After dropping a few bombs in this episode, one thing is for sure: Orphan Black keeps taking it to the next level, and I cannot wait to see what's next. From the start of the episode, our favorite twin clones are reunited (yay!), but Helena isn't too happy to see the sestra she seemingly once adored. Things are tense and they only get worse for everyone at the close of the episode, but this is Orphan Black: what do you expect? Spoilers so hard ahead. Read on at your own risk!
The episode opens with Helena and Sarah reuniting in side-by-side cells. Helena is not exactly thrilled to see her sestra as she's under the impression that Sarah's the reason she is there, and she lets Sarah know. "Shit," Sarah says. "Yes, much shit," Helena responds. Sarah tries to explain herself and
is interrupted when Paul shows up. Apparently he's back from his venture to buy the program time, and he is not happy that Sarah's there. "All you had to do was stay away," he grits out. Sarah tells
Helena is ask Paul about his deal with Mrs. S, then she mentions to Paul how the Castor clones have abused and kidnapped women and he is still trying to save them. His response is simple: what about serial killer Helena? This hits a spot in Sarah and she tries a new
tactic by calming down, but Paul basically tells her that she's dug her
own grave.
Now Sarah's only hope is to make up with Helena, who finds amusement in
the situation. "You want to be my sandwich?" she asks, then explains how
in Siberia, a sandwich is someone you take with you so you can eat
them, which I totally wouldn't put past her. Helena's proven that she
can survive despite the odds, but Sarah's survival has been more
dependent on other people. She'd so be Helena's sandwich.
Mark is doing well, and Virginia has patched him up. She inquires about his time with the Proletheans and notices his ring. He tells her he did what he had to so he could complete his mission. She reminds him that Gracie isn't one of them and takes his ring. Virginia also asks him if he consummated the marriage, and Mark is honest, which gets him a little black book just like the other Castors. What the?
Cosima, on the other hand, is having a much better time. She has an online date and once they meet, they hit it off quickly. Cosima is adorable when she's nervous, but Shay, her date, helps her through her jitters and we learn a few things about her: she had a horrible first online date, she is a holistic healer, and...she's being followed by someone with a camera? Although they are cute together, me thinks there is something more to this Shay character. Either that or Delphine is having Cosima followed. In the end, Cosima invites her back to Felix's place and gets a bit nervous, but when she opens up about her breakup with Delphine, Shay kisses her and all seems to be falling into place for a sweet little romance.
Swapping over to Art, he finds Gracie on his doorstep looking for help. She admits that she had a miscarriage and that's why her family threw her out. Of course, Art thinks of the perfect person to
help her: Mrs. S. Felix isn't too happy with the idea of having her in the house, and he tells her of his mistrust. She explains that she's no longer a Prolethean and speaks of all the things she hasn't done despite being 18. Felix is no help, but Mrs. S comes to see her and opens up about her own past. Apparently, she was once married and they were going to start a family, but her husband was killed. She was young and went wild (like Sarah), but her aunt took her in and helped her straighten out her life. Felix hears his by listening from the hallway and calls her on it later, getting more details: her husband was a hot-headed drunk militant who said a little too much in a bar and got stabbed in the neck with garden shears. Wow.
This revealing moment is upended when Gracie comes down the stairs in Sarah's revealing clothes, stating she is going out to a club or somewhere they sell mai tais. Quick on their feet, Felix and Mrs. S find a better solution and let Gracie expose herself to gin and juice, rock music, and dancing in the comfort of the living room. A much safer situtation, I'm sure. Being Fe, when Mrs. S calls him up to help them dance, he shows Gracie how to shake her tail and pump her hips. Oh, Fe. A drunken Gracie has a great time dancing with Fe, but everything falls apart when she suddenly drops to the floor, hugging her stomach. More on that later...
Sarah is a guinea pig for Virginia Coady, despite her objections. When she returns to her cell after "donating" blood, she opens up to Helena about why she left Kira with Mrs. S and how much she regrets it to try to get her sestra back on her side. It works: "Ok, Sarah. Ok." Next thing we know, Sarah is refusing to give her tray back and the soldiers come into her cell. She tries to fight and grab the keys, but is knocked to the ground and finds herself being bandaged up in a medical ward where
she steals a pair of tweezers. Their plan all along, she reveals to Helena that she got them when she returns to her cell. Tying them to the drawstring from her pants, she
and Helena watch the camera and when its not pointing toward their
cells, swing it back and forth until Helena catches it and pulls it in.
Using the tweezers to unlock her ankle chains, Helena then pulls a ton
of butter out of a hidey-hole in the wall, takes off her pants, and rubs
herself down with it. Jumping onto the door, she uses her ankle cuff
and bar and kick open a loose window bar, leaving just enough room to
wiggle out. Sarah watches the camera as she begins to pull he body
through the hole. The butter works! With some work, she's out of her
cell and she quickly dispatches the camera and waits. The guard comes
right away and with Sarah distracting him from her cell, Helena grabs
him as soon as he walks in the room, pushing him toward the opposite
wall and impaling his head with a rod.
Sarah watches her sister in horror, but then begins begging her to get his keys. Helena declines as she watches Sarah freak out, pulling at the lock on the outside of her door. "Now we are even, Sestra,"
Helena states as she leaves the room. I completely understand where Helena is coming from. She
thinks Sarah put her there and, come on, Sarah impaled her, shot her, and left her when she was arrested. She's not a very good sister. I give Helena props for standing up for herself, but damnit! Luckily, she has second thoughts as she sits atop the wall and sees the soldiers begin to search for her. "My sestra. She pulls at my heart." Ours too, Helena, ours too. I realize Pupok is keeping you safe, but I'd really like fry that little devil up right now.
In the end, Helena leaving Sarah did make my jaw drop, but it wasn't the biggest shock of the show. Earlier Helena told Paul snippets about Parsons that seem to have Paul curious about Virginia's work. He finds Parson's body and sees the equipment where he was kept alive, skull open. He then sees the journal of women and hair samples. Paul knows something isn't right in Castorland. At the same time, Art starts tracing his steps to find Sarah and he visits with Rudy and Seth's victim from earlier in the season. She reveals that she is sick and the doctors cannot figure out what's wrong with her. Her eyes are red. Snap back to Gracie lying in Mrs. S's floor: her eyes are red. The Castors have a disease and are spreading it sexually. BOOM!
That was one way to ruin the mood, OB. Sorry, Ari--your attraction just went to pot with the red-eye STD. All the ladies are secure in their chastity belts...at least until we see if a romp with you is worth the pain. Please let it be worth the pain. A few questions, observations, and theories from this episode:
- Is Mrs. S's story really that simple? Ever since she knew of Castor, I have had the feeling that there is more to her. Well, there obviously is because this is Mrs. S and we all know the things she's done. But is she somehow connected to the origin of the clones? I just have this gut feeling that her fostering Sarah was no coincidence and maybe there is a lot more to the story of her husband.
- Will Paul ever figure out his true alliance? He is trying to protect both sets of clones, but he is really doing a piss poor job. Will the upcoming revelations forever alter his loyalty?
- Mark obviously loves Gracie. If he finds out about possibly giving her an illness, will he go postal? I think Mark would got totally postal over Gracie.
- Speaking of Mark, will he be the help Sarah needs to escape the military? Kind of as a pay back for saving his life.
- This damn red eye, dick sperm, STD Castor illness...I know this may sound absolutely crazy, but were the Leda and Castor clones only made to reproduce with one another? Yes, incest. I mean, what if Castor spermies would cure Cosima's uterine polyps? What if they were the only way the infertile Leda clones could reproduce and in a normal uterus, they are destructive? A little messed up, I know.
- Which brings me to another question: did Crystal sleep with one of the clones or was she just kidnapped? She could probably answer my question if she popped up again...
- My final, big long-shot theory of the week: if Gracie does not actually abort the fetuses, what if she becomes "Leda"? Stay with me on this. If you know the mythology of Leda, you know that she had a baby by two fathers, her husband and Zeus. What if Gracie has her daddy's baby and Mark's? Not likely, but it is very interesting to ponder.
