It is no secret that Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany, despite her lack of awards show love, is easily giving one of the most impressive performances on television. We’ve seen her layer the clones on top of one another, play emotional scenes against multiple versions of herself, and infuse each clone with their own distinct physicalities. Those subtleties in Maslany’s performance are never more pronounced than when we see the clones getting hot and heavy.
Thankfully, Orphan Black has not skimped on the clone sex. For our collective benefit, Maslany has been filming sexy scenes with other actors left and right. The variations in how these offspring of Project Leda kiss their partners deeply reflects the work Maslany is doing in embodying individuals with entirely unique backstories and sexual histories. In anticipation of the third season I decided to celebrate these mouth-to-mouth performances and their role in making the show the delight that it is.
Sarah Manning
Sarah, our rough and tumble punk protagonist, likes to play the aggressive and obdurate loner. But she’s also been around the block a few times. When the show’s hot men come around we see all that aggression and stubbornness either expertly fashioned into sexual manipulation or melted into reckless abandon. But that’s what makes us love her.
Between Paul and Sarah there is no hesitation, just pure sexual energy. Sarah makes cunning use of the straddle early on. Forcing Paul to pick her up gives him the sense of having the upper-hand, when of course Sarah is always still calling the shots.
When she shares a genuinely passionate night with Cal (the only Daario), we see the same woman but with a noted lack of calculation. Sarah’s self-assured, open-mouthed approach retains the same confidence, but it almost sends both of them toppling to the floor. Either way, Sarah never needs to wait for anyone’s permission.
Alison Hendrix
Bottle-hiding soccer mom/gun-toting kinda-sorta murderer Alison Hendrix doesn’t get as many opportunities to be overtly sexual on the show. It certainly doesn’t help that her husband Donnie is both a hapless monitor and a flaccid dick of a partner. She’s adapted to her suburban environment and is obviously not very happy. But, we do get one glorious scene of a joint-smoking Alison deciding to fuck Chad, the philandering husband of her best friend Aynsley.
I love how Maslany translates Alison’s prudishness and desire to be overtaken into the coy lip-biting, they the way she falls right into his arms. Alison is a woman who has a ton of pent up sexual energy, and we see her here a bit uncertain of what to do with it. Her kissing is awkward, her arms sort of fall stiff to her side. Of course, the screams and the van’s rocking indicate things go pretty well.
Cosima Niehaus
Cosima is the one clone on the show who has had a relationship last from one season to the next. Even if (like most of the others) she’s fucking her monitor, it’s one of relatively few queer relationships on tv between women. And pretty much the only one where the make-out scenes are this hot! Evelyne Brochu’s Delphine does not hold back with the tongue.
I love how sensual and lingering some of their kisses are. It might be too typical of a distinction for the lesbians to be kissing in “softer” ways, but Cosima just carries with her that Berkeley flair for egalitarianism.
If you need evidence that their make-out scenes are hot, look no further than this gif in all its glory. The camera tends to pull back on the hetero kissing, for instance with Sarah, because the full-body physicality of her expression is so essential. Cosima instead uses her arms, on multiple occasions drawing Delphine in by the neck rather than (as Sarah would) by the pelvis. It stakes a claim for an erotics that is more deeply invested in the actual intimacy that comes with a relationship rather than Sarah’s get-it-while-it’s-hot mentality.
Helena
Helena is the show’s most enigmatic character. We understand that her life with the Proletheans has been full of abuse and tragedy, but like all the clones she has that extra sense that gives her insights her sheltered life shouldn’t have provided. She is animalistic and full of the energy of a Tasmanian devil, but then has the fragility and arrested development of a child. She’s a fascinating character who we see get physical with a lot of characters. But her only real kiss was with the handsome gentleman tow truck driver at the bar.
Helena, like a gremlin, gets one taste and decides she is insatiably hungry for more. She attacks his face with little kisses; in opposition to Sarah’s experienced, open-mouthed conquest, this is a young girl playing at kissing a charming prince for the first time. It’s kinda sweet but still highly charged and dangerous. Very Helena.
Rachel Duncan
Finally we come to Rachel, queen bee of the clones and self-righteous, self-aware bitch. Rachel does not take shit from anybody. Unlike Sarah’s foster kid emotional armor or Helena’s base survival skills, Rachel’s upbringing provided her with the veneer of strength that comes with privilege. And while she is most certainly powerful and self-assured, she relies more heavily on performances of that power. Rachel needs to feel control over her monitors, maybe even establish real control, and the bedroom seems as good a place as any to gain that upper-hand
The prime example is this infamous scene in which Rachel erotically shoves her fingers in Paul’s mouth and drags him into a kiss by the jaw. It is one steamy scene, and it says a lot about how Rachel uses her sexuality in a way that is entirely distinct from her counterparts. You can almost see a bit of Helena in Rachel’s face as she goes for it, tapping into that animalism they all share. But the beauty of Maslany’s performance is that, during these scenes you lose track of her as an actress entirely. The erotic selfhoods she has built up for these women more than stand up on their own. In a way other shows can't, Orphan Black uses Maslany's acting chops to provides a look at the diverse experiences of female sexuality.
