Naturally the first thing I should want to do with the OB S3 DVDs is take another gander at Shay’s background check files. delphinecosmier did a great job already, but there are a few things that are a bit curious. Even though I don’t know if Shay will be returning. … *sigh* Because I do think it was an interesting decision to provide so much information about such a minor character, to the degree that I have a basic character sheet whereas I have none with more central characters like Cosima. I haven’t even figured out how Scott furnished his place so quickly. He unpacked at super speeds.
This picture kills me every time I see it. Shay is clearly sitting in her own apartment. This surveillance picture was taken through the blinds or curtains. Close your blinds, please. I sincerely hope they closed the blinds at some point because I can’t help but wonder what other pictures were obtained, if not. Also, how long does it take to light that many candles on the regular? I like to imagine conversation being carried out while Shay goes around the room.
A few interesting things here.
I’ve noted before the dates, but S3 seems to take place in 2014, meaning Shay has been in Toronto for about a year. The date on the “current” side is weird, but it reads 2014-05-2013. Certainly predating Cosima’s arrival if we take this to mean that somehow even with all the timey whimey nonsense, Cosima hasn’t been in Toronto for more than perhaps two months, maybe.
Shay is a registered massage therapist, but she’s not currently employed at any named establishment. Interesting. This may mean she’s outright unemployed at the moment, which again raises questions about her financial state. (Other possibilities include Shay Davydov being Kenzi Malikov and riding on Santiago money. With the timey whiminess, this could be in Lost Girl’s future.)
The dates of her residing in Manitoba only go back to 2009, but 2006 puts Shay in Weston Smith Community College studying Chinese medicine, but not completing that course. She would have been 20 years old. If Shay was–for whatever obscured reason–USA military, the earliest she could have enlisted is at age 18. If the schooling followed an enlistment, she only did 2 years in the military.
The notable thing is that her uniform seems to be what Paul wears?
That similarity is very conspicuous and way too deliberate to be coincidence. If there is a connection, then there’s some possibility that Shay could have served with one of or some of the Castor clones when they were possibly around 18 years old themselves. (? I have no idea how old the Castor clones are supposed to be as compared to the Leda branch.) She wouldn’t have had to have known they were “Castor” clones, but that’s an interesting thought that her service might have overlapped with theirs. Obviously what this needs is that Shay was BFFs with the gay one and they totally bonded over chafing under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. (I love this thought way more than I should.)
Underneath Shay’s head shot, though, is a medical report? It looks like an original document? Which is … strange or intriguing. If it’s from Shay’s enlistment, there are a few questions there as to how it was acquired. I wish I knew what any of the headings and categories were. What does “STAT MEDS” refer to??? Because there’s something listed there.
Again, I don’t know if Shay is returning but they’ve done a bit of character foundation for her. (That they didn’t tell her actress about prior but, y’know, Orphan Black.) On paper I find Shay intriguing because I have a lot of questions about life decisions she seems to have made. Like she seems like a nice girlfriend, so why didn’t past relationships work out? How is she paying for her lifestyle? What brought her to Toronto? Is she a US citizen? If they were thinking of Shay as a long-term character, how did they see her as fitting into the larger story when, aside from a military connection that seemed to play like a red herring, in S3 at least, nothing seems to tie Shay to anything? There’s no professional interest, unless she is some sort of spy. Even the romantic angle is really hard to sell after everything Shay went through as a consequence of forming a connection with Cosima.
I dunno. I really don’t. It would be super easy to cut Shay out moving forward. But someone had an idea and I have to admit curiosity as to what it was. I mean, she doesn’t even have a TV or computer (but, yes, wi-fi?), very deliberate choices when you see Scott’s place in comparison.
Honestly, I just want to see her cute face again.
The uniform, then, is not important.
I still think Shay probably would have enlisted at 18. If any younger, there’s a story there.
Could have been on medication at that time?
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