A Dentist Visit Inspired One Of Orphan Black's Most Interesting And Intimate Scenes

"Orphan Black" examines the disturbing ethics of cloning and cutting edge medical research, so it's only fitting that a dentist visit inspired one of the directors to spice up an intimate scene into a power play. "She-Hulk" actress Tatiana Maslany plays 17 different clones in the underrated science-fiction show, and one of them is corporate villain, Rachel Duncan. 

During Duncan's affair with employee-turned-plaything, Paul Dierden (Dylan Bruce), director Helen Shaver wanted to explore ideas of submission and control to punch up what would've been an otherwise stereotypical sex scene. "For me, it became like, 'What does Rachel want? Rachel doesn't care — she is doing nothing for Paul's pleasure. This is all about her, he is an instrument.' So how do we show that?" she explained to Nerdist.

Shaver struck gold after she visited the dentist and was creeped out by the experience, which led to a jaw-dropping moment. "The idea of somebody sticking their hand and a machine in my mouth is like, what?! No. At the same time, the idea of looking a gift horse in the mouth and how you examine the horse's mouth popped into my mind," she recalled. "So I started working on this image of her opening his mouth and putting her hand in, and not allowing him to touch her."

The mouth scene in BBC America's "Orphan Black" explores Rachel Duncan's desires of feeling powerful and being in control, which isn't something that is typically explored in TV. For Tatiana Maslany, exploring Rachel's dominant side helped transform the scene into something far more interesting. Speaking to Nerdist, she said, "I think that was what was so cool [was] opening up that side of Rachel and seeing her dom." According to Maslany, the scene showed her a side of Rachel that she'd never seen or explored before.

Maslany made it clear that she was grateful to perform the scene with Helen Shaver's direction due to how vulnerable and empowering the experience was, "Thank God I got to do it with her, because she just understood it and was really willing to go to a deeper place," she explained. The actor added, "It was about power dynamics and pleasure as power, and it was really exciting to do." Dylan Bruce gave his perspective on Rachel and Paul's dynamic when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, saying: "It's almost like Rachel's inspecting Paul like he's a derby horse — looking at his teeth, making sure that he's clean and worthy of her."