Requiem: Orphan Black

It’s said all things have to come to an end. This was said by someone who has never seen Supernatural (I also heard that Last Man on Earth has been renewed for a fourth season - proof that there is no loving god). However, in most cases it is true and many of our shows, beloved, hated and, most often, a bit of both.

So we come to our first Requiem - the Requiem for Orphan Black which has ended after five fascinating series.

I have to admit that I had my doubts about Orphan Black in the first season. The first few episodes seemed very confused and the writers had difficulty committing to something as simple as a location for the show.  I can chalk that up to the ambivalence regarding Canadian television but that didn’t make it any less irritating.  Look, a Canadian show can sell abroad, particularly when it has a talent like Tatiana Maslany at the helm.  Not every Canadian show has to be like Corner Gas or the Beachcombers (shut up, I know I’m aging myself).  Five seasons later, the finale of Orphan Black is a loss of Canadian broadcasting and it will most certainly be missed.  

The Good

Tatiana Maslany. She. Is. An. Acting. Mutant. I am still not convinced she ISN’T a series of clones. Honestly this show only worked because of Tatiana Maslany. We have been in awe of this amazing woman’s unprecedented talent. I think I’ve never seen anything as impressive as Sarah pretending to be Alison pretending to be Sarah…. How? How does an actor even do that? How does an actor have a 3 way conversation with herself? How does she have actual, palpable chemistry between characters she plays? The relationship between the Sestras (especially Helena and Sarah) was deeply, powerfully moving. Tatiana Maslany needs a Scrooge McDuck style vault in her house, only instead of gold it should be just full of award statues.

Which of course made the relationships on this show amazing.

The Bad

I feel as though at times, the story become needlessly complex and got lost in its own mystery.  This lead to a less than satisfying ending in terms of cloning.  Were we really supposed to be happy that after spending all of that time watching the sestras fight Neolution that Sarah managed to easily dispatch Westmoreland?  I understand that the point is that the Clones were able to form their own sort of family at the end of the day but I certainly felt short changed in terms of Neolution and genetic experimentation.  For crying out loud, they had Kira go all mystical, introduced the Castor Clones, human augmentation that involved tails and of course monitoring. By the end, there were so many moving parts it’s as though the writers just wanted to wrap them up quickly and forget that there was supposed to be some kind of context for all of this.

Diversity

Here Orphan Black had a lot of peaks and valleys… and, let’s face it, more valleys than peaks. Over 5 season and with an enormous number of characters we have five recurring POC characters (I’m not including the Hendrix’s children in this because I bet half of you can’t remember these kid’s names without google and certainly can’t remember what they looked like). Simon Frontenac was an obedient Black assassin and… that’s summed up his character. Evie Cho was an evil Asian scientist. Which pretty much sums up her’s. We had Vic, a Latino drug dealer and… ok even writing this list is beginning to feel like “match the trope to the minority.” We had detective Angela… but I feel any storylines involving her kind of swirled into the morass.

Which leaves us with Art… I’m pretty sure he had a family at some point, I’m sure someone threatened them to make him co-operate. Did we ever actually meet his daughter? The sad thing is that Art has been part of this show since Season 1, Episode 1 and by Season 5, Episode 10 I don’t think we know any more about him than we did then. He had no real storylines of his own, was tangentially pulled into the plot because of a relationship with Beth who started the show already dead which is a somewhat convoluted and weak motive. Many times Art felt less like a character and more a useful tool, a classic token, the police contact. For a character this involved this was flat

Which applies equally to Felix. Again, present from the first episode and from day 1 he has been an overwhelmingly stereotypical Gay Best Friend (or brother in this case). He exists not just to support his sister, but ends up being the GBF to the clone club in general, especially Alison who never hesitates to push the call button and summon her gay supporter. He’s comic relief, lacks any real storylines of his own (or any development - even his art was some vague thing almost until the show ended- and even then Sarah couldn’t stay focused for five minutes) and his entire life revolved around Sarah and the Sestras. Again, this is classic tokenism and this is not positive. Similarly I would have liked to have seen more of Tony rather than just the single entry.

Thankfully we have Cosima, who is definitely one of the four most prominent clones and the core cast. She had her own definite storylines, her relationships - yes, there were issues with her and Delphine and tropes of love and deception are fraught in LGBTQ portrayals, though this was a heavy trope across the relationships. And when Delphine seemed to be murdered and the unfortunate social media response from the stars, I was ready to break things. But Delphine and Cosima came through it, rose up and were excellent; even if their plot line was closely intertwined with the really confusing science plots.

What We Would Change

The relationship between the sestras was absolutely wonderful and I loved how they worked together each offering their own strength to the whole.  Whether it’s Helena, who kept busy killing God’s creatures, or the very domestic Allison selling drugs to finance their resistance, or Cosima with her scientific research, everyone had a role to play.  Where Orphan Black fell down was in the inclusion of Krystal. Yes, I said it. That’s one clone that felt extraneous even if she did become a fan favourite.  Krystal more than any other clone simply screamed of running out of ideas.

Then we had clones like Tony which could have provided an interesting perspective but never got any real characterisation. Tony was distinct from all of the other clones and could have had a nuanced individual storyline. There’s the added bonus that expanding Tony’s character would have added to the GLBTQ inclusion. Though, yeah, I know that a cis person playing trans* is not ideal it’s complicated with the nature of the clones.

I honestly think I’d prefer more clone focus and less science leda/caster/neo-lution focus

I don’t recall seeing anything quite like Orphan Black on television before and I think that it’s because it required an actor of extreme caliber. Even though Orphan Black sometimes got in its way and become needlessly drawn out and complicated, it was never boring. It gave us sestras and clone dance parties. The writers always knew when to pause and celebrate and to remind us that no matter where we come from we all of something to offer and along the way, all of us in our time will make compromises. For a show a science fiction show, there was a lot of humanity in Orphan Black.

Favourite Clone:

Renee

Helena

Paul

Alison

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Ten: To Right the Wrongs of Many

When we last left Sarah and Helena they were in a shit ton of trouble.  Helena's water had broken just as they managed to incapacitate Virginia and escape the labour and delivery room. Given how long the sestras fought against Neolution, you'd think that this final confrontation would take up a large part of the episode but that's not what the writers decided to do.  

PT, hopped up on medical grade meth decided to take on Sarah and try to suffocate her to death with plastic.  PT managed to hold his own for a while but Sarah, being younger stronger and healthy quickly managed to kick him off of her.  PT starts ranting about Sarah and Helena being his biggest mistake and the fact that no matter what Sarah does, he'll always be a part of her because he created her.  PT is finally silenced when Sarah grabs an oxygen tank and smashes his brains in. 

Virginia finds Helena in the basement and of course is all smug about how fitting it is for Helena to give birth in the dirt.  Art walks in, relieved to find Helena, until of course Virginia gets the drop on him. Art is forced to hand over his gun. Virginia keeps her eye on the prize and demands that Art put on a pair of gloves and check to see how dilated Helena is. In the process of checking on Helena, Art notices that she has a screw driver tucked against her side to use as a weapon. Art pretends that there's something wrong with Helena and when Virginia comes to check, Art manages to disarm Virginia before pushing her in Helena's direction. Helena seizes the opportunity and uses the massive screw driver to take out Virginia.  

With PT and Virginia out of the way, there's still the matter of Helena being in labour.  Sarah joins Art and Helena in the basement and helps Helena with her labour.  Throughout this process, Sarah keeps having flashbacks to her pregnancy. In one scene, Sarah sits outside of a women's health clinic with Siobahn, debating whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.  As Helena begins to push, Sarah remembers her own labour and Siobahn holding her hand and encouraging her during her own delivery experience. Helena gives birth to two healthy boys.  So much for PT's declaration that "the future is female". 

The rest of the episode deals with the sestras trying to settle into life now that there are no more enemies to vanquish and their lives are finally their own. Sarah is the clone who has the biggest issues with the transition and that's hardly surprising given that even before she became aware of Neolution, she had difficulty being still or settling into any kind of routine. 

Now that Siobahn is gone, Sarah is solely responsible for caring for Kira and she's clearly overwhelmed.  Sarah is forced to give Kira money for lunch because once again, she's forgotten to go grocery shopping - a mundane task that Siobahn clearly always took care of.  When Felix arrives, he is shocked to find a for sale sign on the front lawn.  Sarah argues that they talked about this but it's clear that Felix isn't onside with giving up his family home just yet.  Felix even points out that Sarah has no plan for Kira who needs stability.  They don't have time to talk about it though because Sarah is going to take her GED so that she can get a job.

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Nine: One Fettered Slave

One Unfettered Slave, is the penultimate episode of Orphan Black. As the series finale draws near, I find myself nowhere close to being ready to give up my sestras.  The writers are finishing up the story line, hopefully leading to freedom for the sestras but it's come at a cost. This episode opens up with Siobahn's funeral and it's gut wrenching.  The sestras and Felix are all orphans now and so the question quickly becomes who is going to pick up the mantle left behind by S. Sarah and Felix don't have long to contemplate their lost because at S's funeral, they are informed that Helena has been taken. 

Helena

Helena is the clone I hated when she was introduced and has quickly moved to my favourite.  All of the clones have had an episode which featured their backstory and One Fettered Slave is Helena's turn. Given that Helena was raised by religious zealots who twisted her to kill sestras, there's no way that it was going to be anything but abusive. Helena is hazy from the drugs and so she flashes back to her time at a Catholic school. Helena sneaks into a nun's office to help herself to some hidden chocolate. When the nun enters the office, Helena is forced to hide. Thinking herself alone, the nun starts furiously masturbating. A fascinated Helena approaches the nun and is punished for her sinful spying. Helena's head is dunked into a bucket containing bleach and hydrogen peroxide, turning her from a brunette into the familiar blonde that we all know. It also explains why the skin under Helena's eyes is always red. Even though Helena protests that she hasn't seen anything, she's locked in a closet and told to spy in there.  A defiant Helena stuffs her stolen chocolate in her mouth. 

Helena finds what she thinks is reprieve from the closet when Tomas shows up. Tomas assures Helena that she is a very special girl and that he's looked for her for a long time. Tomas, being a Prolethean zealot, teaches Helena during her formative years about copies and originals, as well as the evils of science. 

When Helena awakens, she's in the back of a van being examined by Virginia, on her way to a lab. Mark asks about Gracie and Virginia lies, claiming that they'll be reunited after the twins are born. Helena is taken to what appears to be an operating room to start the produce of inducing labour. 

P.T. is looking a little worse for wear given all of the trials he's had recently. PT's given a shot to give him a bit of a boost so that he will have the energy to make it through Helena's labour. A re-invigorated PT pulls off his nasty wig, now past the point of pretending that he is long lived. Rachel may have exposed PT for the fraud that he is but he's not down and out yet.  PT orders Frontenac to find Hashem Al-Khatib and neutralize him. As part of cleaning up after Rachel's defection, PT is having people murdered. In full control of his facilities, PT heads to the delivery room and orders Virginia to put a rush on Helena's delivery so that he can harvest the twins fetal stem cells in order to create a treatment. PT is so impatient, he wants the babies cut right out of Helena but Virginia argues that a vaginal birth would be a better alternative. 

With the plans for the twins well under way, the next order of business as far as PT is concerned is the elimination of Mark. PT reminds Virginia that it's always been the two of them against the world.  Virginia points out that Mark is the last Castor clone left alive. PT however is not to be dissuaded and he leaves Virginia yelling, "the future is female!"  If there's was any hope of Virginia being even somewhat redeemed, it ends here. Tricking Mark into believing that he's getting an injection of the cure, Virginia actually poisons him to death.  A tired Mark lies down, takes Virginia hand and his dying words are, "good night mother."  

The petocin has done it's work and Helena is starting to have contractions. The pain causes Helena to have another flashback and this time it's to Tomas declaring that Helena is ready to go out into the world and begin her mission. Helena follows a clone into a church and stabs her viciously in the back, only to be surprised when she sees that her victim has the same face as hers.  Back with Tomas, a very upset Helena takes to her bed and bemoans her belief that she to is a copy.  Tomas then informs Helena that the others are the copies and that she is the original, reminding Helena of her uniqueness. In a bid to create some difference between herself and the clones, Helena carves wings into her back. 

In the present, Helena begs Virginia to spare her and her babies believing that Virginia might have some sympathy for her because PT took away Virginia's babies. Helena says that her babies need their mother. Virginia being the cold fish that she is, reminds Helena that she was abandoned at birth and that she killed her fellow clones, thus in Virginia's opinion, making Helena unfit to be a mother. 

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Eight: Guillotines Decide

I know we have an entire episode to cover but if I don't start off with the following, I will just explode. Dear writers of Orphan Black, I do not forgive you for what you did to Siobahn.  More than the sestras, Siobahn knew the dangers Neolution poses but in many ways, she was the glue that kept everything together and now the sestras are all truly orphans. 

Helena

Helena is still hiding out in the convent so she's seperated from the other sestras. Helena seems to welcome the arrival of Gracie, unaware that that Gracie is in cahoots with Mark and Virginia. Gracie, who will be a half sibling to Helena's children, provides a familial connection that Helena sorely needs at this moment. I believe that it's this connection that stops Gracie from admitting to Mark that she's found Helena.  Unfortunately, Virginia is not inclined to trust Gracie. 

Gracie is forced to come clean about her betrayal when Helena finds the cell phone that she used to contact Mark. Gracie pleads that Mark is sick and that Virginia promised them that she would find a cure for them. This does not drum up any sympathy from Helena. Gracie then reveals that while she did call Mark, she didn't tell him where Helena is.  Helena is clearly relieved by this but this doesn't mean that they are out of danger. Helena quickly tosses the cellphone into the toilet and makes plans with Gracie to leave because the cellphone can of course be traced. Unfortunately, Helena and Gracie don't manage to escape because they are caught by Art's new partner Maddy and a group of Neolutionists. Gracie tries to apologise for not revealing Helena's location but Maddy simply shoots her in the head. It's cold and clearly meant to inspire fear in Helena. Maddy had better quit while she's ahead because she has no idea who she is missing with when it comes to Helena. 

Rachel

Okay, Rachel is officially on the redemption train and I'm not sure that I agree given the fact that she was a sell out for so long. When we last left Rachel, she had yanked Westmoreland's fake eye out of her eye socket. Yes, it's as gruesome as it sounds. Fortunately for Rachel, Ferdinand shows up and takes her somewhere for medical attention.  When Rachel awakes, she stunned to find Ferdinand and to learn that he has been working with Siobahn.  Now we know who Siobahn's source is. 

With Rachel on the mend so to speak, Delphine and Siobahn pop by for a visit. Now that Rachel is officially persona non grata with the neolutionists, this is the first time that Rachel's interests have aligned with the sesetras and the rest of clone club.  What Siobahn and Delphine need is proof that the neolutionists are bribing foreign government officials to introduce legislation to get their populations to submit DNA, in order to aid the Neolutionists in their plan to market customized evolution to the super rich to increase lifespan. If that were not enough, anyone without the money to pay will be sterilized under Virginia's supervision. It's absolutely diabolical.  What Siobahn and Delphine want to know is if Rachel was smart enough to steal a file of the Neolutionists dirty dealings before she left. 

Rachel of course is one smart cookie and did indeed take away enough information to blow Neolution out of the water.  The files which include: names, dates and payments, are all on a flashdrive that Rachel is wearing around her neck. This information excites Ferdinand because one of his main goals has always been to become rich, especially since MK, stole the fortune he had amassed. This puts Ferdinand in conflict with Rachel because after being a prisoner for so long, the only thing she really wants is freedom. Rachel wants to release the information to the public. When Rachel hands over the flashdrive to Ferdinand, it's the empty one. 

Ferdinand goes to meet with what's left of the board. It seems that quite a few of the board members committed suicide after learning the truth about Westmoreland. A confidant Ferdinand pops the usb drive into the computer and of course, it's empty.  The board quickly realises that Ferdinand doesn't have anything on him, forcing Ferdinand to kill board members and a few guards in order to make his escape.

Orphan Black. Season Five, Episode Seven: Gag or Throttle

Orphan Black is winding down as a series which means that secrets are coming out, history is being reflected upon and sides are being chosen.  Will the sestras triumph after everything they've been through? To some degree the sestras are all having an episode which heavily focuses on them and this week, it seems that it's Rachel's turn, though I really don't see her as part of clone club. 

Cosima

With the help of Ira, Cosima managed to get off the island with Charlotte. Cosima and Charlotte navigated with a map and compass and made it safely to shore before set the boat adrift, to be found by Neolution. Cosima makes her first appearance at the hideout and is reunited with Scott. It's been a minute since these two have seen each other and the reunion is short but touching.  Cosima's first task is to have a video chat with Sarah and Allison about Dyad's plans to harvest Kira's eggs. Because Kira has just had the hormone injections that means that they have a little bit of time before the procedure is performed.  What clone club needs is something they can leverage to assure Kira's safety.  This is when Cosima reveals that truth about Westmoreland and promises to work with Scott to find out who he really is. After doing some research, Scott and Cosima discover that Westmoreland's real name is John Patrick Mathieson and that he was presumed dead in 1967.  Scott and Cosima quickly send this information to Sarah, although it isn't immediately clear to me how knowing Westmoreland's real identity is a huge bargaining chip, given all of the resources available to him.

Helena

We really haven't seen nearly enough of Helena this season. Yes, Helena who "kills Gods creatures" is easily one of my favourite clones. At any rate, Helena has been hiding out in a convent waiting to give birth to her twins.  Helena gets a visit from Gracie.  Yeah, Gracie, Mark's wife.  Grace of course is there at Mark's request. 

Mark is brought to the island wearing a cloth bag over his head and handcuffed. He's described as Virginia's guest. With Ira now dead, Mark is the last Castor clone left. It's not really a friendly reunion because Virginia wants a semen sample from Mark and is quick to remind him that he is a traitor and only alive because he's useful. The semen sample freaks me out because it makes me wonder if they are planning on using Mark's semen to fertilize Kira's eggs. Mark tries to forestall Virginia's demands by saying he has information to trade: Helena's location.  Perhaps Mark hasn't heard what happens to snitches. 

Sarah

Sarah has learned that she's got to do things differently and this becomes evident when Sarah stops S from a full on frontal assault on Dyad to free Kira. At this point, Sarah is convinced that they need to be smart and come up with a plan. When Sarah is finally able to talk to Rachel, she reveals that she knows exactly who Westmoreland is but it doesn't seem to have a big impact on Rachel who nonchalantly comments that it's nice to know P.T.'s real name. 

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Six: Manacled Slim Wrists

I know that fans of Orphan Black were freaking out when Krystal appeared on their screen.  It's fair to say that outside of the original seistras that Krystal is the favourite clone of many. For me however, Krystal is an irritant at best who took away screen time for Felix Helena and Allison, who I am far more interested in. With so little time left in the series, it feels a shame to waste it on the clone for which I have the least patience and interest. 

Krystal 

Krystal hasn't changed much since we last saw her. She's presently hard at work with her roommate Bree on V Blog about the corruption in big cosmetics. Who's surprised that this is how Krystal had been occupying her time? 

Today's lesson involves using straws as curlers and as to be expected, it doesn't end well. When Bree starts to remove the straws, a heap of her hair comes with it. Yeah, I'm not impressed that the Black chick got her hair messed up while the ever so White Krystal stayed looking on point. Dear white people, stop messing with our hair. 

Krystal immediately assumes that Bree has been poisoned and decides that to invoke clone club. Krystal's assertions are blown off as nonsense by both Art and Sarah, until her interactions with Blue Zone Cosmetics , a company recently purchased by Dyad, is revealed. Effectively, the writers have retroactively made Krystal right about Neolution to jam her irrelevant, irritating character into the plot. 

Now they need to find out if Dyad is interested in Blue Zone Cosmetics because of  LIN28A. The plan is for Sarah to masquerade as Krystal to pump information from Blue Zone Cosmetics CEO Len.  At this point in the story, I started getting excited for another round of clone playing a clone but alas, it was not to be. 

Of course, Krystal being Krystal, just had to wreck a perfectly good plan by deciding that she didn't want anyone, "particularly that Australian girl" (read: Sarah) messing with her source. I suppose Art and Sarah should be thankful that Krystal set up surveillance for them to listen in and see what's happening when she meets with Len. 

The word subtle seems not to be in Krystal's vocabulary.  Despite being told not to make out with Len, she jumps on him passionately.  When Art and Sarah ask her to bring up Dyad, shes broaches the subject like an elephant entering a china shop. Len of course claims ignorance as to Dyad's true goals.

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Five: Ease for Idle Millionaires

Ease of Idle Millionaires is absolutely a Cosima centric episode. It seems to me that as we prepare for the finale showdown, Orphan Black is going to center on each clone individually and remind us of their strengths and what makes them who they are. Cosima may have landed in a rough place, but does anyone actually doubt that she'll be able to to make her escape? 

Sarah 

We actually only spend a little bit of time this week with Kira, Sarah and Mrs. S. As we always expected Kira, the unexpected second generation, is the key to this all.  Unfortunately because Kira is only a little girl, there's much she cannot be told and much quite simply that she cannot understand. Like all children, Kira is highly inquisitive and resentful of adult conversations from which she has been excluded, even if it is for her own good.  Having acknowledged that the connection Kira has with all clones is real, Sarah really needs to tap into this and understand how and why this works. The only way for Sarah to get Kira to willingly give up the information is to start her early introduction to Clone Club, a move that Mrs. S most certainly does not agree with.  The introduction turns into mother and daughter bonding time, with Kira giving the clones code names. I'm not sure that elephant for Rachel works all that well though. 

While Sarah is busy bonding and prying information out of Kira, Mrs. S heads to the lab and instructs them to look into men who may have died in the 1950's - the time that neolution underwent a revival. Finally, someone is thinking about the obvious.  There's no damn way that Westmoreland is 170, they didn't have the science back then. 

Rachel

Rachel doesn't have much of a role to play this week, though she does manage to assert her dominance over Susan, like the power hungry asshole that she is. Actually, at this point, I don't like either Susan or Rachel, so it's hard to root for either one of them to end up ahead. The reunion between mother and daughter isn't at all pleasant, so I suppose it's a good thing that Ira hid the knives first. Susan knows all to well that as much as Rachel would like to be rid of her, her input is vital.  Rachel, who isn't one to be cowed, jabs Susan in her still healing wound and makes it clear that corporate, which she controls, will be in charge of the science. Really Rachel? How is that possible when you know so little about science?

As a reward for her good behaviour, Westmoreland gives Rachel the treatment that Cosima came up with to help deal with the genetic flaws in the Leda clones. 

Cosima

The real action happens on the island this week. The writers spent a lot of time on the science and at times it's to the detriment of the plot. Not being a science geek myself, despite many years watching science fiction, hearing “Lin28A” repeatedly didn't actually do lot for me, nor did hearing about the manipulation of Aiesha's tumor actually cause me to invest more in the plot. I'm also just a little bit confused by all the work to seemingly humanise Cosima this week, which is something that I don't think that was really needed, given that they've spent five years fleshing out who she is as a character and what she will and will not stand for. My only real frustration is the ongoing relationship with Delphine. Okay fine, do all the booing and hissing that you want. I will acknowledge that Delphine is working behind the scenes to keep her promise to Cosima to find answers but that doesn't make her any less manipulative.  I'm not one who is in denial about the fact that this relationship, no matter how much fans seem to love it, is based on lies. 

Just as she promised, Cosima is following the science. To that end, Cosima decides to get DNA from the tooth of Westmoreland's badly treated science experiment. Cosima however is interrupted by the people of Revival because it's been discovered that a resident has been killed. At this point, none of the residents of Revival are buying for a minute that the predator in the woods is a bear and they are determined to kill it, despite Mud's protests. Mud explains to Cosima that at one point, Wesmoreland's failed experiment had his own room at the house and wasn't always this vicious. Apparently, this is what happens to a person when a few experiments go wrong. While chatting with Mud, Cosima sees Delphine arrive.  Rather than heading to speak with Cosima, Delphine rushes to the big house.

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Four: Let the Children and Childbearers Toil

Figuring out what is going on with Neolution has been like putting together the pieces of a puzzle which are all the same colour. We've never really known who all the players are and how they are related to each other. All we've really known is that this is science based, and that all the elements are looking for power and to change the path of human history.  With the arrival of PT Westmoreland, we are now finally getting into the inner chamber of Neolution and a closer look at the competing individual aspirations.  PT Westmoreland is like a marionette master as he manipulates people to tackle the same problem from different angles, all benefiting him in the end.  I'm predicting right now that the series finale will absolute include the end of Westmoreland's allegedly long life. 

Susan

Yes, I know we all thought that we saw the last of Susan when Rachel got with the stabbing in last years season finale but as it turns out, Westmoreland still has work for her to do and so she was saved. Even though Susan survived Rachel's attack, she's not pleased with Westmoreland because she believes that he turned Rachel against her. Really? It has nothing to do with the years of lies, manipulation and Rachel's own desire for power? Westmoreland however does offer up a peace offering in the form of Ira. Am I the only one who is creeped out by the idea of Ira and Susan as a couple? 

Once Ira and Susan are alone, the info dropping starts.  Ira's got his back up a bit because he's clearly jealous of long history between Susan and Westmoreland. Susan explains that while she agrees wholeheartedly with Westmoreland's objectives, she hasn't always agreed with the means he chose to achieve them. Of course Susan is alluding to Virginia and Castor.  Susan responded by having Virginia placed in a mental institution to keep her away from Westmoreland (more on that later). Susan however does believe that Westmoreland may have made a breakthrough with Kira.

When Susan gets Westmoreland alone, Susan takes the opportunity to throw shade at Rachel, as a hidden Ira listens in. Susan makes it clear that she believes that Rachel is far too messed up to have such a prominent position and inquires about getting access to the research Rachel has collected on Kira. Westmoreland clearly sees through Susan's attempt to unseat Rachel and so he grants her request for access but keeps Rachel in her seat of power for now. Westmoreland is going to play Susan and Rachel against each other just as he played Virginia and Susan against each other. As long as the women are fighting each other, they're too busy to keep track of what Westmoreland is up to. Considering that both Virginia and Susan are scientists, they really should have been to smart to fall for such an obvious play. 

Sarah

Sarah is still extremely upset that Kira has shut her out and won't discuss what's being done to her at Dyad, in any real detail.  Things come to a head when Sarah discovers a nasty cut on Kira's arm. It turns out however that the wound was self inflicted because Kira wanted to know how long it would take to heal.  The fact that Kira self harmed and was not in fact by Rachel, doesn't assuage Sarah's fears in the least little bit, furthermore; knowing that Kira has to return to Dyad in three days further inflames Sarah's maternal concerns. It turns out that they still have some cards to play because Mrs. S has a lead to follow. We all know that this lead stems from Siobhan's little visit with Delphine. Mrs. S arranges for Felix to take care of Kira which he agrees to do, even though he has an art show coming up. Yes, I get that this is life and death but Felix is never given the opportunity to pursue his own interests because he always has to put clone club first.  

Mrs. S and Sarah set up a sting on Dr. Elizabeth Perkins, by posing as mother and daughter.  Apparently, Perkins is in town to do some case studies and she has a meeting with Alex Ripley, a high-level Neolution defector, who is potentially being held against her will at a nearby mental health facility.  Mrs. S and Sarah stage a fight, with Sarah throwing a drink in Siobhan's face, using the argument as a distraction for Sarah to steal Perkins wallet.  Seeing that Siobhan is upset, Perkins, who doesn't exactly have a healthy relationship with her own daughter, invites Siobhan to sit down and have a drink to calm down. While Siobhan and Perkins chat, Sarah looks through the wallet and snags some ID.  Sarah stages yet another scene to return the wallet and give Siobhan an exit from her little chat with Perkins.  

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Three: Beneath Her Heart

For much of Orphan Black the Hendrixs have been the comic relief.  While dealing with Neolutionists, Allison has attempted to uphold the facade that she's just another suburban WASP. This means she's taken her kids to soccer games, participated in community theater, volunteered at her church and even run for local office.  Trapped in what many would think of as suburban hell, Allison has always sought to maintain her image and exert power wherever possible.  However, the truth of the matter is that despite everything that's going on, Allison's world is very very small.  At best, she's been a big fish in a tiny pond and in Beneath Her Heart, the realities of Allison's life and past are explored. 

Beneath Her Heart begins with a flashback to the Hendrixs hosting a dinner part with Aynsley and Chad (could there be two more WASP names?) as their guests. It's about as typical as you would expect, with Allison refusing to share her desert recipe while fielding calls from Beth.  It's an early sign of Allison trying to hold her life together, even as the clone world is trying to intervene. Allison is in complete denial and makes it clear that she won't even say the C word. Since we are talking about Allison, the C word of course means clone. 

With the desert finished and the dishes cleared away, the Aynsley and Chad suggest that they shake things up a bit.  This quickly weirds the Hendrixs out because they clearly assume that their friends mean sexually.  It turn out Aynsley and Chad have brought some mushrooms.  Allison is reluctant at first but she takes the plunge, leaving a sober Donnie to watch over his wife and friends.  Of course, as soon as Allison is higher than a kite, this is when Cosima shows up. It seems that Beth thought that meeting another Leda clone would bring Allison on side. This is the first meeting between Cosima and Allison. Because Cosima is just so naturally zen, she realises that Allison is high but doesn't make a big deal out of it. 

Aynsley and Allison end up at the front lawn looking at the stars wrapped in blankets. Allison starts to wonder if her life in suburbia is all there is for her. She actively thinks of all the things that she could have done instead of serving mini pizzas and playing chauffeur to the kids. It's a great reminder of exactly why Aynsley and Allison were friends and why letting Aynsley die continues to haunt her.

In the present, things haven't become any easier for Allison.  Donnie and Allison get a visit from Mr. Frontenac, demanding to know Helena's whereabouts. Frontenac makes it clear that of all the clones, he thinks that Allison is the most expendable.  Cosima is a scientist, Sarah and Helena are both fertile and Helena's unborn twins have shown remarkable abilities to heal themselves.  There's also Kira, who has special skills. Because Allison is supposedly just a housewife, she doesn't have much power or much to barter with as far as Frontenac is concerned. Frontenac makes it clear that Allison had better have a good long think about exactly how valuable she is.

It's time for M.K.'s memorial which Allison watches via skype.  Allison is upset that she was unable to do anything to save MK. The clones decide with everything going on to just take it easy for the day.  Sarah ends up spending time with Felix sulking when Kira makes it clear that she doesn't want her mother to come to Dyad with her. 

With no official clone business to take care of, Allison heads to the Church Fall fair which she is not running this year. It doesn't take long for Allison to have a little run in with Nona Walker, who has been selected to run it.  Naturally, Allison is not down with this at all and so she pours several lorazapam pills into a bottle of ice tea and gives the bottle to Nona, claiming that it's a reconciliation drink. Before Nona can down it however, the minister pops by and starts talking about moving forward. Allison's conscience kicks in and she grabs the bottle before Nona can drink it. 

Allison conscience is picked at again when she runs into Chad and his kids. It seems that Chad blames himself for his wife's death, saying that if Aynsley hadn't kicked him out for cheating, he would have been there to save her.  We all know that Aynsley died because Allison didn't stop the garbage disposal when Aynsley's scarf got stuck in it. Allison also only had an affair with Chad to get back at Aynsley because she thought that Aynsley was her monitor at the time. 

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode Two: Clutch of Greed

There's a lot happening in this second episode of the final season. Our favourite clones are in a lot of danger and though they've been in precarious situations before, because this is the final season, the writers have amped up the situation and now the struggle for autonomy is quite literally between life and death, as at least one clone discovers this week. Central to the story line is who the Leda clones are and what there purpose is.  Rachel believes that at least for her, it's to lead humanity down a different road genetically; whereas, Cosima isn't interested in being a subject in petri dish.  Kira may not be a clone herself but being a daughter of one makes her connected.  Kira may be young but she's reached the point where she's unwilling to run and wants some answers.  Rachel sees Kira's search for the truth as a betrayal because it means that Kira's willing to go with Rachel.  Helena, perhaps the fiercest clones, is going to save her babies at all costs. 

Cosima

Cosima and Charlotte are in Revival and seem to be settling in. This however doesn't mean that Cosima is ready to take the mystery vitamins that they are given with their food. The first chance Coisma gets, she decides to speak to Aisha about her illness. Cosima learns that Aisha was told by PT that she has a Wilms Tumour. Cosima has to pretend that she's educating the kids when Mud interrupts to say that PT wants to see her. 

This is a huge reveal for Orphan Black because PT is behind the creation of everything. PT's home really screams about how relevant he sees Cosima because it's filled with animal skeletons stuffed under glass. Cosima is just another one of his experiments over his very long life. There are pictures of Westmoreland with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1894. PT credits his long life to his unique genetics and of course Neolution and suggests with luck the same could be true for Cosima.  I don't know about you, but I began hearing Queen's Who Wants to Live Forever in my brain. Westmoreland kind of reminds me of Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Westmoreland reports that the results of Cosima's treatment seems promising and suggests that she might want to stay and follow the science after she is cured. It's clear that this isn't as much an invitation, as an order. 

Allison

Last week, Allison was abducted by Engers when Donnie abandoned her while Helena was out killing God's creatures. Yes, I'm still so much in love with that line. Allison has been taken home and she's being guarded by Engers and her unwilling accomplice Art.  Rather than fretting about her situation however, Allison is more concerned that she's been usurped as the chair person of her church's fall fair.  Yes, it's typical Allison. 

Helena

I know it's bizarre but Helena, though she is creepy as all get out, has become my favourite clone.  Last week, my big rallying cry was save Helena's babies. As promised, Donnie has taken Helena to the hospital. Fortunately, the surgery was a success and the tree branch has been removed from Helena's womb, though the doctors are still concerned that at least one of the twins might still be in danger. Helena is immediately concerned when the nurse talks about bringing in a neo-natal specialist to talk to her, causing Donnie to promise that neo doesn't mean what Helena thinks it does. Helena is super suspicious and resistant to having a nurse examine her and so it's Donnie who has to pull down her blankets.  It's a sign of how far they've come that this scene is actually somewhat tender. 

When an ultra sound reveals that the wounded twin is actually quite fine, this fascinates the Doctor, who at this point I'm starting to believe is a secret Neolutionists.  The Doctor decides that Helena needs an amniocentesis, thus setting off alarm bells for Helena. Helena whispers to Donnie that she is going to escape and warns him that on pain of death that the only person he can tell where she is is Sara. Donnie is then taken away by security, who want to interview him regarding Helena's injuries. The moment she's alone with the doctor,  Helena stabs the doctor with the amniocentesis needle.  It is brutal and violent, yet somehow funny.  It speaks of how far Helena has come that her violence is now acceptable and we root for her to succeed. Helena makes her escape from the room with her bare arse hanging out, in what proves to be the funniest moment of the episode.

Orphan Black, Season Five, Episode One: The Few Who Dare

This is it, the final season of clone club and I don't want it to end. These characters have grown so much in the last five years and though they started out as strangers, they are absolutely family now. Neolution is kicking their arses and they are desperate to get some answers and find a way to survive. 

Allison and Helena

Let's start with Allison and Helena because they are absolutely my favourite paring. The Hendrixs decided to take shelter in a provincial park, complete with roll away luggage. You can bet Allison packed her crafting supplies just in case something needs a touch of glitter. Felix has tasked the Hendrixs to stay put and keep an eye on Helena. Naturally, Allison isn't going to listen to Felix and so she orders Donnie to start packing up their things.

Surprisingly, Donnie is doing much better in the wilderness than Allison and he has even learned to communicate in bird calls with Helena.  When Helena sees people walking through the woods she does the emergency loon call. Coward that Donnie is, he quickly hides when he sees the men and watches as Allison is captured. 

Allison is stuffed into a van and brought to Art and his new supposedly misogynist partner Detective Engers.  Engers makes it clear to Allison that she has promised not to harm a single hair on a clones head but she is determined to bring them all in.  Engers asked about Donnie and Helena and Allison responds, "Helena was out murdering God’s creatures and my husband abandoned me". Engers is not satisfied and wants to know what the back up plan is.  When Allison doesn't answer, Engers assaults Art and puts a gun to his head.  Allison professes that she doesn't know and fortunately for Art, Engers believes her. Since Allison doesn't have any information to give she's taken home to wait for her fellow clones to be gathered up. 

While Allison is being questioned, in the woods, Donnie grabs their luggage and heads to their vehicle.  Before Donnie can get away, he is stopped by yet another neolutionists.  It seems this season there are more neolutionists than there are fleas.  Fortunately for Donnie, Helena sneaks up on the Neolutionists, causing him to drop his gun when she jumps on his back and puts him in a choke hold. Donnie knocks the neolutionist out with one punch but when Helena goes to stand up, she cannot because she's been stabbed in the stomach by a tree branch and is bleeding. Donnie promises to get to Helena to the hospital and she informs him that one of her babies has been hit.  Dear writers, you better save Helena's babies. I'm not playing around on this one. 

Cosima

I go back and forth between wanting Cosima and Delphine to be a couple and for Cosima to kick Delphine to the curb permanently. From the very beginning of their relationship, Delphine has lied to Cosma. I don't doubt that the two women have feelings for each other, it just seems that so much of their relationship is based on deception.

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Ten: From Dancing Mice to Psychopaths

The fourth season finale was a little bit underwhelming as far as I am concerned. Sure, it had the reunion of Cosima and Delphine and set the stage for season five, which will be Orphan Black's last but it all felt somewhat anticlimactic to me.  We all know that Sarah isn't going to die and that Mrs. S is going to find a way to deal with Ferdinand once and for all.  Shall we have at it?

Let's start with Helena because her role in this episode like much of the season was small.  Helena is now back in her wooded hide away with the Hendrixes and as to be expected, Allison is not doing well with the adjustment.  Donnie blames Helena's cooking and even without eating it or tasting it, I think that he's probably right.  Helena just wants to help and even offers to kill Evie but Sarah and Mrs. S advise her to stay where she is for now.  Awwww, I want more Helena.  I am not pleased with the way that she has been sidelined this season.

Now to the meat of the matter so to speak.  On the island, Cosima and Mommy Dearest are pleased that the fertilized egg has lead to a scientific breakthrough.  Cosima gets online to tell Mrs. S, Sarah and Kira that at last, she's got a cure. The celebration doesn't last long because Cosima quickly finds that she's locked out of the system and that her connection to the outside world has been severed. This of course is Mommy Dearest's handy work. No way was so actually going to do anything for her Leda Clones when she can get busy making more clones.

Evie Chow has been handed her walking papers by Neolution by unwisely chooses to resist, pointing out that the current PR disaster is not her fault.  It's quickly evident that Evie falsely believed that her contribution to Neolution was more important than it is.  For her trouble, Evie has her implant activated by none other than Dr. Ian Van Lier, her mentor and now replacement.  As the announcement of Dr. Ian Van Lier taking over the company goes public, he is recognized by none other that Crystal, who remembers him as the man who swooped in and saved Delphine after she had been shot.

Crystal thinks she is in the know and gets in contact with Felix, who pretends to be a secret agent. Crystal is no longer buying Felix's fake identity and so Felix has no choice but to bring her into clone club. Upon meeting Sarah however, Crystal is not convinced that she is a clone, pointing out that she is a ten while Sarah is a seven on her best day. Oh Crystal.  Crystal the most empty headed clone to date is convinced that there's a battle going on between Estee Lauder and a “Swedish company” called Neolution. That's it, no clone club for Crystal ever.

Sarah then pretends to be Crystal and confronts Dr. Ian Van Lier at a press conference. Sarah and Mrs. S hold Lier at gunpoint around the corner and she realises that mommy dearest never had any intention of handing over the cure for Cosima.  Back at the comic shop, Sarah decides to go after Cosima.  When Mrs. S asks to come along, Sarah says that has to do this alone.  As the only one who is immune, if she doesn't get the cure to Cosima, she's destined to watch all of her sisters die.  It's quite a statement and makes a massive impact.

While Sarah figures out how to get Ira to arrange for her to head to the island, Rachel is busy making big moves. What? You thought that Rachel would remain on team good? She's far too ambitious for that.  After some sexy times with Ferdinand, Rachel meets with the board and suggests that they move the corporation someplace where they will absolutely own all of the clones they create, allowing them to place implants inside each of them. Rachel adds, “If we want to know if our lab rats’ tails will grow back, we damn well will cut them off and see". Damn, Rachel is cold.

With the boards support, Rachel heads to the island to confront Mommy Dearest.  Susan feels that Rachel is in over her head and has betrayed all of the Leda Clones as well as herself.  Rachel however cannot be talked down and believes that she is fulfilling her destiny to follow Susan. When Rachel gets a vision of a swan in her eye, she grabs a knife and attacks Mommy Dearest.

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Nine: The Mitigation of Competition

The Mitigation of Competition was the penultimate episode of season four and OMG.  The writers are going to do me in.  I think I need a fan and a moment.  Jeesh. Evil Evie is now playing the role of hometown hero by opening Brightborn headquarters in her her declining hometown.  Things are looking up for her because she now has the approval of Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) of Health Canada for testing.  At this point, she seems unstoppable. Things do not look good for clone club though they have all agreed to work together.  Rachel and Sarah have the whole the enemy of my enemy is my friend thing going on but it's clear that they cannot stand each other.

Rachel absolutely has not forgiven Sarah for putting a pencil in her eye though thanks to that little mishap, Rachel is having visions which she believes are the result of someone trying to tell her something.  Rachel keeps seeing a swan being chased by lumberjack style men.  The swan is then captured and decapitated. At this point, I have to admit that I have no idea what the message means beyond the fact that the Leda clones are in danger but given that they been in a constant danger since the beginning, I'm not sure what the urgency is.

Rachel and Sarah clearly have different styles and this leads them to clash.  Rachel has found out that two mothers left the Brightborn Institute after finding out about genetic manipulation on the children they were carrying. It's never really explained how Rachel learned about this.  With Trina's help, Sarah and Art manage to track down Kendra, whose baby has been born blind.  Kendra is reluctant to trust Art and Sarah at first but then she shows them a video of a baby being euthanized after being born with defects.  Art and Sarah want Kendra to come with them and they argue that the video alone will not be enough to get Evie but Kendra is rightfully worried about her safety.  Rachel, who clearly doesn't believe in the virtue of patience, decides to call Kendra and threaten her using the fact that she knows the location of Kendra's other son against her.  Right on cue, Neolution assassins break in and while Sarah and Art deal with them, Kendra slips out the door right into Ira's car.  Naturally Sarah is pissed when she realises what happened.

A pissed of Rachel confronts Ira about Rachel, sure that Rachel only wants to use Kendra to get her position of power back at Neolution. Rachel actually surprises me by acting like a decent human being for a change and uses the video plus her knowledge of where Kendra is to trick Evie into admitting that Brightborn euthanized infants and then sending the video of Evie's confession and the video Kendra took to the media.  Suddenly, things no longer look good for Evie. Clone powers activate (yeah that's a reference to the Wonder Twins hush).

Donnie is out on remand and the first thing he wants to do is have sex.  I'm not a prude at all but something about Donnie and Allison having sexy times creeps me the hell out.  Allison is not initially interested because she is having a crises of faith. Though Allison is playing Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar she doesn't feel  able to pray. Allison's religious side is something new but I suppose at some point all of the drug dealing, violence and murder had to catch up to the suburban mom. They end up having sex which really I could have done without, especially given that Donnie wanted to be told that he ran the cell block. With the sex over, Allison wants to run away and so they decide to head to Niagara Falls because Donnie cannot cross the border, having handed over his passport as a part of his bail agreement.

The Hendrixs start packing and who should up but the dude who accosted Donnie while he was in jail. He hold a gun to Donnie's head and Allison immediately starts praying. In Orphan Black's world, the answer to prayers is Helena, who promptly uses a bow and arrow to take out the threat in a moment of absolute awesomeness. God, I've missed the hell out her and I never thought I would say that.

All in all, Orphan Black brought the awesome this week.  Even Susan and Cosima working together was amazing and I loved Cosima pointing out that the founder of Neolution was a racist who thought poverty was some sort of genetic defect. I loved Cosima calling out Susan on continuing this path, even though Susan tried to make excuses for her actions.

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Eight: The Redesign of Natural Objects

The Hendrixs are back and as expected, Donnie is not doing great in jail.  He does manage to find himself a seat at chow time, only to quickly start running his mouth about why he was arrested, posing like he's hard. It's obvious right from the start that Donnie is going to be someone's bitch. He's not in prison a New York minute before he realises that Neolution has someone on the inside waiting for him.

Allison looks completely out of place in the visitor waiting are but luckily for her, Felix's sister is a lawyer though she is on suspension.  It looks like once again, Felix has come through in a pinch. Felix does however warn Allison not to tell Adele too much because she's not in the loop yet. Somehow, I think that Adele is on Evie's payroll because her appearance just feels suspicious. While visiting, Allison learns that her beloved Donnie is in trouble when he points out the Neolutionist who's giving him the hard eye. Unfortunately for Donnie, he was arrested on a Friday which means that he will have to wait until Monday for a bail hearing, thus leaving him at the mercy of the Neolutionist.

After leaving the prison, Allison heads to see Duko, who proposes that Allison drop a dime on Sarah, promising that if she does so, he will leave her family alone.  Allison swears up and down that she doesn't know where Sarah is but Duko isn't buying it.  What Allison doesn't know is that she is being watched by Mrs. S, who followed Duko with the clear intent of taking his ass out.  Duko never should have messed with Siobhan.

Allison then heads to the church where she is so flustered she actually swears in front of a priest. In desperation, Allison calls the comic shop to find out where Sarah is but Felix claims that Sarah is out though she is sitting right next to him.  It's clear that with Donnie in prison, Allison is compromised and they're not sure if they can trust her right now, though Felix is certain that Allison is not a rat. Allison however does manage to convince Felix to come to her practice session for Jesus Christ Superstar.

Duko isn't done with Allison yet. He actually shows up at the practice session and hands her a phone. Donnie explains that unless Allison reveals where Sarah is, the Neolutionts is going to put a shiv through his eye.  In desperation, Allison tells Duko about the comic shop. Nooooooooooo Allison, don't do it.

Allison goes back to her rehearsal, even as Donnie is struggling with the Neolutionist in prison.  It's really a bizarre montage to watch. Duko is certain that he has the upper hand when he walks into the comic shop, only to find out that he has been set up.  He's quickly taken out and forced to call the prison and call off the hit on Donnie.  Felix receives a text that Donnie is in the clear and gives Allison the thumbs up sign, causing her to throw herself into her performance.

Sarah was there for Allison this week, even snarking that genetics are thicker than water.  She's still very much suffering from a hangover but her sisters need her.  M.K. reaches out and though Sarah is not impressed that M.K. used Kira as her way in, Sarah lets M.K. back into clone club.  M.K. picked up on Susan's conversation with Evie Cho last week and reveals that Evie's plan is to let the non aware clones die but to take out the self aware ones like Sarah and Cosima.  M.K. gives up everything she has managed to find on Duko thus far.  When M.K. ends the call, she coughs up blood into her hand. Clearly, getting back in touch with her sisters has little to do with altruism.

Mrs. S uses Sarah's distraction to grab her gun and head out. Siobhan may have forgiven the clones for their role in Kendall's death but that doesn't mean she isn't going to get her pound of flesh. Sarah is in a video conference with Mommy Dearest and Cosima when she is interrupted by Kira, who totally rats out Mrs. S. Sarah heads to see Art to explain what is going on and he wisely points out that killing a cop would bring down the heat, even if Duko is dirty as all get out.

When they do finally capture Duko, it's Mrs. S who tortures him to get the information that they need. It seems that Evie is planning on putting her bots into millions of people but Duko doesn't know why.  Duko explains that he is only involved because Neolution threatened his niece and that he took money to keep her safe.  Duko may have a reason for what he did but Mrs. S is well past caring. Mrs. S goes calmly to her fun and informs Duko that she is doing this for her mother, before shooting him dead. There's a part of me that couldn't help but wonder if Duko wouldn't have been more use alive but the scene with Mrs.S was awesome.

Orphan Black, Season Four, Episode Seven: The Antisocialism of Sex

After last week's explosive episode, there's tons of fallout and emotions to process before the clones can even begin to contemplate a way forward and no one is spared. Cosima and Sarah in particular are riddled with guilt for their decision to partner with Mommy Dearest, which led the death of Kendall. Cosima in particular is also grieving after being told that Delphine is dead. Sarah is not only feeling horribly guilty about the loss of Kendall, she is haunted by the ghost of Beth.

Sarah decides that she needs to numb the pain and heads to a bar where she runs into none other than Dizzy.  After getting incredibly drunk, she decides to go home with Dizzy, and use sex to numb her pain. Dizzy however isn't nearly as into it as Sarah and actually confesses that Ed Capra, the body Beth caught in the season premiere was a friend of his.  This is the reason that Dizzy decided to get involved with the clones.  When Sarah starts to suck on his finger, Dizzy notices that her mouth maggot is gone.  That's enough for Sarah to decide that sex isn't going to happen and she storms out of his apartment calling him a wanker.  I am glad that sex didn't happen because Sarah was in no state of mind to consent and I wish that Dizzy had stopped their interactions for that reason rather than going into confession mode and then trying to ply information out of Sarah.  I think it would have made a great point about consent.

In her moment of distress, Sarah heads to the go train tracks. At this point, I'm a bit confused. When Beth chose to throw herself in front of a train, she did so at a subway station and not the go train tracks.  Is the possibility of suicide by train enough to entail following in Beth's footsteps?  At any rate, it's Felix to the rescue.  Kira, who is sensitive to all of the emotions the clones feel informs Siobhan  that her mother is following Beth's footsteps and that if someone doesn't stop her, they won't see Sarah again.  Even as Felix tries to talk her down, Sarah continues seeing images of Beth, saying that they need to come together as one.  I absolutely felt the pain of both Sarah and Beth but at no time did I ever feel that Sarah was in real danger, particularly after having Felix argue that Beth is the glue which holds them altogether.  I don't know that I have thought about it that way before but it seems that the self aware clones have always had at least one of them guiding the way and it's a hard job to have.  The next day when Sarah returns home, Siobhan puts a plate of food in front of her, signalling that a peace has been made but neither of the two women say a word.

Cosima has reached a point of desperation. Not only is the woman she loves dead, any hope that she had of a cure died with Kendall.  Scott tries to tell Cosima not to give up hope, suggesting that together they will find something but with all of the data gone, Cosima doesn't see a path forward. Cosima does however have an ace in the hole in the form of the Sarah's mouth maggot which she managed to steal from Evie's desk last week. Cosima wonders if the the mouth maggot,whose purpose was to make Sarah sick, could possible change her DNA to make her better.  Cosima believes that though the risk is huge, the reward would be just as big, thus making it a viable option. When Scott heads upstairs for a food break, Cosima seizes her chance and locks him out of the basement. A frantic Scott bangs on the door but Cosima will not be stopped.  As she cuts a whole in her cheek to create a home for the mouth maggot, Scott attempts a new strategy and he calls Felix to intervene.

Wow, Felix is on full service duty today.  While in the cab desperately trying to find Sarah, Felix informs Cosima that Krystal (yes, our not bright clone) did discover something in her investigation. Yes, Krystal saw that Delphine was shot but she also saw someone scoop Delphine up and Delphine was still breathing. This is the first bit of real hope that Cosima has had in quite some time.  A crying Cosima thanks Felix and puts down the mouth maggot. I would really love it if Orphan Black brought back Delphine.

Believe it or not, Cosima actually had the happiest ending of all the clones.  Allison breaks into tears while writing a condolence not for Siobhan. It's clear that her can do attitude is starting to crack.  Donnie tries to encourage her to talk but Allison puts on her super mom hat and decides instead to focus on the sleep over she has planned for her daughter's birthday party.  Allison is in complete super mom mode, making sure everything is perfect when there's a knock on the door.  As soon as Allison opens the door, the cops burst in lead by none other than Duko. with a warrant for Donnie's arrest. It's actually hilarious to watch as the cops stomp on balloons, trying to wrangle up the children and get Donnie into handcuffs.  This is not how a slumber party hosted by none other than Allison should end. Adding final insult to injury. Duko hands Allison his card stating that now that Kendall is dead, that they need to stay in touch. Yes, the same Duko who had a confrontation with Art this week and revealed that Neolution/Evie know that Art and Sarah are a team, that he has helped the Hendrixes, and put a cell phone in Maggie Chen's hand after Beth shot her. Someone needs to take Duko out.

 We move onto Rachel, who as usual, is still looking out for herself. Rachel finally manages to make her way upstairs and is greeted by Mommy Dearest, who welcomes her to the island of Dr. Moreau. Mommy Dearest is also in the dumps about the death of Kendall, thus causing her to finally begin spilling Neolution secrets. Neolution actually began in the Victorian era when a wealthy industrialist decided that he wanted to make a better human.  This actually fits given the ideas about breeding, genealogy etc from that time period. These are after all a people who refused to look at society structurally and instead saw things like poverty as personal failing which could be bred away. These are the same people who saw disability as a defect and went about sterilizing disabled people without their express permission. Just as Mommy Dearest built on the  work of the Industrialist and replaced him, Evie is now doing the same to her and Susan is far from pleased.

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.