“Orphan Black” began with one of television’s most memorable opening scenes: Small-time crook Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) is waiting on a train platform when she notices another woman further away who looks like. Before she can process this shock, the other woman steps in front of an oncoming train.
From there, our heroine plunges into a thrilling saga that leads her to discover that she is one of many clones. Over the course of its five seasons, the audience gets to know five of them, all played by Maslany, often in the same scenes.
Although “Orphan Black: Echoes” picks up the plot in 2050, series creator and showrunner Anna Fishko was determined to differentiate her sequel from the original in several key ways.
First, Krysten Ritter’s Lucy is one of a kind, if not necessarily singular. But the mystery to which she awakens is no less intriguing than that of Sarah. Lucy has no memory of who she is, only reassurance from a kind doctor (Keeley Hawes) that everything is okay. It’s a lie, of course, and soon Lucy escapes from what looks like an apartment only to realize that she’s been kept in an industrial facility.
Before going out, she comes across a machine. . . and they tell her that’s where she comes from. In the first “Orphan Black,” the clones were brought to term by human surrogates. According to Fishko’s speculative figure, which is only a quarter century away, our biological copies can be printed.
“I really liked that idea of replacement,” Fishko told Salon in a recent Zoom interview, “so I really like, ‘Could I replace someone? Was an individual exchange possible, and in the sense that it would allow me to avoid a real emotional loss?’”
This idea also resonates with modern concerns, particularly conversations related to the possibilities and perils posed by artificial intelligence. With “Echoes,” Fishko wants us to think about the qualities that make us not only human, but also unique and irreplicable.
“I think the way science is slowly and constantly changing our lives and invading our space makes us think about what makes us human and what is real and what is not, and what is important to us as a society.”
Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC)
AI poses many of these same questions, she points out, citing conversations related to AI-generated art. This programming can create technically perfect images, but there is still something missing. “The idea behind human creation of something, there is an intention to express something very meaningful and personal,” Fishko said. “AI kind of lacks that intention to express meaning.”
“What makes us who we are? Is it our relationships with others? Is it our physical body? »
Intention and meaning are at the heart of Lucy’s adventures – we think. Initially, she just wants to be left alone to find her way in the world. But there is always a dark, all-powerful entity behind it all. And Lucy, being a product of technological innovation, is considered by her creator as property.
Many recognize Ritter as “Jessica Jones”, a Marvel superhero who survived the trauma of being controlled by a malevolent puppeteer. Lucy’s story bears some similarities to Jessica’s but, as Ritter observes in a separate video interview, “she doesn’t have a story, unlike Jessica Jones who is so informed by such a deep well and a story so rich and tragic. (It) informed everything she did and informed every step she took, everything came out of her mouth.
She added: “It was an interesting acting challenge, playing someone who wakes up with no memory and doesn’t feel the way she’s supposed to feel, doesn’t have the memories she’s supposed to have and is completely alone in the world. world.”
About that. Don’t expect Ritter to play multiple versions of herself anytime soon — which, again, is part of Fishko’s determination to distance herself from the creation of Graeme Manson and John Fawcett.
The practical aspect of production partly influences this decision. All of these scenes featuring Maslany playing against herself took a long time to shoot, requiring time to block stand-ins and then time to change costumes and resume filming on the other side.
“AI kind of lacks that intention to express meaning.”
Another may, however, be thematic. In 2013, “Orphan Black explored questions of biological and reproductive agency. It’s certainly more relevant today than before, with the death of Roe v. Wade and state-level bans on long-practiced fertility procedures, including in vitro fertilization.
With “Echoes,” Fishko invites us to take a broader view of personality and questions about what it means to be human. Since surrogacy was part of the cloning process in the first series, the question of whether the clones are human beings arises less. Introducing a mechanical element, Fishko said, raises different questions even if the process is entirely organic, or “as much as we could imagine.”
This leads to various hypotheses to think about, she says. “Aren’t they people?” Are they? They were created in an unusual way that we are not used to, and how do we feel about it? ” she asks.
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Fishko adds that both of her children were conceived through IVF, which isn’t the case for many people. “But technology contributes to the reproduction of the species in many different ways,” she said. “It doesn’t look like this one is happening anytime soon.” But it’s not inconceivable in many ways.
Additionally, consideration must be given to how these mechanisms would affect the people produced and how other humans would perceive them.
Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC)
“Lucy even has a line like, ‘I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t ask to be brought into the world this way,'” Ritter said. “I think it’s pretty fucked up to be a person who’s just been imprinted from a goo – no history, nothing, no connection to anyone. And I think that’s part of Lucy’s desire to figure out how to make sense of this.
Through it, we might also think about questions about our relationships with each other, Fishko suggests. “What makes us who we are? Is it our relationships with others? Is it our physical body? Is it our memories? she thinks. “What is this sort of magical combination of things that gives us our identity and identity? »
This is perhaps the most important question to address in an era marked by sharp and dangerous partisan divisions, where much of society interprets who it views as separate and perhaps inferior based on strengths exterior.
When I made this observation to Fishko, she responded, “I think you’re right. I think politically, obviously, people tend to find that their identity is increasingly tied to larger groups and political associations.
“But I think sometimes when robots get scary,” she added, “it’s helpful to remember to ask the important questions about what we all have in common as humans.”
“Orphan Black: Echoes” premieres at 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 23 on AMC, AMC+ and BBC America.
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