignored what happened to Helena after her barfight arrest (never mind sentiment; Helena has a serial killer past, the results of which Art investigated last season, so at the very least Art should want to know what the hell became of her in the interest of public safety) made no sense, especially combined with them happily embracing Helena when she returns. The attempt to match the s1 revelations beats named above didn't work so well because as opposed to the s1 twists and turns, they were rarely interconnected, and sometimes didn't receive an explanation/pay off. Or not yet shown as such. I mean, there's obviously something Cal hasn't been telling yet, what with the fake IDs and convenient getaway vehicle, but the season never tells us whether or not this is connected to the increasing relevance of the military as the third party of the clone project. Just which role Mrs. S. played in the past is as uncertain by the end of the season as it was at the beginning. And Sarah - who may not be everyone's favourite clone but who is the lynchpin around which the narrative revolves - has become a static character, essentially repeating her s1 arc from loner-with-only-Kira-Fee-and-Mrs.S. to part-of-sisterhood (even the momentary surrender in the finale to Dyad and subsequent defiance is repeated), only in a more scattered and less focused way, whereas Alison, Helena and Cosima all move forward, and new character Rachel is fleshed out and given a trajectory of her own (negative, but still moving).
Again: this isn't about favourites. Sarah isn't my favourite clone, either. But as it turns out, making her static and keeping her interactions with the other clones to a minimum really dislodged the overall story, and I hope this won't happen again in s3.
Other fandoms:
Penny Dreadful:
Short but very interesting interview with Timothy Dalton about a certain scene in 1.05 and the Vanessa-Malcolm relationship in general.
Star Trek:
We learned the sea : beautiful love declaration to the various shows (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voy), their captains, and their relationships.
no subject
Date: 2014-06-29 08:15 am (UTC)That said, it was still my favourite show so far this year, so the nit-picking is done with love!
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Date: 2014-06-29 08:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-29 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-30 08:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-06-29 09:47 pm (UTC)Which is not to say I disliked it--I still care about all of them (oddly, as much as I love Cosima, Sarah might actually be my favourite--though maybe what I mean by that is just that I also see that pivotal role she plays, as you mention). And there were some fabulous scenes. I hope they manage to straighten out some of the hiccups next season, and don't decide that the thing to do is add *more* frantic action.
Still, I haven't watched a show in YEARS that had me chewing my fingernails, perched on the edge of my seat, each episode the way this show does.
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Date: 2014-06-30 08:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-02 03:58 pm (UTC)Excellent.
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Date: 2014-07-02 06:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-04 09:09 am (UTC)And finally, Dylan Bruce/Paul: just as bad as Vaughn, or actually worse than Vaughn?
no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 05:52 am (UTC)