Hey Clone Club! happyjacq here! Let's get right to it. It's author's note time!
Little Shop of Horrors: After last episode’s Extreme Weather EventTM, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the Hendrix Garage of Horrors is now home to a rather impressive, smelly crack. It was a shallow grave, after all! All that rainwater! The leak! A perfect storm! Everything’s back under control now, but the smell of rotting corpse does tend to...linger. And Alison’s solution? Flowers. Flowers everywhere. I mean, did you expect anything less? Things are starting to look more and more like Mushnik and Son at the Hendrix Household. Especially with Audrey hovering around. And that ever ominous… “disposal in the sink.”
Felison vs. Ramon der Tann: Ah, everyone’s favorite teen angel. Emily’s been up to no good, caught red-handed smoking with an older boy in the Economart parking lot. What would mother say? We couldn’t wait for Ramon to make a reappearance, and sticking him in cahoots with suburbia’s newest troublemaker felt just right. The dynamics of this scene in the parking lot are extremely complicated. Who is in charge here? The suburban housewife? The fifteen year old? The goofy drug dealer? The sassy gay man? No one can be sure. But, at the end of the day, Alison walks away with the joint. She’s won this round. But, the war’s not over yet.
TOPSIDE: Speaking of power dynamics, let’s talk Topside. This scene was probably the most difficult one to write in the entire episode. It required a lot of prep work, including figuring out what the makeup of Topside might look like, deciding what Topside’s goals are, fleshing out the backgrounds of each of these characters, and then giving them a voice and personality to match. The end result: an international lightning round of power politics and callous, take-no-shit attitudes. These people are powerful, important, and they don’t take orders from Rachel Duncan, especially when Rachel’s lying through her hypocritical teeth trying to undermine Marion’s influence. Once again, Rachel’s left with nothing.
Built on Vaccines: So, what is the deal with Charlotte? A baby clone with a mysterious leg brace who seemed to emerge out of thin air? Something’s up here. There was a lot of back and forth with Casey over this one, and we cycled through a lot of options (including the ideas that Cosima lists off as possibilities--spina bifida? chromosomal abnormalities?) before landing on polio. Polio’s symptoms often include asymmetrical paralysis, and, if you remember, polio’s no stranger to the Orphan Black world. The DYAD was built on vaccines! Polio, Spanish influenza… Hm. Well, isn’t that convenient.
The Sleeper Syph: It turns out syphilis wasn’t such a one-off, dead-end, just-for-fun plot after all. A sleeper agent plot, returning in the back end of OBspec to rear its ugly head. In Cosima’s mind, Alison’s scrape with not-syphilis could mean immunity, but Delphine knows better. If Alison’s fighting off diseases that don’t have any known vaccine, that can’t be good for her clone cancer chances. Let the nail biting begin.
The Ferryman: Kassov is actually a canon Orphan Black character! Well, not our Kassov. But, Kassov in general. In Season 2 Episode 4, when Mrs. S meets Carlton, Carlton says "the ferryman's all I have," to which Mrs. S responds, "at least, take me as far as Kassov." And from that one tiny mention, Ivan Kassov and his many layers of mythology was born. In Greek mythology, Charon the ferryman ushered souls across the River Styx. How would you pay the ferryman? With an obol, of course (the namesake of our country store!). But, Kassov had to be connected to the overarching story somehow. Milena and I spent a whole summer night brainstorming exactly how he would fit. And then, suddenly, it all became clear. Cold River! Of course Kassov the ferryman was connected to Cold RIVER. So obvious! From there, he had to be connected to Duncan (and I mean, hello, look at the guy on the right of this picture). And, on top of all that, he had to have some other secret knowledge. What kind of secret knowledge is Kassov sitting on? If you pay really close attention, maybe you'll figure it out.
Kassov's Voice: Ivan Kassov has a very particular way of talking, and it's not just about the circles and metaphors. He's got a flair for alliteration, and he calls absolutely everybody "dear." When writing first drafts, I've always found it easiest to go big first and then work backwards later. It's so much easier to scale something back than it is to scale it up! So, Kassov's voice started out hugely weird. And then...it didn't change at all.
Mother/Daughter Time: Writing Sarah's interactions with Kira in this episode took a lot out of me. Emotionally. Sarah's trying so hard to keep Kira safe. But, Kira's a smart girl. She knows something's up. And the honesty Sarah bares to Kira in this episode is not something that's often seen from her. Sarah and Kira share these special pieces that put them square in the middle of this conspiracy. But, as Cosima's mom reminded Sarah back in Episode 2, "you don't always get to choose the pieces you give." And in that scene on top of the houseboat, Sarah's taking a page out of Leslie's book. Sarah and Kira share something special. But, more than any other combination of characters, these two are the ones who know that special isn't really all it's cracked up to be.
The Cloneswap: Womp womp. Castor Cloneswap! Miller the Wolf shows up in sheep’s clothing this episode, doing Rachel’s dirty work to bring Gracie into DYAD to fulfill the military’s part of some mysterious deal. Setting Gracie and “Mark” up at a football field was an idea that didn’t come about until this episode was already half written, but between Mark and Gracie’s penchant for playful imaginings; the direct contrast it provides to Emily, who’s hanging out in the parking lot when she really should be at school; and the themes of masculinity and femininity all tied up in high school athletics, the setting serves to remind you that Mark and Gracie are really just kids.
War Sex: Rachel and Miller's sexual escapade at the end of Episode 7 isn't about intimacy. Not even a little bit. It's all about power. All the action verbs are purposefully war verbs--advance, approach, retreat, surrender, etc. The scene's a battle. And it should read like one. Because after a whole episode (or, when you think about it, a whole season) of Rachel clawing at every scrap of power she can get her hands on, it's finally all crashing down around her. And up against Miller, looking at what she's become in the bathroom mirror, she doesn't stand a chance. She knows it. And she lets it happen. Because maybe submission will get her what she wants. Maybe. It's a kind of self-destruction for Rachel. Submit to the powerlessness and maybe you can fool yourself into thinking that this sexual act makes that baby yours. Because, at the end of the day, it's the only thing she can trick herself into thinking that she has.
