“We have a connection.” - Helena, Killer Clone

Behold, in all her grotesque conviction, a true agent of Sarah’s doom: a new clone. A mad clone. A deadly clone. Unlike all the surprising individuals we’ve met so far, this vicious slave to faith has no interest in Sarah’s quest. Whatever she knows – or thinks she knows – only drives her to hunt the others down – and kill them. Truth can be toxic. Particularly when you’re convinced you have a corner on the market, leaving no room for possibility, contingency – evolution’s exploding cigar. If Sarah has learned anything about being a clone so far, it's how different they can be.  How easily they can fool others in a world that can’t imagine or accept the facts of their existence. How absurd it is to imagine we ever really know ourselves, or decide our direction in life alone. Formerly selfish Sarah is learning that there is nothing more dangerous than thinking we can be sure of anything – or anyone. It seems the key to the clones' cooperation comes hand in glove with always risking some exposure, if not some kind of death. Is mental illness part of their DNA's legacy? Is this killer’s capacity for violence, murder, self-destructive obsession and sociopathic extremism something they could all share? Can there be some good reason for wanting to slaughter so many innocent women? Or is Alison right: they are the product of an illegal experiment that someone must now cover up? Can altruism trump ignorance? To stop this rogue clone, Cosima applies empathy to Sarah's exceptional instincts. Art and DeAngelis apply criminal psychology. It's a race to solving the same problem, with opposing ideas of what that solution should be. Both require imagination, speculation, high performance emotional logic. But only the clones' appreciation for how different they can be, how much the lives they’ve lived have shaped who each has become, that really changes what happens next. And for that we credit to our star, Tatiana. For where we gave her our raw, brutal ode to a product of grotesque abuse, she replied with possibility. We all remember the day, as we developed this chapter, that Tat suggested Helena be motivated not by hate, but by love.  And that changed everything, and everyone – even Sarah. Because a monster who wants to destroy you is hardly unusual. But a monster who sees in you and you alone something they recognize, and want to embrace... Well, that's a whole new level of terrifying.

 NEXT:  Hive observations, unexpected results, and mind-benders >

The Hive's Own Observations & Unexpected Results

Effects of External Conditions: Mind-Bender

Alison plays Sarah for Kira and Mrs. S, while Helena plays Sarah playing Beth, after discovering Sarah was playing Beth, and that Beth is dead:  the Killer and Sarah play Beth well enough to fool Raj, Paul, Art, and DeAngelis, – and Alison fools Mrs. S as Sarah. The Killer and Kira both create unique artwork for Sarah... So perhaps they do share a common predisposition... for the Creative Arts. [caption id="attachment_832" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Alison as Sarah doesn't fool Kira.[/caption] Why do some clones fool only some of the people most of the time? The successful imposters, con artists, great detectives, magicians and illusionists will assure you that we are all victims of our own expectations and perceptions. If you do not imagine a genetic identical has replaced the person you think you know, only some flaw in their performance could expose them. Why does The Killer’s criminal profile so deeply affect and motivate Sarah? If you listen carefully, many of Art and DeAngelis's assumptions about the unknown suspect behind the evidence are very similar to Sarah's own background and criminal profile. She uses these as well as the striking differences, to reach out to the killer... and vice versa. How many characters are connected by the ‘fish glyph’ in this episode? Three, but only two are still alive.  Of the two living, only one is clearly identified in this episode. [caption id="attachment_844" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Gone fishing.[/caption] Why do some clones have different hair color than the others? As our series is based in a reality we can all recognize (twenty minutes from now), our clones express themselves (and their identity) just like we all do:  they make choices about their appearance, for instance.  Some clones color their hair. What’s a ‘cootie-catcher’? (and why was the name changed in the show?) To the Canadian writers, a 'cootie-catcher' is what we all commonly called the paper origami fortune teller as children. It was removed as a term in the script to more simply identify the object in play, for folks who may not share the Canadian love of localisms. [caption id="attachment_808" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Cootie catcher?[/caption] Was there really a message in the cootie-catcher? Yes, the cootie-catcher was designed by the writer of this episode to be fully-functioning as a 3-D prop-plot point. It took several tries to create a working model that would help Art pursue a murderer, and help Sarah understand what kind of clone she was dealing with.  The design was inspired by a free online website created by teachers who offered model paper fortune tellers you can make at home, to help make learning the science of origami, puzzles and codes fun. Thank you, teachers! Which acclaimed stage plays are referenced in this episode (and why)? Robert Harling's Steel Magnolias, and Pygmalion, by English playwright George Bernard Shaw. (Hard-core film fans will note that Felix references the 1989 film version of Steel Magnolias when he asks if Alison played "the Daryl Hannah part.") Both were chosen as acute examples of female identity issues in popular fiction that beautifully echoed the themes of this episode. What’s a ‘reverse Pygmalion’? More word-play from the Canadian writers! A Pygmalion is about turning a working class young woman into a convincing portrait of a middle class lady. So the reverse, it seemed to us, would be Felix coaching a middle class lady like Alison into a convincing performance as street urchin, Sarah. Where did the fish glyph come from, and what does it mean? The fish glyph, and indeed all the symbols in this episode as the result of combining social science research with some reading up on codes and symbols popular in many cultures over many ages, around the world. The fish, as Cosima points out, has a nearly universal history among humans as a symbol of fecundity, fertile waters - if you will. It is also historically significant in several Christian sects, and so appropriate as an emblem of Helena’s faith-based aims. Who is the man in the black hat? The man in the black hat is identified in coming episodes, so - keep watching! [caption id="attachment_838" align="aligncenter" width="540"] Who is mystery man?[/caption]

NEXT: Visit the Hive wet lab and library >

The Hive: Wet Lab & Library

"I can't turn your soul on. Leave me those feelings; and you can take away the voice and the face. They are not you."  ― George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

A Brief History of Opposition Human Cloning "Human Cloning: The Need for a Comprehensive Ban" from the Centre for Bioethics & Human Dignity http://cbhd.org/cloning/position-statement “Cloning Human Beings: Religious Perspectives on Human Cloning” by Courtney S. Campbell, Ph.D. http://bioethics.georgetown.edu/nbac/pubs/cloning2/cc4.pdf   The Science of Shared Experience, Empathy & Altruism "Superorganisms as Window Into Complexity and Evolution" by Wired Science's Brandon Keim http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/02/superorganism-a/ "On opening up scientific research to collective experience" by The Guardian’s Bobbie Johnson http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/22/open-science-shared-research-internet "Real Psychics:  Criminal Profiling and the FBI" by Malcolm Gladwell (Blink, The Tipping Point) on http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/11/12/071112fa_fact_gladwell