Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Orphan Black and Missing Religious Voices

Once upon a time, years before we came to the city that’s Not Officially Toronto But Come On, It’s Toronto, a woman had two children. As a fugitive from a dangerous secret organization, she had to give them up. One, she decided, to the church, and one to the state. This is the origin story for the two primary protagonists of Orphan Black. Sarah Manning went into foster care, while her sestra Helena went to an orphanage run by nuns in Ukraine.

It’s not a buddy comedy, despite this picture.

Helena gets indoctrinated into the Proletheans, an ambiguously Christian sect that serves as one of the major antagonists in the series. The religious motifs around the Proletheans make them terrifying, both with Helena as their assassin and as their prisoner. However, the show misses an opportunity to really dig into the theology of the Proletheans and doesn’t truly engage with any number of religious objections to the biotechnology the show presents as being in our immediate future.

Trailer Tuesdays: Orphan Black Season 4

Orphan Black Season 4 isn’t out yet, but we have a number of things to tide us over until it arrives. Obviously, we have the trailer above, but the Orphan Black folks also kicked off the season with a really cool fanart contest—the fanart of one lucky fan will be used as the actual poster for Season 4 across all of BBC America’s promotional materials (and, of course, the fan will be paid for their work). That’s pretty huge, and I eagerly look forward to the results of the contest. The trailer also seems exciting, even if it took us a while to get to it.

Orphan Black: “History Yet to be Written” Review

This year’s finale felt a little more toned-down than the finales of seasons past. The threats have piled up this season, and in this episode they all fall down like dominoes, giving us one mini-finale after another. After the sounds of the technologically superb clone dinner party faded away, we’re left with a number of revelations. Spoilers after the jump!