S04.E01: The Collapse Of Nature

[beedub]

I enjoyed the premiere on several levels, as backstory for Beth and as an introduction for MK and her place in the conspiracy. Three seasons in, it seems reasonable to take a moment to look back to where it all started, see the events that triggered the story from a different perspective (Beth's), and fill in some previously missing details. It also set up that Evie was a subordinate and confidant of Leekie's and will carry on in place of both Delphine and Rachel, acting on behalf of Dyad and more specifically, Neolution.

 

While I don't think anyone is being fooled that the writers aren't simply inserting MK into the earlier timeline after the fact, it does seem plausible that only Beth knew of her and that she, for reasons that may or may not eventually be revealed, has stayed underground until now. But to have her appear in the present, some form of flashback would have been necessary to establish her relationship to Beth, and it's both clever and satisfying that it took the form of the "prequel" episode that we got. 

Weirdly, as convincing as Maslany is in all the other versions of Leda Clone, her "Beth" is the most awkward and I never really felt the actress owned the character.  I hope that's not because she is the most "true to the actress'" real personality. ... Beth seems to be the more ordinary, suit wearing urban, single professional woman.

 

It may seem that there isn't much going on there, but I think it's only in comparison to the more offbeat, even showy, characters of the other clones. What's interesting to me is how different Maslany as Beth is from Maslany as Sarah as Beth. There's a subtle but noticeable change, and I think that's what demonstrates that there's more going on than meets the eye (or ear).

 

Small note that in addition to Raj, another performer from the Degrassi fold was added, with Allie MacDonald as Trina.

Edited April 17, 2016 by beedub

[Black Knight]

Watching the after show, when they replayed the first conversation between MK and Beth in the trailer, I became absolutely convinced that Beth didn't kill herself. That had been bothering me throughout the episode, in that Beth clearly had a lot going on, but she just didn't seem someone who would resort to suicide. She was deeply unhappy but not really what I think of when depression comes to mind. She wasn't in a rut, finding it hard to be active, but very much the opposite - she kept on following up leads and trying to figure things out, doing things for the other clones. She was much more angry than she was sad.

 

Now granted, we didn't see all the way up to her suicide and she could've gotten worse, but I think it's likelier that we didn't see up to her suicide because it wasn't a suicide and the show doesn't want to spoil that yet. Beth was on Neolution's radar, and MK says in the conversation in the trailer that the only reason she's alive is because Neolution thinks she's dead. It's pretty anvilly in hindsight.

 

Beth knew too much and her approach was too bull-in-a-china-shop - she would've gotten herself targeted for murder. My theory is Beth and MK found another clone who was about to die, and because she was going to die anyway, she agreed to pose as Beth and throw herself in front of the train. And when the not-Beth clone saw Sarah just before she walked in front of the train, she just thought Sarah was Beth there to witness and make sure she went through with it. It explains her reaction, because the Beth that we saw in this episode wouldn't have just let the appearance of a clone she didn't know about go.

 

That would also explain why the show decided to go all the way with Beth/Art. It gives them something to deal with if she's alive and showing up again at some point.

[shapeshifter]

I think I'm sort of over Maslany's amazing performance and, for me, the rest of the show just can't hold up.  No matter how much scifi stunt casting they do, the rest of the story just feels ill-designed.  It's like they can't quite get a grip on the story they are telling (or which one they are trying to tell.)

Hang in there, Captanne (or hang here to see if it gets better). I think this season will be better than last--especially if they don't have all the boy clones cluttering things up.

[Bort]

Beth knew too much and her approach was too bull-in-a-china-shop - she would've gotten herself targeted for murder. My theory is Beth and MK found another clone who was about to die, and because she was going to die anyway, she agreed to pose as Beth and throw herself in front of the train. And when the not-Beth clone saw Sarah just before she walked in front of the train, she just thought Sarah was Beth there to witness and make sure she went through with it. It explains her reaction, because the Beth that we saw in this episode wouldn't have just let the appearance of a clone she didn't know about go.

 

This is definitely a theory I'm open to, especially since I've always thought that it was no coincidence that Sarah happened to be on the platform when Beth (or whoever) took a swan dive in front of a train. I've long thought that Beth had managed to locate Sarah, found out she was coming to town and drew her in with the suicide. Except the suicide had always been the slightly illogical part because, while an effective draw, I felt like Beth would be unable to follow through on any plans afterwards, it being rather permanent. Having it not actually be Beth's suicide really helps reinforce this theory for me.

[KoBnR]

Beth knew too much and her approach was too bull-in-a-china-shop - she would've gotten herself targeted for murder. My theory is Beth and MK found another clone who was about to die, and because she was going to die anyway, she agreed to pose as Beth and throw herself in front of the train. And when the not-Beth clone saw Sarah just before she walked in front of the train, she just thought Sarah was Beth there to witness and make sure she went through with it. It explains her reaction, because the Beth that we saw in this episode wouldn't have just let the appearance of a clone she didn't know about go.

 

That would also explain why the show decided to go all the way with Beth/Art. It gives them something to deal with if she's alive and showing up again at some point.

You're thinking like a writer IMO. I am also open to this idea. It seems really plausible. Regardless, I find it fishy they focused on Beth so much this episode that I can only think that she is indeed alive and we will see her at some point.

[TrininisaScorp]

So good to have this show back! 

 

Like many of you, I missed our regulars (Sarah, Fee, Mrs. S, Helena, etc), but was very intrigued by Beth's spiraling backstory.  In the aftershow, I loved that Maslany categorized Beth as someone with heavy darkness.  That's completely what I got from her.  From her crumbling relationship with Paul, her drug issues, her paranoia that turns out to be not unfounded, Beth's sucide is tragic, but unsurprising.  Her despair was palatable. 

 

I also like the "reset" of the story away from the Castor stuff to refocus on Leda. 

 

I love that the other girls see Beth as a leader that holds them together.  Again, it makes sense why they floundered so when they all find out she died, but picked up with Sarah fairly quickly.  I'm sad Beth and Sarah didn't get to know each other.  It would be cool to see them as co-leaders.

 

Interesting to see what they are going to do with MK and how the other girls get along with her.

 

Loved seeing the old faces!  Like many of you, seeing Leekie being a big douche and knowing his end was amusing.

[Latecomer]

She's probably not Finnish but MK is obviously a survivor of Helsinki

 

Ooooh!!

 

Great reset of the show. And I like Paul.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Latecomer

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Orphan Black Better Call Beth
The Season 4 premiere goes way back.

[Ravenya003]

Now granted, we didn't see all the way up to her suicide and she could've gotten worse, but I think it's likelier that we didn't see up to her suicide because it wasn't a suicide and the show doesn't want to spoil that yet.

 

 

I think what may have pushed her over the edge was seeing what her surveillance equipment showed her (that is, Paul being complicit in Dyad doctors running tests on her while she's asleep); which is something the episode set up but didn't fully reveal.

 

So personally, my money's on suicide.

[justmehere]

Also, it was a little iffy to see Paul and Art, knowing that in season 1 Paul was being blackmailed by Dyad into monitoring Beth (not a military spy, as season 3 retconned him into)

 

 

I'm pretty sure there was an explanation in an earlier episode (can't remember which season) where Paul said that the military leaked fake info to Dyad so that he could be placed as a monitor -- it gave Dyad the illusion of control and of forcing him into the role when actually, Paul wanted to be a monitor to infiltrate Leda on behalf of the Castor project.

 

Re: Paul and Beth -- in season one, he comments to Sarah/Beth about her screwing him for the first time in weeks (months?). In this episode, he does resist Beth, but I think the difference is clear. Here, Beth is desperate. She wants him to save her, saying things like "Can you knit me together or just tear me apart" and "You're supposed to reach inside me". She's practically begging him to fill the gaps. He calls her paranoid, and she doesn't disagree. Beth was spiraling downward, becoming more and more of an emotional wreck. He didn't love her, but as her monitor, he couldn't leave either -- no choice in the matter. He looked pained as well -- as if not really wanting to hurt her but having to do his job just the same, and that's why he couldn't look at her. -- Then came Sarah, who came at him with passion (and an ulterior motive as well, of course), wanting to screw on the kitchen counter -- she was vibrant, "alive", and interested in him (so he thought), and perhaps was more like Beth used to be before becoming self-aware. So his comment about her screwing him for the first time in a long time makes sense to me, even though he rejected Beth. He was referring to her being present and really wanting him rather than just wanting him to save her.

 

Even though Art and Beth having sex was a bit of a surprise, I thought it helped his later claim about loving her. As others have said, Beth needed to connect with someone -- they did a good job of showing that. If Art was in love with her, it made sense that he gave in. Then she/Sarah behaved so oddly and seemed to withdraw so far... the only problem I have is that Art didn't ever ask Sarah/Beth about their night together.  Or maybe since the Maggie Chen thing happened right after, it kind of got pushed under the rug. No -- it still bothers me that he didn't ever say anything.

 

I loved the episode and hope we do see more of Beth's history, but I definitely missed the present timeline and characters.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I think another possibility is that Sarah was acting so differently from Beth that he thought she was purposely trying to keep him at arm's length because sleeping with him was a one time thing that she didn't intend to repeat and he didn't want to push things by specifically bringing it up. Heh, I've seen that happen in non-clone impersonation situations so it would make sense to me if that was why he never mentioned it to Sarah.

 

At any rate, I think he knew that Beth didn't love him and that she obviously had a lot going on between Paul, the Maggie Chen investigation, being on drugs, and whatever else it was that he knew she wasn't telling him. He seemed to care more about her on a personal level than she did for him, so I think another possibility is that with all the stressful things going on in her life, he didn't want to get moved from the "reliable good thing in Beth's life" list to the "one more thing that's stressing Beth out and she no longer wants to deal with" category.

[godonlyknows]

Paul asks Sarah in the pilot "Are you back on the meds?" which either suggests Beth sobered up in between the shooting and her suicide or Paul is even more clueless than we thought. (Or the writers made a mistake).

[buttercupia]

Loved this episode. I found myself on the verge of tears more than once  because of Beth's obvious despair.  A woman at the end of her rope and so obviously near the end of her life.  My heart ached for her.

[kay1864]

A little unpleasant to see how Alison was enabling Beth with her pills/urine sample - no wonder she was so jittery when we first met her. 

That scene felt false to me.  It's standard MO to drop a thermometer in the sample upon receipt, to confirm the testee isn't doing exactly what Beth was doing.

 

It was a revelation how deep in depression that Beth was and kind of why. I don 't think she could fake her own death by walking into a moving train. I was surprised when they had her body in the morgue. 

Someone help me out here--why did it take so long for Art to discover Beth was dead?  Seems like the morgue would have contacted the police right away.

 

Agreed.  Really happy that Cloneclub is back.  With a new clone to boot.  I wonder where MK has been all this time since the S1 opener.

I think that's why they made her character so paranoid and reclusive--to explain why we haven't seen her.

[kay1864]

What's interesting to me is how different Maslany as Beth is from Maslany as Sarah as Beth. There's a subtle but noticeable change, and I think that's what demonstrates that there's more going on than meets the eye (or ear).

I marvel at the beauty of Tatiana's acting.  When she's Sarah as Alison, she has to be just different enough that we can appreciate that she's really Sarah, but not so different that Alison's soccer mom friends don't get suspicious (achievable since Sarah (a "child of the streets") is crafty enough to improvise).  And of course Alison as Sarah was slightly more different since Alison isn't good at that sort of thing.

 

Where the hell is her row of Emmys??

Edited April 19, 2016 by kay1864

[Bort]

That scene felt false to me.  It's standard MO to drop a thermometer in the sample upon receipt, to confirm the testee isn't doing exactly what Beth was doing.

 

That's not standard. As my job requires periodic urinalysis, I've probably done hundreds of them by now and not once has anybody ever put a thermometer in my pee.

[netlyon2]

Someone help me out here--why did it take so long for Art to discover Beth was dead?  Seems like the morgue would have contacted the police right away.

Sarah covered up Beth's death in order to steal her identity and money.

1. Took Beth's purse, leaving no ID on the scene

2. Had Felix go to the morgue and identify the body as Sarah

3. Pretended to be Beth when Art showed up to drag her to the precinct for her meeting about Maggie Chen

So until the big reveal of Katja (the German) looking just like Beth and the existence of Sarah Manning, Art had no reason to suspect anything beyond his partner's general messiness.

[Ravenya003]

I'm pretty sure there was an explanation in an earlier episode (can't remember which season) where Paul said that the military leaked fake info to Dyad so that he could be placed as a monitor -- it gave Dyad the illusion of control and of forcing him into the role when actually, Paul wanted to be a monitor to infiltrate Leda on behalf of the Castor project.

 

Even though Art and Beth having sex was a bit of a surprise, I thought it helped his later claim about loving her. As others have said, Beth needed to connect with someone -- they did a good job of showing that. If Art was in love with her, it made sense that he gave in. Then she/Sarah behaved so oddly and seemed to withdraw so far... the only problem I have is that Art didn't ever ask Sarah/Beth about their night together.  Or maybe since the Maggie Chen thing happened right after, it kind of got pushed under the rug. No -- it still bothers me that he didn't ever say anything.

 

 

I think the show is good enough to get away with its retcons (and I'm happy enough to accept them) but it's obvious in the performances of Dylan Bruce and Kevin Hanchard in season one that a) Paul was just an ex-soldier blackmailed into monitoring Beth without the faintest idea WHY he was doing so, and b) Art was never in love with Beth. 

 

The actors at least had no idea this was coming, or they would have put it in their performances. In fact, there was an amusing comment on The AV Club that pointed out this was Dylan Bruce's best performance, probably because he FINALLY knew just what the hell his character was thinking.

 

But like I said, the retcons work for me. Art's especially, which surprised me since I didn't like the reveal in season three that he had been in love with her. But I can easily imagine that after Maggie's shooting their night together became a topic that was initially too difficult for discussion, and then too weird once Sarah (unknowingly to Art) turned up and played havoc with their dynamic. Or there's every chance that in the space between Beth's suicide/Sarah's arrival, Art tried to bring it up and Beth immediately shut him down.

[Conan Troutman]

It was a revelation how deep in depression that Beth was and kind of why. I don 't think she could fake her own death by walking into a moving train. I was surprised when they had her body in the morgue. I had a co worker jump in front of an express subway train at a local station, there was not a lot of her left to gather up. I didn't see it, but another co-worker did. 

 

When you fake it, there has to be a way to get out. And there were her blank eyes. Another good acting section, her eyes were so blank. She had a very routine life, but when it became different and she had no one to really turn to, she lost it all. It is funny to think back to how the other clones were dependent on Beth, right now she looks like the weakest of them all. 

The suicide itself wouldn't be fake, it's just that it would be some other clone, not Beth.

 

Watching the after show, when they replayed the first conversation between MK and Beth in the trailer, I became absolutely convinced that Beth didn't kill herself. That had been bothering me throughout the episode, in that Beth clearly had a lot going on, but she just didn't seem someone who would resort to suicide. She was deeply unhappy but not really what I think of when depression comes to mind. She wasn't in a rut, finding it hard to be active, but very much the opposite - she kept on following up leads and trying to figure things out, doing things for the other clones. She was much more angry than she was sad.

 

Now granted, we didn't see all the way up to her suicide and she could've gotten worse, but I think it's likelier that we didn't see up to her suicide because it wasn't a suicide and the show doesn't want to spoil that yet. Beth was on Neolution's radar, and MK says in the conversation in the trailer that the only reason she's alive is because Neolution thinks she's dead. It's pretty anvilly in hindsight.

 

Beth knew too much and her approach was too bull-in-a-china-shop - she would've gotten herself targeted for murder. My theory is Beth and MK found another clone who was about to die, and because she was going to die anyway, she agreed to pose as Beth and throw herself in front of the train. And when the not-Beth clone saw Sarah just before she walked in front of the train, she just thought Sarah was Beth there to witness and make sure she went through with it. It explains her reaction, because the Beth that we saw in this episode wouldn't have just let the appearance of a clone she didn't know about go.

 

That would also explain why the show decided to go all the way with Beth/Art. It gives them something to deal with if she's alive and showing up again at some point.

That's exactly what I thought. Motive (She needs to get out of dodge), means (her and MK are certainly capable of finding other clones and contacting them) and opportunity (one of the clones had the disease and knew she would die soon), it all checks out. Now, whether that's us interpreting too much into it, a deliberate distraction from the writers or actually how it happened, we'll have to see. But it's totally plausible and remember, this is the same show that brought Helena back after a shot through the heart. If we can believe the reversed organ thing, why not the fake suicide?

 

The way Beth (or not Beth) looked at Sarah always bothered me. She didn't know about Sarah because no one did, so you'd expect her to at the very least raise an eyebrow. It could be that she was too far gone to care, with all the running in front of a train at the next moment, granted, but I still would expect at least the slightest bit of a reaction, at least a hint of surprise.

 

This is definitely a theory I'm open to, especially since I've always thought that it was no coincidence that Sarah happened to be on the platform when Beth (or whoever) took a swan dive in front of a train. I've long thought that Beth had managed to locate Sarah, found out she was coming to town and drew her in with the suicide. Except the suicide had always been the slightly illogical part because, while an effective draw, I felt like Beth would be unable to follow through on any plans afterwards, it being rather permanent. Having it not actually be Beth's suicide really helps reinforce this theory for me.

That's another way to explain that look. I was okay with it being a coincidence because you know, otherwise there's no show, but it would be nice if it turns out it wasn't a coincidence at all. Maybe Beth and MK had found out where Sarah was about to go and which train she would have to take, so clone X could strategically place herself at the right train, just waiting for Sarah and abort in case she didn't turn up.

[Not Beth]

The actors at least had no idea this was coming, or they would have put it in their performances. In fact, there was an amusing comment on The AV Club that pointed out this was Dylan Bruce's best performance, probably because he FINALLY knew just what the hell his character was thinking.

 

I hadn't even considered this, but I am in complete agreement, considering I always found Paul so bland in the first two seasons. It really does help the actor to know their character's motivations. Though, I do also feel like the entire Beth and Paul dinner scene in the series four premiere was far too melodramatic.

 

All of this talk suggesting that Beth could in fact have faked her suicide... What if Beth was the one who shot Delphine? O_o  I really have nothing to back this theory up. Since there's speculation that Beth could still be alive, I'm going to add her to my list of Delphine shooter suspects anyway.

[Ailianna]

If we can believe the reversed organ thing

 

Well, since it's a real thing, it was actually pretty easy to believe...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus

[ElectricBoogaloo]

[Conan Troutman]

Well, since it's a real thing, it was actually pretty easy to believe...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus

Sure it's real, but it's rare. My point was that if we can accept Helena coming back from the dead without shouting "this is ridiculous!", we can do the same with Beth having faked her suicide. Both cases have somewhat unlikely, but totally plausible explanations.

[shapeshifter]

I think what may have pushed her over the edge was seeing what her surveillance equipment showed her (that is, Paul being complicit in Dyad doctors running tests on her while she's asleep); which is something the episode set up but didn't fully reveal.

 

So personally, my money's on suicide.

Watching the episode, I was content to blame the drugs for the suicide. But now reading this, I wonder if she might have also been thinking if there were eventually no clones left, they couldn't hunt them for nefarious purposes. And/or Beth had more knowledge of clone locations than anyone except the reclusive, elusive MK, and she thought she about to get captured and tortured for the information.

[ganesh]

I went in unspoiled and wasn't expecting a prequel at all. This was a really interesting creative choice.

 

It never occurred to me that Beth faked her suicide. I get that the show is full of twists and turns, but the entire catalyst for Sarah was seeing Beth kill herself. Given her reckless behavior in this episode, in terms of drug use, knowing Paul is her monitor, sleeping with her partner, this was a self-destructive person and the suicide seems likely, in light of her last line: Is this how I have to live? (paraphz) 

 

Loved this episode. I found myself on the verge of tears more than once  because of Beth's obvious despair.  A woman at the end of her rope and so obviously near the end of her life.  My heart ached for her.

 

Yeah, if the suicide is faked, then this entire portrayal is for naught. 

 

It's interesting to me that the "usual" ladies; Alison, Cosima are kind of unraveled, Beth was barely holding it together and killed someone. Sarah came along and kind of grounded everyone. (Even with the Fi/Alison hijinks, I think Alison would have spun way out of control.)

[shapeshifter]

I must have missed something.

Beth faked her suicide?

[ottoDbusdriver]

I must have missed something.

Beth faked her suicide?

 

I'm pretty sure Beth didn't fake her suicide -- Sarah was right there when Beth walked into the path of an oncoming train in the series premiere and Sarah watched the aftermath, grabbed Beth's purse/wallet and hightailed it out of there.

 

Unless Beth convinced another clone to take her place -- but I doubt that.

Edited April 24, 2016 by ottoDbusdriver

[Mabinogia]

I hope Beth didn't fake her suicide. All of her pain and angst feels pretty real and her spiraling out of control is very powerful and her suicide is the perfect ending to that story. I also don't like the idea of letting someone else jump in front of a train for you. Sure, it could be a dying clone, but still doesn't really sit well with me. I hope they don't go there.

 

I also don't see the point, story wise. We are getting Beth and Beth's story now so she's not needed for Clone Club and her place in the Club would overlap Sarah's. We don't need them both so unless they were to kill Sarah, we don't need Beth. What would her place in the story be? Sarah is working with Art on the police angle, we've got MK for the exposition about stuff before we showed up. I'm enjoying Beth but I don't want her to be secretly alive. I think they are just telling her story then, hopefully, putting her to rest.

[LittleIggy]

That was boring.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BBC America has posted the entire episode on their youtube channel:

[Hanahope]

Finally able to watch this on Amazon Prime.  I should be able to catch up before S5 starts and I can watch that live (or at least DVR).

I liked the flashback, getting some info on Beth, although some things did seem contrary to what was said/indicated in S1.  Funny how close Felix came to seeing Beth and wow how things could have been different if he did.  Beth was sure messed up in all sorts of ways.  Its almost amazing that Sarah was able to impersonate her at all.

I initially thought Mika was the german girl that was killed by Helena when Sarah first took over for Beth, but obviously not.

You have to wonder how the Neos learned about Sarah and family in Iceland.

Oh, when Beth was questioning Leekie and there was a woman getting her book signed, and then again sitting down waiting for him to speak, she reminded me so much of Delphine, I kept expecting it to be her.  But she never turned around.  So I'm wondering if it was intended to make us think it was her (since she was working at Dyad back then, I think), but they didn't get the actress (or didn't want to pay the actress), so they got someone who looked enough from behind, same body shape, and put a wig on her.

Edited April 18, 2017 by Hanahope