Orphan Black - S2
Jun. 23rd, 2014 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatFinished binge watching Orphan Black - S2 this weekend. Actually this has been a rather productive stay-cation:
* cleaned out entire closet
* got rid of six bags of clothing
* got rid of old shoes
* got rid of old books (all my Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison books, along with various others from beneath my bed - including some accounting books)
* made almond butter and banana walnut egg streusal muffins (which I shouldn't bake because they lead to insane binging)
* got a new very short hair cut
* watched all my netflix DVDs, binge watched Orphan Black and at least three Elementary episodes.
* Plus laundry, cleaned off a kitchen shelf, cleaned out dresser and night stand drawers, clutter from my bed-room, and went grocery shopping.
YAY! All ready to go back to work tomorrow. Been lovely weather this weekend.
Back to our regularly scheduled program:
In a nutshell? S2 Orphan Black, sorry to say, is not quite as good nor nearly entertaining as S1. I think the plot (and some of the characters) got stretched out too thin and become somewhat convoluted, falling into cliche at various points. This happens a lot with high concept genre series or so I've noticed. Science Fiction shows have a tendency to fall into over-done or well-established/classic tropes (some of which have been so overdone they are bordering on the cliche): religious fanatical leader using reproductive science to further his own power-mongering agenda ( I think I saw this episode done as a Battle Star Galatica episode way back in 1980s, or a Star Trek episode, possibly both.), the evil cabal of corporations uniting together to control the world through some experimental, highly unethical, method which of course blows up in their faces (Fringe, BSG: Caprica, Helix, The X-Files - this concept never gets old), the military cloning or creating a super-solider program.
Let's face it - there's not much new you can say about cloning. And it's really hard to do a series about cloning or reproductive rights without stumbling into the over-done tropes. It's also apparently hard to do it without getting really convoluted and somewhat silly. I've yet to see anyone pull it off. To be fair, Orphan Black comes closest.
That said? What I liked about it?
*Tatiana Maslany is still quite good at getting across the various and distinct personalities of the clones, making me wonder what it would have been like if she'd been the star of Dollhouse. Yet, I felt season one gave her a bit more to do and was far nuanced in its approach. However, it was fun to see her attempt to portray a transexual. We don't usually see the female trans male, usually its the male trans female (a la Orange is the New Black, and various movies). Few series or films have tackled the guy inside a woman's body. Which is odd, because I've met both. Admittedly trans-sexual is harder for people to wrap their minds around. Because in most cases - it is entirely outside their own personal experience - all they have to rely on is the media's portrayal - which is why it is so important to be careful. I'm not sure if Orphan Black pulled it off or not. Am getting a bit tired of crazy/smart Helena though.
But Alison continues to be a hoot and a great satire on the suburbanite.
*The new addition of Cal, Kira's father - worked well and gave a new layer to the story and character. (I admittedly like the actor, who has also appeared on Nashville and Game of Thrones this season - that's one busy actor). There's clearly more to Cal than meets the eye - he has various ids, currency, and a fire-arm in his possession. Also his micro-processing system was co-opted by the military and used for a purpose that he was not in support of - foreshadowing/commentary on Ethan and Susan Duncan's Leda Project which was also co-opted by a corporation and the military and used for reasons they never intended. Although in the Duncans' case - why they didn't foresee that is puzzling.
*Ethan Duncan hiding the key to the process in the HG Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau was sort of fun. It also provided indirect commentary on both Duncan and Doctor Leekie. (I admittedly got a little confused with the Duncan back story, since I thought Siobhan was the woman in the picture - it certainly looked like her in S1, but no - it's another woman entirely. So, now I'm confused about Siobhan - was she a researcher/scientist in the program or someone outside attempting to take it down or both? The mythology has gotten a bit confused and convoluted, I think. )
* Donnie's accidental murder of Doctor Leekie as comic relief. Although at the time, I wasn't sure killing him off was a great idea. Marianne (Michelle Forbes) wanted him dead or at removed. Rachel only wanted him removed - not killed, since he was her mentor. Considering Leekie was directly responsible for how Rachel turned out - that's not exactly a vote in his favor.
* Allison's musical - who else wants to see the musical Blood Ties in its entirety? Just me then?
* Helena becoming a sort of dark guardian angel of Sarah - rescuing her from Daniel and attempting to kill Rachel or Paul on Sarah's behalf. (I still don't understand why Art and Sarah felt compelled to stop her - that felt contrived on the writers part, since there really was no clear motivation to stop it.)
What didn't quite work were the various plot-threads.
I felt that they had too many plot-threads going at the same time - and not a lot of focus. Some worked better than others.
* Cosima's illness - appears to be an on-going one that may or may not be resolved next season - yet was also the motivating factor for a lot of action this season. They did figure out the cause of her illness and why certain clones where dying. It was apparently a side effect of the genetic coding that the Duncan's put into the clones to prevent them from having children or ensuring they were barren.
This syncs well with the whole reproductive freedom arc or fertility arc.
*The problem with the reproductive freedom/fertility arc is the writers got a bit too ambitious and tried to both themes at the same time, hammering the audience over the head with them in the process. By the time Helena burned down Henrik's farm, I was done with that storyline. Actually done with it two episodes ago. I'd also lost patience with psycho Rachel. Both story-lines fell into sci-fi cliche, stealing heavily from other series.
- Psycho Rachel (who for some reason Sarah avoids killing on two separate occasions) places Kira in a pretty windowless bedroom, which had been hers as a child. And wants to harvest Sarah's eggs and implant one of Sarah's ovaries into her womb - so she can have kids too. Upon being told that Sarah's ability to have children was a huge mistake - she has a hissy fit inside her head.
The character got increasingly annoying and her actions made less and less sense. Please let her stay dead.
- Psycho Henrik - who fancies himself father to all, harvests Helena's eggs, fertilizes them with his sperm, and implants them into Helena and his biological daughter Grace, who can't be much older than 15 or 16 (gee talk about some funky DNA).
Both are one-dimensional and somewhat cliche villains, that haunt one too many sci-fi tv series. You don't love to hate them, you just hate them.
Luckily they were killed off in a satisfying if somewhat gruesome manner.
The point was clearly - science was making the women barren and preventing reproduction by natural means, but nature had found a way (Sarah). Upon discovering this, scientists were attempting to regain control and thrust their own will upon the proceedings, not learning from their mistakes.
I think they could have done it effectively without the whole Helena/Henrik subplot which didn't really involve anyone else or really go anywhere. Although it did get rid of the prothelians.
* Siobhan/The Bird Keepers/Marianne/Leekie/Duncans - Dyad and Castor conspiracy.
This is the evil corporations group together to make a more productive tomorrow in a sort of uneasy partnership with the military. This storyline was just convoluted and perhaps expanded the world and mythology further than absolutely necessary. I got a bit confused and had troubles keeping all the players straight. I admittedly prefer Michelle Forbes character as a potential villain to Rachel or Doctor Leekie. Also prefer Paul to Daniel. Both are more complex, and ambiguous. You aren't sure what to make of them or Siobhan for that matter.
* Angie/Art's plot arc sort of got dropped - they were investigating then Art wandered off to join Club Clone, only to be sidelined into the Helena plot arc, where he did nothing but take photos and the Felix/Tony sub-plot, where he provided comic relief.
Angie his partner was mainly comic relief in her relentless but ultimately pointless pursuit of the truth via Alison, who comically evaded her and her snitch Victor (who is still carrying a torch for Sarah.)
* Alison/Donnie and the corpses...worked more or less. And nice twist, having Donnie of all people be the one to take out Leekie.
Overall? A fun season, but a deeply flawed one.
* cleaned out entire closet
* got rid of six bags of clothing
* got rid of old shoes
* got rid of old books (all my Jim Butcher and Kim Harrison books, along with various others from beneath my bed - including some accounting books)
* made almond butter and banana walnut egg streusal muffins (which I shouldn't bake because they lead to insane binging)
* got a new very short hair cut
* watched all my netflix DVDs, binge watched Orphan Black and at least three Elementary episodes.
* Plus laundry, cleaned off a kitchen shelf, cleaned out dresser and night stand drawers, clutter from my bed-room, and went grocery shopping.
YAY! All ready to go back to work tomorrow. Been lovely weather this weekend.
Back to our regularly scheduled program:
In a nutshell? S2 Orphan Black, sorry to say, is not quite as good nor nearly entertaining as S1. I think the plot (and some of the characters) got stretched out too thin and become somewhat convoluted, falling into cliche at various points. This happens a lot with high concept genre series or so I've noticed. Science Fiction shows have a tendency to fall into over-done or well-established/classic tropes (some of which have been so overdone they are bordering on the cliche): religious fanatical leader using reproductive science to further his own power-mongering agenda ( I think I saw this episode done as a Battle Star Galatica episode way back in 1980s, or a Star Trek episode, possibly both.), the evil cabal of corporations uniting together to control the world through some experimental, highly unethical, method which of course blows up in their faces (Fringe, BSG: Caprica, Helix, The X-Files - this concept never gets old), the military cloning or creating a super-solider program.
Let's face it - there's not much new you can say about cloning. And it's really hard to do a series about cloning or reproductive rights without stumbling into the over-done tropes. It's also apparently hard to do it without getting really convoluted and somewhat silly. I've yet to see anyone pull it off. To be fair, Orphan Black comes closest.
That said? What I liked about it?
*Tatiana Maslany is still quite good at getting across the various and distinct personalities of the clones, making me wonder what it would have been like if she'd been the star of Dollhouse. Yet, I felt season one gave her a bit more to do and was far nuanced in its approach. However, it was fun to see her attempt to portray a transexual. We don't usually see the female trans male, usually its the male trans female (a la Orange is the New Black, and various movies). Few series or films have tackled the guy inside a woman's body. Which is odd, because I've met both. Admittedly trans-sexual is harder for people to wrap their minds around. Because in most cases - it is entirely outside their own personal experience - all they have to rely on is the media's portrayal - which is why it is so important to be careful. I'm not sure if Orphan Black pulled it off or not. Am getting a bit tired of crazy/smart Helena though.
But Alison continues to be a hoot and a great satire on the suburbanite.
*The new addition of Cal, Kira's father - worked well and gave a new layer to the story and character. (I admittedly like the actor, who has also appeared on Nashville and Game of Thrones this season - that's one busy actor). There's clearly more to Cal than meets the eye - he has various ids, currency, and a fire-arm in his possession. Also his micro-processing system was co-opted by the military and used for a purpose that he was not in support of - foreshadowing/commentary on Ethan and Susan Duncan's Leda Project which was also co-opted by a corporation and the military and used for reasons they never intended. Although in the Duncans' case - why they didn't foresee that is puzzling.
*Ethan Duncan hiding the key to the process in the HG Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau was sort of fun. It also provided indirect commentary on both Duncan and Doctor Leekie. (I admittedly got a little confused with the Duncan back story, since I thought Siobhan was the woman in the picture - it certainly looked like her in S1, but no - it's another woman entirely. So, now I'm confused about Siobhan - was she a researcher/scientist in the program or someone outside attempting to take it down or both? The mythology has gotten a bit confused and convoluted, I think. )
* Donnie's accidental murder of Doctor Leekie as comic relief. Although at the time, I wasn't sure killing him off was a great idea. Marianne (Michelle Forbes) wanted him dead or at removed. Rachel only wanted him removed - not killed, since he was her mentor. Considering Leekie was directly responsible for how Rachel turned out - that's not exactly a vote in his favor.
* Allison's musical - who else wants to see the musical Blood Ties in its entirety? Just me then?
* Helena becoming a sort of dark guardian angel of Sarah - rescuing her from Daniel and attempting to kill Rachel or Paul on Sarah's behalf. (I still don't understand why Art and Sarah felt compelled to stop her - that felt contrived on the writers part, since there really was no clear motivation to stop it.)
What didn't quite work were the various plot-threads.
I felt that they had too many plot-threads going at the same time - and not a lot of focus. Some worked better than others.
* Cosima's illness - appears to be an on-going one that may or may not be resolved next season - yet was also the motivating factor for a lot of action this season. They did figure out the cause of her illness and why certain clones where dying. It was apparently a side effect of the genetic coding that the Duncan's put into the clones to prevent them from having children or ensuring they were barren.
This syncs well with the whole reproductive freedom arc or fertility arc.
*The problem with the reproductive freedom/fertility arc is the writers got a bit too ambitious and tried to both themes at the same time, hammering the audience over the head with them in the process. By the time Helena burned down Henrik's farm, I was done with that storyline. Actually done with it two episodes ago. I'd also lost patience with psycho Rachel. Both story-lines fell into sci-fi cliche, stealing heavily from other series.
- Psycho Rachel (who for some reason Sarah avoids killing on two separate occasions) places Kira in a pretty windowless bedroom, which had been hers as a child. And wants to harvest Sarah's eggs and implant one of Sarah's ovaries into her womb - so she can have kids too. Upon being told that Sarah's ability to have children was a huge mistake - she has a hissy fit inside her head.
The character got increasingly annoying and her actions made less and less sense. Please let her stay dead.
- Psycho Henrik - who fancies himself father to all, harvests Helena's eggs, fertilizes them with his sperm, and implants them into Helena and his biological daughter Grace, who can't be much older than 15 or 16 (gee talk about some funky DNA).
Both are one-dimensional and somewhat cliche villains, that haunt one too many sci-fi tv series. You don't love to hate them, you just hate them.
Luckily they were killed off in a satisfying if somewhat gruesome manner.
The point was clearly - science was making the women barren and preventing reproduction by natural means, but nature had found a way (Sarah). Upon discovering this, scientists were attempting to regain control and thrust their own will upon the proceedings, not learning from their mistakes.
I think they could have done it effectively without the whole Helena/Henrik subplot which didn't really involve anyone else or really go anywhere. Although it did get rid of the prothelians.
* Siobhan/The Bird Keepers/Marianne/Leekie/Duncans - Dyad and Castor conspiracy.
This is the evil corporations group together to make a more productive tomorrow in a sort of uneasy partnership with the military. This storyline was just convoluted and perhaps expanded the world and mythology further than absolutely necessary. I got a bit confused and had troubles keeping all the players straight. I admittedly prefer Michelle Forbes character as a potential villain to Rachel or Doctor Leekie. Also prefer Paul to Daniel. Both are more complex, and ambiguous. You aren't sure what to make of them or Siobhan for that matter.
* Angie/Art's plot arc sort of got dropped - they were investigating then Art wandered off to join Club Clone, only to be sidelined into the Helena plot arc, where he did nothing but take photos and the Felix/Tony sub-plot, where he provided comic relief.
Angie his partner was mainly comic relief in her relentless but ultimately pointless pursuit of the truth via Alison, who comically evaded her and her snitch Victor (who is still carrying a torch for Sarah.)
* Alison/Donnie and the corpses...worked more or less. And nice twist, having Donnie of all people be the one to take out Leekie.
Overall? A fun season, but a deeply flawed one.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2014-06-24 10:58 pm (UTC)Don't know if the twist at the end is really doing much good for S3. "Clone girl seeks clone boy" is one of my dread scenarios.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2014-06-25 03:10 am (UTC)http://www.wired.com/2014/05/orphan-black-musical/