History YMMV / OrphanBlack

* MagnificentBastard:
** If she hadn't already qualified as this, Rachel certainly ascends to this status with her actions in 4.09: [[spoiler:kidnapping a [=BrightBorn=] witness, using her testimony to [[EngineeredPublicConfession get a confession out of Evie Cho]] and secure herself a position within the Neolution hierarchy, then [[ILied broadcasting this testimony during Evie's press conference after promising Evie she'd given her the only copy]]. Granted, Evie's a bit of a SmugSnake for trusting that Rachel of all people was telling the truth, but it definitely makes you glad that she pissed Rachel off enough to take action against her.]]
** Mrs. S. also has quite a few moments that qualify her for this trope. [[spoiler:Her effortless pitting of Rachel and Leekie against each other]] during season two is just one example out of many.

** [[{{Transgender}} Tony]] divided fans almost immediately after his introduction. Either he's a daring risk that paid off, or a gimmicky caricature who was thrown in solely to create buzz.

** Felix and [[spoiler:Tony]] kissing, given that [[spoiler:Tony is a FTM {{transgender}} clone of his [[NotBloodSiblings adoptive]] [[BrotherSisterIncest sister]], and looks and acts almost exactly like her]]. Even Felix seems a little freaked out by it.

[[folder: Tropes A - M]]

* AlasPoorVillain:
** [[spoiler:Fans took Helena's death particularly hard. Subverted in that she's not really dead, but just watching Sarah shoot her is still painful.]]
** While she's more of a nuisance than a villain, it's hard not to feel bad for [[spoiler:Aynsley, especially since she was an innocent bystander.]]
** You can't help but feel a little sorry for [[ButtMonkey Vic]], even if he brings most of the crap that happens to him on himself.
** Probably more than a few fans were upset to see [[spoiler:Dr. Leekie]] go, although that might be as much a testament to the acting skill of [[spoiler:Creator/MattFrewer]] as to people's actual opinions of the character.
** Rachel's devastating situation in Season 3: [[spoiler:Suffering from brain damage and aphasia to the point of barely being able to form words, and being at the complete mercy of her former colleagues as she has become just one more lab rat to them has earned her sympathy from many fans.]]

* ContinuitySnarl: The number of twists and reveals builds to the point where if you look back and try to create a consistent timeline of what happened when throughout the in-world history, who was "really" in charge of events, and more importantly, WHY any of the people involved made the choices that they did considering what they would have been aware of at that time based on the "final" story... nothing really adds up. Just roll with it from episode to episode, don't try to gain insights by comparing what's happening 'now' to what's been said in previous seasons.

* FanNickname: [[http://coffeehousehaunt.tumblr.com/post/95152931450/titty-malaysia "Titty Malaysia."]] [[http://orphanblack.tumblr.com/post/138114854674/dianiza-i-went-for-thai-food-tonight-i-saw-her Another]] [[http://bnaz.tumblr.com/post/106621416782/tikka-masala popular one]] [[http://img.ifcdn.com/images/91364c62d731632309dae8e604e3c3aa1795ca996858c6c5dc8f5c9a7991bc9d_1.jpg is "Tikka Masala."]]

* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Duko]] going after Sarah without backup didn't work out too well for him.

[[folder: Tropes N - Z ]]

** Season 4's BigBad, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Evie Cho]], is the ambitious, high-ranking, [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheNeolutionists Neolutionist]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of [=BrightBorn=]. A survivor of a birth defect, Cho developed a perfectionist view, which inspired her goal to control the future of human evolution. Cho developed mechanical, worm-like devices to alter people's DNA and can quickly but painfully kill it's host if ruptured. When Beth Childs was investigating the Neolutionists, Cho tried to get her to kill Susan Ducan, so she can usurp Duncan as leader of Neolution. Failing that, Cho blackmails her into killing herself by threatening the other clones. It's also revealed that she had Delphine Cormier shot at the end of season 3. When Cosmia explores [=BrightBorn=] facilities, she discovers Cho is keeping pregnant women in maternity labs for illegal human experiments. When these experiments result in the babies being born deformed, or any other imperfection such as blindness, Cho would have the [[WouldHurtAChild babies euthanized]] to cover it up. Cho has Cosmia's research to help cure the clones diseases destroyed, and has Kendall killed and incinerated in front of Cosmia, making it impossible for the clones to find cures. To further wound her, Cho tells Cosmia that Delphine is dead. She plans to put her devices into millions of people and alter their DNA without their consent. She has Donnie arrested with threats of having him killed in jail to blackmail Allison. When two women escape her maternity lab with evidence that could expose her, she sends assassins after them. When exposed and given the option to resign and absolve [=BrightBorn=] of any wrongdoings, she refuses, her VillainousBreakdown when the project might move forward without her showing she doesn't so much care about controlling human evolution, as much as she cares that [[ItsAllAboutMe she's the one doing it]].

** [[TheFundamentalist Tomas]], from the first two seasons, is a cruel and manipulative Prolethean fanatic, as well as Helena's [[AbusiveParents adoptive father and mentor]]. Believing project LEDA clones to be an abomination, Tomas adopted one of them, Helena, and used physical, psychological and emotional abuse to groom her into a killer and keep her under her thumb, lying to her that she is the original to motivate her. Helena would go on to kill other clones at Tomas's behest, and Tomas would often [[YouHaveFailedMe torture her for failure]]. Learning of Helena and Sarah's connection and of Sarah's daughter Kira, Tomas orders Helena to kill Sarah and abduct Kira, locking her in a small cage when she refuses. During a later confrontation, it's made clear that Tomas intends to put Kira through the same treatment as he did Helena, which ultimately turns Helena against him. When later rescued by the Johanssen branch, Tomas makes it clear that he sees Helena as another abomination, and his only objection to the idea of Helena having children is his belief that those children will be monsters as well.
** [[AbusiveParents Henrik "Hank" Johanssen]], from season 2, is the leader of a branch of [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheProletheans the Prolethean cult]], operating on a ranching community. Separating from the Prolethans' more traditional views in favor of [[ForScience scientific curiosity]], Johanssen operates his branch, and seemingly peaceful community, as a BreedingCult, where women are artificially inseminated and children are regularly abused. When Henrik gets his hands on Helena, discovering she's a rare fertile clone, Hank has her handler Tomas killed so he can keep her. He proceeds to drug and forcibly marry Helena before taking her ovaries and [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate fertilizing them with his sperm]], planning to implant those embryos in multiple women. When Helena escapes with the help of Hank's teenage daughter Gracie, Henrik has Gracie locked in a cage and her [[MouthStitchedShut mouth sewn shut]] as punishment; it's implied this is a usual punishment for her. When Helena returns, Henrik has her inseminated with their embryos before proceeding to do the same with Gracie. He keeps them locked in a nursery, holding them at gunpoint and sends his wife to find more women for him to impregnate. Henrik's motivations are that since a fertile clone is a scientific impossibility, he's the only one worthy of fathering children with them and spreading his genes in "miracle babies."
** [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Evie Cho]], the BigBad of season 4, is the ambitious, high-ranking, [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheNeolutionists Neolutionist]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of [=BrightBorn=]. A survivor of a birth defect, Cho developed a perfectionist view, which inspired her goal to control the future of human evolution. Cho developed mechanical, worm-like devices to alter people's DNA and can quickly but painfully kill its host if ruptured. When Beth Childs was investigating the Neolutionists, Cho tried to get her to kill Susan Duncan, so she can usurp Duncan as leader of Neolution. Failing that, Cho blackmails her into killing herself by threatening the other clones. It's also revealed that she had Delphine Cormier shot at the end of season three. When Cosima explores [=BrightBorn=] facilities, she discovers Cho is keeping pregnant women in maternity labs for illegal human experiments. When these experiments result in the babies being born deformed, or any other imperfection such as blindness, Cho would have the [[WouldHurtAChild babies euthanized]] to cover it up. Cho has Cosima's research to help cure the clones' diseases destroyed, and has Kendall killed and incinerated in front of Cosima, making it impossible for the clones to find cures. To further wound her, Cho tells Cosima that Delphine is dead. She plans to put her devices into millions of people and alter their DNA without their consent. She has Donnie arrested with threats of having him killed in jail to blackmail Allison. When two women escape her maternity lab with evidence that could expose her, she sends assassins after them. When exposed and given the option to resign and absolve [=BrightBorn=] of any wrongdoings, she refuses, her VillainousBreakdown when the project might move forward without her showing she doesn't so much care about controlling human evolution, as much as she cares that [[ItsAllAboutMe she's the one doing it]].
** [[spoiler:[[ImmortalitySeeker Percival T. "P.T." Westmoreland]], actually John Mathieson, the BigBad of the 5th and final season, is the [[GreaterScopeVillain ultimate villain of the series]], posing as the founder of Neolution and has been [[TheManBehindTheMan behind all its atrocities]]. Stealing the real Westmoreland's identity, he goes on to create a {{cult}} to his name on an isolated island while he runs Neolution behind the scenes. Seeking {{immortality|Immorality}}, he sustains himself by taking the blood of the [[WouldHurtAChild children]] of his cult, resulting in some of them dying, and even experiments and tortures a boy named Yanis, driving him feral before eventually killing him in front of Cosima. His next plans is to find, harvest and fertilize eight year old Kira's eggs, to spread and study the "Fountain of Youth" gene in her offspring, something he is steadfast in, even when his true identity as Mathieson is exposed. Viewing the project LEDA clones as little more than experiments, he feigns a fatherly affection to Rachel, while secretly spying on her every action through her prosthetic eye. When the truth of Neolution is exposed, he becomes more unhinged; has Helena abducted to force her to give birth to her twins for further experiments; kills his backers to [[HeKnowsTooMuch cover his tracks]] as much as possible; and has Dr. Virginia Coady kill Mark now that the project CASTOR clones [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served their purpose]]. It's revealed his end goal is to create a serum that would permanently reverse cell damage for the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain upper class]]--mainly himself--and have the rest sterilized by the CASTOR pathogen. Ultimately, John Mathieson is little more than a selfish madman that manipulates an ideology and orchestrated atrocities for little more than his personal power, and the expansion of his own life]].

* AwardSnub: Tatiana Maslany was ''criminally'' overlooked by the 2013 Primetime Emmys. Not even a nomination!
** She ''did'' get nominated for a 2014 Golden Globe, but lost to Robin Wright.
** And then, after another year of glowing reviews, many of them talking about how badly she was snubbed and how much she deserved the Emmy, she wasn't nominated in 2014 either. Mind you, Elisabeth Moss was snubbed for ''Series/MadMen'' and people were more enraged about Maslany's shut-out.
*** On the bright side, the media managed to turn this AwardSnub into a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for both her and the show. When news outlets started to write about that year's Emmy snubs, rather than focusing on something like Elisabeth Moss or ''Series/TheWalkingDead,'' they put Maslany's snub front-and-center. The fact that they singled out a relatively unknown actress from what is considered little more than a cult show, let alone one from a country whose shows rarely get any buzz in America, against bona fide cultural phenomena proves how rapidly the show's profile is growing.
** The Golden Globes failed to nominate her in 2015, much to the confusion of the fandom since she was nominated the year before.
** Although it did not cause nearly the same uproar that Maslany's snub in the acting category did, many fans aren't happy over the show's omission in the Best Drama category, either.
** Averted in the 67th Emmys, which after the previous award snubs and controversy, is a massive SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.
** Averted even further in the 68th Emmys, for which she finally won the award.
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The [[https://soundcloud.com/trevyuile/eps-110-finale music that plays over the final few minutes of "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"]] (the season 1 finale), starting after [[spoiler:Sarah shoots Helena]].

* {{Fanon}}: Some fans have taken to portraying Beth as asexual. On the other hand, other fans are convinced she and Alison had a relationship; see FanPreferredCouple above.
** The notion of Beth as ''completely'' asexual seems to have been definitively {{Jossed}} by the season 4 première, though she might still be on the asexual spectrum.
*** Not really. Asexual = doesn't feel sexual attraction. Doesn't mean you don't feel romantic attraction (that's aromantic) or don't like to kiss or even have sex (that's touch/sex repulsed.)

** [[ActingForTwo Everyone is Tatiana Maslany]].

** [[ImmortalitySeeker Percival T. "P.T." Westmoreland]], true identiyy [[spoiler:John Patrick Mathieson]], the BigBad of the 5th and final season, is the [[GreaterScopeVillain ultimate villain of the series]], [[spoiler:posing as]] the founder of Neolution and has been [[TheManBehindTheMan behind all its atrocities]]. [[spoiler:Stealing the real Westmoreland's identity]], he goes on to create a {{cult}} to his name on an isolated island while he runs Neolution behind the scenes. Seeking {{immortality|Immorality}}, he sustains himself by taking the blood of the [[WouldHurtAChild children]] of his cult, resulting in some of them dying, and even experiments and tortures a boy named Yanis, driving him feral before eventually killing him in front of Cosima. His next plans is to find, harvest and fertilize eight year old Kira's eggs, to spread and study the "Fountain of Youth" gene in her offspring, something he is steadfast in [[spoiler:even when his true identity as Matheson is exposed]]. Viewing the project LEDA clones as little more than experiments, he feigns a fatherly affection to Rachel, while secretly spying on her every action through her prosthetic eye. When the truth of Neolution is exposed, he becomes more unhinged; has Helena abducted to force her to give birth to her twins for further experiments; kills [[spoiler:his backers]] to [[HeKnowsTooMuch cover his tracks]] as much as possible; and has Dr. Virginia Coady kill [[spoiler:Mark]] now that the project CASTOR clones [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served their purpose]]. It's revealed his end goal is to create a serum that would permanently reverse cell damage for the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain upper class]]--mainly himself--and have the rest sterilized by the CASTOR pathogen. Ultimately, [[spoiler:John Matheson]] is little more than a selfish madman that manipulates an ideology and orchestrated atrocities for little more than his personal power, and the expansion of his own life.

** [[ImmortalitySeeker Percival T. "P.T." Westmoreland]], aka [[spoiler:John Matheson]], the BigBad of the 5th and final season, is the [[GreaterScopeVillain ultimate villain of the series]], [[spoiler:posing as]] the founder of Neolution and has been [[TheManBehindTheMan behind all its atrocities]]. [[spoiler:Stealing the real Westmoreland's identity]], he goes on to create a {{cult}} to his name on an isolated island while he runs Neolution behind the scenes. Seeking {{immortality|Immorality}}, he sustains himself by taking the blood of the [[WouldHurtAChild children]] of his cult, resulting in some of them dying, and even experiments and tortures a boy named Yanis, driving him feral before eventually killing him in front of Cosima. His next plans is to find, harvest and fertilize eight year old Kira's eggs, to spread and study the "Fountain of Youth" gene in her offspring, something he is steadfast in [[spoiler:even when his true identity as Matheson is exposed]]. Viewing the project LEDA clones as little more than experiments, he feigns a fatherly affection to Rachel, while secretly spying on her every action through her prosthetic eye. When the truth of Neolution is exposed, he becomes more unhinged; has Helena abducted to force her to give birth to her twins for further experiments; kills [[spoiler:his backers]] to [[HeKnowsTooMuch cover his tracks]] as much as possible; and has Dr. Virginia Coady kill [[spoiler:Mark]] now that the project CASTOR clones [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served their purpose]]. It's revealed his end goal is to create a serum that would permanently reverse cell damage for the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain upper class]]--mainly himself--and have the rest sterilized by the CASTOR pathogen. Ultimately, [[spoiler:John Matheson]] is little more than a selfish madman that manipulates an ideology and orchestrated atrocities for little more than his personal power, and the expansion of his own life.

** Probably more than a few fans were upset to see [[spoiler:Dr. Leekie]] go, although that might be as much a testament to the acting skill of [[spoiler:Matt Frewer]] as to people's actual opinions of the character.

* HolyShitQuotient: Expect every episode in Season 1 to have this but the Season 2 premiere seems to top this off with [[spoiler:DYAD not being the ones to kidnap Kira, Helena being alive and Delphine going against Cosima's wishes and dropping off a vial of her blood to Leekie.]] And then the subsequent episodes in Season 2 [[SerialEscalation just take it further]]. This dropped off some in season 3, but is back in full force with season 4, which has a rather impressive sequence of {{Wham Episode}}s, especially towards the end of the season.

** There has been some debate as to whether Cosima is [[LipstickLesbian gay]] or [[BiTheWay bi]]. On one hand, WordOfGod described her as bisexual early on in the series, but as of season 3 she self-identifies as a lesbian, upsetting a good deal of the fandom, who see it as [[NoBisexuals bi erasure]], disregarding Cosima's bisexuality just because she hasn't dated a man on screen. However, a similarly sized portion of the fandom believe Cosima's self identification should be respected, and that if she says she's gay, she's gay. It is worth pointing out that NoBisexuals does not apply to this show due to [[spoiler:Delphine]], who has canonically been in relationships with both [[spoiler:Leekie and Cosima]]. Admittedly, she seems to think of her involvement with the latter as a case of IfItsYouItsOkay.

** There has been some debate as to whether Cosima is [[LipstickLesbian gay]] or [[BiTheWay bi]]. On one hand, WordOfGod described her as bisexual early on in the series, but as of season 3 she self-identifies as a lesbian, upsetting a good deal of the fandom, who see it as [[NoBisexuals bi erasure]], disregarding Cosima's bisexuality just because she hasn't dated a man on screen. However, a similarly sized portion of the fandom believe Cosima's self identification should be respected, and that if she says she's gay, she's gay. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And it's probably best to just leave it at that.]]
*** It is worth pointing out that NoBisexuals does not apply to this show due to [[spoiler:Delphine]], who has canonically been in relationships with both [[spoiler:Leekie and Cosima]]. Admittedly, she seems to think of her involvement with the latter as a case of IfItsYouItsOkay.

** Delphine's Season 3 arc has proven to be a ''major'' bone of contention with Cophine shippers: [[spoiler:breaking up with Cosima, torturing an incapacitated Rachel, spying on Cosima and Shay, even threatening to ''kill'' Shay for possibly being a Project Castor mole. The RageBreakingPoint for many was Delphine's CliffHanger shooting, which many accused of being nothing more than a BuryYourGays plot twist.]] However, in season 4, [[spoiler:Krystal, who witnessed the shooting, reveals that Delphine may have survived, and Krystal is confirmed to be correct in 4x09.]] Ultimately, [[spoiler:Delphine ends up surviving the entire series; the finale has her head out on a quest with Cosima to cure all 276 of the surviving Leda clones. Much of her behaviour in season 3 is also ultimately revealed to have been a JerkassFacade necessitated by her position in Topside.]]

* EarWorm: The title theme is quite catchy.
** The season 2 finale also gave us [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey1DuuJ6tGk&feature=kp "Water Prayer Rasta Mix Matt the Alien Remix"]] (aka the clone dance party song)

** There has been some debate as to whether Cosima is [[LipstickLesbian gay]] or [[BiTheWay bi]]. On one hand, WordOfGod described her as bisexual early on in the series, but as of season 3 she self-identifies as a lesbian, upsetting a good deal of the fandom, who see it as [[NoBisexuals bi erasure]], disregarding Cosima's bisexuality just because she hasn't dated a man on screen. However, a similarly sized portion of the fandom believe Cosima's self identification should be respected, and that if she says she's gay, she's gay. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And it's probably best to just leave it at that.]]

** The death of [[spoiler:MK at Ferdinand's hands]] in Season 5, which many fans accused of being quite unnecessarily brutal at a time when violence against women really wasn't something anyone needed to see more of. Some even went so far as to say it only seemed to happen because [[spoiler:the crew was worried that Ferdinand's later FamilyUnfriendlyDeath of being shot in the throat by Mrs. S would be seen as undeserved unless he did something really heinous beforehand.]]

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Any scenes where there are more than one clone featured are done brilliantly to the point where you forget that all of these characters are being played by the same woman. [[spoiler:They get four clones on screen at once in the Season 2 finale ''and'' both the first and last episodes of Season 3, and as usual, it's seamless.]] Series 5 takes it UpToEleven with a scene where [[spoiler:Sarah and M.K. have a long conversation filmed as TheOner, with both of them freely crossing to each other's side of the screen.]] And the series finale features one last bit of pure showing off with [[spoiler:Sarah, Helena, Cosima, and Alison all chatting together, complete with Sarah stroking Helena's hair.]]

* AlasPoorScrappy: Fans were caught off-guard by how heartbroken they were when [[spoiler:Paul pulled a HeroicSacrifice to get Sarah ouat of the Castor base and destroy Coady's research]].

* BadassDecay: Donnie is a peculiar case.
** In the first season, he was able to stand being tortured by [[spoiler:Alison]] and [[spoiler:not let it slip he was her monitor. By the second season, he carelessly leaves his Neolutionist contact phone in his coat pocket, and does a laughably bad job of trying to tail Alison after falling for a trap set by her.]]
** [[spoiler:This is a result of him never being a monitor who was "in the know" in the first place. In his confrontation with Leekie, it's made clear he didn't know the full extent of the monitoring or anything about the real reason they were doing it.]]
** Also subverted, as [[spoiler:he [[TookALevelInBadass gains several levels in badass]] after accidentally killing Leekie and blackmailing Vic and Deangelis to stay away from his wife]].

** [[AbusiveParents Henrik "Hank" Johanssen]], from season 2, stands out as a depraved character even in a show full of BlackAndGrayMorality. Johanssen is the leader of a branch of [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheProletheans the Prolethean]] {{cult}}, operating on a ranching community. Separating from the Prolethans' more traditional views in favor of scientific curiosity, Johanssen operates his branch, and seemingly peaceful community, as a BreedingCult, where women are artificially inseminated and children are regularly abused. When Hank gets his hands on Helena, discovering she's a rare fertile clone, Hank has her handler Tomas killed so he can keep her. He proceeds to drug and forcibly marry Helena before [[MedicalRapeAndImpregnate taking her ovaries and fertilizing them with his sperm]], planning to implant those embryos in multiple women. When Helena escapes with the help of Hank's teenage daughter Gracie, Hank has Gracie locked in a cage and her [[MouthStitchedShut mouth sewn shut]] as punishment; it's implied this is a usual punishment for her. He shows more affection towards his follower Mark than he does Gracie and even then he's controlling and indifferent to Mark's feelings; it's discovered Mark, a Project CASTOR clone, is merely a replacement to Abel, a stillborn attempt of Hank's recreating project CASTOR. When Helena returns, Henrik has her inseminated with their embryos before proceeding to do the same with Gracie. He keeps them locked in a nursery, holding them at gunpoint and sends his wife to find more women for him to impregnate. While hiding behind a thin veil of a warm fatherly demeanor, Hank's motivations are that since a fertile clone is a scientific impossibility, he's the only one worthy of fathering children with them and spreading the genes of "miracle babies."

*** On the bright side, the media managed to turn this AwardSnub into a MomentOfAwesome for both her and the show. When news outlets started to write about that year's Emmy snubs, rather than focusing on something like Elisabeth Moss or ''Series/TheWalkingDead,'' they put Maslany's snub front-and-center. The fact that they singled out a relatively unknown actress from what is considered little more than a cult show, let alone one from a country whose shows rarely get any buzz in America, against bona fide cultural phenomena proves how rapidly the show's profile is growing.

** Averted in the 67th Emmys, which after the previous award snubs and controversy, is a massive CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

* AlasPoorScrappy: Fans were caught off-guard by how heartbroken they were when [[spoiler:Paul pulled a HeroicSacrifice to get Sarah out of the Castor base and destroy Coady's research]].

** [[{{Transsexual}} Tony]] divided fans almost immediately after his introduction. Either he's a daring risk that paid off, or a gimmicky caricature who was thrown in solely to create buzz.

** Felix and [[spoiler:Tony]] kissing, given that [[spoiler:Tony is a FTM {{transsexual}} clone of his [[NotBloodSiblings adoptive]] [[BrotherSisterIncest sister]], and looks and acts almost exactly like her]]. Even Felix seems a little freaked out by it.

** [[ImmortalitySeeker Percival T. "P.T." Westmoreland]], aka [[spoiler:John Matheson]], the BigBad of the 5th and final season, is the [[GreaterScopeVillain ultimate villain of the series]], [[spoiler:posing as]] the founder of Neolution and has been [[TheManBehindTheMan behind all its atrocities]]. [[spoiler:Stealing the real Westmorland's identity]], he goes on to create a {{cult}} to his name on an isolated island while he runs Neolution behind the scenes. Seeking {{immortality|Immorality}}, he sustains himself by taking the blood of the [[WouldHurtAChild children]] of his cult, resulting in some of them dying; and even experiments and tortures a boy named Yanis, driving him feral before eventually killing him in front of Cosmia. His next plans is to find, harvest and fertilize eight year old Kira's eggs, to spread and study the "Fountain of Youth" gene in her offspring, something he is steadfast in [[spoiler:even when his true identity as Matheson is exposed]]. Viewing the project LEDA clones as little more than experiments, he feigns a fatherly affection to Rachel, while secretly spying on her every action through her prosthetic eye. When the truth and Neolution is exposed, he becomes more unhinged; has Helena abducted to force her to give birth to her twins for further experiments; kills [[spoiler:his backers]] to [[HeKnowsTooMuch cover his tracks]] as much as possible; and has Dr. Virginia Coady kill [[spoiler:Mark]] now that the project CASTOR clones [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served their purpose]]. It's revealed his end goal is to create a serum that would permanently reverse cell damage for the [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain upper class]]--mainly himself--and have the rest sterilized by the CASTOR pathogen. Ultimately, [[spoiler:John Matheson]] is little more than a selfish madman that manipulates an ideology and orchestrated atrocities for little more than his personal power, and the expansion of his own life.

** [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Evie Cho]], the BigBad of season 4, is the ambitious, high-ranking, [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheNeolutionists Neolutionist]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of [=BrightBorn=]. A survivor of a birth defect, Cho developed a perfectionist view, which inspired her goal to control the future of human evolution. Cho developed mechanical, worm-like devices to alter people's DNA and can quickly but painfully kill its host if ruptured. When Beth Childs was investigating the Neolutionists, Cho tried to get her to kill Susan Duncan, so she can usurp Duncan as leader of Neolution. Failing that, Cho blackmails her into killing herself by threatening the other clones. It's also revealed that she had Delphine Cormier shot at the end of season three. When Cosima explores [=BrightBorn=] facilities, she discovers Cho is keeping pregnant women in maternity labs for illegal human experiments. When these experiments result in the babies being born deformed, or any other imperfection such as blindness, Cho would have the [[WouldHurtAChild babies euthanized]] to cover it up. Cho has Cosima's research to help cure the clones diseases destroyed, and has Kendall killed and incinerated in front of Cosima, making it impossible for the clones to find cures. To further wound her, Cho tells Cosima that Delphine is dead. She plans to put her devices into millions of people and alter their DNA without their consent. She has Donnie arrested with threats of having him killed in jail to blackmail Allison. When two women escape her maternity lab with evidence that could expose her, she sends assassins after them. When exposed and given the option to resign and absolve [=BrightBorn=] of any wrongdoings, she refuses, her VillainousBreakdown when the project might move forward without her showing she doesn't so much care about controlling human evolution, as much as she cares that [[ItsAllAboutMe she's the one doing it]].

** [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Evie Cho]], the BigBad of season 4, is the ambitious, high-ranking, [[Characters/OrphanBlackTheNeolutionists Neolutionist]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive CEO]] of [=BrightBorn=]. A survivor of a birth defect, Cho developed a perfectionist view, which inspired her goal to control the future of human evolution. Cho developed mechanical, worm-like devices to alter people's DNA and can quickly but painfully kill its host if ruptured. When Beth Childs was investigating the Neolutionists, Cho tried to get her to kill Susan Ducan, so she can usurp Duncan as leader of Neolution. Failing that, Cho blackmails her into killing herself by threatening the other clones. It's also revealed that she had Delphine Cormier shot at the end of season three. When Cosima explores [=BrightBorn=] facilities, she discovers Cho is keeping pregnant women in maternity labs for illegal human experiments. When these experiments result in the babies being born deformed, or any other imperfection such as blindness, Cho would have the [[WouldHurtAChild babies euthanized]] to cover it up. Cho has Cosima's research to help cure the clones diseases destroyed, and has Kendall killed and incinerated in front of Cosima, making it impossible for the clones to find cures. To further wound her, Cho tells Cosima that Delphine is dead. She plans to put her devices into millions of people and alter their DNA without their consent. She has Donnie arrested with threats of having him killed in jail to blackmail Allison. When two women escape her maternity lab with evidence that could expose her, she sends assassins after them. When exposed and given the option to resign and absolve [=BrightBorn=] of any wrongdoings, she refuses, her VillainousBreakdown when the project might move forward without her showing she doesn't so much care about controlling human evolution, as much as she cares that [[ItsAllAboutMe she's the one doing it]].