ASK Genre TV

In preparation for the start of Orphan Black’s second season, Kris and Stephanie are revisiting the first season episodes starting with episode 1×01, “Natural Selection.” This discussion contains spoilers for Season 1 of Orphan Black.

Kris & Stephanie welcome their super-smart friend Sally to the podcast! Sally gives us a crash course in the science behind cloning, while we consider how it ties into Orphan Black.

Archetypes are typical examples of certain people or things. In this episode, Kris & Stephanie talk about some of the character archetypes used in Orphan Black.

From Trevor Yuile’s atmospheric score to Alison’s party playlist of ‘90s pop hits, Orphan Black uses music to highlight character and tone. Kris and Stephanie discuss the music used in the show as well as the playlists the writers and Tatiana Maslany used to create the characters.

Kris & Stephanie discuss the GoldenClones, the Tatianapocalypse, fandom, and Orphan Black’s use of social media. For the uninitiated, we also try to explain what those things are and why they’re amazing.

Kris and Stephanie are joined by our first guest contributors, Heather and McKenzie, to talk about the moments and aspects of Orphan Black that got us hooked on the show, including cliffhangers and Tatiana Maslany(s).

In the first season of Orphan Black, the Neolutionists and the Proletheans are introduced as adversaries to the clones and to each other. Kris and Stephanie talk about what we know (and what we don’t know) about the organizations and the characters who are a part of them.

The folks at the police station play an important part in Sarah’s life while she’s posing as Beth.  Kris and Stephanie chat about Art, Angie, Janis, and Raj.

One could argue that Orphan Black is about identity more than anything else, and a large component of one’s identity is sexuality. To that end, Orphan Black features several queer characters, including one who’s a clone. In this episode, Kris and Stephanie talk about the significance of the show’s representations of its queer characters.

Visual cues, such as color, are often used in film and television to help the audience. Kris and Stephanie discuss the ways Orphan Black uses color to provide clues about (and help differentiate between) the clones.