Orphan Black Rewatch: Endless Forms Most Beautiful

“I don’t wanna be your sister, Meathead.”

What I loved:

Art’s simmering rage at Sarah. I’m glad that he gets on board later and becomes a staunch ally, but considering his relationship with Beth, it would have been unjust for him not to be pissed off for a long time. I almost wish they’d drawn out his anger a little more, actually.

On the same topic, though, I love that Art tapped into Sarah’s compassion and humanity to get her talking. He trusted that she cared about Beth despite everything.

“Is this the part where 20 more of you robot bitches walk in for effect?” Fucking classic, man.

Alison’s little face when she walked away from Aynsley’s house.

“Le Petite Mord” starts playing softly in the background the very second that the door opens to Delphine.

Oh, God, the whole Delphine-arrives-at-Felix’s-place scene. Delphine is smart enough now to know what to say and what not to say to Cosima to convince her to cooperate. She knows better than to tell Cosima she loves her again, but instead she shows her that, by working to crack the code on the computer, and then by holding her when Cosima lets her walls down and confesses that she’s sick. And just look at them…

The scene with Helena and Amelia at Beth’s apartment is perfect. Letting Amelia put her foot in her mouth by criticizing Helena, the way Tatiana just moves differently for each clone, Helena running her hand over Amelia’s, Helena’s pain in facing the woman who gave her to an abusive environment.

Delphine’s poking of Cosima’s back.

The musical score during the final scenes (the emergency crews on Black Oak Dr., Rachel receiving Alison’s paper, Sarah going into Dyad….) was spot on.

What I liked:

This is the first time Sarah calls Helena her sister, and she advocates for her to Siobhan. It’s also the first time Helena calls her “sistra,” though the pronunciation seems different than later on.

On re-watching, Leekie’s smug little smile when he tells Alison her monitor has been lifted and Alison says, “She has?” Son of a bitch knew exactly what he was doing.

I like this as a character note – DeAngelis telling Felix she’ll get him a shitty public defender. It’s so unprofessional, but so her at the same time.

Art and Angie immediately recognized that Alison was a separate person. Too bad not everyone is that smart.

What I didn’t like:

S snooping around in Amelia’s suitcase.

People never just answer fucking questions, do they? Character A asks Character B a direct question, and Character B gives some vague, sideways response that in no way answers the question. Drives me up a frikkin wall.

Oh, God, Vic’s back. And he calls Sarah “the love of my life.” I’m glad the guy’s getting help, but I’d rather he did it off screen.

The scene at Aynsley’s house was hard for me to watch again. It was a great scene, and obviously super critical for the plot, but knowing what I know, I couldn’t watch it again.

Cosima doing a mini infodump about the nucleotides that make up DNA. There’s no way she would have needed to tell Delphine that information. It was strictly an “As you know, Bob, your father, the king…” moment.

The scene with Donnie and Leekie doesn’t fit with Donnie’s later claims that he was just doing an innocent sociology experiment from college.

I have questions:

Amelia gave Sarah “to the state” which we know is the UK, and she gave Helena to “the church” which somehow was Ukraine? How did that geography play out?

Leekie offers to give Cosima a lift to her “hotel.” Did Cosima actually have hotel reservations? Did she cancel them to stay at Felix’s? Or did Leekie give her a ride to Felix’s place? Or somewhere random?

Also, how exactly did he know she’d be at the bus depot? Does he track her credit card purchases and/ or internet transactions? We don’t get the sense that Cosima told Delphine anything other than “I’m leaving.”

Is this:

…the same room Helena was in when she tried to kill Rachel in Season 2? We never see it used as a Dyad office ever again, I don’t think. Which begs the question: How did Helena get in, if it’s in use as a Dyad office?

Also, why the hell is it so dark in there? (Oh, right, Rachel Duncan.)

Who exactly told Rachel about Kira? We’re led to believe Delphine didn’t disclose that, so was it Paul? Was it discovered through some other means?

Where did Helena get the Sarah wig?

How does Amelia survive long enough to talk to Sarah after being stabbed with a knife in the abdomen?

What happened with the torch Helena threw?

In place of the “Previously On” segment, I would have rather seen:

I was going to say, “What else Cosima and Delphine did at Felix’s,” but we saw some of that in Season 5. I mean, I still want more, though.

Otherwise, it was a nice, tight episode.

OB Rewatch: Unconscious Selection

I had blood work today (and the person who drew my blood was neither hot nor French), so I’m rewarding myself with another episode. And with Chipotle + guac.

Damn if I don’t have a hard time spelling “unconscious.”

Cosima should’ve dug a little bit deeper into Dyad a little bit sooner, shouldn’t she?

What I loved:

I always love Tat’s acting, but she hits it out of the park when characters need to cry. Sarah’s pain in the beginning is palpable.

The dangling toys/ mobile motif in Kira’s room that’s repeated with Helena’s children at the end.

Alison’s cleaning montage, although I would’ve reacted in the exact same way as Felix to someone cleaning my house without permission. I had a housemate’s mother do that once, and she took all the stickers off of my Nalgene bottle by soaking it. My campers gave me those stickers, bitch. She also used WAY too much of my Seventh Generation dish soap, and that shit ain’t cheap. Anyway.

The shotgun makes its first appearance.

I loved that Donnie stood up for himself early in the intervention,

calling Alison out on the specific ways she’s hurt him. I hope that these two were able to really talk through some of this later on, once she could be 100% honest with him, because she really did some nasty things.

Cosima’s lab look:

Speaking of Cosima…

Cosima’s been catty before, mostly with Sarah, but we finally see claws come out here. “It showed.” OUCH. It says a lot about Delphine, too, that she’s so hurt by that. If she had no emotional investment in Cosima, she would have stayed and kept trying, but she wanted Cosima to like being with her the same way she liked being with Cosima. So she tucked her tail between her legs and left.

And Alison. “You BLEEEEW the roofer at the cabin!” Say it, girl.

What I liked:

The process of Helena coming to Sarah’s side. We saw it before, in her refusal to kill Sarah and the nuggets of abuse we saw, but it continues, obviously culminating with her attack of Thomas, who frankly deserved worse.

Siobhan’s face and intonation upon meeting Paul. She appreciates a good looking man.

The pastor telling Felix “Oh, that’s perfectly fine” showcases the attempts made to appear understanding or progressive without necessarily being such. If you need to go out of your way to say that being gay is “perfectly fine,” you’re trying to cover for some less-than-fine-ness in your group.

Helena’s animalistic nature coming out when she’s caged. She’s not even speaking, just making noises. She even looks a bit like an angry gorilla when she howls at Thomas, but I couldn’t get a good screenshot of it.

When Art realizes exactly what’s been going on for the past nine episodes.

Oh, hello Rachel Duncan. I forgot you showed up in this one. With your windows.

I’m glad they had an African woman as Sarah and Helena’s birth mother. Often, when people search for their birth parents, they are looking, in part, for a genetic connection. Sarah obviously can’t get that from her birth mother, and the visual difference helps to show that, indeed, she was the product of science, not sex.

What I didn’t like:

I have a hard time believing Felix would let his toilet get dirty enough for Alison to make that face. This is a man who makes a living having sex with people, often at his own home. He needs to be clean for that to work out for him. A nasty toilet would be a deal breaker for some clients.

Alison’s treatment of Felix is actually a little discomfiting. There’s a real trend of straight women treating gay men like fashionable accessories, rather than people who deserve their own lives and their own space. Felix deserved to rest after a very traumatic evening in the hospital.

Sarah’s “conversation” with Art seemed like a waste of time. Neither of them got anything out of it, and neither did the audience.

Like Alison’s friends couldn’t hear what she was saying to Felix in the bathroom. That’s a standard-issue Home Depot door, not an air lock.

The Helena wig slips some in the confrontation with Thomas and Sarah.

I have questions:

How much does Thomas know about the clones? He dismisses the possibility of Sarah having a child, but does he know why it shouldn’t be possible? Leekie says he infiltrated the project, but how far? If he’s opposed to science, I don’t imagine Thomas has an advanced degree that would give him access to the actual science.

Why is Donnie’s mother at the intervention but Alison’s own mother is not?

How is this the first time someone’s seen the platform security footage? Why didn’t they look over it in episode one when they were trying to determine a motive for the suicide?

How did Donnie feel about Chad sleeping with Alison?

How does Thomas still have eyes after Helena dug her thumbs into them? Come to think of it, who lets him out of the cage? Was it the Mark-type-Proletheans? I’ll get back to that later.

In place of the 1 minute “Previously on” segment, I would have rather seen:

More of Alison cleaning Felix’s place.

Something else to show us that Delphine had fallen for Cosima BEFORE Cosima dropped a truth bomb on her. I dunno, maybe show them cuddling in bed, or getting coffee, or something. The lab kiss was nice, but brief.

Orphan Black Rewatch: Entangled Bank

Yay, a short title! Spoiler alert for entire series as always.

“Totally encouraging”

What I loved:

This shot of Siobhan’s house. You just know that there’s a nice cozy blanket and some hot chocolate inside. Maybe some Christmas music playing. Also, Siobhan’s brusqueness upon answering the door to cops said a LOT about her.

“You know, maybe it was your sunny personality that gave you away.” Ah, Cosima.

“It’s every freak for herself.”

This scene, because it’s so Sister/Brother. “It smells like a foot, only worse because it’s yours.”

In a similar vein, I love Siobhan’s dynamic with both of her kids. “I was tempted to claim the remains and feed them to you both on toast.”

Speaking strictly visually, um, THIS: Yeah, Dyad knew exactly what they were doing when they got Delphine to monitor the lesbian.

Cosima is so sweet with Delphine, checking on her to make sure she’s okay after her very first time with a woman, and not entirely buying it when Delphine says she’s fine. We don’t know much (okay, anything) about Delphine’s past except her relations with Leekie, but I imagine that Cosima’s treatment of her is noticeably different than the treatment she’s gotten from men in her life.

S taking the bottle away from Alison and calling her chicken. She’s mothering her already.

What I liked:

“Cosima filled me in, and I’m taking a break from you, too.” It’s nice to be reminded here that these women do not know each other all that well, yet. The concept of a Sestra-hood doesn’t yet exist. Alison and Cosima have every right to be suspicious of Sarah (in fact, they’ve been sort of surprisingly not suspicious beyond episode, like, 3 or 4), and it’s logical for them to chafe at her attempts to control them.

Alison smells the pot and goes for it like my cat goes for ham.

Paul’s almost smiling here! Conspiring with a clone must be good for him.

Chad makes an attempt to stop Alison from digging herself in deeper with her flirting. Bless him for trying.

The soundtrack people for this show are on fucking fire. “I’m a bitch” indeed! I’ve seen that scene so many times, and it still makes me cackle.

“Bad things have happened to me” as though you didn’t cause any of them, Alison!

Leekie’s immediate “Shut up, Olivier.”

This look, obvs. Of course, she really should’ve been wearing less, because, as EVERYONE has said, who the hell has sex with their bra on? I’ll give them some slack for their underwear because it’s a whole other level of intimacy to touch someone’s actual genitals, but bras?? Come on, that’s just uncomfortable.

The way Delphine goes from gushing about Cosima’s accomplishments researching her own biology and contacts with other clones to saying, super casually, “Well, some of them seem to be dead.” Delphine’s not quite at the “love all clones equally” stage just yet.

What I didn’t like:

This isn’t a dislike because it’s bad plot. In fact, it’s very good plot, but I have a hard time watching Alison’s treatment of Aynsley prior to the Chad-fucking scene. Aynsley is trying her goddamn best to be a good friend.

Y’all know I love me some Cophine, but I have a hard time watching their make out scene here. Even knowing what I know now, it’s hard for me to buy that Delphine actually meant it, because of the way it’s placed in the show. We’re not supposed to trust her here, and I don’t, even though later on I will. I still have a hard time believing that she’s not only there because Leekie told her to be.

Delphine started to sit up in bed almost before Cosima closed the door behind her. She was damn lucky Cosima didn’t forget something and come back two minutes later.

I’m happy Olivier’s gone, but I couldn’t watch his death scene a second time.

Goddamn it, Cosima, put a password on that flashdrive. Or, at the very least, don’t leave your monitor alone in your apartment! Item one in “Cosima makes poor decisions when pussy is involved.”

I have questions…

How the hell did Leekie know that Cosima was in contact with the others? No, seriously. In the car with Delphine he said he needs to know “how many” of the others she’s in contact with. How the fuck did he find out that she had contacted any of them?

Did Alison’s abuse of Donnie come up at Couple’s Camp?

Is Felix always the one who has to clean the sheets after other people have sex in his bed? Poor Felix.

What are the papers stuffed in Delphine’s books here? Was she actually sitting in on classes and doing assignments, or did she carefully construct the books-and-papers prop in Leekie’s hotel room? Speaking of, is that where she’s staying this whole time, or did they get her a student apartment? Also, as magical as her hair is, it’s not made of wool, so how have her ears not frozen off yet?

Looking back, at what point did Aynsley go from “Let’s do magic mushrooms!” to “ape shit” at Chad for smoking a joint in the parking lot?

What would’ve happened if Cosima had Eskimo Pies in her freezer already, and hadn’t gone to the store? (That could make a nice little canon-divergent fic…)

What exactly held Delphine back from disclosing Kira’s existence to Leekie? I mean, we’re supposed to see it as Delphine’s coming over to Cosima’s side and mistrusting Leekie, but there’s not much background given to support her decision.

I have questions about Alison’s comment that “We’re all messed up, except you, Sarah.” First of all, has she MET Sarah Manning? She knows who Sarah is and what her background is, so why is she suddenly claiming she’s not messed up? And how, exactly, does she think Cosima’s messed up? Is it a subtle bit of homophobia from Alison?

Instead of the 1 minute “Previously on” segment, I would’ve rather seen:

Cosima and Delphine actually fucking, obvs. We see (okay, mostly hear) more fucking from Alison and Chad than from Cophine. The only reason we know for sure that Cosima and Delphine had actual sex is because Delphine says they did. Otherwise I would think maybe they hadn’t.

Orphan Black Rewatch: Parts Developed in an Unusual Manner

We’re getting into the longer titles now. Spoiler alert for the entire series applies.

“I am the cold turkey asshole.”

What I loved:

Everyone knows (except Delphine, at this point) that Cosima wants to get in Delphine’s pants, but NOWHERE in the show did Cosima have to have a big coming out moment. Everyone just knows, and accepts. At this point, the treatment of Cosima’s lust for Delphine is equal to the treatment of Sarah’s lust for Paul. As it should be. And no one even says, “Cosima’s a lesbian, and that’s okay!” Cosima just says she’ll be logical with Delphine, and Sarah rolls her eyes and says “No, you won’t,” and that tells us everything.

Cosima is a super smart brat at dinner, and Delphine likes it.

“I want to see your tail.”

I love this entire scene:

And this shot. Those arms, those boobs, my goodness….

Honestly, I think Season 1 is Delphine’s hottest season. It’s a tough contest, I know, but look. She’s got the cocker spaniel puppy hair!

What I liked:

Felix, “Oh, there’s an ism.”

When Paul questions Sarah about the clones, Sarah leaves out Cosima completely.

All of Helena’s little character notes. The sugar, the cutting, the belch and little “excuse me.”

“Bitch!” “Bitch!”

Having seen the entire series, it’s interesting to compare Leekie to the other “Bad Guys” like Westmoreland and Coady. Leekie is creepy, to be sure, and he’s unethical, but he seems to be interested in and care for the clones in a way that the others never do. I think that Leekie really, genuinely likes Cosima. And then there’s this blurry screenshot I got of Cosima, which kind of captures how she feels about him.

Paul finally did something decent and told Sarah to run.

I just realized the connection of Helena calling them all “sheep” with MK’s sheep mask later on.

What I didn’t like:

Delphine bringing Leekie up to the table with Cosima. I mean, I think we’re supposed to be creeped out by it, and Cosima’s obviously put out. It does go to show, maybe, that Delphine really did not know that Cosima was courting her.

The slow-mo shots of Club Neolution. One was really enough. The only one that was worth anything was the one with Helena.

I’m supposed to be grossed out by Olivier, and, well, I guess that worked.

It’s the second time that someone else tells us that Paul is in love with Sarah. As other reviewers have pointed out, we really should not need to be told that to know it. No one tells us that Cosima and Delphine are in love. They show it.

Only a dislike in hindsight, but we see Helena dancing well here. In the clone dance party, she danced like a 3-year-old.

I have questions:

Paul reports to Olivier, the obviously bad Bad Guy with the fancy office. Olivier is super concerned about “Beth,” just as Leekie seems super concerned about Cosima. Why were these two so special, when Dyad seemed content to have Alison monitored by her useless husband? Following this trend, and knowing that Leekie was in contact with Donnie, there’s no way Donnie thought this was just a harmless college sociology study.

Olivier grills Paul on his last sexual encounter with “Beth.” Does Leekie grill Delphine later about her encounters with Cosima? I’d like to think Delphine would be a lot less accommodating than Big Dick Paul is here.

Olivier’s job must extend beyond monitoring Paul’s monitoring of Beth. Is Olivier also in charge of Donnie? What else does he do, other than get tail rings and doing taxidermy?

Cosima assumes that she’s already been strapped to a gurney and probed in her sleep. Does Delphine ever confirm this? I think it’s safe to say it doesn’t happen during the series, but Delphine might know if it had happened before, and who allowed it to.

Cosima knows enough about Dyad’s work with cloning to make Leekie at least act uncomfortable and claim that it’s not “common knowledge” and YET, she doesn’t come across Delphine’s picture until later?

What ever happened to Astrid after Neolution fell?

This one’s hypothetical. What would’ve happened if, as I thought would happen the first time, Cosima had told Delphine that she knew everything, after her little “What’s really going on here” come on? Because the first time I watched, I did not expect her to kiss Delphine. I expected her to say, “You’re my monitor and you report to Leekie.”

In place of the 1 minute “Previously on” segment, I would have rather seen:

On second thought, it could have been fun to see Alison’s initial response to learning Cosima – her genetic identical! – is gay.

I wanted to see Delphine’s reaction after she left Cosima’s apartment. Did she lean against the door frame and think about the kiss? Did she consider quitting the assignment? Did she look at herself in the mirror and imagine Cosima kissing her again? Did she do a U-turn in the hallway and almost go back inside?

Orphan Black Rewatch: Variations Under Domestication

Spoiler warning for the whole series, as always.

Oh, this is the episode where she whacks Donnie with a golf club! AKA, the episode when I go from thinking Alison’s not that bad to loving her as a character. The show has established the characters enough now, too, that the potential for hilarity and nuance is there, and the show runs with that now. The things Alison says and does in this episode would not be funny at all in episodes one or two, but they are fucking golden here. We see Alison and Cosima as complex, flawed, and beautiful people who go way beyond stereotypes of soccer bitch and science geek.

Really, this is the best episode so far.

Quick note first. Delphine’s top reminds me a little bit of chain mail, which sends me down a mental path imagining Evelyne Brochu wearing actual chain mail. Someone make that happen.

Right, back to the episode!

Do people actually sleep this way, with their hands like that?

5 hours on the memory card doesn’t seem very long for a surveillance device. Alison should send that shit straight into remote cloud storage. Speaking of tech security, too, these folks all need to password protect their damn computers. Hell, the most I’m worried about is my students opening up my laptop and finding all my OB screenshots and fanfiction, and I have mine set up to password lock after ten minutes of inactivity. Maybe they just need to learn the hard way.

I want to know what Delphine was “looking at” on her phone here. Maybe she’d googled “How to be as sexy as possible without being super obvious about it.”

What I loved:

We don’t know how much time Cosima and Delphine spent together between Enchantée and this meeting at the library, but it can’t have been more than a day, and Cosima is already aware that Delphine’s probably her monitor. Clever girl. I wonder, too, how much of Cosima’s pursuit of Delphine was a result of Sarah telling her to stay away. Cosima’s oppositional, sometimes to her own detriment.

On the other hand, as much as Evelyne claims Delphine fell for Cosima “immediately,” I think it happened in this episode, during and after Leekie’s lecture, when Cosima’s cheekiness came out, and she didn’t buy Leekie’s bullshit. Maybe it was the first time that Delphine considered the possibility that defiance, that pushing back like that, was possible. It certainly excited her. We also have the one (and I think the only, in canon) instance of Delphine calling her a brat.

Meanwhile, Cosima’s thinking “The things I do to get laid…”

There are times, though, when you can see Cosima consciously deciding that she is totally okay with being monitored by Delphine because Delphine is so fucking sexy. Like by the end of this scene.

Moving on. I love Sarah’s treatment of Donnie (mostly). All Alison tells her is that he’s her “watcher” and that Sarah needs to interrogate him. Sarah takes it upon herself to give him a cup of water and to give him the benefit of the doubt. I so hope that in later years they can laugh about how Sarah first met Donnie.

What I liked:

Alison using her craft supplies to torture Donnie. Only reason it’s not a “love” is because it is, really, abusive (see below for more). But I like watching it. And I want to know how much direction Tatiana had in this scene, too. I like to think she had the lines and the general purpose of the scene, and then they put her and Kristian in the craft room and just let her go wild.

Looking back, knowing everything we know now, Aynsley breaks my damn heart. She’s so supportive and helpful here. All of the other “friends” were annoyed by Alison’s behavior, but Aynsley was concerned. Okay, she figured it was a substance abuse issue, but her first action was to help and be concerned, not sneer or roll her eyes. As far as I know, she also never told Donnie, Chad, or anybody about Paul, despite the obvious appearance of an affair between him and “Alison”. Maybe some day I’ll write a canon divergence fic in which Aynsley joins clone club and doesn’t, like, die. Another tall, attractive blonde would fit right in.

Felix flirting with Chad. In the above hypothetical fic, Felix would totally help Chad explore his wild side. Chad seemed really interested here. They could do magic mushrooms together, and Felix could convince him to stop sexual harassing women.

I did like watching Paul kick the shit out of Vic. It’s the only time I’ve liked Paul so far. Paul even has facial expressions here! Look at him go! He’s so amused by Vic, who is such a terrible, useless, cowardly excuse for a human that I’ll put up with Paul to see him suffer. Especially after he pulled the “in love” bullshit again.

What I didn’t like:

I never like seeing Donnie in his underwear. It’s realistic, of course, just not my personal cup of tea.

Paul remains a walking, slow talking Ken doll, with the one exception noted above. I don’t know if it’s the acting or the direction, but I was over it at this point in my first watch, and I’m really done with him now.

It’s not so much that I disliked it, but it didn’t seem realistic that Donnie came away his encounter without greater damage. Like, a broken neck or something.

Much more minor, but really, that’s all the butter Paul put on his toast? He really is just a robot, isn’t he?

Any time Delphine talks about Leekie here it’s just so slimy. And that’s before she walks into his hotel room.

Those pills Paul mixed into the whiskey turned into a Chekov’s gun that never went off since the bottle stayed in the cabinet. I’ll add it to the list, along with Mud and Delphine’s little hotel visit to Leekie, which was never mentioned again.

If the show runners kept a better handle on continuity, Donnie would not have been oblivious here about the monitoring business. Kristian Bruun has said that he asked if he was her monitor, and they told him to play like he wasn’t, but not until next season did he, as the actor, learn that he was. Sloppy, a little, I think.

And Sarah’s sudden defense of Alison as “the rock of this family” was odd.

The unfortunate fact is that Donnie would be much less likely to report Alison’s actions as abuse than if the genders were reversed. He would also be less likely to be believed or taken seriously.

Instead of the 1 minute 2 second “Previously on” segment, I would have rather seen:

More of Cophine running through a snowy campus, hand in hand.

Otherwise, nothing felt like short changed in this one. We know where Helena is, we check in with all major characters that we care about thus far, and the action only lasts maybe half a day, so there’s no time gaps.

Orphan Black rewatch: Conditions of Existence

Because I should be lesson planning. Usual spoiler warning applies.

Also known as the episode in which Cosima meets Delphine for the first time. And we get this great reflective hallway shot that I tried to capture here.

But first, plot.

Oh, right, Sarah has sex with Paul again, doesn’t she? Guh. I am impressed that she went to Beth’s accent immediately when Paul surprised her in the shower, despite her shock.

And she got examined in her sleep. Funny how the doctors didn’t notice the lack of massive neck scar during the exam. Not to mention, how sloppy were they to leave this in her?

I was wrong about Alison’s hair earlier, though. She does wear it down more often in this season. The ponytail doesn’t become regular until later, I guess.

What I loved:

Cosima’s face/ hands, as always:

Everyone’s response to learning that Sarah shagged Paul. “Dude, that’s complex.” Cosima must suspect that she herself might have slept with a monitor or two of her own in the past, especially considering how calm she is about the experiment in general.

“I don’t leave prints when I burgle.” God bless you, Felix. Also, “would you get your fanny out of there!” when fanny means twat in British English.

And of course… those lips, that nose, that hair… Really, Delphine had the best hair in Season 1.

Followed by:

And everyone’s favorite… Enchantée

I love how obviously Cosima’s crushing on Delphine from moment fucking one. And who can blame her. Dyad absolutely intended for Cosima to fall for her, but they did NOT intend for the reverse to happen.

What I liked:

Vic screaming, followed by “I’m good” as the scene fades. In fact, Vic was used to good effect in these scenes, also with “Stay in school…” to Oscar and Gemma, and Alison beating him up in the parking lot. And Alison’s “He was…urban.”

That no one ever backs up Vic or takes his side, or makes it seem like he has a point.

Cosima’s encouragement of Sarah’s relationship with Paul foreshadows her early relationship with Delphine and her excuses about it to the sisters.

What I didn’t like:

Donnie, here. In hindsight, it seems obvious that the writers hadn’t made up their minds about him. Kristian Bruun has said that he wasn’t given a clear answer in Season 1 about whether or not he was a monitor, so his acting choices are understandably different than they are later. I just don’t like it.

Tapping Paul’s office just went way too easily.

Paul only just noticed that the scar was missing from “Beth’s” neck? You know, just Paul in general. Dude’s face never really changes, and his voice is so dreadful and dull. It’s unfortunate, considering how warm and funny Dylan Bruce is in every appearance of his I’ve seen.

They tried making Scott creepy. He’s not creepy, so this is weird for me.

Olivier. I’m not supposed to like him, but, uh, yeah… I don’t.

Anything else with Vic.

In place of the 1 minute 2 second “Previously on” section, I would have rather seen:

Alison’s reaction the first time she came to Felix’s loft. Did she drive herself there (we assume she did)? What did she say about everything there, especially the Sarah/ Penis painting?

Did we get Alison and Cosima’s reactions to Sarah quitting Beth’s job? Alison’s money is a “self-defense fund” and Cosima asked Sarah to stay a cop for defense, and now she’s not, so…. yeah, I would’ve liked to see that.

Felix and Colin getting it on. Or having a conversation, or dancing.

What Cosima and Delphine did after their introduction. Clearly they didn’t have sex, but did they get coffee, or keep standing in the hallway, or…. what? Who asked for whose phone number?

Also…

Did they ever give Raj back his surveillance shit? Like, any of it?

Orphan Black Rewatch: Effects of External Conditions

So much for only doing one of these every 24 hours. Usual spoiler warning applies.

Is Cosima opposed to sitting at a desk like a normal person, or what?

What I loved:

“Are you kidding? She’d crap her lululemons.” This was the episode in which I started liking Alison Hendrix.

How sweet Sarah is with Trevor, slipping into her real accent to assure him she’s not the angry angel.

Helena as Beth. “Out.” And her face.

Cosima does have bigger breasts, and Helena has a bigger ass. I tried longer than I’d care to admit to get a good screen shoot of each ass, but none came out well. This was the best I got for now:

Helena as Sarah as Beth, which was glorious. Alison as Sarah. LOVED it! This was the episode where the potential for clone swapping and Tatiana’s talent really shined through.

The entire parallel scenes of Alison as Sarah and Sarah hunting down Helena. Even after a few watches, I still get tense.

Monkey. Bum. Face. Goodness, I wish that Alison or someone could’ve kept calling Kira that throughout the series.

What I liked:

“Just follow the bloody brick road.” At first I thought the little boy was Helena’s son. We’re supposed to be frightened for him, with the music and the ominous door closing, but I just thought of Helena saying later, “I am very good with children.”

The cops weren’t all wrong with Helena. She was a religious fanatic, and she was abused, with severe childhood trauma.

I also liked that Cosima is open to the possibility that Sarah and Helena have a connection beyond just being clones.

In hindsight, it’s interesting that no one was too struck by “Beth” being all weird in the station, because Beth actually was weird all the time.

I’m not gonna lie, I agreed with Alison when she said Kira was better of with Mrs. S. I mean, there’s also a reason Sarah never had complete responsibility over Kira until the very end of the series. Sarah would have been a terrible parent.

What I didn’t like:

The gore. I know, I know, it’s fake and it’s an important part of Helena’s character, but I don’t like watching it. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be there, it’s just not my thing.

Actually, Felix’s painting of Cosima here isn’t that good, especially compared with the one from Season 5.

Paul. The character just doesn’t sit well with me. I almost feel bad for him, but I can’t feel bad for him knowing what I do, and I didn’t feel bad for him even the first time I watched it. He just…. eugh. Paul.

They tried making Kira creepy with the bloody smile thing, but it never went anywhere. I mean, Kira’s creepy in that she has that sixth sense, but not creepy like she’s a demon child the way they almost went here.

The Helena wig was more obviously a wig here.

I also wonder about Helena’s change of clothes, from nice Beth-ish clothes to the nightgown/ slip arrangement here.

In place of the 1 minute 2 second “Previously on” section, I would have rather seen:

Helena interacting with Trevor. I know why they didn’t show us that (see above), but she was probably rather sweet with him, if also very bloody.

Cosima leaning over. I mean…

Orphan Black Rewatch: Variation Under Nature

As always, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that, if you’re reading this, you’ve seen the entire series. Consider this your spoiler warning.

The title fits since this is the first time we really see the main clones as unique individuals.

What I loved:

Alison’s blunt exposition of the clone business and dangers therein.

Gemma appearing at the top of the stairs and asking who the ladies are.

Cosima’s calmness and gentle humor. It’s the hallmark of her character throughout the series.

“Dreadlocked science geek Sarah, arguably more attractive than the real Sarah.” And so it begins, the acknowledgement that Cosima’s the hot one.

Sarah having no idea how to put on the gun holster and the other cop not helping her. Also, Sarah’s awkwardness on the radio, as painful as it was to watch. It was a beautiful character moment.

Sarah’s response upon arriving at the quarry. Poor Katja, though. She deserved better.

Cosima’s smile!

Sarah’s left eye/ eyebrow in this shot. It’s like it’s the only part of her face that’s freaking out.

The whole user name and password business. Sarah (I accidentally called her Beth there for a sec) got super lucky with Raj there. I wonder if poor Raj ever learned the truth about Beth.

“Dirty little copy cop.” Hi there, Helena!

Sarah showing her first signs of growth, realizing that Kira is happier with Mrs. S, and that she has some obligation to her clones.

What I liked:

Alison’s response when Sarah redirected the gun and then punched her showed how unwilling or unprepared she actually was to kill someone. She is completely out of her depth, and that’s what scares her the most.

Sarah looking in Beth’s mirror and asking “Am I going insane?”

“Do you have a criminal record?”

I like this best having seen the whole series, but look. Mrs. S actually birdwatching:

Felix as babysitter. Particularly, “Does your daddy have a drinks trolley?” although we learn later that it would have been better maybe to ask if Mommy had one. Only reason this isn’t a love is that the crossdressing, while delightful, is a bit too stereotypical. We’ve seen in his scenes with Kira that Felix does have other experience with children.

I think the scene where Alison teaches Sarah-as-Beth to shoot is the basis of SoccerCop. And, I can kinda see it.

“You cannot hide in minimalist furniture!”

The sound muffling after Helena shoots Art. Also, the first appearance of Helena’s screeching soundtrack.

Sarah shows incredible bravery in going after Helena by herself. She could have easily faked that pursuit and said the shooter got away, but she actually, literally went after her. Although, it almost seemed for a minute like Sarah might get a civilian shooting of her own, the way she waved that gun around.

What I didn’t like:

Come on Sarah / Felix, turn off the headlights when you’re not driving. Aynsley should’ve yelled at him for that, alone. It’s probably shining right into her living room.

The science is off regarding the print matching, as others have pointed out.

Cosima is remarkably cool with Sarah taking over Beth’s life. A little more explanation or discussion there would have been nice, hell, even in a later season.

I never like watching Paul make out with anybody. I think it was the first time we hear the phrase “Big Dick Paul,” though.

In place of the 1 minute 3 second “Previously on” section, I would have rather seen:

Aynsley walking her dog and getting suspicious of Felix in the car

More of Sarah futzing around as Beth and maybe someone commenting about how long she’s been weird (that is, because of Beth’s actual weirdness)

Cosima reading by herself in the bar.

Felix babysitting

Other interesting notes:

It seems they hadn’t quite worked out Cosima’s presentation yet during the first scenes with her. Her voice is a little higher and her makeup different than we get used to later on. Also, Alison’s hair is down, which we don’t really ever see after this episode, I think. This is only for the first scene, though.

So I guess this applies to every episode, but since I’m watching more closely, does Kathryn Alexandre’s name ever appear in the credits? Opening or closing ones?

Where even is Cosima here? It looks like a campus, but there’s no way she bounced back and forth from Minnesota that quickly. I do love her face here, though.

I think Kathryn Alexandre is more obvious here than in other clone shots:

Look at her knuckles here. I saw somewhere that, in the episode before this one, Tatiana actually busted open her right knuckles while banging the briefcase open. I guess this proves it.

Sarah’s comment to Art, “Hey, you’re not gonna hug me are ya?” must’ve struck Art in some kind of way considering they’d slept together.

Orphan Black rewatch: Instinct

As always, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that, if you’re reading this, you’ve seen the entire series. Consider this your spoiler warning.

A one-word title! Is this the only one of the series? Maybe!

Apparently it was freezing out when they shot this, and they had to keep doing retakes of Katja getting the dirt tossed on her face. Add this to the list of outtakes I want to see.

What I loved:

How the show picks up immediately where the previous episode left off. So good.

Cosima telling “Beth” to get rid of the body. “You’re a cop, like, buy a shovel!” Her whole attitude towards “Beth” is interesting, actually. She sounds so annoyed, so done with Beth’s shit rather than concerned by “Beth”’s lack of action.

How happy Sarah looked when Paul said he’s going back to Cody’s (Coady’s???) for a while.

Even having seen this before, and seen Sarah work on other “cons” before, I am still SO impressed by her craft in being Beth. Yes, it a lot of luck because Beth was unhinged already, but goddamn, way to stay cool under pressure and roll with the punches and be creative when needed. I wonder if Sarah will get to use these skills in whatever line of work she picks up after Season 5.

I don’t know if TPTB planned it in advance (willing to bet not), but knowing Beth and Art slept together gives so much wonderful nuance to Art’s actions here.

Die Stiefel sind zum wandern. Ja bitte! Honestly, first time I watched this, that whole scene took me from “Okay, this show is interesting, and I’m bored so I’ll keep watching” to “Holy shit, I love this.”

This look on Felix. If he were a woman, I’d eat him right up:

Felix’s fur-lined helmet:

Little bitty Kira! Anyone who says Skyler Wexler “didn’t grow at all” during the series needs to rewatch these episodes.

Sarah manipulating the psychiatrist into declaring her fit for duty. Golden.

What I liked:

We hear Cosima’s voice for the first time, but of course we don’t know that it’s Cosima. I wonder if she and Sarah will look back on this moment, when Katja’s dead in Beth’s car, as the “first time we spoke” moment.

Sarah does have enough self-control not to destroy Felix’s artwork when she’s pissed and throwing things.

Sarah’s accent slipping through when she talked to Paul.

Rewatching it, I see things totally differently. In the scene in the soccer hut, Alison says, “Idiot, do you even know who you’re talking to?” At first, I thought she was threatening Sarah, but know I realize that Alison knew that Sarah thought she was talking to Cosima. Or vice-versa. She realized that Sarah didn’t know Alison and Cosima were separate people. So, the question was literal, and the answer was no.

Looking back, having seen the entire series, Sarah is still clearly different from Beth. For one, Sarah as Beth always wears her hair down. We see later that Beth usually had hers in a bun.

What didn’t work for me:

The “Previously on Orphan Black” section lasted a goddamn minute. A whole minute! We could have done other things with that time!
I’m gonna complain about Vic every single episode he’s in. He’s the epitome of a guy who never, ever listens to people or does what he’s asked, and constantly plays the victim. At least no one rewards him for it. It only makes it worse when he whines about how much he loved Sarah.
The penis in Sarah’s portrait is never made clear to me. I get that it’s artistic license, maybe Felix just being disrespectful because he’s upset, but, uh…. it still weirds me out.

Interesting notes:

When Sarah opens the briefcase and the phone rings, she says the caller is “punctual” and we assume it’s Alison because that’s the name we have. We learn later that it was Cosima, who is not, in fact, very punctual.

Orphan Black rewatch: Natural Selection

I’m gonna go ahead and assume that, if you’re reading this, you’ve seen the entire series. Consider this your spoiler warning.

The first word Sarah says is “Shit.” Classy, and great tone setting.

Here we see the one remaining pay telephone in North America. Thankfully for Sarah, who apparently doesn’t have a cell phone at this point, even though it was filmed in 2012.

One wonders what Sarah’s thought process was in approaching a strange distraught woman on a train platform. She hadn’t seen her face yet. Maybe she intended to rob her even before she jumped, but that seems really stupid. Maybe it’s that connection Beth talks about in Season 4?

Gobs of name usage here, probably to remind the audience who everyone is. It’s a useful convention in fiction, but not really true to life. I call my pets by name way more often than my family members.

Knowing Beth’s relationship with Art, of course, makes this scene interesting. “What’s the charge?” she asks, and Art answers “Don’t Beth, not today.” Like Beth’s pulled that one before. Interesting.

I couldn’t watch the scene where Sarah first faces the police board and drinks soap. The terrifying awkwardness just oozed so much. I also didn’t watch Sarah fuck Paul on the counter because, well…. ew.

What I loved:

The entire setup, obviously. And the cliffhanger was brilliant. I started watching this show knowing about the clones, but during my first watch of this episode, I kind of forgot about it with all the police stuff. Dropping Katja in for the last scene was a great move.
Felix’s sass. Vic says he doesn’t know where else to go, and Felix responds, “A men’s shelter?”
this face:

What I liked:

Knowing that Vic eventually vanishes. The character works in the story in this episode because he gives Sarah motivations, but, God, I hate him.
Waiting for the psychiatrist, Art asks her “Where’s your wit gone?” This fits in well with the other comments made about Beth’s sense of humor and how well she did or did not keep it after the clone drama kicked in.
It’s a two-word title, and if you know about the clones, it makes perfect sense. Nice.

What didn’t work for me:

This bothers me a little throughout the series, but Felix’s security is garbage. Vic pounds on the door and he doesn’t even ask who it is before opening it? And then Sarah just walks in while Felix is gone because the door isn’t even locked? And this never really changes, ever.
Later in the series, we never hear about the others who were at Sarah’s wake. They seemed legitimately upset that she was dead, and, what? They keep on thinking she’s dead?
Felix being on the phone during the wake. I get that he wasn’t upset because, well, duh. But really, how did no one else shout at him? And how did no one else notice him calling her “Sarah” on the phone?
Tatiana’s German accent was, um, something!

Other notes:

In Season 4, when Sarah and Art are looking through Beth’s surveilance footage, it would’ve been cool to see Sarah’s first appearance in the house.
Sarah says that Beth’s credit is maxed. In Season 4, Ghost!Beth tells Sarah that Sarah maxed out her credit cards.
In Beth’s phone, Cosima and Katja’s numbers aren’t stored, so they come through as “Unknown Caller.” Narratively, it works, but how would Beth differentiate the clones, then, when they texted?
Paul noticed that Beth’s hair was different, but Art didn’t? Or maybe Paul was tipped off by Neolution that something fucky might be afoot.