What you want and what you receive is very often two completely different things: following my season five wishes last months, it's now time to make my predictions for the fifth and final season of Orphan Black, which premieres in two months today. The Final Trip promises a lot in store for Clone Club, with the little sci-fi action-thriller that could bound to wrap up multiple plot strands, send some characters into the sunset and deliver twists by the bucket load in the remaining ten episodes. Spoilers have been few and far between and the details are rather thin on the ground, so anything and everything below is pure speculation on my behalf.
Without further ado...
Deaths
Orphan Black have always been understandably reluctant to pull the trigger on their main characters; arguably, no major LEDA clone has been killed off (aside from Beth whose death kickstarted the events of the series). Helena, Rachel and Cosima have all come close to kicking the bucket, as has Delphine - but only Paul and Leekie have had more permanent end destinations in regards to the main set of characters. While any death would shake the series to the core so close to the end of its run, I'm expecting at least a couple of our LEDA clones to meet their maker (not sure that saying works in a show about clones but you get my drift)...
Rachel seems a dead-cert to wind up carried out the show in a coffin, with the central dual between herself and Sarah likely to end with spilt blood; to paraphrase a popular cinematic franchise, "neither can live while the other survives". That same idea can be carried into my next death sentence - Helena. Sweet, psychopathic Helena would (now) do anything for her seestras, including die for them - and that is exactly how I expect her story to play out. Poetic almost, Helena's story is beginning to come full circle and season four struggled to find anything for her to do, resulting in my death sentence for the more eclectic of the two originals. It would break my heart into a million pieces (and I'd go as far as to call her my favourite character) but there would be something rather beautiful about sacrificing her life after she spent the first season hellbent on destroying them. While I'm at least thinking Rachel and Helena will reach the series finale, I expect M.K. to be less lucky; rumour had it, an early draft of season four's finale had the latest clone added to the batch succumbing to her illness and it's a notion I expect to be translated into, perhaps, the fifth season premiere - or at least early into the ten-episode run. LEDA characters aside, Mrs S seems the most likely to die, much like Helena, protecting her family: it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
Cosima, Alison and Krystal seem a pretty safe bet to make it out of the show alive, all slightly ahead of Sarah, who may prove to be a surprise death if the show runners really want to pull the carpet from under our feet; it would also continue to reflect the idea that her story is aligning with Beth's, particularly after The Antisocialism of Sex last season. That said, I struggle to seem them leaving Kira mother/grandmotherless and I'll give Sarah the edge in surviving the events of the series over Mrs S.
Biggest Clone Scene Yet
It would be an absolute tragedy if audiences were not treated with the largest ever clone scene yet, topping the four clones (Sarah, Helena, Alison and Cosima) involved in the dinner party sequence at the end of season three. Orphan Black are always looking for news ways to push the boat out and top the last thing they did so I really expect the 'go big or go home' mindset with this one. These clone scenes have very often been the pinnacle of Orphan Black and although time consuming to shoot and technically difficult, I imagine they will want to do all they can to impress us and leave a searing reminder as to why the show amazed and excited us so much.
Could we also be treated with more clone interactions, after season four has arguably thin on the ground regarding those? Many of our central clones have yet to meet and the final season would be a brilliant way to explore dynamics. We have more clones than ever in play at the moment and how great it would be to see the likes of Helena and Krystal or Cosima and Alison interacting with each other.
A Wedding and A Funeral
Following and combining the previous two predictions, an idea floating around my head at the moment is a massive funeral scene featuring all of the clones. The three biggest clone scenes to date have been somewhat joyous in nature - from season's three dinner party and dream sequence to season two's ground-breaking dance party - so perhaps the team will want to consider another angle or tone to play with; imagine, the clones collating at the back of Helena's funeral, in tears and comforting each other. Of course, they'd have to give us some light to that dark and another euphoric scene of eating and celebrating to counterbalance the darkness but either way I am feeling very emo right now.
Although supposedly spoiled by a recent BBC America promo, a wedding between everyone's two favourite scientists - Cosima and Delphine - was all but guaranteed. It feels that, more so than any other character, the writers want to grant the pair a happy ending, particularly after everything they have been through, and what would be better than to cement their love with a wedding. Oh, and the wouldn't it be a lovely touch to have the seestras as bridesmaids.
Neolution Focus
Each season of Orphan Black has featured a very distinctive theme; season one focused on the mystery of the clones and the religious extremist threat posted by Helena and her ilk; season two largely revolved around DYAD and the figureheads spearing the mission, most notably Doctor Leekie and Ethan Duncan; season three shifted into Castor territory with DYAD (and Delphine) playing somewhat of a background role; Neolution took centre stage in season four, seemingly fronted by Evie Cho. For the most part, I am expecting Neolution to remain the clear focus from now out, as they remained to be the ringleaders at the end of season four. I expect an exploration into the history of the group and their (ancient) founder, P.T. Westmoreland and part of me expects the big baddie of the season (following in the path of the Proletheans, DYAD, Castor and Neolution) to be represented by a Neolutionist Rachel. It would stew the show down to its fundamental theme of sisterhood and, after the show has heralded for returning to basics last season, it would be unwise for the duality of the Sarah-Rachel rivalry to be ignored
Origins
While we know the main faces and figures behind the human cloning experiment and some of their aims and goals, we still don't quite know the whole story - why they did it in the first place, how many clones are running around, what their plans were beyond the LEDA and Castor sets and many, many more. Season five is bound to explore these primary idea further, perhaps rewarding us with some answers to the above questions while undoubtedly giving us more to contemplate as the season progresses. While I could not even begin to predict the answers to these questions and its a stab in the dark for anyone else either, the whole 'origin' element is definitely a theme I expect to be at the forefront of the season, giving us the final answers to questions that have sustained the show's history. Pervading questions need wrapping up and that starts with the clones themselves.
Another question that has persisted since the show's very first season is regarding Sarah's daughter; Kira proves to be a revelation, not only for being the only child of a clone but due to her somewhat supernatural abilities and senses, able to detect when the clones face danger. It's been an interesting plot development as the intensity and drama heats up - but it is about time we had some sort of explanation. She's been out of the fold for a good chunk of the past two seasons - thawing out in Iceland during season four and playing Minecraft, somewhere away from the main action, in season four. Thrusting her into the central frame and placing her abilities under a microscope would wipe be rewarding for audiences and would no doubt allow the terrific Skylar Wexler to continue to impress us.
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Let me know your predictions for Orphan Black's fifth season; you can also check out my previous Orphan Black articles...