Orphan Black: 2x01 Nature Under Constraint and Vexed.
I mean it to be a history not only of nature free and at large (when she is left to her own course and does her work her own way)—such as that of the heavenly bodies, meteors, earth and sea, minerals, plants, animals,—but much more of nature under constraint and vexed; that is to say, when by art and the hand of man she is forced out of her natural state, and squeezed and moulded. Therefore I set down at length all experiments of the mechanical arts, of the operative part of the liberal arts, of the many crafts which have not yet grown into arts properly so called, so far as I have been able to examine them and as they conduce to the end in view. Nay (to say the plain truth) I do in fact (low and vulgar as men may think it) count more upon this part both for helps and safeguards than upon the other; seeing that the nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its natural freedom.
Francis Bacon: The Plan of the Instauratio Magna
“The nature of things betrays itself more readily under the vexations of art than in its natural freedom”. One of the questions that Orphan Black has yet to answer (but likely isn’t going to answer for a while) is the purpose of the clones: were they created to prove a point about mankind’s capabilities in re-creating itself, are they meant to be a perfection of what human can possibly be through scientific intervention (again, for the purpose of proving the possibility itself or for the military, it’s not like the two are necessarily mutually exclusive)? Were they sent out across the world to study the effects of nurture on individuals that should have, in theory, a similar starting point (even though the expression of traits and diseases varies in them – perhaps an unforeseen flaw in the original plan)? Also, is that original purpose lost because LEDA, the institute that stands at the beginning of the clone’s history, no longer exists, and instead there are two different factions, both driven by ideology, trying to inscribe their own interpretation and meaning on the clones? DYAD is a multinational corporation, presumably profit-oriented, presumably mining their possession of the clones’ history (and the patented DNA) for whatever will advance their cause. The Proletheans (at least the ones we’ve met so far) are driven by an ideology that sees the kind of human intervention in what they consider god’s creation as an abomination. The first episode of the second season introduces a new strand into the picture: led by the charismatic and terrifying Henrik, a sect-like branch of the Proletheans has a different interpretation, influenced by the fact that Henrik himself once was a scientist: rather than an abomination, they are an expression of god’s intention for humanity to shape its own future, even though the implications of that ideology will only be revealed in the course of the season. If they can procreate, they fit into the sect’s idea of humanity, so their focus is on Sarah and Helena.
It’s not so much about the purpose itself, but about the struggle of the individuals affected by the fact that others assign them whatever purpose and have intentions with them – a struggle to understand themselves and their personal and shared histories, a struggle for agency, a struggle for freedom from forces that seem all-powerful (where does DYAD’s reach or resources end?) or driven by a hunger for destruction (Tomas, sending Helena out to kill the other clones). What nature is revealed under stress and strain? Sarah’s seemingly infinite resourcefulness in the face of losing Kira, an awesome resilience driven by the love for her daughter. Alison’s mind, slowly falling apart as she struggles to come to term with the fact that she let Aynsley die – while performing in a musical about murder, in the role that Aynsley used to play, and increasingly isolated because Felix is helping Sarah to find Kira and she is the one clone who actually signed DYAD’s contract. Cosima, in theory best equipped to find a cure for the illness that is killing her but still not making any progress, while Delphine, as good as her intentions may be, goes behind her back to utilise DYAD’s resources. The many aspects of that choice best express what kind of show Orphan Black is: Delphine, without a question, does it out of love, because she is aware that they are running out of time and don’t have the resources to find a cure themselves, but a show that is so inherently and explicitly about agency and individuals (and specifically, women) having control over their own bodies, the fact that she goes against Cosima’s expressed decision (“This is my biology, it’s my decision.”) without consulting her seems unforgivable, and her insistence that their cooperation with DYAD could ever happen on their own terms is dangerously naïve. She should be aware of the scope of DYAD’s reach, she’s aware enough to know that she still needs to play the monitor to Leekie’s face, even if she’s one who is “invested” in her subject, but both she and Cosima have always been more smitten with the science while ignoring the politics and the power behind it.
And then there’s Rachel Duncan, whom we don’t know much about. In her interaction with Leekie, with them expressing the two sides of DYAD – the scientific one and the business side – it seems like they have competing ideologies, or are at least running for the same position, against each other, while also having a strange dynamic that suggests they have a very long personal history. I’m wondering about the rules that DYAD sets the monitors – are the clones meant to be able to make their own choices, and all that the institute is doing is subtly influencing those choices, rather than forcing them? Would it have fit with those rules to actually kidnap Kira and Siobhan rather than just pretending they did, which is what Rachel does? In that case, how does Rachel Duncan fit in, who has grown up self-aware in an environment that both monitored her and made her the monitor of other clones’ fates?
Rachel: There are other forces vying for our fate, Sarah. We’ll get Kira back, Sarah. Together.
What does Rachel Duncan want, if her own interests don’t line up perfectly with DYAD’s? Is she struggling to control her own fate, but from inside the institution? Is she trying to understand her own DNA, or afraid that she has the same disease that Cosima and Katja have – or did she try and fail to conceive? From that little bit of conversation before the fight, it seems like the fact that they share their history, share being clones, has the potential to unite them more than to divide them, because it makes it necessary for both Rachel and Sarah to struggle for control over their own lives – just that Rachel would be so much more aware of what they are actually up against. It’s a question of language, too: how significant that Rachel would say “our fate”.
Random notes:
HELENA JFC.
Just an impression that I got from the episode, but it seems like the camera work is much more ambitious or experimental in the first episode of the second season. It’s not just one of the smartest shows currently airing, it’s also the prettiest.
It’s also secretly one of the funniest shows – Ramone, Alison’s dealer, is so perfectly written and played (basically just flirting with everyone in sight – “So how is your mother?”)
Felix: I smelled lesbians in my bed last night.
Cosima: Look, I’m not gonna apologize for my heart.
I keep wondering if Leekie and DYAD got Delphine just with the science or if there’s something else in her history that made her vulnerable to them. Donnie would have probably done it for money.
Resilience seems a shared trait amongst all the clones, considering how fiercely Alison fights back against that botched DYAD kidnapping attempt (which was ridiculous, considering – did Daniel genuinely think he would find Sarah in a minivan in the suburbs?). Not quite as impressive as Sarah literally punching and kicking her way out of a room with no exit, but still pretty bad-ass.
“To combine is to create, to engineer, divine.”
GDI Paul, it’s really not that difficult to figure out what makes Sarah tick. She’s not exactly an enigma.
Sarah as Cosima is hilarious – they didn’t even have time to get her fake glasses, so she keeps looking over the frames, and these two couldn’t be any more different.
The implication of the Supreme Court decision that Rachel uses to woo potential investors (apparently, political ones, not business ones?) is that synthetic DNA can be patented, which has implications for the synthetic sequences in the clones’ DNA.
I'll try to catch up with the season as quickly as possible but it might take some time.
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