Here’s how Orphan Black season 5 brought the Clone Club saga to an emotional end. The high concept pitch for sci-fi drama Orphan Black finds a con artist named Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) who witnesses the suicide of a stranger who looks exactly like her. Sarah then assumes this woman’s identity, only to quickly learn she’s one of a group of clones and someone is trying to kill them all. The show’s great writing combined with Maslany’s stunningly versatile performances as the various clones made the show an instant cult favorite.
Orphan Black also explored themes like identity, choice, motherhood and the morality of cloning. The clones are the result of an experiment by the Dyad Institute, who are trying to guide the development of the human race, with one of the clones even working for the Institute. A religious group called the Proletheans are also responsible for trying to kill the clones, believing them to be an affront to God. To make things more complex, Sarah’s biological twin Helena is the one carrying out the clone killings and her own daughter Kira is the only offspring of a clone.
Related: Orphan Black Series Finale Review
Orphan Black tied all of these narrative threads together with season 5 finale “To Right The Wrongs Of Many,” providing closure to the Clone Club saga. The show revealed Helena is also fertile, and the finale saw her give birth to twins while held captive by Dyad and being rescued by Sarah. Sarah is also reminded of the time she gave birth to Kira and has a flashback to the time she considered having an abortion. Her late guardian Mr. S ultimately gave her the strength to go through with the birth.
The Orphan Black season 5 finale ultimately focused on the relationships between the clones rather than the downfall of the Neolutionist movement, which is wrapped up surprisingly quick. The latter half of the finale jumps ahead and follows the lives of the clones now they're free of the Dyad Institute. The key scene of the final episode finds clones Sarah, Helena, Cosima, and Alison sitting together and talking about their fears for the future and learning from the painful mistakes of the past. Sarah’s foster brother Felix later hands them a folder with a complete list of the many Leda clones, who need to be found and cured of the clone disease. It’s also discovered Helena’s journal is dubbed Orphan Black.
Orphan Black season 5 provided a suitably intense, emotional ending to the series. It seems the series will continue in some form, which apparently won’t function as either a spinoff or sequel to the original series, but will still be set in the same world. While it would be a shame if Tatiana Maslany doesn’t return in some form, “To Right The Wrongs Of Many” provided the clones with a great ending, so it might be better for a new series to focus on different characters.