Tell-Tale TV Panel: Orphan Black Season 4

Well, this was another jaw dropping season of Orphan Black, but at this point, we don’t expect anything less. Neolution and Beth returned. We met a new sestra, M.K., and Krystal came back into our lives.

How did the season work, overall? Below a panel of writers shares their thoughts. Join the conversation by leaving your thoughts in the comments.

Our panelists are:

• Lauren Busser, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Caralynn Lippo, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the season overall?

Lauren: This season is a 9. Orphan Black is a show that is always been highly-rated in my book. They have such short seasons and they never waste a moment of any of them. I would rate it a ten, but I feel like this show has so much more to tell and I am hoping to save that for Season 5.

Caralynn: I’d give it an 8. The first season was my favorite but this is a close second. Lauren is right. The series is perfectly calibrated at 10 episodes. The story they crafted for this season worked perfectly in that number of installments and there weren’t any lagging moments.

On the flip side, the season didn’t finish with me feeling like they’d rushed through anything either.

Allison: Hmmm, I think I’ll echo Caralynn’s 8. It was a nicely well done season, and I loved seeing more of Beth. She allowed a refresher course on Neolution, since we haven’t really dealt with them since season one. I thoroughly enjoyed the season.

What was the season’s biggest mistake?

Lauren: I’ve honestly been thinking about this for the last couple weeks, and I think that this season really lacked in our core characters. Alison and Helena were kind of in the background the entire season, and I really felt the lack of Helena.

That’s not to say the season wasn’t good, in fact I think this season may be the show’s best yet, but I really did miss seeing Sarah, Alison, and Helena interact. On the flip side we got to see, essentially, three new clones (I am counting Krystal and Beth as new because we hadn’t really explored their characters before).

Caralynn: In general, underutilized characters (of which there are several). I 100% agree with Lauren. The lack of Alison and Helena was annoying — though we did get that incredible Helena moment at the very end, when she swooped in with bow and arrow and saved Alison and Donnie from the Neolution dude.

The under-utilization of Alison is a chronic problem with the series, in my opinion. She’s almost always relegated to a side storyline. I also didn’t really care for M.K. and think she was underused. Felix’s sister Adele was also introduced only to be unceremoniously discarded, which was kind of lame and left me wondering what her purpose was.

Allison: I agree with the consensus. I missed Alison and Helena. I get that not all the clones can get the same amount of airtime, but I wish they were more involved in the fight. We could have had some more scenes with all of them together or maybe more of Alison with Cosima.

Caralynn brings up a great point about Adele. Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to see Felix looking into his birth family. It would be crazy if he didn’t, but Adele was this huge to-do with very little pay off. She shouldn’t have been around so much.

I’m not sure if this is a mistake or not, but I can’t decide about how Kira can “sense” the other sestras. It feels a little out there for me, which is weird to say when the show deals with cloning.

What worked really well this season?

Lauren: I really liked the first episode from this season where we got to see how Beth got involved with the case and what led her to the train platform. Beth has always been a presence in the show and the chance to explore her character worked really well to drive the clones this season.

It was also a great way to introduce M.K., who I think will be a real asset in the final season. I am really not a fan of how she just seems to disappear in the last few episodes after it’s revealed she’s sick, but this show hasn’t left me disappointed yet so I am hoping we can see her back.

Caralynn: I loved the Beth flashbacks. I was iffy about dedicating virtually all of the first episode to Beth flashbacks but it ended up working really well and setting the stage for the entire arc of the fourth season.

The flashbacks to Beth’s final moments leading to her suicide, intertwined with Kendall’s death in the present, made for an incredible scene. Also, Krystal playing a bigger role and appearing more was a strength. I love Krystal, she is HILARIOUS.

Allison: Oh my god Beth was amazing. I loved getting to know her. Like I mentioned earlier, she was a great way to bring back Neolution. Sarah has taken on Beth’s role in the group, and the flashbacks and Beth hallucinations were a great way to really drive that point home.

I was so happy we got more of Krystal. She lightened things up. I also really loved Helena pretending to be Alison. Those scenes were just amazing.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Lauren: Orphan Black continues to surprise me. I actually think that this is one hour of television that constantly raises my blood pressure. Part of the reason for that because they tell a really good story without it being overly predictable.

So I would have to give you the moment that shocked me the most, and that’s Kendall’s death. I didn’t expect there to be two factions of Neolution, and I didn’t expect Kendall to be killed off that way.

When they revealed she had leukemia I knew her days were probably numbered and that the writers wouldn’t turn her into a hospital figure, but I didn’t expect her death to come so suddenly.

Caralynn: I wasn’t hugely shocked by Kendall’s death, but I was really surprised that immortality is apparently a thing in the world of Orphan Black. We had multiple villains this season, and I thought we’d end on Rachel as the “Big Bad.” But instead, we got this new guy, P. T. Westmoreland. I’m so intrigued!

Allison: Kendall’s death certainly was shocking. I was just in tears. I’m a mess thinking about it now, actually.

The other thing that surprised me was how many times Cosima was screwed when it came to her research. I wasn’t expecting Evie to have wiped it all out, and also, how did Scott and Cosima not have back ups upon back ups? I mean they operate underneath a comic book store, so they should know to keep back ups on a variety of servers and mediums like, I don’t know, paper.

Any hopes for next season aka the final season?

Lauren: I have hopes for what will probably be the final episode. I feel like I can’t speculate on anything else really, but after the finale I have to say that my one hope is that Rachel gets put in her place. She seems to forget what she is while advocating for a clone farm, and I think that she needs a bit of a reality check.

Caralynn: Rachel needs to die, spectacularly. I honestly don’t believe that there’s any redeeming her. She’s a liability. Sarah needs to finish her off once and for all. I also want Cal to return! His absence was glaring, and I love his chemistry with Sarah. Kira also needs her family all together.

Allison: I just want everyone to be happy. Yeah, I doubt that will happen, but it’s my dream, okay?!

For something slightly more realistic, I want the series to end without the sestras under any further threat from Neolution, Rachel, Topside, etc. I would like them to have their lives back. I want to walk away knowing that the fight Beth started has ended.

The final season of Orphan Black airs next year on BBC America.