Dimension

that the clones maintain the right to choose their partners.
However, the existence of a monitor reminds the viewer that
there is an ever-present consent issue in Clone Club’s interaction
with Dyad, a medical research institution. Sarah consents
to sleep with Paul, but she does not consent to be examined
by sketchy scientists in her sleep, nor does she consent to an
oophorectomy. When monitors like Paul and Donnie become
fully aware of their roles, they must make important decisions
regarding how they feel consent should work between
women and institutions.
Season three more openly examines the question of consent
on both individual and institutional levels. The institution that
intends to use the clones is now the military, led by Virginia
Coady. To Coady, the Leda clones are just bodies; Sarah, Helena
and Krystal are walking piles of biology capable of healing the
Castor men and advancing Coady’s research. Rudy and Seth
are arms of the institution, but on an individual level they are
also a serial rapists. Sex clearly factors into Castor’s plans, but
it’s also a piece of the puzzle that leads to their downfall: for
Sarah’s final plan to work, Gracie has to have a consensual,
sexual relationship with Mark.
To take out Castor, Sarah needs Mark and his bloodied up
face. However, when Felix kicks in the door of his motel room
and demands he help, Mark doesn’t jump at the chance. Gracie,
however, has experienced incredible character development
over the course of the season: she tricks her father’s confederate
flag-owning friend, gets drunk, has sex with Mark, and
saves her husband-in-distress from the military by betraying
Leda. By the final episode Gracie has developed her own moral
code, as well as a sense of loyalty to Leda. When she wraps
her arms around her husband and tells him to help, it’s as if
consent and sexually empowered women are scoring a point
against rape culture.
Rumor has it that Orphan Black will have a five-season run,
and I suspect that the remaining two seasons will continue to
put sexual power in the hands of women. However, what the
show has accomplished thus far is a triumph on its own. There
is little more satisfying on television than a moment like Rudy’s
death scene, in which Helena compassionately pets his head
but names him as what he is: a rapist. Orphan Black, please
keep doing good work!
In “Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method,” the
eighth episode of Orphan Black’s third season, Felix sits across
a table from Krystal, another Leda clone. Krystal has just given
Felix a manicure, an act she considers to be healing. In a moment
of raw empathy and honesty, he takes her hands in his
and says, “The only thing you need to know is that you are
one of a kind. You’re a survivor, Krystal, and you’re not alone.”
Perhaps more than any other, season three is about family
and community. Sarah spends much of her time chasing down
Helena, Siobhan and Felix take in Gracie, and Alison takes up
politics and drug dealing to keep her kids in school. However,
Orphan Black has long been crafting a radical example of
how communities can look and function by outlining several
principles that guide Clone Club. As Cosima does with Seth’s
brain, we can dissect each of these to learn Orphan Black’s recipe
for a successful community.
Clone Club Is Stronger Together
Communities often stay together because their members believe
in the group’s collective power. However, buy-in to a community
also requires trust, and many of Clone Club’s members justifiably
have trust issues. In season three, the sestra who needs to
work through those trust issues is Helena.
Helena has a habit of running off on her own and subsequently
getting captured. Her penchant for solitude is understandable;
Tomas raised her to believe she was the only clone worthy of life,
and Henrik Johanssen violated her trust and her body. Helena
has her own style of vengeance, as evidenced when she viscerally
maims Johanssen and burns down his farm. (In addition to
giving sexual power to women, Orphan Black also calls out and
punishes perpetrators.) Helena has clearly cultivated survival
mechanisms that allow her to fight alone, another of which we
meet in season three: Pupok.
Pupok is a small scorpion that Helena hallucinates to survive
desperate situations. The creature is merciless; it keeps her awake
when she is drugged, pushes her to forge through the desert, and
keeps her focused when she wakes up in a tiny box. When Sarah
arrives to save Helena, Pupok reacts according to its nature and
repeatedly tells Helena not to trust her.
For our favorite food-loving sestra, the only way to change
is to literally eat her doubts: Helena consumes Pupok. Her
subsequent journey back to the Castor base is not just a physical
feat but also a psychological leap, one from which she
immediately benefits. Rather than having a lonely, painful
trek home, Helena enjoys a comfortable vacation spent eating
and fist fighting in a tavern. Her role in Sarah’s final plan is
pivotal, and completes her journey. Helena gives her strength
to her sisters, and together they accomplish much more than
she could have alone.
All Members of Clone Club Have
Rights to Their Own Bodies
As a community constantly fighting for bodily agency (see part
one), members of Clone Club naturally should respect each
other’s rights. However, Siobhan violated this principle by giving
Helena to the military, an act that Sarah succinctly explains
was, “NOT YOUR BLOODY DECISION!” Appropriately,
Siobhan’s character development in the third season surrounds
her failure to respect Helena’s agency.
Since the day she took in foster children, Siobhan has been
fighting to protect what she considers her family: Sarah, Felix,
and Kira. Kira’s safety especially takes priority, and turns
Siobhan into a broken record: trouble’s brewin’? Run away
with Kira! Dyad wants stem cells and body gunk? Run away
with Kira! Creepy boy clones appear? Run away with Kira!
Ironically, Siobhan shares Helena’s issue: she’s spent so much
time making “wartime decisions” that she doesn’t trust Clone
Club. Had she reached out to Cosima, she could’ve learned
about the pencil scheme and helped in a way that didn’t involve
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