Monday, April 15, 2013

Orphan Black, Season One, Episode Three: Variation Under Nature

When we last left Sarah, she was meeting Cosima for the first time, having been introduced by Allison.  Cosima affirms that Beth was losing it clinically when Sarah gets upset about Beth's death.  Sarah wants answers and Allison eventually tell Sarah that they are clones and that someone is killing them off. Felix is still sitting in the car, when someone knocks on the door and tells him that he is not supposed to be sitting there at night.  Frustrated, Felix makes his way into Allison's house and she holds a gun on him wanting to know why he is there.  Sarah intervenes and vouches for Felix and when Allison lowers her weapon, Sarah slaps her across the face and says that if Allison goes anywhere near Felix again that she will kick the shit out her.  Allison takes off running and Sarah tells Felix that she needs to get her things, as Cosima comes out and informs Sarah that she broke the first rule of clone club.  Cosima hands Sarah back her things and tells Sarah that this is life and death and that she wants the briefcase, in exchange for answers.

Back at Felix's, he says that the last time he checked, human cloning was illegal and impossible.  Sarah says that it does not matter but Felix points out the number of clones who have died. He tells Sarah that she just cannot ignore it but Sarah is determined to stick to her original plan - get the money and leave town.

Sarah heads to the police station to see Art and she tells him that things are bad with Paul.  Art again asserts that she gets the cash when she is back on active duty.  They are called into Lieutenant Gavin Hardcastle's office where believing Sarah is Beth, she is reinstated.  Sarah grabs the badge and the gun, as she and Art leave the office. Sarah pauses to put on her holster in the bathroom, and then puts the ammunition in her back pocket, rather than loading the gun.  When Art and Sarah arrive at the scene, it's same at the same place where Sarah buried the German. Because Katja was buried near a quarry, the body has been ripped apart, so Sarah is told that reconstructing the face is going to be tough.  Sarah then calls Cosima to tell her that Art found parts of the German. Sarah is concerned that if the prints match hers that the cops will find a body that looks like hers with a criminal record and this will clash with the fact that she is already supposed to be dead.  Cosima advises her not to bolt and says that the cops cannot run prints that quickly.  When Sarah asks how much time, Cosima tells her to give her the briefcase.

Sarah heads back to Art and again asks for the money, so Art informs Sarah that he does not walk around with that kind of cash.  He then asks to see her gun, and discovers that Sarah did not bother to load her weapon. Art is not impressed and points out that an empty gun is not regulation, nor will it keep him safe.  Sarah tries to blow it off saying that they were headed to a homicide case.  Art tells her to get up to speed at her desk and then says that he will work this with someone else.  As Art walks away, Sarah again asks about the money but Art threatens to put it in the shredder if she asks again and then walks away.

Cosima and Sarah meet at a bar, where Cosima asks for the briefcase but Sarah says that she wants some information first. Sarah asks if she should be worried that the German was sick and Cosima tells her to hand over the case and she can have the answer in a couple of weeks. Cosima tells Sarah that Beth used facial recognition to identify the clones in North America but they don't know who the original is, who created them, or who is killing them. Cosima says that they really need a cop to find out who is killing them but Sarah is concerned that Art will figure out that she is not a cop.  Cosima replies that she gets it, but they are her biological imperative now. Cosima says that Katja's fingerprints will match her fingerprints and informs Sarah that she needs to do something about that.

Sarah goes to see Art, who tells her that he booked her practice time on the gun range. When Sarah asks about the prints, Art tells her to call for information and clear the pile on her desk.  Art then gets a call and the person says that "jane doe" (read Katja) is just one of a few not fit for family. Art leaves to do more investigation and Sarah sits at her desk.  Beth's computer is password protected and so she approaches Raj to reset the password and the procedure for checking fingerprints.  Sarah then heads down to the lab, where she deletes the fingerprints before anyone can link her with Katja.


Sarh then heads to see Mrs. S and explains that she faked her own death to get away from Vic. Mrs. S says that the only way Sarah will regain custody of Kira, is to prove she can remain still.  When Mrs. S moves to leave, Sarah grabs her arm and reminds Mrs. S that she is not Kira's legal guardian or hers anymore. Mrs. S says that Sarah can visit but if she pushes her luck, she will call social services. Sarah tells Mrs. S that she wouldn't do that to Kira and Mrs. S replies no, she would do that to Sarah.

Art is at the scene where Katja died, while Sarah is on the phone with Cosima telling her about the killer contacting Art.  Cosima advises Sarah to stay close to Art but Sarah tells her that Art has benched her. Sarah tells Cosima that she needs help and that Art wants her on the gun range tomorrow.  Sarah is worried about this because she's never even fired a gun, but Cosima advises her not to worry because they have someone who can help her with that. Back at the scene, Art finds the head of a red headed doll stuck amongst the branches.

Sarah is back at Beth's getting dressed and calls Allison to say that they have to get together this morning. Allison say that she cannot just get a sitter.  Allison puts Sarah on hold to ask Johnny (her husband) to watch the kid but he says that he is a tee time booked for golf. Felix knocks on the door and Sarah tells Allison that she may have a solution.

Allison introduces Felix to her kids and they are clearly not impressed with him. Allison and Sarah head out to shoot targets.  They start to talk and Allison says that she needs to protect her family and that Beth taught her how to shoot.  Sarah asks for information about Beth and Allison says that she didn't know much about Beth but she admired her and more importantly, Beth didn't break the rules and bring her foster brother to her house. Sarah takes aim and this time she hits the targets cold. They return to Allison's neighborhood, where she tells Sarah that her bottom line is that her children cannot know that she is a freak and that they have agreed to trust her.  Sarah learns that Allison was the one who provided the money in the account and Allison points out that she could rob her blind.  Allison suggests that Sarah cannot run away from this and returns home to find her children cross dressed.  The kids begs for Felix to stay and he leaves saying, "adios dragsters."

Back at Beth's, Sarah informs Felix that the money belongs to Allison and she says that their exit plan is still the same. Paul returns home and he is angry and says that he needs a change of clothes.  Sarah tells him that she has been reinstated.  They argue and then Paul kisses her and just when things gets steamy he pulls away.  When Paul leaves, Felix comes out of hiding and suggests that Sarah does not actually want to break up with Paul. Sarah says that she has to keep her eye on the prize and get the money back from Art.

Art tells Sarah that there were two set of tire treads at the murder scene but he believes that there were three people there. He figures out that the driver of the car must have dumped the body.  Sarah points out that a body dump does not match a professional hit. Art then shows Sarah the picture of the dolls head he found. Sarah then gets a call that the stolen bike they were looking for was found in Parkdale. They head to the location where Sarah finds a bible with a passage circled.  Sarah then notices a gun through the window and knocks Art down saving his life.  Art tells her that he is fine and sends her running after the suspect.  Art calls in the shots and takes off after Sarah. Sarah gets on the phone and calls Art and she is then knocked over by he suspect who tells her that this is where it ends. Sarah calls out that she is not Beth and the suspect pulls off her mask and reveals yet another clone.  Sarah hits her new clone with a pipe and the clone drops her knife but quickly recovers and takes off, just as Art arrives.

After being cleared by EMT's, Art says that she had his back and that he should have had hers.  He then hands over the money and apologizes for holding it over her. Sarah and Felix head to Mrs.S' where Sarah watchs Kira through a window. Sarah returns to the car and tells Felix that Mrs.S is right and asks what kind of mother she is if she snatches her own daughter.  Felix says that he agrees. Sarah says that Mrs. S gave her one visit and that she has to get it right.

The clone Sarah discovered today has horrible sliced angel wings into her back.

The mystery of the clones is getting more interesting I must say. I am fascinated that one of the clone is killing all of the others and it certainly looks like there is some sort of sickness involved.  Are the clones in danger of getting ill?

I like that though all the clones are different, they are strong women in their own way.  I am however bother by the sex scenes between Paul and Sarah because it amounts to assault/ rape by deception.  He is only agreeing to be sexual with her because he believes she is Beth.

Everyone around Sarah seems to fall into the servant category.  Felix is there to listen to her problems and even babysit at the drop of the hat.  How is it that he decided to have the children cross dress? There isn't anything wrong with children choosing to dress outside of their gender but the fact that it was suggested by Felix is problematic.  He's gay so play time has to mean crossdressing? Yeah I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Then there is Raj, who we know nothing about beyond the fact that he, like Felix, seems to exist to serve Sarah. That makes to marginalized males who fall into the servant category with a straight, White woman.  The only male that remotely challenges her is Art and highly suspect that this is about to change now that she has saved his life.  I hope he continues to play hard ball though.

This is episode three and I am kind of enjoying this show.  They seem to have gotten the location set and stabilized and I can say that the show is being filmed in Toronto. I am glad that this has been fixed but it never should have been a problem in the first place.