**May Contain Spoilers**
I'll be upfront: If you don't geek out at the science at play in Orphan Black, this review might not be for you. Anyone who has watched every season of Orphan Black so far knows that the show does a fantastic job of dealing with themes related to identity, bodily autonomy, and so forth, but nothing is more chilling than the exploration of scientific ethics that, based on this episode, appears to be developing before our eyes. The nerd in me loves to explore the true science behind the show. While the creators and writers do stretch it a bit, putting themselves a step ahead of current science in instances, the show is based in so much real science that it makes it all the more fascinating--and terrifying.
Despite the struggles occurring between Sarah and Felix, the highly entertaining scenes with Krystal, and Donnie's usual comedy, the best and most important part of this episode involved Cosima taking center stage as our undercover clone. She practically jumps at the chance to attend a Bright Born information session for parents, tagging along with Donnie as his and Felix's surrogate. As luck would have it, Susan Duncan is also visiting Bright Born behind the scenes. When she gets word that a clone is in the building (that mishap is a whole different story), she decides to have a chat that leads to a couple of revealing hints at the science behind Bright Born babies.
Sly little clone that she is, Cosima steals Duncan's key card and gains access to the restricted floors. After a change into scrubs, she explores a unit full of pregnant women: carriers. Suddenly, she's pulled right into the fray and exposed to the dark inner workings behind the "perfect baby" persona Bright Born portrays. It's dark. It immediately creates more questions and casts Bright Born in a possibly sinister, or at least highly ethically questionable, light.
Everything leads to a confrontation that feels like the pieces are finally falling together. In an emotional scene, Susan reveals that a generalized, but perfect, reason for why the clones were created (though I think it's a bit more complicated than that), and Cosima then makes a statement that begins to put the whole purpose of the clones in a new light: "We're your oncomouse." (Go ahead, Google it. Read some science recaps of the show. Follow the science. Go down the rabbit hole.) Susan responds that project LEDA was the gold standard for genetic alteration. But the clones are sick, right? How is that ideal? When you start connecting the dots in the scientific aspects of the show, this is where everything turns gray, bodily autonomy rears its head in a huge way, and scientific ethics takes a wider frame. The scientific possibilities of where they're going are absolutely thrilling for the show.
In my humble opinion, there's a reason we went back to Beth this season. It's a season of beginnings. However, it's not just about how the clones got to be self-aware or Mr. Duncan's Rachel-coded science of their origin; it's about the beginning of the clones' lives and not how, but why they were created, and how this is related to the potential beginning of their cure. Scientifically speaking, "Raw Human Material" set the stage for some possibly interesting revelations. For this season, Orphan Black went from zero to 60 in this episode, and this nerd can't wait to see where the science goes.
I'll be upfront: If you don't geek out at the science at play in Orphan Black, this review might not be for you. Anyone who has watched every season of Orphan Black so far knows that the show does a fantastic job of dealing with themes related to identity, bodily autonomy, and so forth, but nothing is more chilling than the exploration of scientific ethics that, based on this episode, appears to be developing before our eyes. The nerd in me loves to explore the true science behind the show. While the creators and writers do stretch it a bit, putting themselves a step ahead of current science in instances, the show is based in so much real science that it makes it all the more fascinating--and terrifying.
Despite the struggles occurring between Sarah and Felix, the highly entertaining scenes with Krystal, and Donnie's usual comedy, the best and most important part of this episode involved Cosima taking center stage as our undercover clone. She practically jumps at the chance to attend a Bright Born information session for parents, tagging along with Donnie as his and Felix's surrogate. As luck would have it, Susan Duncan is also visiting Bright Born behind the scenes. When she gets word that a clone is in the building (that mishap is a whole different story), she decides to have a chat that leads to a couple of revealing hints at the science behind Bright Born babies.
Sly little clone that she is, Cosima steals Duncan's key card and gains access to the restricted floors. After a change into scrubs, she explores a unit full of pregnant women: carriers. Suddenly, she's pulled right into the fray and exposed to the dark inner workings behind the "perfect baby" persona Bright Born portrays. It's dark. It immediately creates more questions and casts Bright Born in a possibly sinister, or at least highly ethically questionable, light.
Everything leads to a confrontation that feels like the pieces are finally falling together. In an emotional scene, Susan reveals that a generalized, but perfect, reason for why the clones were created (though I think it's a bit more complicated than that), and Cosima then makes a statement that begins to put the whole purpose of the clones in a new light: "We're your oncomouse." (Go ahead, Google it. Read some science recaps of the show. Follow the science. Go down the rabbit hole.) Susan responds that project LEDA was the gold standard for genetic alteration. But the clones are sick, right? How is that ideal? When you start connecting the dots in the scientific aspects of the show, this is where everything turns gray, bodily autonomy rears its head in a huge way, and scientific ethics takes a wider frame. The scientific possibilities of where they're going are absolutely thrilling for the show.
In my humble opinion, there's a reason we went back to Beth this season. It's a season of beginnings. However, it's not just about how the clones got to be self-aware or Mr. Duncan's Rachel-coded science of their origin; it's about the beginning of the clones' lives and not how, but why they were created, and how this is related to the potential beginning of their cure. Scientifically speaking, "Raw Human Material" set the stage for some possibly interesting revelations. For this season, Orphan Black went from zero to 60 in this episode, and this nerd can't wait to see where the science goes.