S02.E01: Nature Under Constraint and Vexed

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Sarah is out of options, on the run, and pursued by deadly adversaries. Desperate to find her daughter Kira, Sarah suspects ruthless pro-clone Rachel is behind her daughter’s disappearance and sparks an all out war against her. Alison and Donnie attend the funeral of her fallen friend, Aynsley, causing Alison to sink into guilt and despair. Cosima is faced with a perplexing decision that may have dire consequences.

 

Original air date: 04/19/2014

Edited April 24, 2014 by maraleia
fixed episode title format

[OriginalCyn]

BBC America will be broadcasting the first episode of Season Two on Saturday 19/4/14 at 9:00pm EDT, and then again on Sunday 20/4/14 at 12:00am (midnight) EDT and 3:00am EDT.  Local channels, depending on where you live, may be different, depending on your cable or satellite service.

They will also air it again on Sunday 20/4/14 at 11:00pm EDT.

Just wanted to post these additional air times in case anyone here is unable to catch it during the original premiere time.

Edited April 20, 2014 by OriginalCyn

[Ceeg]

Damn, that was a solid premiere. 

[OriginalCyn]

Hoh-Leeeeee-Fuckballs, Batman!!

If their intent was to not only keep the tension from Season One going but to ratchet it up a notch or ten, they damn well succeeded.

I'm going to have to re-watch it again at Midnight (and probably 3:00am, lol) before I can coherently put my thoughts into words, but for now, just....damn.

*****

For now, though, Shakira's alive!!  Quite honestly, I thought she was deader than a door nail, but so much for that theory.  Loved how she pinned it on "her sister" (mind is too blown to look the phrase up in Ukrainian atm) before collapsing.

I'm hating ProClone Rachel at this point.  Almost hating Paul as well, though he did let her get away after the private meeting in the conference room.

More to come later after I've digested all this and had some time to analyze the episode.

[Happy to be here]

Best gun sale ever!  Only Alison would send an illegal fire arm with flowers and a card.  OH and Alison Hendrix is in a musical.  I don't think a more "Unintentional funny" line was ever said.  

It must get rather confusing for Tatiana Maslany when she has to fight herself like that.    Rachel is going to be a problem.  Not part of clone club then?

When Dr. Leekie warned Delphine  against "playing for the other team?"  A thousand lesbians yelled.  "Thats the whole point!"  

Edited April 20, 2014 by ChaosTheory

[Cranberry]

I don't know how she does it, but it's always so obvious when Tatiana is playing a clone pretending to be another clone. I knew who Sarah-as-Cosima was before she even opened her mouth to say "shite." I liked that her hair was just curly instead of full-on dreads, too, because there's no way they had time for that.

Alison is the best, as always. Love that she gun-shopped in a Walmart-esque parking lot and that she'd send a gun to Sarah in a flower arrangement complete with homemade, glittery card. Never change, Alison.

I figured that the Dyad Institute didn't have Kira and that it was the Prolethians instead. I'm interested to see how the three groups -- Dyad, Prolethians, and Sarah and Co. plus Art -- clash this season. I'm also interested to see more of Rachel. I find her boring/unlikable right now, but Maslany has said that Rachel was her favorite clone to play this season, so I'm expecting something bigger to happen with her.

I'm also happy that Helena is alive.

[Kara]

I love Allison.  I loved her with the rape whistle and pepper spray.   And the glittery card with the gun.  And getting the lead in the musical. 

And so happy crazy hair is alive!  I was missing her through the episode.

Solid episode.  So excited that Orphan Black is back!

[no1skittishkitten]

I'm so happy this show is back! And Helena lives!

[Ceeg]

Once again I'm pretty much in awe of Tatiana. But what really stood out for me in this episode was her ability to be Sarah and play off Delphine completely differently than how she plays off her as Cosima. It was just such a sudden shift and change. And my brain still won't really recognize that the woman who plays Sarah, who had a conversation with Delphine at the DYAD party, is the same woman who plays Cosima, who had all those lovey scenes with Delphine in season one. It's just crazy to me.

I love that the premiere hit the ground running and didn't really let up the entire time. And I loved Felix being high and asking Alison for a gun. And his reaction to Alison saying she's doing a musical: "Oh my god, not cats"

Edited April 20, 2014 by Ceeg

[KathH]

After a very long year of waiting, it felt like no time had really passed at all. I'm sure due to the pacing of the episode but this was one strong premiere that didn't disappoint.

I thought learning of Allison in a musical was going to be her highlight this episode...until DYAD tried to take her. That was so priceless! I wonder if she'll ever find out that she was used for bait as the distraction. Don't think that reaction will be a pretty one. And the gun in the flower arrangement...that goes without saying.

Helena is one resilient little clone! Very glad to see her still alive.

I'm very excited to see what's in store this season!

[Snarkette]

Agreeing with everyone who's so glad the show is back. Please excuse my incoherent ramblings that follow because it's so hard to respond to the show with an analysis beyond: "Yup, that's our show all right". It's back and it's continuing the mad momentum that drove the final minutes of the previous series.

That said, Kira is so the most adorable derivative intellectual property ever. And Felix, my darling Felix how I have missed you! So glad Helena is back -- yup, she's got the heal thing going -- and the Prolethians (what a name!, I assume they want to give fire back) are a really nice new actor to see beyond Helena's minder. As others have mentioned Allison's musical was much needed comic relief, and her floral arrangement and possible Ramon-Felix hook-up were terrific. I also love that Felix wasn't exactly sober when he was called upon to save the day.

I can never get enough of clone-as-clone -- plus the whole Delphine involvement makes me really happy. Not sure what's going on with Paul, but I'm happy that Sara can turn to Art (who turns out not to be as misinformed or useless as I feared) and move forward with mystery club.

Rachel still befuddles me. She's clearly either a clone or a prototype (did they make clear which?) and seems to be several years older. But man, she's not going to win any personality contests. Miss Congeniality not.

[Valny]

And the glittery card with the gun.

 

"are you making fun at me, I made that!"  Ha, of course she would. She has that awesome craft room of terror from last season!

Felix: "we love you Alison"  So say us all!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Valny

[beedub]

Great premiere, everything you could want. The opening scene with Sarah's escape from the diner was pretty tense. Alison's community theatre was so "Waiting for Guffman". Brilliant.

Oh, and assless chaps, Felix? Sure, why not. Sorry your 5-way got interrupted.

[beeble]

I loved the musical number, rhyming "clean up the plasma" with "can't manage my asthma".  It was hilarious how more than one person referred to it as "Cats".

Glad to see Helena is alive. I missed Mrs. S - we were about to learn about her mysterious past in the season 1 finale.

I'm really trying to see how any corporation could take possession of a human stating "ownership" of the genetic code.  But aside from that, if Sarah can have children, then possibly Helena can too? Wouldn't Helena be as valuable to Dyad as Sarah?  But Kira has genetic code of her father as well, and unless he was a Dyad spy sent to try and impregnate Sarah, Kira should be free.

I hope Ramon, the hard working gun enthusiast with many jobs shows up more often.

Edited April 20, 2014 by beeble

[thuganomics85]

Glad to see that the actress playing Delphine has been upgraded to a regular, since I know she's a popular character, and it sounds like a lot of big stuff is coming her way.  Noticed the actor playing Vic wasn't, which I'm OK with, since I think his story came to a decent conclusion last season.  But I wont' be against an appearance or two.

Alison continues to be my favorite.  Wherever it's freaking out with Felix, doing a musical, buying an illegal gun, or taking on Dyad henchmen, with mace and a rape whistle, she never fails to entertain!

Helena still being alive actually surprised me.  I thought for sure that her death would be a way for Tatiana to not have to play another character (now that Rachel is here), but nope, apparently, Tatiana can handle it, which, come to think of it, it really shouldn't surprise.  Between all the characters and doing the "character playing a character", she really can handle anything thrown at her and then some.  What an amazing actress.

Interested over Paul working for Rachel, but helping Sarah, Delphine helping Cosima but still providing info to Leekie, and Art dealing with Sarah and his partner wanting to bring her down.  With all the double-crossing and playing both sides, some big stuff is bound to go down.

I'm just go glad that this little, but fantastic show is back!  I will continue to watch it and worship at the Altar of Tatiana Maslany.

[possibilities]

It seems odd to me that some of the clones have healing powers and some are sick and dying.

[Dusty]

At first I thought the Asian people Rachel was meeting with was from Taiwan since she talked to Paul about going there but nope.  They're Korean, which is really smart because the Koreans are big on the cloning science.  Yay for research show!

 

Almost hating Paul as well, though he did let her get away after the private meeting in the conference room.

That last scene with them kind of confused me.  She hits him in the face and then he says "In the face?!?!" She's all "Sorry." and he lets her go.  Which makes it kind of seem like it was planned but they have him heavily monitored so I don't think they did.

I also don't trust Art.  I want to but I don't.  His whole "She's really starting to trust me Angie." made me go all "Aww. Say it ain't so Art."  Oh hell.  I don't trust anyone on the show whose name isn't Sarah, Cosima, Allison, or Felix.  Don't you make me doubt them show!

[Valny]

She hits him in the face and then he says "In the face?!?!" She's all "Sorry." and he lets her go.  Which makes it kind of seem like it was planned but they have him heavily monitored so I don't think they did.

 

Hmmm, that's interesting idea,that didn't occur to me. I too thought that was an odd response from him.

I meant to comment, Felix's bed is getting it's share of sexy times!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Valny

[shapeshifter]

I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted Helena to return, but I am very glad Art is back. At this point, he's the only sane one.

I knew it was Sarah being Cosima because she was looking over the glasses instead of through them. I wonder if that was Tatiana's or the director's choice.

I thought Paul's "in the face" comment was more of: Oh. Good one. Plausible deniability.

[Wilowy]

Over the moon that Helena is back! Hell, that THE SHOW is back! 

Agree with everything you all above said - except that I DON'T want to trust Art and want him gone. I guess Sarah needs a civilian to hide from everyone, but I don't like him and haven't since he manhandled her in season 1. 

It was great to SEE everyone! I missed FEE so much and there wasn't enough of him, but what we got was good. Alison was GREAT - love her! 

Adorbs Kira. Such a strong precious babeee. 

Did I mention HELENAAAA? I screamed when I saw the boots and heard her music!

[RealityCreator]

I knew Helena was still alive!  I knew it!  They did a good job of projecting that possibility last season with her healing remarkably from the rebar injury, and by highlighting Kira's amazing healing abilities.  Still, though I love the character, for Sara's sake I'm not sure if I want her to be alive!    Oh - poor poor Kira.  Kidnapped children stories make me absolutely sick.  Please don't hurt that little girl, script.  Please!  

Loved Allison in the musical, and am I remembering correctly?  Can Tatiana sing too?  What can't she do?  Felix high, wearing chaps, and giggling at Allison in her wrapping room was a hoot.  

She hits him in the face and then he says "In the face?!?!" She's all "Sorry." and he lets her go.  Which makes it kind of seem like it was planned but they have him heavily monitored so I don't think they did.

 

I think Paul and Sara had that planned so that Rachel would trust him to have her back over Sara's.   They could have planned it during the phone conversation they had when Paul was on the bridge using the unmonitored phone that the skater kid handed to him.

Glad to have you back show!

Edited April 20, 2014 by RealityCreator

[OriginalCyn]

Still in the process of digesting the season premiere, but must add that any scene in which Doral (™ Evil Cylon) either gets outplayed or his ass kicked is a-okay in my book.

[AlliMo]

It must get rather confusing for Tatiana Maslany when she has to fight herself like that.    Rachel is going to be a problem.  Not part of clone club then?

I saw her in an interview talking about the actress who stands in for the other clone when she does scenes with multiple clones in it. She gave her tons of props for essentially playing as many characters as she is and yet never being seen on screen. She always thanks her by name in her award speeches, too. She really is such a class act.

I knew Rachel and Co. were bluffing about Kira. I still think Mrs. S was involved from the beginning and has her own agenda.

[Indi]

What an amazing season premiere! Not a slow moment and everyone was at their best. Except Paul, but that goes without saying.

Alison owns me. I'm completely hers. "I have a friend who needs a peace... maker" Oh, how I've missed her!

I don't know if how I feel about Helena being back. I liked the character and I was sad to see her go, but I had already made my peace about that, because her death raised the stakes and it made sense to kill her off. Now I feel like it was all for nothing, but this show hasn't disappointed me yet, so I'm willing to wait and see where they go with the character.

I loved spotting Graeme Manson and John Fawcett at the DYAD party! Dorks!

More Art, less boring Paul, please!

I love Cosima and Delphine together. It looks like their relationship is going to be difficult in a very interesting way. I'm looking forward to that.

Sarah squirming at Delphine's kiss was priceless. As always, Tatiana was fantastic!

[Wilowy]

Does anyone else think the title for this episode sounds like it belongs on Deadwood?

i.e... "Advances, None Miraculous"

"Requiem for a Gleet"

"A Lie Agreed Upon"

"Nature Under Constraint and Vexed" would have zero problem fitting in with Deadwood titles.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Willowy
Forgot for a sec I wasn't in the Deadwood forum.

[Cranberry]

I love the episode titles!

The first season of Orphan Black had episode titles that were quotes taken directly from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of the Species, which also occasionally sounded like the title tracks from prog-rock albums where every song is ten-minutes long. ("Endless Forms Most Beautiful" and "Conditions of Existence" would make great Coheed and Cambria songs, precise definition of the word "great" variable to your taste.) But this year, Orphan Black is going old-school. The second season premiere of the wildest, cloniest, Maslany-est show on television was titled "Nature Under Constraint and Vexed," which comes from a key work by Francis Bacon.

From a fun Entertainment Weekly recap.

[shapeshifter]

Paul reminds me of equally pretty, colorless Wade on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. Recently on SHIELD, his true allegiances were revealed, and he became a little more lifelike. Unfortunately, on Orphan Black, that ship has already sailed, so they better throw in a sex scene soon.

Thanks for the info about the episode titles. Somehow it didn't occur to me to look them up, even though I just learned that Star-Crossed's are from Romeo and Juliette. I wonder if this trend is supposed to boost high brow fan discussions, or if it is an attempt to attract students and other academic web researchers, or...?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I can never decide which clone I love the most because whoever is on my screen at the moment is my favorite. Alison was her usual awesome self. I loved that when the DYAD guys tried to grab her, she used her self defense class moves (because you know she is totally one of those suburban moms who takes the sexual predator defense class every spring) and just kept fighting them off, refusing to give up. I loved that she kept casually aiming pepper spray over her shoulder whenever they came at her again. Even though she was clearly freaking out, she kept her cool and kept on spraying. And I will give credit to the DYAD guy (Daniel?) for apologizing once he realized it was Alison and not Sarah.

I also loved that Alison made time in her busy schedule of musical rehearsals and costume sewing to go meet with Ramon (who seems like a handy guy to know - he has one of everything in the trunk of his car!) and make a sparkly card to accompany the gun. Definitely belies what she said to Felix earlier about not wanting to be involved because she's working on her family. I think that no matter how much she tries to stay out of all the clone/DYAD stuff, her need to protect her fellow clones will override that. Donnie in a t-shirt and ball huggers, ack! When the director first said she was getting Aynsley's part of Sheila, I thought they were doing A Chorus Line and then they started singing that absurd number. Please tell me that we will continue to see parts of this insane musical for at least the next few episodes!

We will sing sing sing away the hours
Shout til our throats are sore
And we will raise our voices to the heavens
God himself will hear a mighty roar

And we will wipe wipe wipe away the plasma
Scrub off every stain
Since I cannot control my asthma
I'll stand by to entertain

Sarah is so awesome that I keep thinking she has superpowers like Buffy and then I remember crap, she doesn't but she still manages to get out of really sticky situations like being assaulted at the diner and being handcuffed by Angie and Art. I knew as soon as she started formulating a plan for the DYAD event, it would involve some clone switcheroo hijinks and the show did not disappoint. I love seeing Tatiana play one character impersonating another character. Every time she does it, she proves once again that it's not the (admittedly awesome) hair and makeup people who convince me that these are different characters. So how long before we get to see Cosima imitate one of the other clones?

I was holding out hope that Helena was still alive because despite her craziness and her dangerous, unpredictable nature, I have a soft spot for her. As soon as I saw her boots, I was yelling YAAAAAAASSSSSSS!

Right now Rachel reminds me of a professor I had in college who was super smart but you could tell would be the worst person to have to talk to at a party. Between her haughty attitude and the stick up her ass, Rachel seems like a real pill. It will be interesting to see her story unfold. Hopefully we will get some more insight into her cold nature and why she's drinking the DYAD Kool-Aid.

Damn it, Delphine, you disappoint me. Turning that blood over to Leekie after Cosima specifically said not to? But it was nice to see that Delphine immediately knew it was Sarah and not Cosima.

The Prolethian guy brushed Kira's hair before taking a picture of her. Did he just want her to look good for her creepy kidnapping picture? Or does her curly hair remind him of Helena? Or is he just a nicer guy than the one who locked Helena in a cage?

Felix continues to be awesome. I loved him sassing Cosima about the lesbian activities in his bed. I also loved him yelling, "We love you, Alison!" because you know he means it.

Heh, and I loved Sarah smacking that kid on the bus upside the head when he asked if he could touch her boob.

[echo.Echo.ECHO]

Helena! (I love that scratchy music signal of hers.)

Paul's "In the face?" comment made me wonder if I'd missed or forgotten a previous conversation. Seems not.

I found Sarah's split lip on the final scene with Art to be distracting. I'd noticed its absence in the (so very awesome) Sarah-as-Cosima scene, and I was surprised to see it back later. I'd chalked it up to fast healing because it would have been difficult to cover with makeup when Sarah became Cosima. Oh! But maybe it got broken open again in the fight with Rachel and Paul. Yeah, I can buy that. And maybe that's why the face comment, too....

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I hope that Ramon seeing Cosima and Sarah doesn't come back to bite the Clone Club in the ass.

[smrou]

When the director first said she was getting Aynsley's part of Sheila, I thought they were doing A Chorus Line and then they started singing that absurd number.

Heh, I thought they were doing Hair. :)

[Ceeg]

 

Damn it, Delphine, you disappoint me. Turning that blood over to Leekie after Cosima specifically said not to?

Delphine has shady morals, but ultimately, I think she acted unselfishly.  She did it, despite the fact that Cosima told her not to, because she's trying to save her life. Giving the blood over to Leekie ensures that there will be a lot of people, with lots of experience, trying to help Cosima. Notice she only turned over the blood sample, she didn't tell Leekie that Cosima figured out they were patented.

[Happy to be here]

Can we see more of Ramon?    I thought the gun buy scene was comedy gold.  Then again I would watch the hell out of a sitcom with just Alison and family, and wasn't there a throw away line about Alison asking about Romon's mother?

Edited April 20, 2014 by ChaosTheory

[Wilowy]

There was. The tail end of the scene at Ramone's car. I also hope we see more of him, and totally picked up on the flirting with Fee. 

Last season I watched all in one go, stayed up almost all night, so having just one episode went WAY too quick. But it's back and we get in every week for ten weeks so yay! Cannot wait for ep 2!

[atua]

It seems odd to me that some of the clones have healing powers and some are sick and dying.

If we look at this as a huge neolutionist experiment, then it makes sense that Dyad started off with an original or baseline clone, then introduced various changes to the DNA sequence to induce desirable traits like intelligence or enhanced healing. The original can then act as a point of comparison for the others. Not all of these alterations are going to be successful and I don't think it's odd that some of these changes will have unforeseen side effects or cause issues due to flaws in the cloning process. Sarah (and Helena, as her monozygotic twin) was just a winner in the genetic lottery. I think if Helena wasn't raised by the abusive Luddite Prolethians, she would've turned out quite normal like Sarah. Edited April 20, 2014 by atua

[Athena]

Ramon was adorable.

It's amazing how much buzz this show has had in the last year or even in the last six months.

They had a killer opener. Contrived that Sarah would walk into an empty and really nice diner with a cool line cook who happens to own a shot gun. Too bad he died. He was badass.

I love watching Rachel. Tatiana expressed how much she enjoyed playing her, and how it's not the roles she often gets. I think she is so completely different than the other clones, maybe a bit closest to Alison in terms of holding herself. She is playing Rachel older obviously too. Paul and Rachel have some weird chemistry too and I think Leekie must be some sort of paternal figure to Rachel. He seemed concerned, but it also seemed obvious Rachel is in charge. I really want to know how that happened and how she was raised. I also kinda dig Rachel's business woman wardrobe which contrasts to everyone else on the show.

[Snarkette]

I doubt we need a separate musical theater thread, so here's what I googled up about Allison's new play. The musical is called "Blood Ties" and it seems to be a real thing.

• Trailer
• Setup at the Edinburgh Fringe
• Creator Twitter feed
• EW recap with info about the play

There. More linkage than you'd probably need.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Snarkette

[Ailianna]

They had a killer opener. Contrived that Sarah would walk into an empty and really nice diner with a cool line cook who happens to own a shot gun. Too bad he died. He was badass.

 

 

I really liked him and it was for me a pretty fully developed character for the amount of screen time he got.  But I didn't think it was at all contrived that he had a shotgun.  A diner like that is probably a robbed or attempted to be robbed quite a bit, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find a shotgun hidden behind the counter where the staff has access to it.

[Athena]

I really liked him and it was for me a pretty fully developed character for the amount of screen time he got.  But I didn't think it was at all contrived that he had a shotgun.  A diner like that is probably a robbed or attempted to be robbed quite a bit, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find a shotgun hidden behind the counter where the staff has access to it.

I think this is my Canadianess coming through since guns are not as prominent here as they are in the US. They are harder to buy here and you honestly do not see them as much. Knowing this show takes place in Toronto (AU clone Toronto), the shot gun seemed a bit atypical. Toronto does have a lot of crime though so it is not impossible. This is a suspense sci-fi show so this is a minor gripe.

I really liked the character and actor as well. At least it was believable that a guy like him would own a shotgun in that short period of screen time he got. 

[Wilowy]

tumblr is rockin' the OB today!

[TravisNelson76]

The asthma/plasma musical is a REAL THING?!?  Hilarious.

Should we be concerned that the e-e-e-e-e-vil patents of Orphan Black reek a little bit of Star-Wars-ian trade disputes or Dracula-ian stock maneuvers?

[beedub]

I meant to do a re-watch of Season 1 before last night, but circumstances prevented it. But by the time the episode was over, I was fully back in the Orphan Black world. It's like no time had passed at all.

While I had been conditioned by Fawcett and Manson in the off-season to believe that Helena was well and truly gone, no one could be happier that she's back. Funniest line of the night (with a lot to choose from)? "My sistra shot me."

At first I thought the Asian people Rachel was meeting with was from Taiwan since she talked to Paul about going there but nope.  They're Korean, which is really smart because the Koreans are big on the cloning science.

And she was speaking German earlier on the phone, so maybe they're looking to sell to mutliple buyers. Anyone able to translate that short phone conversation?

I knew Rachel and Co. were bluffing about Kira. I still think Mrs. S was involved from the beginning and has her own agenda.

Come to think of it, we've never seen the back of Mrs. S's neck...

Paul reminds me of equally pretty, colorless Wade on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD.

Funny, I made the same observation some time ago in reverse, about Ward: "He's the Paul of Agents of SHIELD."

As we saw, it turns out that DYAD HQ is in Toronto after all, with everyone in town at once. Speaking of DYAD, I love that the recent Supreme Court dealings with the patenting of genetic material was referenced in the episode – the OB universe is truly not far from our own! Interesting that they chose to keep that tie with reality, which means that DYAD isn't as free to operate as they might be in a universe where regulation took a path of the writers' choosing. And speaking of Toronto, I agree with Athena that it was very unlikely that a diner in Toronto would have a shotgun behind the counter. But that would go unnoticed by most Americans.

I found Sarah's split lip on the final scene with Art to be distracting. I'd noticed its absence in the (so very awesome) Sarah-as-Cosima scene, and I was surprised to see it back later.

I'm chalking that up to a continuity error. It must be exceedingly hard to avoid them on this show.

The tail end of the scene at Ramone's car. I also hope we see more of him, and totally picked up on the flirting with Fee.

and

I hope that Ramon seeing Cosima and Sarah doesn't come back to bite the Clone Club in the ass.

From the look on his face, he seemed to have a 5-way on his mind.

Edited April 20, 2014 by beedub

[ganesh]

I don't know how she does it, but it's always so obvious when Tatiana is playing a clone pretending to be another clone. I knew who Sarah-as-Cosima was before she even opened her mouth to say "shite."

I noticed this right off the bat, particularly because I watched the Cloneversation and Patton Oswald made that point about the Sarah-as-Allison at the party in S1.

That was quite an action-packed high pace episode of television. If S2 is going to be like this, I'm going to be white knuckling in my chair Saturday nights this spring. 

For some reason, I really like Art and I think he's going to bite it.

[CleoCaesar]

Such a great premiere. This show blows me away. Tatiana Maslany, all the awards for you.

I loved the little nuances, like when Delphine kisses straight-Sarah-pretending-to-be-gay-Cosima, Sarah visibly and hilariously pulls away from the kiss. Or when Sarah-as-Cosima let the glasses slide too far down her nose (since Sarah doesn’t need them). Basically these moments:

 

Hee. TM has great comedic timing.

I’m really rooting for Art. Sarah needs another ally. Although the “she almost trusts me, Angie” remark made me give him the side-eye.

Seeing Sarah pistol-whip Rachel was very satisfying.

I just caught that Leekie’s first name is Aldous. Possibly a reference to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? Actually, from the moment they introduced him as Dr. Leekie (and that seems to be the official spelling of his name), I wondered if it was a reference to Louis Leakey, the anthropologist whose research was key in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. If that’s the case (and it certainly fits thematically), why not just spell his name Leakey? I may be overthinking this.

Edited April 20, 2014 by CleoCaesar

[RapBert]

And she was speaking German earlier on the phone, so maybe they're looking to sell to mutliple buyers. Anyone able to translate that short phone conversation?

She said "Most of the patents were submitted directly after the Supreme Court's decision.", so apparently DYAD didn't waste any time to patent their clones. It's very interesting to see real life events influence a show like this. I remember comments on the internet last year after the season finale aired about how patenting DNA was completely ridiculous. I guess the joke's on them now.

[Athena]

Ah the German scene was nice. I was wondering when they were really going to use Tatiana's heritage again. Tatiana's mother is German and her father is half, but I don't know how fluent that girl is. She acts, she sings, she dances, she improvs and she speaks German. This girl!

[beedub]

She said "Most of the patents were submitted directly after the Supreme Court's decision."

Thanks. If I'm not mistaken, this line was repeated in English for our benefit, which would have been the Supreme Court reference I mentioned above.

 I just caught that Leekie’s first name is Aldous. Possibly a reference to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World? Actually, from the moment they introduced him as Dr. Leekie (and that seems to be the official spelling of his name), I wondered if it was a reference to Louis Leakey, the anthropologist whose research was key in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. If that’s the case (and it certainly fits thematically), why not just spell his name Leakey?

Yes to both, but I was a little puzzled about the spelling of Leekie as well.

[possibilities]

My guess is that they altered the spelling to indicate that it's a chosen name and an homage, but the character is not meant to be an actual descendent of the famous archeologist.

[hardy har]

I find myself resisting the urge to put Leekie and Rachel as working together. I mean, I know they're on the same side and everything, but something about their scene together made me think there are some . . . . disagreements with they way things are done.

It seems odd to me that some of the clones have healing powers and some are sick and dying.

I think it makes pretty good sense. Helena's recovery from basically being impailed by rebar and Kira's minor injuries from being run the hell over made me think they were tweaking the DNA with each clone to see what would happen.
 

That last scene with them kind of confused me.  She hits him in the face and then he says "In the face?!?!" She's all "Sorry." and he lets her go.  Which makes it kind of seem like it was planned but they have him heavily monitored so I don't think they did.

I also don't trust Art.  I want to but I don't.  His whole "She's really starting to trust me Angie." made me go all "Aww. Say it ain't so Art."  Oh hell.  I don't trust anyone on the show whose name isn't Sarah, Cosima, Allison, or Felix.  Don't you make me doubt them show!

I still don't trust Paul. I don't know if it's because DB is blah or what, but something about him just doesn't sit right with me. Isn't he the one who ultimately told Rachel about Kira? Or did I make that up? I think I may have made it up......

I do trust Art though. I will be so bummed if he turns out to be a bad guy. He's still trying to grapple with learning that his partner committed sucide. He didn't know that until the end of S1. I think he wants Sarah to trust him, not because he really wants to arrest her, but because he wants to know what happened to Beth.

I saw her in an interview talking about the actress who stands in for the other clone when she does scenes with multiple clones in it. She gave her tons of props for essentially playing as many characters as she is and yet never being seen on screen. She always thanks her by name in her award speeches, too. She really is such a class act.

ITA. She's always speaking about how great her stand in is and she also talks about how awsome her costars are. I think she knows that her work one the show is the thing that will get talked about the most (deservedly so), but it's cool that she's basically saying "Thanks fo thinking I'm awesome, but these guys? They're pretty fucking great too!"

Edited April 20, 2014 by hardy har

[DioxinBlues]

Tatiana's mother is German and her father is half, but I don't know how fluent that girl is.

 

 

Her mother is a German translator, too, so that helps. And Maslany admitted to being fluent in French and having studied Spanish so perhaps we'll get another French clone or our first Spanish/Latin American clone at some point since DYAD is so very international in its scope. 

I hope Ramon is not this season's Raj, the cute guy that everyone likes that we never see again.I couldn't tell if he was flirting with Alison or Felix or if that's just part of his excellent customer service. 

I'm glad they found a plausible way to bring Art back into the storyline and it'll be good to have the two of them working together again. His expression when he saw Alison singing and dancing was perfect. In his mind that woman looks like Beth...and she's singing? And dancing? The thought bubble above his head was basically: Now shit just got weird.

As for Delphine, I'm liking that they didn't just have her disregard Leekie and the DYAD just because she now cares for Cosima. In fact, I saw her giving Leekie the vile of blood as her way of helping Cosima, even if it was expressly against her wishes. In Delphine's mind this illness has already affected two other clones and there's really no time to be wasting in trying to tackle solo it before it proves fatal. So, yeah, she decided to just override Cosima in a way that fits who the character was from last season - sneaky but with good intentions - and yet doesn't belie the feelings she has for her lover, which I believe are genuine, hence the "invested" line.

Also, I would like to not have "And we will wipe, wipe, wipe away the plasma" repeating in my head, please. It's not something you can sing aloud and not have other people look at you oddly.

Edited April 20, 2014 by DioxinBlues