Orphan Black - Season 4, IV, quattro

[Charmonium]

Premiers April 14 on BBC America.

Clone Club! Clone Club! Clone Club!

 

[Charmonium]

Only a few more days. Premiers Thor's day.

 

[Charmonium]

Here's the Season 4 teaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpn7nWouChc

 

[Charmonium]

They're heeeeerrrrrreeeeeee. Send in the clones.

 

[Childs]

I still find it odd that all the clones are cooler than the main clone.

 

[thesmokingman]

Attack of the clones?



Hmm, do I avoid this thread and marathon it or watch normally. That is the question.

 

[pcslookout]

Good times!

 

[Charmonium]

without giving too much away, the first episode goes back in time to give us Beth Childs' background with clone club.

I think everyone has been curious about what led to her suicide in the first episode of the series and this begins to give us some insight into that.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

I love the show, but I hope this is the last season. It's starting to wear out its welcome and if it pulls off a great season and ending I would be very happy.

 

[iRONic]

I love the show, but I hope this is the last season. It's starting to wear out its welcome and if it pulls off a great season and ending I would be very happy.

I bailed after S2. *shrug*

 

[Charmonium]

I love the show, but I hope this is the last season. It's starting to wear out its welcome and if it pulls off a great season and ending I would be very happy.

I'm not sure how many new clones they can add to the plot. I suppose they have to since they have to kill some of them for dramatic effect, but the thing that makes the show unique and fun is the differences in their personalities. And Maslany does such a good job in each case that you rarely consider the fact that they're the same actress.

But this new character seems like a modified Helena with the accent and social awkwardness. I guess that doesn't make it bad but I would have preferred someone who doesn't remind me so much of another persona.

 

[TeeJay1952]

I enjoy show but am somewhat puzzled by the raves for lead. Isn't acting like someone else the basis of acting? Admittedly her performance is a lifetime of jobs rolled into one but it doesn't strike me as earth shattering.
They saved so much on performers that they might consider investing more in writers.

 

[Charmonium]

I enjoy show but am somewhat puzzled by the raves for lead. Isn't acting like someone else the basis of acting? Admittedly her performance is a lifetime of jobs rolled into one but it doesn't strike me as earth shattering.
They saved so much on performers that they might consider investing more in writers.

I've never acted but I think what makes it so challenging is constantly shifting from one personality to another so seamlessly. Plus, Maslany really is a very good actress so even if she only played one role I think most people would be impressed.

The supporting cast is pretty good as well. I guess there are only a couple of actors involved but most are pretty good. The only ones I'm not wild about are Beth's partner or her ex-lover. They're just ok. But Allison's husband, Sarah's foster brother, the foster mother, etc are all quite good.

For scifi, you have to be impressed at the quality of the production. For a movie or other a-list show maybe not as much, but for this genre, you tend not to get such quality so it's more impressive.

 

[TeeJay1952]

She does a scene, changes clothes and makeup, everyone supports "different" and then does scene from another perspective. Sounds like multiple takes of a scene which happens all the time in the process of filmmaking.

 

[Charmonium]

OK, you're not impressed. But have you ever acted? It's one thing to have the same persona but express a different emotion. It's something else to express that emotion w/ different persona.

I think I could probably do an ok job acting as long as the character didn't stray too much from my own personality. I really don't think I could completely change personalities on the fly like that.

Maybe that sort of thing is easy for her though. Who knows. I've often wondered if someone who might otherwise have MPD/DID (multiple personality disorder/dissociative identity disorder) wouldn't make fantastic actors if the disease didn't overwhelm them.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Yeah, I could never act as one character, much less many different ones and make them convincing. I just hope that the show doesn't wane in quality and transition into mediocrity like so many sci-fi dramas do ala Heroes and keep introducing new clones without a clear direction.

 

[Eug]

I bailed after S2. *shrug*

I just finished season 4.

Season 3 wasn't very good in my opinion. It was way too convoluted and the increasingly off-the-wall conspiracies just got tedious. Season 4 represents a reset, almost a show reboot, as it gets back to its roots, and I'd say Season 4 overall was excellent. There was some off-the-wall sci-fi stuff, but it was contained and moved the story along. The overall writing was tight and the story arc was good. The season finale wasn't as good as I hoped, but it was still good, and the nine episodes getting there were mostly excellent. The new

Spoiler

Mika the hacker

clone wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but nonetheless she was serviceable, and did add to the story.

BTW, I do think Tatiana Maslany is an excellent actress, but I don't think she's great at foreign accents. To a North American audience I think her poor English accent is passable, but I hear that the Brits cringe at her accent. Similarly, I don't think her eastern European accents are great either. In contrast, many Europeans think Jordan Gavaris' (Felix) English accent is amazing. In fact, I read that Maria Doyle Kennedy (Siobhan), who is Irish, thought thought Jordan Gavaris was a Brit when they first met.

In terms of the actual acting (outside of the accent) I think Tatiana Maslany does really good nuanced portrayals of both Sarah and Cosima, to the point that I rarely think of them as being the same actress. Alison's character is more of a caricature, as is Crystal's, so I would have preferred if they were toned down a bit, but then again both characters are likely caricatured intentionally for comic effect.

tl;dr:

Tatiana Maslany is a very good actress, but doesn't do foreign accents so well.
Season 4 of Orphan Black is a great series reset, but the season finale is not as great as the rest of season 4. Overall though, season 4 more than makes up for the mediocre season 3.

 

[Charmonium]

I agree with most of that, especially the parts about Crystal and Allison. Allison I like and I think more times than not they keep her character w/in the bounds of what you might normally expect. But Crystal is too far out there, especially the dumb bunny act.

I can't comment on accents unless it's one that I'm familiar with. So for example I can usually tell when someone is British trying to do an American accent but have a lot of trouble the other way around.

 

[Eug]

Hmmm... The good news is there will be Season 5. The bad news is there will likely not be a Season 6. But then the second piece of good news is that the show runners plan on writing the story to end with the Season 5 finale, so we won't be left hanging. Apparently this was planned all the way back in season 3 or perhaps even earlier.

 

[Eug]

BTW, I may be biased in support of this show, since the show is shot in my city (Toronto), and Tatiana Maslany is from my home town (Regina).

Also, in episode 7, there is a shot at night in this location (image from google):

That is right by where I live. Imagine my surprise when I saw that. If I had known, I would have been there watching the shoot. I'm thinking the

Spoiler

helicopter in episode 10

in the same location must be CG though, because I don't recall ever hearing about one being brought in for the shoot. None of the neighbours mentioned anything about that, and the cost would have been prohibitive anyway.

 

[Eug]

Tatiana Maslany got nominated for an Emmy again this year, for Orphan Black.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Hmmm... The good news is there will be Season 5. The bad news is there will likely not be a Season 6. But then the second piece of good news is that the show runners plan on writing the story to end with the Season 5 finale, so we won't be left hanging. Apparently this was planned all the way back in season 3 or perhaps even earlier.

That is perfectly fine with me. I was already starting to get the feeling the show was dragging on a bit.

 

[Eug]

That is perfectly fine with me. I was already starting to get the feeling the show was dragging on a bit.

It did drag in season 2 and even more in season 3, but season 4 was fresh and moved quickly. Hopefully they can keep the momentum of season 4 going in season 5. If they did, I'd like a season 6. But then again, if season 5 ends with a true finale and on a high note, I'd be very happy with that too.

I just hope she wins the Emmy. I don't think she'd ever win on the individual performances alone though. I think it's more the fact that she plays 9 different characters. Some of those performances are not so great IMO, but others are very good, and there are several that are very good, which I think qualifies her for this nomination in their eyes.

 

[A Casual Fitz]

Nomination, sure. Chances of winning? Slim to none. The show just isn't popular enough.

 

[cronos]

Hmmm... The good news is there will be Season 5. The bad news is there will likely not be a Season 6. But then the second piece of good news is that the show runners plan on writing the story to end with the Season 5 finale, so we won't be left hanging. Apparently this was planned all the way back in season 3 or perhaps even earlier.

This is perfectly fine. This show has got to go with a bang. Season 4 is a lot better than two and three (

Spoiler

Castor clones is a terrible storyline

). I'm confident they can do this.