Orphan Black Boss Talks [Spoiler]’s Sacrifice, Angry Felix, Twerking Alison
Warning: The following story contains major spoilers from this week’s episode of Orphan Black. Proceed at your own peril.
Orphan Black engineered another dramatic character transformation in Saturday’s episode, but this one will have few fans applauding: Hot Paul is now… Dead Paul.
After helping Sarah escape — and confessing his feelings to her — the wounded military man (played by Dylan Bruce) stayed behind on Project Castor grounds and was shot multiple times by Dr. Cody, who has been using the male clones’ sexually transmitted defect to sterilize women.
“Cure them, Virginia. Drop the rest,” a teary Paul begged, before revealing that he was holding a grenade. Cut to the base camp going boom just as Helena came to Sarah’s rescue.
Saying goodbye to Sarah’s ambiguous ex-lover was a sad affair, executive producer John Fawcett admits. But his heroic sacrifice serves as a crucial turning point for the BBC America drama.
“Anytime someone dies… it changes the course of the show,” Fawcett says, adding that Paul’s demise “is an important driving factor in where Sarah’s heading toward the end of this season and into the next.”
Below, Fawcett also talks about bringing Beth to “life,” the Rachel vs. Felix face-off, that baller Alison/Donnie scene and more.
TVLINE | Is Paul definitely dead?
I don’t know, man… [Laughs] He blew himself up. I think that’s cool. I like the fact that Paul is a character that we have not really been able to trust. We never knew where we stood with him. Was he a good guy? Was he a bad guy? Why is he doing the things he’s doing? And we’ve come through the last bunch of episodes to realize why he’s making the decisions he’s making. And, at the end of the day, he makes the right choice and heroically throws himself on the bomb. Literally. It was the way we wanted to see that character depart.
TVLINE | This is the first series regular character to be killed off. What was it like deciding to say goodbye to Paul and Dylan?
[This] was our plan from the beginning [of] plotting out Season 3. We knew. Dylan knew. It was a bit sad on set, though, I have to say. It was a little sad to see him go. [There were] a lot of feels on set, if you know what I mean.
TVLINE | Should we be questioning whether Dr. Cody and Rudy were actually taken out by that grenade? ‘Cause we didn’t see any bodies…
[Laughs] Yeah, you should question everything, of course.
TVLINE | Now more than ever, Sarah has so much information about herself and her sisters. What does that mean for her going forward? I felt like Beth, in a way, was telling her to step back. But does knowing all this just make her want to look for answers even more?
Absolutely. It’s more important than ever that Sarah gets to the bottom of this — and not just for herself and for the safety of her immediate family. The driving force with Sarah is that she’s really had to step up and become the leader. She’s gone from being a teenage-runaway-reluctant mother, to having to be not just a responsible mother, but a leader. The one who is keeping the sisters together, and the driving force behind trying to find a cure for Cosima.
TVLINE | But is that vision of Beth a cautionary tale for Sarah? Beth got so caught up in all this, it led to her downfall.
I think that’s a very good way to look at it.
TVLINE | What was important for you to accomplish in that moment, in terms of portraying Beth and her message to Sarah?
It was interesting having conversations with Tat [Maslany] about that. We spoke about it at length. We both decided this was Sarah’s version of what she believed Beth would be. It’s not a ghost. She’s obviously having a kind of dream/hallucination, vision-y thing. Is this Beth? Is this actually what Beth was like? I don’t know. That’s open to interpretation.
TVLINE | The Felix-Rachel scene was so emotionally powerful for Rachel and so uncharacteristically angry for Felix. Is this a new side of him that we’re going to continue to see?
It was an important scene for Felix, just to show how much he cares about Sarah and how freaked out and upset he is and what he’s willing to do to help and to get her back. It was good for him to show a little anger and [be] aggressive with her. When we were designing that scene, I wanted Felix to be so wound up in wanting to get the truth out of Rachel that he takes it too far… You actually feel for Rachel a lot in that scene. And Felix has to stop himself and go, “[Horrified gasp] I’ve gone too far.” I feel like Felix leaves that scene feeling a little awful. It maps a lot of emotional landscape between both characters in very short order. Both Tat and Jordan [Gavaris] did a wonderful job with that scene.
TVLINE | Does Rachel know she holds the key to deciphering Duncan’s work?
No, I don’t think she does at this point.
TVLINE | Has Helena really forgiven Sarah?
Yeah, I think so. Helena loves Sarah. Even though she’s felt a lot of betrayal, she did turn around and come back and that’s what’s important. She just can’t leave Sarah no matter how betrayed she might feel.
TVLINE | I know Alison is your favorite, so I have to ask you about the scene of her and Donnie dancing on the bed. I feel like that was all your doing.
[Laughs] I don’t know if it was all my doing, but I know that Aubrey Nealon, who wrote the episode, and I laughed a lot about having Tat and Kristian [Bruun] do a scene like that. Listen, I have seen Tat and Kristian… We’ve been out to a few parties together. And those two dance like crazy maniacs together. You can’t get them off the dance floor. They love all that hip-hop, twerking kind of stuff. So we just thought it would be hilarious.
TVLINE | There was another death in this episode. Have we seen the last of Pupok the Scorpion?
I can’t say that. Listen, Pupok’s not really real. Pupok’s a spirit animal. Can you really kill a spirit animal? I don’t know.
Orphan Black fans, what did you think of the episode? Did you find yourself surprisingly gutted by Paul’s death?
Actually sorry to see Paul go. He loved Sarah and tried protecting her…Plus poor Rachel. I felt bad for her as she begged to be taken away. She created her own prison and is trapped.
This felt like a season finale. I loved it. I’m sad that Paul died, but he showed his loyalty to Sarah in the end. So happy to see Helena come back. I feel sorry for Rachel. Tatiana was brilliant in that scene with Felix.
That Alison and Donnie scene was very memorable.
Allison and Donnie dancing was pure gold. There will never be a greater moment on television.
Ouch,I found that scene painful!!
I did too. I think it’s because Donnie is so over the top.
I thought it was hilarious. I love Allison.
loved that scene too. I didn’t expect it of Donnie. Really showed how together they are on this story line. It was great that the kids walked in as well. A bit of reality in their bedroom fantasy make it rain moment,
That dance scene should be the top rated GIF on the Internet!
I had a bad feeling going into this episode that Paul was going give the one to die. I’m sad that they killed off his character.
Once she had the fever dreams of the videos of Paul with Beth, I knew he was a goner. I’m sad to see him go as well. I was hoping to see more of him and Sarah.
Me too!! My daughter and looked to watching the show always hoping to see them together again. Maybe there was a trap door under his chair…and a doctor waiting to stitch him up….and hide him from the Castor freaks…*sigh* I miss Paul…
Man, oh man…am I ever gonna miss that eye candy!! He was one of the hottest guys on tv.
R u serious Paul was my favorite character and now he’s dead this is absolutely gay and this sucks and I’m not going o watch the show anymore because u killed off my favorite character.
….I think I actually lost brain matter by reading your comment.
*Snort*
There’s nothing “gay” about it at all.
I mean, I’m pretty gay for Paul … but other than that, no, that comment was pretty inappropriate and rude.
I totally agree with you. I’m so done.
So you don’t really like or appreciate the show at all…you just want them to do always want them to do or you’re ‘out’? You weren’t really a fan of the show then, so…see ya
I think you need to be over 13 to use this site. Clearly you are not being you don’t know what gay is.
are you a teenager who hasn’t learn that “gay” shouldn’t be used as a perjorative?
Damn even tho. I like Cal….I like Sarah to be w/Paul. WTF!…..why kill Paul(Dylan Bruce) was the ”eye candy” on this show he F-in FINE….overall I love the ep. 4rm Alison and Donnie dancing to the flashbacks btw Paul, Beth, and Sarah.
I’m very sorry to see Dylan Bruce go. I loved Dylan as Paul and I was hoping there would have been a different outcome but once I saw flashbacks I knew he was going to die. He will be missed but we got to see him admit to Sarah his true feelings for her. The Felix and Rachel scene was so well done. I wish I could say I felt bad for her but I can’t. Alison and Donnie were hilarious :)
If this is yet another show that kills off a good character only to have it all be for nought, I’ll be disgusted.
Tear
I am very disappointed. One of the largest mistakes this show has made over the last season was not utilizing Dylan. Paul had a fantastic dynamic with Sarah, Felix and Mrs. S in the first season and then he’s mostly sidelined in season 2. There were several episodes in a row where he didn’t even appear. This season has felt like a lot of attempted shock value in order to reclaim season one excitement. This is the final straw for me. I’m devastated to say I’m no longer going to watch the show. I just don’t care enough about castor, topside, dyad and now they kill a great character I did care about. Sad day for me because this was one of my favourite shows and I convinced others to watch it.
I’ll keep watching it but yeah I’m disappointed they killed off Paul after not utilising him well all season
Exactly. Finally, this season started using Paul again and I thought great, maybe things will get interesting again. Then, they kill him off? I can’t stand Cal and who wants to get attached to another character anyway? So they can kill him off too when they don’t know where to take the writing next? They showed zero respect for the fans and for Dylan as well. They just threw him away. Well. I’ll return the favor. I’m done wasting my time watching. What a worthless crock!
Sorry, but if the only reason you were watching this show was Paul, you were kind of missing the whole point of the series, weren’t you?
Hahaha! I could not agree more. I have respect for Dylan and thought he was at his very best in that final episode, but Hot Paul and any potential relationship with Sarah is NOT the driving force of the Orphan Black narrative. This is a story about sisterhood first and foremost and it can absolutely survive the death of a major character who isn’t one of the clones no matter how much “eye candy” he may have brought.
yes, there is so much more to the story line than lusting after Paul. I never really got into him. Maybe because I couldn’t trust him. Now Felix? I can trust him to the end of the world. Every woman needs a Felix on their side. Someone who loves you unconditionally.
I thought it was more for shock value, really.
The show can’t really hold on to Michiel Huisman, but they did have Dylan as a series regular, so it’s just a waste.
Agree Huisman is moving into films, I would’ve kept both him and Dylan till Huisman said he wanted to leave the show and kill off Cal
I was spoiled for Paul’s death, and I was really upset going into the episode. Mostly because of my eternal upset over another show and another character who felt eerily similar going in (character with lots of interesting potential, not necessarily super well loved by fandom, writing went down hill, killed off unceremoniously for shock value in a way that never really mattered 5 minutes later…I’m still bitter about the death of Sean Pierce on Nikita, is was I’m saying). But this was actually really well done. It did not go down the way I feared it would. I’ve always said I don’t mind losing characters, even characters I like or love, if the writing is good. This death means something. Even if Coady and/or Rudy survived, the science is gone. Paul went out destroying something horrific. Plus the editing and music in that scene were just fantastic. Chills. I’m almost crying, but in a good way.
I expect Coady and Rudy survived,a grenade can destroy a room but not the whole camp!
The Castor clone who stabbed Paul (Styles/Miller) I expect is dead.
I agree with you that at least they gave him a good exit, but the thing that concerns me is now that he’s blown the science and we know the govt knew what Coady was doing, they…..and Coady…..will be gunning for Sarah (and Helena) even more now. Sarah needs someone who can protect her from government raised-military trained lunatics. This seems more of a waste to me.
well at least they didn’t show pauls dead body…. in a scifi show like this one never knows – maybe he survived (even though I can’t really see how thats a possibility but one can always hope -> wishful thinking guys :P)
but I would like to have seen a goodbye kiss or something like that :'(
The dancing was just hilarious xD
Fantastic Episode, Tatiana was on point this week, Not that she hasn’t been every single week.
I was pretty sad about Paul’s death. I didn’t see it coming at all and it’s a shame to lose his character, who was ambiguous but one of the most interesting. Also losing the eye candy was not good.
The Allison/Donnie dance party was equally unexpected but I was in tears from laughter watching it.
Loved the Allison/Donnie scene l hope thete is no thought to break them up. Paul is a love/hate but you kinda knew he would do right br Sarah. Love Sestra Helena with all her flaws she is as evil as RAchel but ya can’t help wanting her to be part of the fam
I always thought they would kill off Cal before Paul.
He’s a good excuse to get Kira out of town so we’re not constantly wondering who is watching the kid, methinks.
Paul :(((
Maybe it’s just me, but: I’m really hoping Mark survives the explosion. I enjoyed him and Sarah sort of working together to finally get the Castor DNA. Given that they are biological siblings, I would think the writers would be smart enough to let at least one of the male clones live so that they could really explore that familial relationship at some point, because I’d like to see it unfold. I wouldn’t mind if they introduced more male clones later on, either.
I don’t really care what happens to Rudy, though, because killing people seems to be all he’s been about—despite some vulnerable moments planted here and there.
I agree. I have come to like Marks character. .and sort if rooting for him and Gracie
Wow, that was a fantastic episode, but I’m very sad to lose Paul! I don’t suppose Rudy and Dr. Coady were killed. I don’t know whether to hope the research was destroyed or not. Coady could just start up again — and maybe Mark could somehow work from within to stop it if he can get hold of it. Tatiana was amazing even beyond the usual. Loved Felix. Actually felt bad for Rachel.
Kinda bummed about Paul’s death. Felt unneccessary. Glad he was loyal to Sarah in the end, but it felt like they could have done way more with him/Dylan. If we’re talking romantics, I like Cal, but don’t see much chemistry between him and Sarah. I like their friendship and him being a great dad to Kyra, but that’s pretty much it. On the plus side, really happy Felix got more to do. Such a great and under-utilized character sometimes. That scene with Rachel was great. Tatiana/the writing is great at making you want to feel even a bit of sympathy for Rachel…. Allison and Donnie dancing was TV heaven. I was laughing so hard. I wonder if they’ll have the new Leda clone, Krystal, from the premiere return at some point.
I’m glad Paul’s gone. Dylan Bruce has been the weakest actor on the show since the pilot. I’ve never understood why people love Paul so much. When he went dark last season, I was hoping he wouldn’t come back, and was disappointed when he resurfaced in the finale.
I’m honestly shocked that it took this long to find a comment of someone that’s glad that Paul is dead. Like you said, Dylan is one of the weakest actors on the show, and I think the show will be stronger without him.
I should mention, though, that they gave him a far better send-off than I would’ve imagined for the character.
WHAT??!?!
I agree that Dylan Bruce was the weakest actor on the show. Somewhere in trying to make Paul the stoic, badass, military man Bruce unfortunately made him come off as wooden in my mind.
But I also think that this episode was by far Bruce’s best performance on the show, and I felt like they did the character of Paul justice with a really strong send off.
Bottom line: based on the press releases for this episode we kinda knew someone was going to die this episode, and I would rather it be Paul than just about anyone else (personally I was afraid it was going to be Helena) so as sad as it is to see a character die, I can live with this result.
Agreed
“Nut up and lead me to the Cyclops” Oh Felix! If they had to kill Paul, I’m glad he died a good guy trying to do the right thing. I’m so glad Helena came back.
Best episode of the season so far. The Rachel and Felix scene, the Sarah and Paul scene, Sarah’s vision of Beth, Helena eating Pupok, Allison and Donnie in bed scene, and not mentioned in the comments yet: the return of Delphine and some awkward scenes between her and Cosima. Lots of great scenes all with Tatiana in them.
Paul will be missed, but I think they just ran out of story for him. He took out Castor clone Miller, and possibly Seth (probably not) on his way out.
They did NOT run out of story for Paul. Far from it. We still don’t know what happened in Afghanistan. There is no clarity about how he relates to all of these factions–Mrs. S, Dyad, Topside, Castor, Leda, the government. He is the one character who was connected to all of it. Add to that the romantic element with Sarah, and the fact that he is helpful to her at great risk to himself. Paul propelled the story forward. That’s why it’s a shame that he is gone.
Yeah, Delphine coming back was nice. I totally think Cosima’s new Chica is another monitor. Something seems off about her.
Hot Paul was HOT. That was pretty much everything he brought to the show, though.
Best episode of the season without doubt. The return of Delphine and the revelation she is the one spying on Shay and Cosima, Alison and Donnie dancing in their underwear, Beth!!!! Pupok gets eaten, Rachel and Felix get intense, Sarah and Paul. This episode didn’t have a weak link and finally felt like everything coming together. Hopefully the rest of the season will hurtle along at the same pace with great character moments too.