Last night’s Orphan Black season two finale was as crazy as we all expected it would be – but there were some twists that hardly any of us saw coming. Show creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett had some things to say about the finale – so be warned, there are major spoilers after the cut.
Okay, Clone Club, I think you know where I have to start – boy clones! Apparently, Graeme and Mark knew by the end of season one that they wanted to introduce male clones into the series in order to expand the conspiracy. They didn’t know who the male clone would be, only that it definitely wouldn’t be Felix; that was “too obvious a choice,” said Fawcett, and Manson agreed. “I think our plans for Felix are more important than him being a clone.”
Instead, Ari Millen joined the cast as Mark, and impressed the tails off the creative team. “We had planned to kill [Mark] in episode 6,” said Fawcett, “and after [Millen] did some significantly great work for us in the early get-going of the season we started to focus our eyes on him as very strong potential for our male clone, and that’s kind of how that happened.” Apparently, Paul – who has been working for the male clone/Castor team all along – was going to be the one to kill Mark outside Duncan’s house, but Millen did such great work that they just couldn’t bring themselves to kill hi. Eventually, Fawcett and Manson decided to make Mark a key part of season three.
“We didn’t tell [Millen about his clone status] until the season finale,” Fawcett added.
“Yeah,” said Manson. “I phoned him before we started rolling on episode 210 and I said, “Are you sitting down?””
Of course Mark, with his AWOL status, is similar to Sarah – both runaway clones, neither of whom know what their true deal is. Or does he? “Is he naive?” asked Manson. “Does he know he’s a clone? Does he know about his brothers? Those are kind of questions are really rich, and we’ll be getting into those.”
And how about that amazing four-clone scene that blew everyone’s minds? Fawcett said that they’d had “clone dance party” up on the board as a kind-of joke since the beginning of the season, but eventually it came to represent a sort of celebratory end to the season that they thought fit the feel of the finale. The full shooting process took two days and a ton of work in post-production. But as fun as the dance party was, it was also tinged with intense sadness, because what about our sick science queen, Cosima?
“That dance party is a little bit about this feeling of worry and concern and dread for Cosima and if she’s going to live and die,” said Fawcett. “We have that feeling too, amongst Graeme and I and the way we talk about the character. I think ending with Cosima still ill, but with Duncan’s special book in her hand, it’s kind of like this ray of light at the end of season two.”
Cosima isn’t the only clone in danger for season three – with that awkward pencil/eye situation, Rachel’s future is also in question. But we’ll definitely be seeing more of Marion Bowles and her clone daughter, Charlotte. “She’s an innocent and she is apparently part of the reason that Marian Bowles is putting her neck on the line and throwing her lot in with Sarah and her clones,” said Manson. “Because she has this daughter and she shares the same stakes and has the same concerns about the future — health concerns, concerns about the conspiracy and what they’re for and who they’re after. All of those concerns are reflected in that child.”
Oh, and fans of the new Alison and Donnie dynamic (like myself) don’t need to worry about their faves being notably absent from the finale – apparently there was a whole Donnie storyline that got cut for time, but you’ll be able to see it all on the season two DVD.
So now I guess we just have to wait, what, nine months before we get more clones in our lives? Ugh. You know what that means – it’s time to start the aggressive Tatiana-for-the-Emmy campaign. Get on it, Clonesbians!
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Published: Jun 22, 2014 12:00 pm