Orphan Black‘s final trip gets off to a wild start, with most of the season 5 premiere taking place on the island of Doctor Moreau P.T. Westmorland. Sarah’s injured but determined to find Cosima and a way off the island, while the geek monkey clone is introduced to Revival.
Elsewhere in “The Few Who Dare,” Alison, Donnie and Helena are still camping out in a national park, but not for long. Art also gets a new partner and when their paths cross? Uh-oh.
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Welcome to the Island Where Stabbing is Part of Animal-on-Animal Violence
Picking up right where the season 4 finale left off, Sarah uses the 2% battery life left on her phone to call and update Felix. Ferdinand took Mrs. S. and Kira. Rachel took over from Susan. She’s fine. (And she expects him to ignore the fact that he knows that last bit of information is a lie.) She’s not leaving without Cosima, and fortunately, Ira tells her about the village near the boathouse.
After burning a photo of Kira to start a fire and using what she has to bandage her leg, Sarah is attacked by someone (something?!) growling, and she manages to fight him (it?) off before making her way across the island. However, when she finds the boathouse, it’s under guard, and one of the men, Cooper, says that the “Old Man” made it clear they don’t go home until “she” is back at Revival with “the other one.”
Sarah hides after finding game strung up and a dead animal stabbed with a stick. (Cooper tells Amar that a bear killed the latter, even though it was stabbed.) When the men fail to find her before it gets dark, it’s time for them to head back to Revival. As for the still missing Sarah? “Good luck to her.” (Well, at least she’s proven that she can take care of herself.)
Welcome to the Crazy Science of Revival
After waking up in a yurt, Cosima is introduced to Revival by one of its people, Mud. They’ve been “sustaining life off the grid since 1908” and are almost completely self-sufficient. People are chosen from everywhere and are there to genetically improve the human race. Everyone contributes and everyone benefits. Mud also informs Cosima that Rachel Duncan is in seclusion with the 170-year-old Westmorland and Susan is going to pull through. “P.T. and Susan go way back, but with family feuds, who’s to say?” Mud remarks.
“We are all Revival’s children. Chosen for a brighter future. Where our frail bodies become so much stronger. And death and aging haunt us no longer,” Cosima reads in a book Charlotte was given.
Meanwhile, Delphine uses her work in the clinic to her advantage, hiding Cosima’s treatment in a fridge. She also takes the file of a young patient from Afghanistan who came to Revival “for the fountain” before the Messenger retrieves her because “he” wants to see her. When she returns to Cosima, it’s only long enough to tell her where her treatment is and about the patient and then say goodbye; she’s going on a research trip to Sardinia.
“This is the heart of Neolution,” Delphine explains. The entire island is a decades-long prolongevity study. If you want to genetically improve the human race, life extension is key. She leaves Cosima with the key to the clinic, a kiss and a reminder to “follow the crazy science.” And those two were just reunited!
Cosima joins the rest of the village when Rachel emerges from her meeting with Westmorland to address them on his behalf. “Like you, I was selected. I know now his hand guided my entire life,” she says. “I know Susan Duncan, my mother, once stood here as I am, appointed to move the future forward, and she did. She created me. It is time to be brave, to sacrifice. The fruits of nearly 200 years of Neolution science are now within our grasp, and we here shall drink from the fountain first.”
That night, Cosima sneaks into the clinic, where she is reunited with Sarah. But they don’t have time for much more than a quick update before the Messenger realizes Cosima’s not in her yurt and the village begins looking for her. But Cosima’s not leaving with Sarah. This place is the answer, she explains to her sister. She needs to stay for all of them because they’ll never be free if she leaves.
Sarah reluctantly leaves, but that means Cosima’s left to inject herself in the uterus with her treatment. That is, until Rachel finds her and offers to do it. “I’m as invested in this as you are,” she says. “There’s no need to be afraid anymore. He wants you to be part of this. You and I are going to cure us all.”
Unfortunately, Sarah doesn’t make it off the island. Cooper finds her in the boathouse, and just as she’s succumbing to the tranquilizer he gives her, Rachel joins them. “It’s a new day, Sarah,” she tells her. Well, at least that’s better than another knife to the leg.
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Life Isn’t Much Better off the Island
Felix finds a bloody corkscrew at the safe house (pub fighting, classic Siobhan, so that’s a good thing, he and Art determine), and he can’t contact Mrs. S.’ network, so they might be blown too. Art can only do so much since he doesn’t even know who can be trusted at the station. And Ira can only be so much help because Susan apparently avoided the subject of Revival.
That’s why Scott and Hell Wizard are trying to reach out to Mika, spamming video games with avatars named Sarah Manning. Since she contacted Kira through a game on a laptop at the safe house, Felix heads back there, only to encounter a Mr. Frontenac. Which faction is he from, Felix asks. “There’s only one faction now,” the man informs him. There’s nothing for him to fear because Rachel has taken a special interest in his family, and Felix doesn’t really have a choice but to go with him.
Art’s life continues to get more complicated thanks to clone business. As his new partner, Detective Enger pulls over to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and shows him a file on the Hendrixes. “No cracks,” she comments while looking for a reaction from him. “Damn, you’re a survivor.”
But she bets that they know where “the psycho” (Helena) is, and though he claims to have never met her, she warns him, “you don’t know how far we’re willing to go to bring all these clones in,” showing him a photo of his daughter and advising him to “embrace this new future … ’cause it’s going to be here real soon.”
Though Felix and Art decide that the best thing for Alison, Donnie and Helena is to stay where they are, Alison begins packing as soon as she hears what’s happening. Donnie uses a loon call to summon Helena back from her hunting, only for Helena to see someone in the woods near her and respond with what he thinks is an emergency loon call.
When he steps away to listen, two men approach Alison, grab her and put a black bag over her head from behind. When Donnie realizes this, he … takes his suitcase and hurries away. I guess they didn’t include “I will not run when my spouse is grabbed by the enemy” in their wedding vows?
Alison is brought in a van to Art and Enger, and Enger questions her as to Helena and Donnie’s whereabouts. She was out murdering God’s creature, and he abandoned her, the clone says. Supposedly, Neolution wants a truce and for them to all come in, and Enger warns Alison that while she can’t hurt a single hair on a single clone head, the same is not true when it comes to Art. She puts a gun to his head, but Alison insists she has no idea where Helena is. Enger believes her. It’s time to take her home.
Just as Donnie reaches the car they’ve hidden and puts his suitcase inside, a man comes up behind him with a gun. “Oh, Jesus” is all Donnie says when Helena shows up because he obviously knows what she’s going to do. He even helps out a bit, but after the guy is down, they realize there’s a stick in Helena’s stomach. Time to get her to the hospital ASAP and hope her babies are okay.
Do you think Cosima made the right decision to stay at Revival? Should Donnie have done something to help Alison? Are you worried about Helena’s babies?
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.
