Orphan Black Finale Preview: Jordan Gavaris Talks Felix's Guilt & Answers Tatiana Maslany's Question To Him!

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Say it ain't so.

Orphan Black Season 2 is already wrapping up this weekend, but before you start missing the BBC America drama too much, take some comfort in knowing that Orphan Black Season 2 Episode 10 does what any good season finale should do: it leaves us wanting more. 

On Orphan Black Season 2 Episode 9, Felix was duped into believing Sarah was in the hospital room with Kira when, instead, she was really evil clone Rachel, who donned a disguise in order to knock out Felix and snatch up the cutest toddler on television.

Will they get Sarah's little girl back? Or will Rachel and her evil plans take out everyone? And will Felix get some more intimate time with trans clone Tony???

TV Fanatic grabbed some time earlier today with Jordan Gavaris, who plays Felix, to get a preview of the finale and also to find out if the actor is just as curious as we are about Felix's past, which has yet to be explored much on the show. We also fielded a question from none other than his co-star, Tatiana Maslany (who won the Critics Choice Best Actress In A Drama award last night.. Let's find out more...

Art and Felix Work Together

TVFanatic: I find it fascinating that even in a heightened world, viewers can still relate to all the characters from the clones to Felix to Helena to everyone.

Jordan Gavaris: That’s a testament to Tatiana’s bravery and that she is willing to get up there every week and reveal herself like that and say ‘this is what I look like when this happens’ and ‘this is what my ugly looks like’ and that’s the most difficult thing to do, to share that experience.

TVF: Leading into the finale, Kira was kidnapped. How is Felix doing? Is he reacting to what’s happened? Maybe some guilt?

JG: Oh, monumental guilt. I think that there’s a part of him that really, truly thinks he should have known it was Rachel. He should’ve known immediately that it wasn’t Sarah. He was the one who had to watch over her very closely. He was right next to her, right next to the bed and he let it all happen. Even though we know it’s not the case, it all happened so quickly and there’s nothing he could do but I think there’s an absolute measure of guilt.

TVF: Going into the finale, should we trust Mrs. S at this point? She’s done some things to help but she also always seems to have her own agenda.

JG: I think there’s a reason why we don’t know if we should trust her or not. I feel like that John and Graeme making a statement about human nature. There are a lot of people who do nice things in the world but they do nice things because they’re looking to get a nice thing back in return or it’s going to give them something. And the second when they can no longer get what they want…it’s very interesting to watch how quickly their personality changes and how quickly they become an unsafe person because you’re of no use to them anymore.

TVF: This was a few episodes back but I have to ask about Felix with Tony, the transgender clone we met recently.

JG: In my last interview I called him ‘Cloney’ accidentally.

TVF: What do you think drew Felix to Tony were connected to each other?

JG: I think Tony was one of those people who saw right through Felix’s bullshit. Saw right through the feigned emotions, the theatrics so I think that’s why viewers were a little surprised to see a different side of Felix, even how he walked across the room. It was different. It’s because the mask he wears in the real world wasn’t going to work on Tony. Tony saw right through it. That was part of the connection.

It was another person who, just like Felix, had gone through a very complicated identity crisis, was an outsider, was probably alienated from a lot of people. They had a lot in common, that feeling of sorry and of alienation and loneliness and they cover it up by being little bad asses. So he knew how to push Felix’s buttons and Felix was trying extra hard not to be shaken until the kiss. Then it was ‘Whoa, boy! Oh, this is happening. This is real!’

And I think in some backwards Freudian way, maybe because Tony looks like the person that Felix loves more than anyone else in the world, maybe there is some truth to that, some Freudian yin-yang truth to that. But I truly believe that it had more to do with Tony seeing the real Felix, the person underneath the hair and makeup and clothing and one-liners.

TVF: I hope we see Tony again!

JG: I think so. We can’t get the reaction we did on social media without bringing that person back. It’s funny, I know there were some people that weren’t entirely comfortable with the idea of the clone. I said comfortable or not, whatever reaction…it not as if they were saying they didn’t believe in it but they were made uncomfortable by it and comfortable or not it means we succeeded because we made them feel something. Whether it was elation or total discomfort, it’s the same thing.

TVF: There’s a part in the finale where the clones all come together and there’s a moment of happiness and I surprised myself by getting choked up.

JG: Oh! You’re not the only one!

TVF: Despite the logistics of shooting a scene with so many clones, these characters have been through so much so I wondered if it was a different kind of emotional scene for you to play.

JG: It was weird because the half of me that was aware of, like you said, these characters have been through so much and they’re having this little moment, a brief glimmer of carelessness, of being carefree. The objective, omniscient side of me that could see all that but then there was the side of me that had to stay focused and be  in the moment and what was happening.

I had to abandon how I felt as Jordan watching the scene in the end and focus on Felix. It was very fun, actually. It was very carefree, it was hugely technical, which sucks some of the fun out of it. It took us two and a half days to shoot but it was so worth it in the end. We’ve never had that many clones in a scene before and it’s fun to watch all the clones’ personalities revealed.

TVF:  I noticed how each of the clone’s movements so fit their personalities, too. So amazing how Tatiana can do that!

JG: She’s just brilliant. I love that [Tatiana] has a dance background to incorporate the movement into the work like that. But I think that’s part of what it is. Her experience with dance allows her to make their movement unconscious. There’s a bit of an element of trying that she just doesn’t have. She reveals herself as Tatiana along with all the external manipulations that gives each clone the very distinct pattern or movement. She’s just so talented. Such an incredible skill set and so willing to get out of her own way and just do the work.

TVF: Would you like to know more about Felix’s biological background. I feel like there’s such a story that we’ll get to eventually. Would you like to see that.

JG: I’d really like to explore that. I think that very intelligently, John and Graeme have left that somewhat open ended. Either we’ll go there and it will be a great story or it’s left open ended and we won’t end up going there because we won’t have the time. It’s so hard doing ten episodes a season. There’s just no time! We cram more into each episode to the point that sometimes I feel like I’m on a runaway train moving so fast. So much has happened and that’s just the nature of doing a show that’s only ten episodes. I’d really love to explore that history and his backstory.

TVF: I saw Tatiana at last night’s Critics Choice Awards and asked her for a question to ask you. She said to ask you about Michele’s class.

JG: Oh my God! No she did not! [laughs] Michele Lonsdale Smith is the second coming of Stella Adler. She’s a really wonderful, perceptive acting instructor. Tat trained with her in class for about seven years. She is the woman who helped her to redefine her work and to embrace work as a grown-up, as an adult actor, and not as a teenager who books jobs and fizzles out by the time that you’re 24.

I have been very fortunate that I’ve only been doing this about seven years and I’ve worked a considerable amount on some really quality programs that have taught me a lot but I just found that I’ve been looking for the next step and I was looking for the next thing and I think I was in that place of redefinition, looking to redefine why it is I even do this.

When the work comes easily and the money is there, then you start to wonder and investigating inwards and thinking ‘Well, what exactly am I getting from this? What exactly do I get when I step in front of the camera and I do this thing? And what is this thing exactly? Is it a lie, is it a trick, is it a manipulation or is it a true revelation? Am I really revealing myself? What is it?’ So I recently started working with Michele, as well, in class with a bunch of really talented actors and it’s been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in the last ten years.

TVF: It’s so easy to think that your life may have changed a lot since the show launched but has it changed that monumentally or not so much?

JG: To be honest, it really hasn’t changed that much at all. I live very much the same life. I drink my coffee and watch House Of Cards in the morning. I barely get recognized because I look nothing like what I do in the show in real life. I always shear my hair really short after we wrap. My life is actually pretty ordinary and I love it and want it to stay that way for as long as it can. And we never know where we’re going in the business. We could be catapulted overnight or we could hang out and get work and be happy and live a very ordinary life. I’m very into that, the latter. I’m into the idea of an ordinary life.

Orphan Black airs its season finale on Saturday at 9/8c on BBCAmerica.

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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