Previously: Rachel receives eye surgery abroad; Cosima suspects Shay of being the mole that told Castor about the Dr. Moreau notes, but it was really Gracie; Rudy’s starting to glitch; Mrs. S. wants to kill the Castor original, especially after she discovers her own mother is Castor, by virtue of having a second cell line when she absorbed a twin in the womb.
Season 3 is in the books! It’s kind of nice to have an Orphan Black episode to end on a hopeful note instead of its usual heart-stopping cliff-hangers. Because, after this season, I think we all need warm hugs in the snow.
Clone Club Chronicles
Thanks to Art, Cosima and Scott have set up shop in an abandoned building. Sarah, Felix, and Mrs. S. have brought back Kendall to be scienced on in the squatter’s lab. Scott helpfully fills in the blanks on why the Leda clones don’t look like Kendall: chimera express genes differently than its component genes would when isolated.
Also filed under solved mysteries: Kendall explains how Sarah ended up with Mrs. S. A few years after he first retrieved samples from Kendall, Ethan Duncan returned to ‘fess up about what he had done. He also knew of a clone lost in the foster system, whom he’d steer in Mrs. S.’s direction in return for her connections to keep hidden — and for Kendall to give Mrs. S. a part of herself, sort of as a second chance at their relationship.
Speaking of second chances at relationships, Cosima’s trying to patch things up with Shay, who’s rightfully so not over Delphine barging into her home to threaten to kill her and make it look like a suicide. But when Cosima questions Shay’s military past, Shay turns the tables on Cos not being forthcoming, and Cos still refuses to share all her secrets with Shay. WELL, DUH — y’all have been dating for like two weeks. SIT DOWN, SHAY.
Speaking of ladies who have been in relationships with Cosima, Delphine receives another visit from Ferdinand, who wants the Castor original to move up within Topside and have the upper hand on Delphine. Sarah shows up as a surprise guest to offer Ferdinand a deal (and to let him know they’ve met before, but not how he thinks): she’ll get him Kendall’s genome if he takes down Project Castor.
Out in the ‘burbs, it’s school trustee election day! Alison and Donnie are off to the polls, but Helena gets some company to keep her busy: OMG DONNIE FOUND JESSE. (Sorry, Monster-Baby Ox shippers.) Helena fills Jesse in on what’s happened since they were last together; to his credit (or weirdness), Jesse takes this batshit story pretty well. They gently kiss for like a second, before Helena changes gears and tries to jump Jesse’s bones in the front seat of his tow truck.
Alas, boner time is cut short when duty calls, and said duty is not to please that booty. Seeking out the only Leda clone that hasn’t gone underground, Rudy’s been tailing Alison’s campaign bus — which plays into Clone Club’s hands exactly. When Alison lures Rudy to her house, he only finds Helena in the garage (OF COURSE, the garage). The two fight Thunderdome-style (i.e., to the death), with Helena emerging victorious. But even if Rudy wasn’t glitching, Helena would have probably still put the hurt on him for encroaching on her turf as the resident wildcard clone.
Mother receives a video call from a bloodied Rudy, who says he has the original Castor. But PSYCHE! It’s Mark pretending to be Rudy, after having been tracked down by Sarah and Fee. With Mother walking right into the trap, Ferdinand and his black ops team capture her with ease.
Back at Dyad, Delphine’s checking in on Rachel, whom Dr. Nealon had swapped with poor Krystal. The perfectly manicured hands tip Delphine off, as does Krystal waking up and flipping shizz. Fortunately, Dr. Nealon didn’t actually take one of Krystal’s eyes for Rachel, but I really wouldn’t have put it past him.
Because it’s also not past Nealon to go full cray when Delphine confronts him about his motives. Neolution has been steering Topside and the military from within, controlling both Leda and Castor. Nealon gives Delphine a chance to join them. But when she’s all, “HARD PASS”, he goes on the attack and lunges at her. (That’s one way to take a rejection… ) Nealon may have overpowered her, but Delphine’s outgunned him, shooting him dead.
Delphine gives the heads up to the makeshift lab that Kendall’s genome will end up in the hands of the Neolutionists if it’s given to Topside, and that Neolution also has Rachel. Neolution-hating Ferdinand smashes in the head of his secretly Neolutionist lackey, who expires after a final “Hail Hydra Neolution”, and advises that Kendall go into hiding to protect the genome from Neolution.
With Castor handled, Clone Club and friends assemble at Bubbles for a dinner party — and to celebrate Alison’s win over jerkface Marci Coates! And to Beth, who brought them all together. Cos steps out to meet with Delphine, who tells her to keep the sequenced genome safe — and to make kisses with each other. Delphine also stops by Shay’s to take herself out of the running, and to give her blessing for Cosima to tell Shay everything if Cos wants to.
If this all sounds like a goodbye, that’s because it is. Approached by an unseen person at the Dyad parking garage, Delphine is all but resigned to her fate. (Calmly putting down her purse totally reminded me of Beth before she jumped.) She asks, “What will happen to her?”, before she’s shot in the stomach and the shooter comes in closer — to do ANYTHING BUT FINISH THE JOB. Just let me have my denial for the next ten months.
Sarah and Mrs. S. drop Kendall off with Kira and an unseen Cal in Iceland. Everyone’s decked out in Canada Goose, so you just saw around $3000 worth of coats onscreen.
In parts unknown — maybe Iceland as well? — Rachel wakes up all alone in a super swank recovery room with a new bionic eye, wondering where the heck she is and who’s keeping her there. When someone finally drops by, Rachel recognizes her as her own younger self; it’s Charlotte, the young clone who’s the daughter of Marian from Topside. Except Rachel’s apparently supposed to be Charlotte’s new mommy now — so says the not-so-dead and totally Neolutionist Dr. Susan Duncan (to no one’s surprise).
Clone Crush
Cosima, for responding to Kendall’s abrasiveness with tenderness. Even though Cos does get relegated to be the exposition science monkey a lot, I do love how she’s so unlike most pop culture scientists in that she’s incredibly good with people.
Maximum Maslanys
The core four, to bookend the season, around the dining table at Bubbles. While not as flashy as the clone dance party of yesterseason, I love this scene on a storytelling level: the clone club family finally sharing a victory. And wine. (Or water, for the expectant mothers and recovering alcoholics.)
Felix Felicis
OBVS THIS.
Felix: “You always think I can’t handle the tough stuff, but you know what, Sarah? This time, follow my lead, OK?”
Leda vs. Castor
With Rudy dead and Mother captured by Topside, it’s game over for Team Castor. Although knowing this show, nothing is ever over over. (What up, Neolution?)
Cloned Quotes
Sarah: “No one is getting incinerated, all right?”
SPOILSPORT.
Felix: “Gird your loins, Scotty.”
Words to live by.
Mrs. S.: “Two ways to thoroughly destroy genetic material: incineration or chemical reaction.”
Kendall: “Ha! And there’s me thinking you were going to kill me with that bat!”That’s some mother-daughter reunion.
Mrs. S.: “I was planning garden shears, actually. Some satisfaction for my John.”
Helena (to Jesse): “I have science baby inside me, but you are my first.”
That’s some pick-up line.
Rudy: “We’re just like you, Helena.”
Helena: “You poisoned women.”
Rudy: “We had a purpose. Just like you.”
Helena: “No. You are rapist.”
On the one hand: PREACH, Helena. On the other: Rudy does have a point, in that Helena and the Castor clones have all been used as weapons by someone else — although the Castor clones have been way more complicit than Helena ever was. Not to downplay the harm Castor unleashed upon scores of unsuspecting women, but it sure is tragic that Rudy still believed Castor was in the right as he drew his final breath.
Biggest “OMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!?” Moment
Delphine getting shot and possibly left for dead (BUT NOT DEFINITELY, I HAVE HOPE) was shocking, although telegraphed in the scenes preceding it. But it’s her scene with Dr. Nealon that has me going, “OMG did that just happen?!”. And also — OMG what just happened?!
At first, I thought Nealon had a creepy lizard tongue (à la the creepy pig tail from Season 1), but he was trying to spit some gross maggot thingie into Delphine’s mouth? (Side note: DO NOT do an image search for maggots to confirm what they look like.) And he had to bite the inside of his mouth to release the maggot? SO CONFUSING AND GROSS.
Curiosity Killed the Clone
- What’s the deal with the mouth maggot!?
- So Rachel is supposed to be the mother of another clone now. As if the clone family tree wasn’t already complicated enough with the introduction of Kendall, which already made Kira both Mrs. S.’s granddaughter and cousin.
- With Castor all but wiped out, what’s going to happen to Mark? Is Clone Club just going to let him die? Or will Cosima and Scott simultaneously work on a Castor cure that only benefits one person? Have we met all the Castor clones there are?
- Will Ferdinand be sticking around? I do love me some smarmy James Frain, and he seems to have his own jaunty theme music already. (Shay, however, annoys me to no end. Ksenia Solo deserves better than Shay!)
- Is the show going to keep exiling people to Iceland when they need to shelve a character? WHY COULDN’T DELPHINE AND PAUL HAVE GONE TO ICELAND INSTEAD?!?
Next Episode
Is in 2016! Will you be renewing your Clone Club membership?
