Friday, May 20, 2016

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Six: The Scandal of Altruism


I am absolutely freaking the hell out.  Just wow. When Orphan Black decides to bring it, it's out of this world.  Did the writers just sit around and think how can we rip out the hearts of our fans and leave them gutted on the floor? Yeah, they must have because the last few minutes of The Scandal of Altruism, left me staring at the television with my mouth gaping open in awe and pain. Damn Orphan Black.

Last week, Cosima met with mommy dearest and a deal was proposed regarding trading the source material in order to attempt a cure for Leda and removing the mouth maggot from Sarah.  The downside of this is that it would give mommy dearest the genetic information needed to create another line of clones.  Given what is at stake, Cosima was partial to the idea and so floated it by Sarah who also agreed.  It's not all is smooth sailing because of course, Siobhan wouldn't be down with anything which might endanger her mother. Together they decide to approach Kendall without telling Siobhan. Once things are set in motion, Sarah drops the news on a very unhappy Siobhan, defending her decision by pointing out that this is about their lives and therefore this is their decision to make.

There are several ways in which this could wrong and chief among them as far as Cosima is concerned is giving Mommy Dearest the genome to work on Castor. When Castor clones have sex with women, it results in the infertility of their lovers. The unfortunate by product of Kendall's leukemia means that they can separate Leda genetic information from Castor. It's not the ideal situation for Mommy Dearest but she agrees to it and promises Ira that they will figure out something to save his life as well. I guess this puts a crimp in their little incestuous romance (yeah I'm still ewww about this). Mommy Dearest's only caveat is that she be there when the blood sample is withdrawn from Kendall.

Cosima is saddened by handing over her research but Scott says that if they had had enough time, they could have cracked this.  It's a great reminder of how much these two have come to mean to each other.  It's been decided that Cosima will go with Sarah to Brightborn, and then stay behind after the removal of the mouth maggot until Mommy Dearest gets the genetic information she needs from Kendall.  What could go wrong right?

There is one little glitch.  Art comes across Krystal, who is busy trying to report to the police that she needs protective custody because Dyad and Brightborn are out to get her. The sergeant at the desk clearly thinks that Krystal is off her medication. Krystal is completely in the dark about who and what she is and fortunately for her, Art runs interference for her which means Duko walks right past her. Art then takes control of the situation and brings Krsytal back to his place.  With everything going on, no one really has the time to deal with Krystal, so Siobhan enlists Felix.  Yep, he's always there to serve.  Siobhan however does throw Felix a bone and says that when this is all over, she wants him to bring his sister back because she is part of the family.

Felix shows up at Art's dressed in the most ridiculous Sherlock Holmes costume I've ever seen. When Krystal recognizes Felix, Art is quick to claim that Felix is from Scotland Yard.  Felix sits down and tells Krystal that she is right about the cosmetic companies genetic testing and she responds by pepper spraying Felix.  It's all played for comic relief but I couldn't help but think that Felix always seems to get the shaft one way or another.  Attempting to control the situation, Felix warns Krystal to leave everything for now because they are investigating.  When Krystal brings up a French doctor, Felix realises that Krystal is talking about Delphine.  Krystal reveals that the she was there when Delphine was shot.

Sarah gets the mouth maggot removed with Cosima assisting in the procedure.  Sarah asks about the purpose of the mouth maggot and Evie explains that it didn't work because Sarah is still alive. Damn that shit is cold as ice. Cosima, with clear regret hands over her research.  Sarah heads back to Felix's place and she finds Kendall's smokes on the ground in a pool of blood.  That's right, as soon Kendall left, Duko grabbed her up. Realising that something is wrong, Sarah rushes into Felix's place and destroys the samples that Scott was creating.  Mommy Dearest is appalled and is quick to deny that she is behind whatever is going on.  They head out and then find that Ira has overdosed.

As soon as Evie gets word that Mommy Dearest is out of communication, she grabs up Cosima, stopping her from getting in touch with Sarah.  Cosima is taken to a field where Kendall is sitting in a van and Duko is guarding her.  Cosima begs Evie not to do this but Evie feels that 100 years from now she will be lauded as a revolutionary and that clones are about as progressive as Betamax.  Evie gives Cosima a few precious seconds to say goodbye but Duko stops the women from embracing.  Kendall, strong until the end, advises Cosima not to cry because their captors aren't worth salt. Kendall then advises Cosima to turn her back. Duko then shoots Kendall in the head and sets the van her body is lying in on fire, thus destroying any trace of the genome.


Cosima drops to her knees in grief and Evie tosses a phone on the ground instructing her to call Sarah and tell her that this is all over now because otherwise, Beth's sacrifice was for nothing.  Being a believer in pouring salt into open bleeding wounds, Evie finishes by confirming for Cosima that Delphine is indeed dead.

Evie has been orchestrating the destruction of Leda for quite some time now, because she sees herself as Susan's replacement. Evie had set up Beth telling her that Susan is in charge of Neolution but when Beth confronted Susan, gun in hand, Susan explained that she is their creator and therefore would never hurt them.  A stunned Beth left and tracked down Evie, accusing her of treachery. Though she had a gun to her head, it doesn't stop Evie from threatening to destroy not only Beth's life but that of the other clones as well. Beth gave Evie a beat down and I couldn't help but cheer because Evie is evil as fuck.  Evie was saved by none other than Duko, who explained that yes, everything Evie promised could happen because it's happened before. It was that incident which lead Beth to commit suicide. Beth killed herself to protect M.K., Cosima and Allison. It's a final bit of closure to Beth's tragic story and it's heartbreaking.

When Sarah gets the call, she slowly raises her eyes to meet Siobhan's and from that look, Mrs. S knows her mother is dead and her eyes fill with tears.

This week we got a bit of relief from the Hendrix's and I'm actually thankful because Allison and Donnie have been getting on my last nerve.  That said, Orphan Black had Krystal for comic relief. Krystal's part of the episode really felt out of place to me and very much like a distraction. It's almost as though the writers didn't trust that the viewers could handle how heavy this episode is.  It really wasn't necessary to add Krystal because I very much feel as though this is what Orphan Black has been building to all season.

Duko is going to be a problem which needs to be dealt with.  He will greatly limit how much Art is able to help. Watching him shoot Kendall really made me hate this character and I don't care that Evie has something on him.  I haven't disliked a character this much since Ferdinand was introduced.

I don't even know where Orphan Black is going to go from here.  It's clear that the Leda clones are going to have to get into bed with Mommy Dearest at least temporarily and I have no doubt that Mrs. S, after she grieves is going to unleash hell on Evie.  Evie better run now because the clones are coming for her.

I am very much starting to get worried about Cosima.  This episode we were reminded repeatedly about the fact that Cosima is dying and if that were not enough, Evie somehow introduced a virus into Scott's database and all of their research is gone.  Cosima cannot die.  Let me say that again, Cosima cannot die. This situation does however have me thinking about Kiera and Helena's pregnancy.  We know that Helena is having twins and that what made Kendall special is that she had absorbed her male twin in utero.  Is Helena now carrying the genetic answers that they need? What about Kiera? There's something special about her as well. Was Kiera originally a twin? I very much think that in episodes to come, the importance of both Helena and Kiera is going to be highlighted.

Finally, I have to bring up Felix.  Last week we had this awesome moment of rebellion for Felix and it's quickly followed up this week by him playing dress up and dealing with Krystal.  This is the second time we have seen rebellion by Felix quickly followed up by servitude.  It makes me want to scream, "shit or get off the pot Orphan Black."  I don't want to see Felix's role reversed but I do want him to continue to resist being drafted whenever he is needed as though he doesn't have a life of his own.