Could one of the sestrahood on Orphan Black be a threat? After Donnie’s arrest, the Hendrixes find out just what Neolution is willing to threaten, and do, in order to ensure cooperation. Meanwhile, Alison must make a decision that could mean sacrificing someone she cares about.
Also, in “The Redesign of Natural Objects,” after losing hope and nearly turning to desperate acts to find a way out in the middle of their grief, Sarah and Cosima may have a way to save Cosima, but what will they have to do? And who will they have to trust?
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Elsewhere in the episode, M.K. reaches out to Sarah through Kira and tells her that she and Beth were right. They can’t do this alone, but why does she want back in now? Unbeknownst to the others, M.K. too is sick.
From ‘Breaking Bad’ to ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Donnie is not made for prison. That is an indisputable fact. And so, it’s even worse when, moments after getting a look at what he’s expected to eat in there, a man sits down across from him and makes sure that Donnie knows that he knows “all about” him. “I’ve got my eye on you,” he informs Donnie. (Hello, Neolutionist. Please back away from Donnie. Thanks.)
I have a feeling that Alison is ready to sell their house (dead bodies in the garage included) when Felix introduces Adele as her lawyer. Sure, she’s been suspended for being inebriated in court, but as he reminds Alison, her bank accounts are frozen. She doesn’t really have any other options. It doesn’t help that the first words out of Adele’s mouth are about the lack of valet service and Alison can smell alcohol on her. (Can Alison ask for more money from potential buyers if one of the bodies in the garage is a clone?)
At least Adele easily accepts the “twin sister” explanation for Sarah and Alison. To my surprise, I kind of like Adele in this scene, especially when she shuts down the guard’s attempt to tell Alison about the “visitation window” closing to see her husband.
But hey, Adele comes with some helpful Jailhouse 101 tips. Don’t talk to the police, the people in the common area, his cellmate … pretty much anyone who isn’t her or Alison, she advises Donnie. Unfortunately for him, Duko pulled a “classic dick move” and arrested him on a Friday, so his bail hearing wouldn’t be until Monday and he could be held over the weekend. It’s Duko, so I’m not surprised.
Once the couple is alone, however, Donnie points out the Neo sitting two over from them. He knows he won’t make it two days in there, and she knows this is all Duko’s doing.
Mrs. S. Runs an “Errand”
“I’m fine” is nearly always code for “I’m not fine,” and in Mrs. S.’ case, it and “I just have to run an errand” are code for “I’m going to go follow the man who killed my mother and get a bit of revenge.” Just another reason to love Mrs. S.
After Kira tells Sarah Siobhan left with her rifle, Sarah reaches out to Art and explains that she’s on a “revenge first, consequences later” sort of “errand.” Still, this could make everything worse, so they have to find her. Unfortunately, Duko turned off the GPS in his car, so they can’t track him.
Siobhan follows him from the police station, but she stands down and calls Sarah when she sees Alison meeting with him. “I think I know how Evie Cho’s going to try to get to us,” she has realized.
Will Alison Betray Sarah?
Donnie’s innocence doesn’t matter, Duko tells Alison. The people he works for are more than happy to let her and her family live their lives. The same can’t be said of Sarah, and he needs to find her. “Jail’s not a good place for a sensitive man like Donnie,” he comments. “I don’t know how long he can survive in there.” All she has to do is find out Sarah’s location.
Because it’s that time of the season when Alison’s suburban life crosses paths with everything else. It’s also the day of a rehearsal for her musical revue with Sarah Stubbs. When Reverend Mike finds her at the church, she admits she’s in an “impossible situation.” “What if someone asked you do to something and if you did it, you would protect someone you love but hurt someone else that you care about,” she asks him, and he correctly guesses one of those people is Donnie. He reminds her of her vows to Donnie and leaves her to let the Lord guide her.
(And now, here’s where the paranoia that Orphan Black has given me since those early monitor reveals comes into play yet again, and I have a moment when I question if Alison can trust Reverend Mike. Yes, I question if a reverend can be trusted. I wouldn’t put anything past Neos.)
Felix can’t wrap his head around the possibility of Alison being a rat. (Uptight, yes. Paranoid, yes. Occasionally delusional, yes). But that changes when she calls and asks where Sarah is. Then, when he joins her at the church (just as she’s reaching for vodka), Alison tries to focus their conversation on her being out of the loop and not hearing from Sarah. Since she’s so obviously preferred to be out of the loop all season long, of course this is suspicious. (“I’m completely booked,” she said in episode 2 when Sarah first returned. “I have no time for Neos.”)
Felix turns the conversation back to the Hendrixes’ problems. Is there something wrong with Donnie? “Just jail,” Alison says. How’s she doing? Any more police show up? Duko? Evie? ‘No,” she tells him, claiming they must have forgotten about them. (Really?) “Your sisters are there for you,” he reminds her. “Sarah’s there for you.”
With those words in her head, Alison goes and meets with Duko, who puts her on the phone with Donnie. The Neo is going to stick a shiv in his brain through his eye if she doesn’t tell them what they want. And so, Alison tells Duko that Sarah will be at Rabbit Hole Comics.
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Scott Should Really Get Paid Double for Cleaning Up This Mess
As Alison’s musical revue rehearsal kicks off, the Neo hits Donnie and tosses him around his cell and Detective Duko watches Sarah enter the Rabbit Hole. When he goes inside, however, only Hell Wizard is there. Duko uses his D&D campaign to threaten him — hey, what if a dragon attacked? — and even slams his face into the register. That’s when the others step out and reveal he’s walked into their trap. It’s over for him.
After he calls off the Neo hitman with Donnie, Sarah texts Felix to let him and Alison know that Donnie is safe. Duko on the other hand? Not so safe. Though he pleads with Art that he knows where this is going and he can’t let Siobhan torture another cop, the other detective and Sarah leave Mrs. S with her mother’s killer. As Art reminds him, he’s crossed the line for Beth before.
“Talking wouldn’t be healthy for him,” Duko insists, but Siobhan guarantees him that the alternative is even “less pleasant” as she hooks up jumper cables.
Siobhan has no problem electrocuting him when she feels like it as she asks why Evie wants Sarah. She might interfere as it’s all coming together for Evie. Interfere with what? Not his end of things. What’s she doing? She’s putting the bot technology into millions under the guise of gene therapy. So what’s she really doing? “I don’t know, remaking man in her own image by chopping my balls off?” Duko replies. (I have to admit, I hate the guy, but that may be my favorite thing to ever come out of his mouth.)
Because Duko is obviously a coward who only cares about saving his own skin, he offers to work for them instead. But M.K. got them a file on everything he’s done for Brightborn, so Siobhan knows what he’s done in exchange for money (for his niece, he insists). Subjects have been murdered, witnesses have disappeared.
“It’s about family,” he says, which is probably the wrong thing to say to the woman whose mother he killed when she’s holding a rifle. “Oh, I get it,” she says before killing him. (And Scott is the one who has to clean up the blood.)
Oh, Look at the Beautiful Swan — Wait a Second…
Though Ira attributes Rachel’s fall for the swan she saw, she instead thinks it was in her eye, like a glitch. Though things may seem hopeless with Evie in charge, she refuses to give up and enlists Ira’s help, starting with the simple question, “Don’t you want to live?” She’s beginning to believe that him being her brother means something. He notes that during her pitch, she stood without her crutches and her aphasia is completely cleared.
Susan, on the other hand, has given up and even suggests that Rachel try to find a hobby. “Perhaps I should take up carpentry,” her daughter replies. “I can build us all coffins. Shall I start with the smallest first?”
Meanwhile, Sarah and Cosima have “both made it back from the dark side,” with the former nursing a two-day hangover and the latter finding hope in Delphine possibly being alive. After M.K. shows the video she hacked from the island of Evie informing Susan that Leda’s being dismantled and Sarah and her sisters are being seen as a threat, Sarah has her find them a secure way to talk to Susan.
Though Cosima’s feeling “conflicted” about seeing Susan again, especially considering Rachel’s involvement, she does share what information she has left following Evie’s deception. When Scott refuses to work with Rachel after she stabbed them in the back (and cheated at Agricola), Cosima declares that Rachel and Ira can’t be part of it moving forward. As Susan did when Sarah told her they wouldn’t be saving Castor, she agrees, and they get to work.
That means that Rachel’s just left to her own devices, which in this case means seeing that swan again — and this time, a man as well.
This new tentative alliance with Susan may be what they need, especially when Cosima has a major breakthrough. Kira’s stem cells are helpful, but her father’s contribution to the DNA takes them too far from the Leda genome. That’s why they needed the original. However, if they fertilize Sarah’s egg with Ira’s sperm, they’ll rejoin the two parts of Kendall’s biology, Cosima realizes. Since they don’t have the resources to do it alone, Cosima’s flying out to the island. They may be close to finding a cure.
With Cosima flying to the island, Rachel decides she wants to go back and work with Sarah and the others to restore Susan as the head of Neolution. They need Evie removed just as much as they do, she argues. This time when she sees the swan again, she then sees its bloody head on the table. Uh-oh? Is Rachel sure she can work with Sarah? “I look forward to it,” she says. (That worries me. Maybe they should keep pencils and all sharp objects away from Rachel.)
Orphan Black season 4 airs Thursdays at 10pm on BBC America.
(Image courtesy of BBC America)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.
