About:
Previously: Helena and Gracie move in with Alison and Donnie; douchey Jason beats up Donnie over Alison; Castor somehow found out about the Dr. Moreau notes and now has the book;
Even though a lot happened in this episode, it does feel a little like the (relative) calm before the shitstorm of a finale that surely awaits us. Let’s get to it!
And in case you missed it: Kandis recapped the Orphan Black panel at this year’s ATX Television Festival! (Spoiler alert: Sunday morning twerking was involved.)
Clone Club Chronicles
The Sadler-Manning-Dawkins fam is in London! They meet up with Terry, one of Mrs. S’s contacts from the days of Siobhan the Bomb, who reminisces about old times and totally spills the beans on Mrs. S hooking up Carlton in the past. Mrs. S’s former band also shows up as a contrived reason to get Maria Doyle Kennedy to sing, and I DIG IT.
But back to actual plot-related happenings. Terry recognizes part of Rachel’s translated code as an old prisoner ID, and he’s off to track down the name that goes with it. Except, OH SNAP, he’s intercepted by Ferdinand the Topside cleaner, and it’s not the first time they’ve run into each other. Terry’s supposed to tip Ferdinand off if Mrs. S is ever back in London, so Ferdy has his enforcer beat the shizz out of Terry for failing to comply.
After Mrs. S checks a message Terry left before he ran into Ferdinand, she and Sarah and Fee find a barely alive Terry. Before he dies, Terry whispers something to Mrs. S that spooks her into insisting that they all leave London ASAP. But obvs, Sarah is never one to follow orders. She swipes Terry’s cell, posing as Mrs. S to arrange a meeting with one of his last callers — all under the watchful eye of Ferdinand.
Sarah and Fee get picked up by an old dude in a taxi, who’s onto them immediately. It’s Kassov, another of Mrs. S’s old acquaintances, who gives Sarah and Fee the prisoner info Terry obtained once they ‘fess up about who they are. Kassov drops them off at the current address of Kendall Malone, who did time for aggravated homicide.
As Fee stands guard, Sarah sneaks into Kendall’s apartment to find… no old man to kill? That’s because Kendall Malone is an old lady, and she ain’t going gentle into that good night without a fight. But none is necessary, as Mrs. S interrupts the standoff between Sarah and her mom (a relationship that’s been strained ever since Kendall killed Mrs. S’s husband, John, btw).
But wait — what’s the deal with Kendall and Castor? The Duncans had been testing prison inmates under the guise of cancer research. They found their Castor donor in Kendall — or, more accurately, the male twin she absorbed in utero. When Fee alerts Sarah to the arrival of someone else outside of Kendall’s, Mrs. S starts making good on her promise to kill the Castor original. But Sarah points out that Kendall having two cell lines means she’s Castor and Leda, and we leave them with Mrs. S’s gun still locked and loaded on Kendall.
Meanwhile, Kassov’s taxi gets an unexpected passenger: Ferdinand, whose idea of a tip is to slit the driver’s throat. (Bye, Kassov.) He calls Delphine to even the playing field: she can’t hold his dalliance with Rachel over him anymore, now that he knows she released Sarah from Dyad. The two agree to meet for a sexy villainous confab at Dyad.
That’s not the only headache Delphine is dealing with. Cosima finally wises up to Shay’s shadiness (incl. undisclosed military history), and Delphine lets her eat a little bit of crow before stepping in to deal with Shay — which means showing up at her place with Dyad goons, and not-so-subtly threatening to kill her and making it look like a suicide. Claiming innocence, Shay is either playing dumb or she truly doesn’t know anything about Castor (and therefore also has weird boundary issues, with all the prior prying).
While Shay still isn’t absolved of all suspiciousness, she at least isn’t the one who filled Castor in on Dr. Moreau. That dishonour goes to Gracie, who betrayed Leda in order to save Mark’s life. Running away from Casa Hendrix, she reunites with Mark at last. Back at Shay’s, Delphine’s intimidation tactics were all for naught, although she looks like she has half a mind to go through with it anyway.
Out in the ‘burbs, Donnie tries to cover up the beating he took from Jason, who has now severed his business relationship with the Hendrixes. Meaning that Pouchy‘s done with them, too; he wants his pills back, and his goon takes something important-looking as insurance — Helena’s tank of embryos.
When Helena catches Baby Ox lying about his injuries, she patches him up and learns that her babies have been taken. Helena’s ready to unleash her particular set of skills on Pouchy’s posse, but Donnie insists on taking care of the sitch himself while Helena waits outside of Pouchy HQ. But, of course, Helena shares her twin’s trait of never doing what they’re told, and she later shows up by posing as Alison.
Donnie returns Pouchy’s wares and gets the tank back, but is unsuccessful in getting a refund for the cost of the pills. See, Pouchy’s decided that the Hendrixes will be laundering his money directly from now on, OR ELSE. But Pouchy’s niece, Louisa, mistakenly includes Alison and Donnie’s kids, Oscar and Gemma, in that OR ELSE, which sets Helena off. Locking Donnie out, Helena takes care of business her way (read: the extremely bloody way). She also gets Alison and Donnie that refund and then some. Might we be in for Money Twerking: Round 2?
Elsewhere, Mother is conducting the neurocognitive analysis test on Rudy, who starts showing signs of glitching. Mother is confident that Castor’s cryptographers will crack Duncan’s code and they’ll find the Castor original. Hate to break it to y’all (oh, wait — NO, I DON’T), but y’all haven’t even qualified for the race yet, and everyone else is already at the finish line.
Clone Crush
Helena, without a doubt. Not only did she have some great lines (and deliveries), but she brought the drug dealing storyline one step closer to being dunzo. Suuuuure, she did so with a little bit of homicide. But only when Pouchy’s niece started threatening Alison and Donnie’s kids! Damn, I have missed that scary/creepy Helena theme music.
Maximum Maslanys
I could be mistaken, but I don’t think any of the Leda clones interacted with each other. Might be just taking a week off before whatever mindblowing multiple Maslany scene the finale has in store.
Felix Felicis
Aside from arriving in London in style (that red suitcase!), our dear Fee doesn’t get to do much other than tagging along with Sarah and occasionally putting himself in danger.
Leda vs. Castor
Clone Club’s found both originals, while Team Castor is barely in the picture (and episode). Oh, and Mark’s alive, so basically the only person who didn’t survive the Castor HQ explosion was Paul. (STILL NOT OVER IT.) I hope his continued involvement with Team Castor is just to use them to find Gracie and cures for the both of them, given that the last time we saw him, he and Paul had discovered that Castor was knowingly infecting women (incl. Gracie) with the defect.
Cloned Quotes
Helena: “I’m a mother now. I walk a different path.”
Helena the mama!
Helena: “This [salve], we make in convent. When the nuns beat the demons from us.”
Helena the Sunday school teacher!
Donnie: “Oh. Never heard that story before.”
Pouchy’s Goon: “What’s up with your voice?”
Helena as Alison: [cough] “I have a cold.”So smooth, Hendrix.
Donnie: “Yeah, it’s one of those really bad ones that messes with your… syntax.”
Helena: “You should not threaten babies.”
Nooooooo, they really should not.
Felix (on the lookout): “I’ll be here… pissing my pants.”
Fee, speaking for us all if we were in the same sitch.
Biggest “OMG DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?!?” Moment
The reveals about Kendall being 1) not a dude, then 2) Mrs. S’s mom, and finally, 3) both the Castor AND 4) the Leda originals were indeed surprising, but I didn’t really have a jaw-dropping reaction to them. Same goes with Helena’s massacre, since last week’s teaser pretty much spelled it out. But the part that toyed with my emotions the most was the potential DAAAAANGER for Felix on the lookout. Show, you already took Paul away from us this year. DON’T YOU DARE HURT FELIX, TOO.
Curiosity Killed the Clone
- Since Kendall is the Leda original, that would make Mrs. S’s daughter her mother, too. So either this is the biggest coincidence in the world, or there’s some puppet mastery going on.
- Why doesn’t Young Kendall look like Tatiana Maslany? (Other than the show showing its hand too early.) And how do all the Leda clones have brown eyes if Kendall’s are blue? Is Kendall just another misdirection? Does she have a non-absorbed sister?
- Wait a minute — Mrs. S is planning to shoot her mother after she starts turning on the gas? Is she not concerned about the gun sparking an explosion while she and Sarah are still inside the building?
- Instead of only focusing on cracking the code, why doesn’t Castor have a team follow Leda’s progress instead? Where’s your mole now, Mother!?
- We’ve seen Gemma a lot, but where’s Oscar? I’m guessing the young actor is growing up too much for the show’s compressed timeline, but it’s a little funny that he’s the only person living in the Hendrix house that hasn’t been seen at all in the many scenes that have taken place there this season.
Next Episode
The season finale! Cosima confronts Shay about why she hid her military past (or present?); Gracie and Mark are found; Cosima and Delphine make out; Rudy crashes school trustee election day; and Rachel’s being kept captive.
