The pro-clone may think she’s in charge now, but as Sarah makes clear in this Orphan Black episode, she is still the wild one — and she’s not going to let Rachel near her daughter without a fight.
Also in “Clutch of Greed,” Cosima meets the 170-year-old man himself, P.T. Westmorland, gets a look at his collection (but makes it clear she will not be part of it) and finds out some good news for the sestrahood.
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Is Sarah Manning Ready to Behave? (Yeah, Right.)
“You’re going to have to let go,” Kira says as she shakes her mother awake, with Mrs. S. adding, “You need to listen to her.” And then Sarah wakes up, alone in a Dyad cell, with Ferdinand, hand bandaged from his fight with Siobhan, on the other side of the observation glass.
Sarah gets to video chat with her sisters long enough to be assured they’re okay. Alison’s at home (with Enger making sure Donnie hasn’t called and reiterating her threat that while they can’t hurt the clones, they can hurt Art), while Cosima’s trial is underway on the island after Rachel administered her treatment. “Rachel’s offering everything that’s been taken from you,” Ferdinand tells her. “So, is Sarah Manning finally ready to behave?”
Instead of a cage match as Sarah would prefer, she meets with Rachel in her office, where the pro-clone informs her that she and Siobhan have registered Kira back at school and the family can all go home together. All Rachel wants is for Kira to come to Dyad for regularly scheduled visits and a low-impact, noninvasive study of her unique physiology. Anything they find would be proprietary, but Kira isn’t. She’s Sarah’s, Rachel insists. They want a change, an end to this war, and with Westmorland in the picture, everything’s different. I’m just not buying this “new” Rachel. Neither is Sarah.
But for now, Sarah has no choice but to go along with it, and that means Rachel’s going to pick Kira up from school for her first Dyad visit. But once they’re back at Mrs. S.’ and Ferdinand is gone, Siobhan turns on the vacuum in case anyone’s listening. Rachel’s men are watching the house, after all.
But Siobhan’s people are being watched, and they don’t have an escape plan yet, so all Sarah can do is go out the front door with Kira and take her to school (and tell her that Rachel is not “Auntie Rachel” even if things are “different now”).
Meanwhile, Felix sneaks out of the house and joins Scott, Hell Wizard and Ira in the basement lab of Rabbit Hole. They need Ira back on the island with Susan, but that means he must go against Rachel. Since she stabbed Susan, he’s on board. Scott also has some good news: they found M.K., and her last message reveals she’s at Felix’s loft.
She’s been sick for a long time, M.K. admits to Sarah over a video chat. She’s also been watching Dyad, and they’re recruiting naive subjects. Rachel wants to restart human cloning. Furthermore, M.K. can get Sarah and Kira away if they can get Kira out from under Rachel’s surveillance. But doing so would mean that they could never come back.
While Sarah and her family plan, Rachel spends time with Ferdinand, just not in the way he wants. She’s not going to hit him because she doesn’t need to anymore, she explains. Westmorland made her feel whole after she’s spent her entire life searching for her purpose. And now she thinks the reason she exists is to point-man the genetic future of the human race.
Kira’s in class when Rachel comes to pick her up — or rather, when Sarah dresses up as Rachel to pick her up. Kira, of course, can tell the clones apart, but she doesn’t know if it’s a good idea. And with one of Rachel’s men standing guard outside the school and then coming inside when he sees them, Sarah uses a teacher to distract him and passes Kira off to Mrs. S. before getting out another way.
But Ferdinand’s watching as Sarah-as-Rachel drives off to get M.K. when the other clone stays at the loft instead of going to meet Scott.
They Can’t Do This Without Each Other
After hiding from Ferdinand in the alley outside the loft, Sarah joins M.K. inside and tries to convince her to leave with her. M.K. has run her whole life and she’s tired, she protests, but, as Sarah tells her, “we’re all tired, but we can’t do this without each other.” Running is all they have left. M.K. has a new plan: she pretends to be Sarah (pretending to be Rachel) to buy her and Kira time.
It’s a messy clone swap as Ferdinand approaches the loft (but it’s effective and easily one of the best scenes of the episode), with Sarah protesting even as the two change clothes. M.K. hasn’t found anything on Westmorland; his story is the key to everything, she tells Sarah, but there are too many questions about his power.
Wishing things could be different, they part ways, with Sarah escaping in M.K.’s car and M.K. waiting in the loft, knife in hand and back to the door, for Ferdinand to break in.
M.K. tries to use the knife, but Ferdinand takes her down pretty easily, only then realizing who’s under the Rachel wig. After all the years he invested in Rachel and all the money M.K. stole from him, he gets to live out two revenge fantasies in one and finish Helsinki.
He can’t hurt her anymore, M.K. insists, but Ferdinand disagrees. “You hurt me, Rachel,” he says, repeating those words as he stomps on her chest over and over until M.K. is dead. He then takes her mask and leaves it on her chest.
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Sarah Has to Listen and Let Go
When Sarah joins her family at the rendezvous point, Kira doesn’t want to leave. And she knows when M.K. is dead because she doesn’t feel her anymore. This is when Kira takes a stand for herself, and while Sarah just wants her daughter to be safe, you can’t fault Kira for wanting answers. She wants to know why she’s like this, meaning she doesn’t want to go with Sarah and wants to go with Rachel. It’s just like the opening dream sequence, as Siobhan then tells Sarah she heard her and they can’t run anymore.
With that, the family gives themselves up back at the house. Rachel dismisses Ferdinand after he disobeyed her orders and followed Sarah at the school. Ira’s heading back to the island. And Sarah can only watch as Kira goes off with Rachel.
But that night, someone knocks on the back door. Mrs. S. grabs a gun before answering it, and to her surprise, it’s Delphine. She doesn’t have much time and doesn’t know who to trust (and neither does Siobhan), but Sarah can’t know she’s there and it’s safer if the others don’t know they’re communicating.
Being Her Creator Does Not Make Him Her Collector Too
Meanwhile, at Revival, Cosima tells Charlotte they won’t be taking the vitamins everyone else does. She has Charlotte introduce her to Aisha and is in the middle of examining her when the Messenger finds her to inform her “he” wants to see her.
Once inside Westmorland’s house, Cosima gets a look at his collection, including a photo of P.T. with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1894. The tortoise in the photo belonged to Darwin himself and lived at Revival until 263, a record, just like his, P.T. tells her as we finally get to meet the 170-year-old. Through Neolution science and his own genetics, he has lived a long life. Perhaps they can work the same magic on her.
Her results after her treatment are remarkable, and “it appears effective.” When he asks how she feels about continuing with her work and following the science after she’s developed a cure for her and her sisters, she makes one thing clear: “No disrespect, but I know you created me, and I have no interest in being part of your collection, so what the hell is the point of all of this?”
Doyle penned a poem on that very subject, P.T. informs her, and he imagined a debate between microscopic cheese mites trying to determine the origins of their cheese, whether it came down from above or rose from the platter below. Not one of them thought of the cow. He’s giving Cosima full access to the lab to save herself and her sisters, but hopes that one day, she’ll cast her eyes in the direction of the cow.
Oh, Helena Definitely Understands Punctures
As for Donnie and Helena, he took her to a hospital, and the stick punctured the amniotic sac and sternum of one of her babies. As soon as the nurse mentions a neonatal specialist coming in to talk to her, Helena understandably reacts to the word “neo,” but Donnie assures her it’s not what she’s thinking.
After Dr. Slaight looks at the ultrasound, however, she wants more tests done because, as she informs Donnie out in the hall, the wound is no longer visible. Yes, the baby is healed, but that also worries Helena because she knows her babies are special like Kira. She refuses to let anyone get their hands on them, so she’s going to hide and the only person Donnie can tell is Sarah. “Seriously?” He asks after she whispers where she’s going.
While Donnie goes off to answer some questions about her accident, Dr. Slaight wants to perform an amniocentesis. It’s to collect DNA, Helena remembers reading, but the doctor informs her it’s also used to check for infection, which is a concern since she was punctured by a tree branch. Does she understand? “Yes, I understand puncture,” Helena confirms before picking up the needle the doctor was going to use on her, slamming Dr. Slaight’s head down on the bed and stabbing the needle through her cheek, mouth and tongue.
By the time Donnie sees everyone gathered around the doctor, Helena’s gone, and he quickly slips away.
What did you think of P.T. Westmorland? Are you going to miss M.K.? Do you think Kira should be able to make her own decision about Rachel studying her?
Orphan Black season 5 airs Saturdays at 10/9c on BBC America. Want more news? Like our Facebook page.
(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.
