#notes5

For each disorder, DSM-5 sets the criteria for making a diagnosis. For example, to qualify for a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, someone must frequently show at least six symptoms (or four if over age 17) from either of the following columns:

Inattention

Hey Clone Club! 

happyjacq here! Welcome to Author's Notes for #OBspec Episode 5: An Alternation of Flights and Perchings, otherwise known as the one that made you laugh, cry, and almost die. 

Let's jump right in! 

That Teaser: You bet your ass that was a train station. Ah, OBspec Episode 5. The "Intercut Fiasco” episode. It’s a lot of scenes, a lot of transitions, a lot of things happening all at once. But the intercuts here allow for some pretty sweet parallels and really amp up the pace. And for an episode as exciting as this one, the pace needs to feel like a ticking clock.

Your New Favorite Clone is Not Even Real: Bringing in a Deaf clone was one of the very very very first things on our OBspec wish list, and based on where Season 2 of Orphan Black netted out, Rebecca couldn’t have fit any better with where we wanted to take the plot, science, and themes of our season. Crafting Rebecca was a ton of work. She required chats with a bunch of people, including the incomparably lovely Laine (our friend and audiology, speech and language, Deaf culture, and sign language expert), Casey (your friendly neighborhood science extraordinaire), and a bunch of other friends, relatives, professors, and random acquaintances. On top of that, we combed books and internet resources all about deafness and Deaf culture, about facial grammar and Deaf etiquette. We tracked down scripts with Deaf characters to figure out how something like this is translated to screenplay format. We watched Ted talks and YouTube videos and lots of other stuff. And, after all of that work, I couldn’t be happier with the way Rebecca has translated. It was an honor to create her. She’s one of the things I’m most proud of within OBspec.

Rebecca as Science: You met Rebecca in Episode 4, but it’s not until Episode 5 that the totally crazy science behind Rebecca really comes to the surface. Rebecca’s deaf, but that’s hardly the most biologically *signs* weird thing about her. When figuring out the specifics of the clone disease with Casey, Rebecca’s very convoluted medical history (and it’s place within the OBspec plot) emerged--you can read all the specifics here. Respiratory, auditory, digestive, reproductive, immunological, and then...nothing. It fixed itself. Magical Princess Rebecca Levin. We want Cosima to be a Magical Princess too, please!! But, at the end of the day, it's not meant to be. 

The Cold, Crisp Taste of Cochlear: Cochlear implants are a highly debated topic within the Deaf community. In our research, we came across a lot of science and even more opinions surrounding them, which gave us a lot of really meaty stuff to work with. Rebecca doesn’t want a cochlear. That’s her choice. She’s comfortable in her deafness, proud of it. It’s given her language and community and identity. Delphine’s seen that experience and struggle reduced to an interesting statistical outlier by Dr. Leekie. And Delphine’s a eugenicist, let’s not forget. She’s always been one to push for advancement at the price of her patients’ agency. There’s so much contentious history in the Rebecca and Delphine relationship that colors both women here, and it was really challenging and fascinating to let that come alive.

Rebecca as Character: After all of our research was complete, we had to sort of back our way into Rebecca’s personality. And what finally made her come alive was this: Rebecca makes herself at home wherever she is. She will sit on your kitchen counter, eat your food, watch your cable, sleep in your bed. And once we knew that, the rest quickly fell into place. She became so tiny and honest and rude. Then, she became loud. Which was really rich. Her ideas are loud, her voice is loud, her personality is loud. And then, under all of that, she became very deeply vulnerable. Because Rebecca’s no stranger to being attacked from all angles. It’s why she doesn’t get along with Delphine--she’s always expecting attack. So, she’ll call you out, drop a truth bomb, pick a fight. But, when Cosima places a loving band-aid over Rebecca's biggest fears, suddenly Rebecca is revealed to be this secret little optimist. And that’s the thing about Rebecca. She’ll only reveal those parts of her when she knows you need them so very very badly.

Cosima vs. Tag Number: That thing Cosima does that feels so exactly Cosima? It wasn’t even planned. Cosima replacing Rebecca’s tag number with her name wasn’t even on our radar until I was writing the scene. And then, suddenly, I so strongly felt the Cosima inside my brain saying, Jacq Jacq Jacq please let me do this please like you don’t understand how much I need to do this please just let me at that marker. And I said, ok Cosima. Go for it, girl. And that tiny action became this gift that so neatly sewed up that story and that relationship. It’s so rare for those really pure moments to occur, and I’m so thankful for this one.

Rachel Duncan and Death Eater Hogwarts: Oh, Rachel. Why are you such a bitch? Rachel likes control. Rachel likes power. Rachel likes perfection. And now, she’s finally getting a taste of what those things feel like again. Somewhere in our stack of Arc Chart Post-Its there’s a Rachel note that states: “Rachel Runs DYAD Like Death Eater Hogwarts”. And Death Eater Hogwarts, DYAD certainly has become. Except Rachel is like Snape and Voldemort all rolled into one blue eye and a blonde bob. Rachel’s micromanaging everything, trying keep her hands on as much as she can.

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel: Miller’s at it again. And, we finally find out his first name! Corporal Jacob Miller, that fucking turd. Names are a fairly prominent theme throughout OBspec, including when and how you find them out, who can use them, mistaken identities, the use of pet names and nicknames, when ranks or titles are used instead of names, etc. In a lot of ways, this scene with Miller is Helena’s emotional climax within the military, and it’s meant to parallel her history on Orphan Black. This time, it’s not “Not Beth,” but “Not Mark.” It’s not “there’s a light in you,” it’s “there is darkness in you.” And it’s not Kira asking Helena “What happened to you?” It’s Helena asking Miller. And the fact that Helena’s the one to finally tease out Miller’s first name gives her all the power in that relationship.

Sarah as Beth: OBspec’s first cloneswap! The return of Sarah as Beth was one plot point that we couldn’t wait to incorporate into OBspec. We’ve missed that fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants Sarah-as-Beth knot in our stomachs. And having Art be the one to suggest Beth’s return is really important to show just how much Art has grown to trust Sarah. In this episode, Beth is our Trojan Horse. Greek mythology abound.

The Inferno Infiltration: The first draft of Act IV was 17 pages. 17 pages!! So much needed to happen! In the slice and dice, the scenes got tighter, faster, jumpier. But, it’s the setting that adds to the heart-pumping action as well. All the hallways and stairways mentioned are based off real places at Milena’s school where we would sometimes meet up to write. I mean, a tunnel like that really sticks with a girl. And, if you pay super close attention to the layout of the ASPIS headquarters, you’ll notice that all those subdivisions line up quite nicely to a certain Dante’s Inferno. Pernkopf’s office is Room 303: the circle of gluttony in which Miller just can’t get enough. Sarah crashes through the tunnel of anger on 5. Helena’s kept on 7, Dante’s circle of violence. Stuck on 8 in the elevator with Harrison, it’s fraud all the way. And down on 9, Sarah’s caught in the circle of treachery with the Colonel.