From Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly:
Link: Orphan Black creator answers season premiere burning questions
“Without giving too much away, we have arrived at the top of the pyramid, so to speak. We have arrived at the seat of power at Neolution. This is where P.T. Westmoreland, a man who’s apparently well over 100 years old, lives and marshals the global forces of Neolution — those setting out to change the course of human evolution.” Continue reading.Â
Spoiler warning: Do not read this article until you have seen Orphan Black Episode 501, “The Few Who Dare.â€
“Whatever this place is, it’s the answer.” —Cosima
Welcome to the final trip!
After four seasons spent tumbling down the rabbit hole in an attempt to uncover the conspiracy behind the creation of Sarah Manning and her sister clones, Orphan Black‘s fifth (and last) season finally emerges in Wonderland—a Wonderland as conceived by H.G. Wells, that is.
The season premiere, “The Few Who Dare,” written by Graeme Manson and directed by John Fawcett, begins right where we left off last season, with Sarah (Tatiana Maslany, fresh from her first Emmy win) badly wounded and fighting for survival on Susan Duncan’s (Rosemary Dunsmore) mysterious private island. The island potentially holds the answers to 40 episodes of questions because it also houses P.T. Westmoreland, the 170-year-old founder of Neolution whose quest for prolongevity spawned the creation of the clones. However, his search for the fountain of youth isn’t necessarily going as planned—as evidenced by the “Island of Doctor Moreau”-esque creature that attacks Sarah in the episode’s opening scenes—and, as always, the clones can never trust the motivations of Machiavellian pro-clone Rachel (Maslany), who is in her most powerful position yet.
“There’s only one faction now.” —Mr. Frontenac
Over the past four seasons of Orphan Black, we’ve met a series of individual and organizational villains with disparate ideologies and goals. This tangled web has led to both some convoluted plots and a few story missteps—I’m looking at you, Castor clones—but Season 5 simplifies matters by focusing on the Big Bad behind the curtain, P.T. Westmoreland (Stephen McHattie). The Proletheans are long gone, but the island’s Revival camp—which has taken in Cosima—keeps that group’s cultish vibe alive by acting like a science-loving Peoples Temple. Cosima’s cheery new pal, Mud (Jenessa Grant), explains that the people in the camp are P.T. Westmoreland’s “children,” chosen from around the globe to “genetically improve the human race.” The group is completely self-sustaining, with their own power, food and educational system.
“This place is scary,” says Charlotte (Cynthia Galant), after leafing through a propaganda-laced children’s book.
Word, Charlotte. Word.
“Follow the crazy science.” —Delphine
Yet, for all Revival’s creepiness, Cosima can’t help but be intrigued. While Sarah just wants to get off the island and take her sister with her, Cosima wants to stay, simultaneously repulsed and enticed by the science. This is great news for viewers, as Cosima’s ethical sparring with Susan in Season 4 was a highlight, and any sitdowns with P.T. Westmoreland will undoubtedly crackle, especially given our resident geek monkey’s inability to hold back the sass.
As for Delphine (Evelyne Brochu), it was wonderful to see her have a few romantic moments, albeit rushed, with Cosima again. These two have been put through the wringer, and any tender moments between them have been more than earned by long-suffering Cophine fans. Hopefully, Delphine’s forced trip to Sardinia will be short-lived.
But, of course, Delphine’s temporary exit opened the door for the episode’s most shocking and uncomfortable moment—Rachel administering the cure to Cosima with a giant needle to the uterus. Yikes!
“It’s a new day, Sarah.” —Rachel
And what is up with Rachel? While her new right-hand man, Mr. Frontenac (Andrew Moodie), and Art’s (Kevin Hanchard) new Neolution partner, Detective Engers (Elyse Levesque), spent the episode trying to bring Felix (Jordan Gavaris), Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Alison (Maslany) and Helena (Maslany) to heel on Rachel’s behalf, the formerly bitter clone comes away from her “seclusion” with P.T. looking like she’s had a true religious experience. She not only helps Cosima, but she promises Sarah that “it’s a new day,” even as she has her darted and carried away. I must admit that Rachel has never been one of my favourite characters, and I was hoping she might finally meet her (very justified) end this season. However, her post-P.T. glow has me deeply curious. What do you have up your perfectly tailored sleeve, Rachel?
Side Notes
Orphan Black airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET on Space.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
From Ciara Pitts of MoviePilot:
Link: Wynonna Earp: How the cast and crew get LGBT visibility so right when so many TV shows still get it wrong
June, which is also Pride Month, has just kicked off. Many of us in the LGBTQ community are celebrating our freedom and who we are, along with the TV shows that make us more visible. One of those shows being Syfy’s Wynonna Earp, which returns for its second season on June 9. The series follows the titular character on a journey to take down demons and other supernatural forces that invade her mysterious hometown. Continue reading.
From Bridget Liszewski of The TV Junkies:
Link: Wynonna Earp: Emily Andras talks “Steel Bars and Stone Walls”
“I really thought of the premiere as almost the second half of Episode 113. It felt like a two-parter with all those cliffhangers and because we had given ourselves, or cursed ourselves, with all those cliffhangers, we had no choice but to answer those questions. I didn’t want it to be a bunch of talk and exposition. I wanted it to feel really fun and really blistering.” Continue reading.
Link: Wynonna Earp’s Melanie Scrofano on working for Black Badge and that surprise guest star
“There’s a certain amount of not wanting to see things that are right in front of you when they threaten your sense of security. Waverly gives Wynonna such a sense of security and family and belonging and she just thinks that partly it can’t be true.†Continue reading.Â
From Nivea Serrao of Entertainment Weekly:
Link: Wynonna Earp boss on that big Season 2 premiere twist
“We are going to see a slightly different Wynonna for the first few episodes. Not only has she killed Willa, but the other thing that has happened is, essentially, she has lost Dolls. So she’s going to feel a lot of pressure to kind of move into a leadership role. And that’s not Wynonna’s strong suit. She hates authority. She rebels against authority.” Continue reading.
From Carly Lane of Nerdist:
Link: Wynonna Earp’s Dominique Provost-Chalkley talks “bloody good” Season 2Â
“She comes into her own. It’s kind of perfect timing because I feel like she’s going in that direction but just touching the goo accelerates that, and so I wanted to make sure that right from the get-go there was almost a power that ran through her, an adrenaline underneath that maybe she didn’t have before.” Continue reading.Â
From TD Rideout of The Mind Reels:
Link: Dark Matter set visit
It’s a cold December morning, the holidays are on the horizon, a storm cloud of twinkling lights, gift giving and family.  Clambering aboard the tarnished grey subway cars that burrow their way through the city, Sue and I prepared for a day in the far-flung future… Continue reading.Â
From Andrew Liptak of The Verge:
Link: Syfy’s pulpy space opera Dark Matter is back—here’s why you should watch
The show is largely about identities and who people truly are. Most of the characters have their own agendas, but once their memories were wiped, they found a unique opportunity to reinvent themselves. They come together into a crew because they’re comfortable with one another, or at least more comfortable than they are with the wider world. Continue reading.
From Kelly Townsend of The TV Junkies:
Link: Dark Matter: Joseph Mallozzi on the two-hour Season 3 premiere
“I mean, the war is happening, there’s not much they can do about that. It’s debatable if they want to get involved at all. On one hand, you’ve got Six who’s always been leading the charge and trying to get them to be better people, and Two points out to him that being better is so much harder, and maybe it’s not worth the risk. They tried to be better, and that was the whole point of Season 2, a search for redemption that ends up blowing up in their faces.” Continue reading.Â
From Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald:
Link: Banff World Media Festival: Canadian producers say CRTC decision threatens homegrown programs
Just as the top movers and shakers in the TV industry arrive at the Banff World Media Festival, independent Canadian producers are sounding the alarm about Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulation changes they say will have a devastating effect on both the quantity and quality of Canadian TV shows. Continue reading.
