A fistful of clones
I admit I'm feeling a little confused by this season of Orphan Black. It's most likely because we got so little answers and so many new questions and new players with obscure motives.
[Thoughts on Orphan Black season 2 part 1 - SPOILERS]
They managed to get through the whole season without Mrs. S ever explaining what her organisation is really about and how much she knows and how she knows it. We know the organisation knew about and work against Dyad for a long time. They looked for Sarah to take her away from them. They hid Ethan Duncan. Mrs. S seems to know a lot of people - smugglers, bomb makers, even a privet clinic doctor who can help with bone marrow extraction. She even seemed to know what Paul was and that he was connected to project Castor. But that's all we know. Why the organisation exists? Why it was hiding Sarah and prof. Duncan? How Mrs. S knows all this stuff? What are her goals?
Then there is Paul. I think whole fandom suspected he was some kind of mole for a while now but why did he abandon his cover? He got all the way to the Dyad leadership and then vanished so he could go back to the army. Why? Was this a part of the deal with Mrs. S to give up on Sarah? He did get promotion after he went back so it must've been something good. Did Mrs. S gave him what he was looking for at Dyad? It wasn't Helena at first. Not even when he abandoned his cover. The obsession of of Dyad and Prolethians with Sarah and Helena is about their ability to reproduce. I thought Army might be about the same thing but Paul knew about this since season 1 and about Sarah and Helena and he still stayed with Dyad. He left Helena to Proleathians and he knew better where she was than Mrs. S so she probably wasn't part of the deal when he disappeared. So did she gave him Duncan's research as part of the deal?
Of course Paul left Helena with Mark - one of the Army clones. So maybe if Mark is secretly working for the Army he was keeping an eye on Helena for the Army? Did he tell them Helena is pregnant? Is that why Army wants Helena now? Or do they want her for some experiments - the wild type for the clones - and Paul likes Sarah so Helena it is? From Mrs. S and Paul conversation it seems they sold Paul to Marion and Cal as a double agent in the Army - selling out the project Castor because he cares about Sarah - but the ending makes it looks like he did it in exchange for Helena. So why does Army want Helena now?
I'm not sure if Sarah can trust Marion but at least so far as making sure the clones safe and healthy they do have a common goals. And she is someone who has the resources to learn more about project Castor and why Army is suddenly interested in what Dyad is doing again. However, Sarah shouldn't trust her too much - she has given power to Rachel to do what she wanted in Dyad and she only let Sarah go in exchange for information on project Castor - so it's not like she really cares for anyone except maybe Charlotte. And the way Cal found her - it seemed way too easy and convenient.
Marion also mentions to Sarah that noone knows what the clones where for. Ethan Duncan says to Sarah they were proof of concept. In science speak this means they were just proof that the method for creating them works (proof of concept articles are the ones that describe a method how to do something - any actual scientific result or furthering knowledge of biological processes is not necessary - the important part is letting everyone know how it was done and that it works). It's also probably explains why the first try has females even though males are preferred by military. Females have two X chromosomes which makes them more genetically stable so they probably hoped for better probability of success at the first try.
I think that female clones were created to show cloning and genetic modification and tagging was possible - without any other purpose. This is the military stopped being interested in their existence and abandoned them to Dyad. Dyad sensed the opportunity to research gene/environment interactions and capitalise on the results. Military meantime used the methodology to create their own batch of clones - male ones that can be used as soldiers. Paul comments on Mark being very good at tracking so it looks like they got what they wanted. So once again why did they go back to the original project? Why spying on Dyad? Is there something wrong with their batch too?
I am so happy Cosima is still alive (she is not allowed to die ever). And now she has Duncan's book that has all the notes on clones and Helena's embryos are in the room too. Ever since Henrik did that I expected them to be used either as exchange for Kira - giving Rachel a child that's as close to hers as possible - instead of one who's calling Sarah mommy. Or used to help cure Cosima - embryonic cell lines are more effective. Or both. The first option seems out of a question for now. The second seems even more plausible. Delphine needs to come back from Germany and help. Scott too. He was kind of awesome in this episode and I hope he managed to get out of Dyad. Also now the sisters have an upper hand over all these organisations that want to use them. They have the knowledge about themselves that no one else does. And that's awesome.
[Now find Tatiana Maslany in the crowd (only if you've seen the finale))]
I know everyone is obsessing about the dance scene but I was even more impressed by the bed scene talk between Sarah and Cosima. The way they look at each other and hold hands. It seems almost impossible that it's one actress on both sides of that conversation. Even John Fawcett forgets. I'm still at awe at how the show does that and how Tatiana Maslany makes it so believable.
And now let's see how the dance was done (and everybody joins in).
[Thoughts on Orphan Black season 2 part 1 - SPOILERS]
They managed to get through the whole season without Mrs. S ever explaining what her organisation is really about and how much she knows and how she knows it. We know the organisation knew about and work against Dyad for a long time. They looked for Sarah to take her away from them. They hid Ethan Duncan. Mrs. S seems to know a lot of people - smugglers, bomb makers, even a privet clinic doctor who can help with bone marrow extraction. She even seemed to know what Paul was and that he was connected to project Castor. But that's all we know. Why the organisation exists? Why it was hiding Sarah and prof. Duncan? How Mrs. S knows all this stuff? What are her goals?
Then there is Paul. I think whole fandom suspected he was some kind of mole for a while now but why did he abandon his cover? He got all the way to the Dyad leadership and then vanished so he could go back to the army. Why? Was this a part of the deal with Mrs. S to give up on Sarah? He did get promotion after he went back so it must've been something good. Did Mrs. S gave him what he was looking for at Dyad? It wasn't Helena at first. Not even when he abandoned his cover. The obsession of of Dyad and Prolethians with Sarah and Helena is about their ability to reproduce. I thought Army might be about the same thing but Paul knew about this since season 1 and about Sarah and Helena and he still stayed with Dyad. He left Helena to Proleathians and he knew better where she was than Mrs. S so she probably wasn't part of the deal when he disappeared. So did she gave him Duncan's research as part of the deal?
Of course Paul left Helena with Mark - one of the Army clones. So maybe if Mark is secretly working for the Army he was keeping an eye on Helena for the Army? Did he tell them Helena is pregnant? Is that why Army wants Helena now? Or do they want her for some experiments - the wild type for the clones - and Paul likes Sarah so Helena it is? From Mrs. S and Paul conversation it seems they sold Paul to Marion and Cal as a double agent in the Army - selling out the project Castor because he cares about Sarah - but the ending makes it looks like he did it in exchange for Helena. So why does Army want Helena now?
I'm not sure if Sarah can trust Marion but at least so far as making sure the clones safe and healthy they do have a common goals. And she is someone who has the resources to learn more about project Castor and why Army is suddenly interested in what Dyad is doing again. However, Sarah shouldn't trust her too much - she has given power to Rachel to do what she wanted in Dyad and she only let Sarah go in exchange for information on project Castor - so it's not like she really cares for anyone except maybe Charlotte. And the way Cal found her - it seemed way too easy and convenient.
Marion also mentions to Sarah that noone knows what the clones where for. Ethan Duncan says to Sarah they were proof of concept. In science speak this means they were just proof that the method for creating them works (proof of concept articles are the ones that describe a method how to do something - any actual scientific result or furthering knowledge of biological processes is not necessary - the important part is letting everyone know how it was done and that it works). It's also probably explains why the first try has females even though males are preferred by military. Females have two X chromosomes which makes them more genetically stable so they probably hoped for better probability of success at the first try.
I think that female clones were created to show cloning and genetic modification and tagging was possible - without any other purpose. This is the military stopped being interested in their existence and abandoned them to Dyad. Dyad sensed the opportunity to research gene/environment interactions and capitalise on the results. Military meantime used the methodology to create their own batch of clones - male ones that can be used as soldiers. Paul comments on Mark being very good at tracking so it looks like they got what they wanted. So once again why did they go back to the original project? Why spying on Dyad? Is there something wrong with their batch too?
I am so happy Cosima is still alive (she is not allowed to die ever). And now she has Duncan's book that has all the notes on clones and Helena's embryos are in the room too. Ever since Henrik did that I expected them to be used either as exchange for Kira - giving Rachel a child that's as close to hers as possible - instead of one who's calling Sarah mommy. Or used to help cure Cosima - embryonic cell lines are more effective. Or both. The first option seems out of a question for now. The second seems even more plausible. Delphine needs to come back from Germany and help. Scott too. He was kind of awesome in this episode and I hope he managed to get out of Dyad. Also now the sisters have an upper hand over all these organisations that want to use them. They have the knowledge about themselves that no one else does. And that's awesome.
[Now find Tatiana Maslany in the crowd (only if you've seen the finale))]
I know everyone is obsessing about the dance scene but I was even more impressed by the bed scene talk between Sarah and Cosima. The way they look at each other and hold hands. It seems almost impossible that it's one actress on both sides of that conversation. Even John Fawcett forgets. I'm still at awe at how the show does that and how Tatiana Maslany makes it so believable.
And now let's see how the dance was done (and everybody joins in).
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