#obspec8

OBspec Episode 8: The Castor Clone Problem

As three female writers with a negative total of military experience, developing the Castor clone military plot line was no easy feat. Enter our lovely friend Al, a lieutenant in the Air Force and one of Jacq’s very first inductees into Clone Club. 

(You’d all love Al. He sniffed out and started shipping Cophine the very first time those two even looked at each other). 

Al helped us with a TON of stuff for OBspec, including the ranks of all of our characters, the backstories of all of our dead monitors, what the exteriors and interiors of a military base might look like, and, most importantly, why military Castor clones might be significant at all. 

Super soldiers was an easy jump, but when presented with that idea (as shown above) Al didn’t seem quite on board. Hand to hand combat went out of style years ago. Why would you invest so much money and science and secrecy into developing a human prototype that won’t even be useful? 

Hello, my sweet pumpkins! theleashkid here! Welcome to the author’s note for OBspec Episode 8, “As If She Were Full of Special Designs.” So much to discuss!

Sarah Manning Makes a Deal:  Sarah’s #1 priority for as long as we’ve known her has always been to protect Kira at all costs. With the looming threat of the military not going away and Mrs. S acting shady as ever before, Sarah has to make a decision about Kira’s safety fast. Marion Bowles offered Sarah a pretty sweet deal back in OBspec Episode 1, and Sarah’s finally decided that it’s high time she delivers. However, as usual, things don’t go as planned. What did we expect when dealing with Topside?! 

Shady Delphine and the Book of Answers: One of our primary goals for Delphine in OBspec was to establish that she has had a long and serious history with DYAD far before Cosima came into the picture. Cosima may have changed a lot of Delphine’s priorities, but that doesn’t mean she’s not an ambitious woman of science. In OBspec’s version of Delphine’s past, she’s sacrificed years of her life to studying the Charlotte generation of clones. If she has a chance to make all that work mean something and get Sarah the protection she wants in the process, there’s no way she’ll pass that up. 

Rachel, Gracie, and THE CONTRACT OF DOOM: Our poor little Gracie has nowhere to turn. She’s out of a home and a husband, and Rachel Duncan is offering Gracie “Broke” Johanssen-Rollins a deal that’s looking shinier by the minute. In these scenes between Rachel and Gracie, we really wanted to emphasize that Rachel was lying through her teeth about her intentions with Gracie’s baby, and so we used the exact same wording she gave to Sarah at the end of season 1 about “protection for you and your daughter.” We know that Rachel is one untrustworthy lady, and the callback to Season 1 certainly colors her candy-coated promises to Gracie.

Harrison CHILDS: Well, well. Castor clones aren’t super soldiers at all. They’re disposable. Which makes the fact that Beth has a Castor clone brother who’s still mysteriously floating around even more fascinating. Harrison’s been a thread throughout OBspec, making his first appearance in Beth’s box in Episode 2 and then popping up again during the military infiltration in Episode 5. Both times we learn just a tiny bit about him, but it’s not until Marion spills the beans here in Episode 8 that everything starts to make sense. There’s not much more I can share just yet, but trust me. There is more Harrison Childs to come, and he’s truly one of a kind. 

Fun fact! There is actually a moment in canon Orphan Black that supports the existence of Harrison pretty strongly. In Season 1 Episode 5, Paul specifically says to Sarah: “Beth didn’t have a sister.” That’s right, Paul. But, you didn’t say anything about a brother now, did you? Hm hm hmmmmm. Nope. You didn’t. 

Now that we’ve gotten (most of) the drama out of the way, it’s time for the fun part!

Helena, Jesse, and Sir Nicholas Bottom: Sir Nicholas Bottom was a game we “invented” for Helena and Jesse to play. The concept is based off the game Fix-It Felix in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. We knew we couldn’t put the actual game Fix-It Felix in OBspec, but we loved the simplicity of the concept. So instead, we adapted it, giving it a medieval feel, a fire-breathing dragon, and a Shakespearean twist (Nicholas Bottom is a character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream!) 

The Farce Episode: Season 1 had the potluck, Season 2 had rehab family day, OBspec has the birthday party. Since Orphan Black is structured such that it always reserves one episode for Alison’s shenanigans, we had to include one of our own. OBspec’s farce came with quite a new set of characters, though. Previously, it’s always been Sarah and Felix who help Alison keep her life together, but pairing Cosima with Felix while having Scott, Kira, the von der Tann’s, and Bernadette running around downstairs makes this the perfect melting pot for our upstairs/downstairs episode.

The Introduction of Bernadette: Oh, Bernadette. What I would give to have you be canon. Mrs. Hendrix Sr. was so much fun to write. She’s an amalgamation of the zaniest qualities of my grandmother. But as fun as she is, Bernadette almost didn’t happen! In true Bernadette style, she snuck in on a technicality. We didn’t have her in the episode throughout planning until we realized that the von der Tann clan wouldn’t have provided nearly enough stakes for Alison (or Cosima-as-Alison). Bringing Bernadette into the episode created so much more potential for disaster, and the threat of Alison’s mother discovering the clone secret was exactly the type of drama we wanted. 

The SS SS SS Ship Sails!: I am not going to lie to you. Not one single bit. If I can have one thing from OBspec become canon it is for Scott Smith and Sarah Stubbs to be together 4EVER. The birthday party was crafted as a Perfectionist-Alison pit stop on the way to the inevitable heart to heart at the end of the episode, and as a vehicle for the cloneswap Cosima’s always wanted, but that didn’t mean Scott had to miss out on the fun! We knew from day one that this match made in nerd heaven had to happen, and we show no shame in proudly letting this ship sail off into the sunset.

Alison, Cosima, and The Talk: As exciting and as fun as the birthday party was, it did have this pending conversation looming in the distance. Alison’s going to have to go into DYAD to see if she’s showing early symptoms of the clone disease. And she doesn’t really have a choice. Alison signed a contract with DYAD, so she has to come in for testing, regardless of whether or not she wants to. Cosima just wants to make sure Alison will get the earliest and best care if necessary, and having those intentions fuel the conversation between them makes Alison ever-so-slightly more understanding.

Casting for Episode 7, "Soley for the Sake of the Ideal Harvest".

Demian Bichir as Topside's PROFESSOR EDUARDO ALVES

Nelly Karim as Topside's NAZIRA RAZEK

Constance Wu as Topside's MING TAO

Charlotte Rampling as Topside's ELEONORE COSSADE

Hiroyuki Sanada as Topside's KOHEI KANEKO

William Morgan Sheppard as IVAN KASSOV

Casting for Episode 8, "As if She Were Full of Special Designs".

Sally Field and BERNADETTE HENDRIX

What a fantastic thing to notice! Yes, it’s true. Leslie gets inducted into Clone Club almost right away. Bernadette? Not a chance. We did this on purpose. Part of it is to show the differences between Cosima and Alison — Alison’s good at keeping secrets. Cosima, not so much. Alison wants the fact that she’s a clone to be nonexistent. Cosima’s embraced it, and so she’s quicker to share. 

But it’s also to show the differences between Leslie and Bernadette too. Leslie gets a membership to Clone Club because Leslie is a woman who rolls with it. Leslie has the Cosima wonder-eyes in her. So, when she notices that something’s up, we trust that she’s not gonna run away in fear or anger. Bernadette? Hmmm. Bernadette’s not quite an out-of-the-box thinker. She has that perfection-seeking streak to her (same as Alison). She’s harsh, gilded with nail polish and a perm. And when something seems off, Bernadette isn’t about to “roll with it.” Bernadette’s gonna pretend it never happened, then most likely she’s gonna throw it at you veiled in unintentionally snarky comments for the rest of your life. Which, being Alison, you’d probably rather not be on the receiving end of. Much cleaner to keep your clone secrets to yourself. 

#OBspec Episode 8: “As if She Were Full of Special Designs”

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Written by: theleashkid

Alison plays hostess for Gemma’s birthday party, but trouble quickly descends upon the Hendrix household. Sarah takes a stab at forging an unconventional alliance, but negotiations don’t go as planned.

After reading, please take our SURVEY!

Happy Valentine's Day, Clone Club! 

OBspec has a gift for you. Several gifts. Many several gifts. Because it's gonna be a party up in here. A BIRTHDAY PARTY!

So, get excited. Because this week's episode will have you laughing til you drop and then dropping til you die. 

Featuring Helena and the return of her bar-crawlin cutie tow truck driver Jesse. 

Also featuring Alison Hendrix, the Spectacular Syphilis-Free Soccer Mom of Suburbia. 

Accompanied by Cosima Niehaus, she of cunning plots up her sleeve. 

Also featuring the one, the only, Sarah Manning. Up to no good. As per usual.

With a special appearance by Kira Manning (AKA Growing Girls Gots to Learn to Con). 

Felix Dawkins and an All-My-Dreams-Are-Coming-True Expression

A surprise guest. Or two. Or four. Depending on how you count it up. 

And Scott. 

(that's right, Scott, old buddy, old pal. Don't you worry. We definitely didn't forget about you, cutie). 

See you tomorrow, February 15th, at 4PM EST for #OBspec Episode 8: As if She Were Full of Special Designs.