‘Orphan Black’: “Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method” Review

Sabrina Petrafesa ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
It seems like all there is to say about this episode of Orphan Black is that Delphine is finally back! The episode opens with Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) getting a manicure from a new clone, Krystal (Tatiana Maslany). Delphine is figuring her out, trying to make sure that Krystal knows nothing about her true heritage or that of the Castor clones that attacked her weeks beforehand. Delphine has become a better Rachel 2.0 and it’s kind of fantastic to see her like this. She’s ruthless and she will not take anything from anyone because she is in charge. She tricks the sisters and is ruthless towards Rachel (Maslany) since she is apparently still a threat to Delphine’s position. Delphine’s scenes, however, are not just filled with her cold and calculated decisions. Brochu and Maslany, as Cosima, had a heartbreaking scene together. Both were trying to fool each other, but really the only ones they’re fooling are themselves. Cosima knew the only way to stall Delphine was to tell her the truth no matter how painful it is. Maslany truly stole the scene with her tear jerking performance. The two still have amazing chemistry and it’s so completely obvious that the love is still there and yet they still won’t trust each other.

There is so much standing between Cosima and Delphine, one of those things is Shay (Ksenia Solo), who is pretty much perfect for Cosima—other than the fact that she’s not Delphine and is seriously shady. It’s not overt but Solo definitely gives a performance that leaves one wondering what is up with Shay. Is she a spy? Is she just a civilian? We’ll just have to watch next week’s episode to find out and that is too far away. Shay may be shady, but she’s also sweet and kind and loving towards Cosima, and you can’t hate her for that.
Rachel (Maslany) has brain trauma, doesn’t have an eye, and is confined to a wheelchair. None of these things have stopped Rachel from leaving a path of destruction in her wake. This episode she effectively tricked everyone into helping her, ruining Krystal’s life by having her pass for Rachel and basically dominating Delphine. Rachel has been playing this game for longer than anyone in Clone Club, it wasn’t surprising to see her win this episode and it was fantastic to watch. Rachel’s big move was to take over another clones identity. It, however, went a step further than anybody realized, and now Krystal is officially in Clone Club whether anyone wanted her to be or not. However, introducing Krystal and bringing her into the fold might not be a bad thing. On the surface she’s completely shallow, but she dropped some truth bombs on Felix (Jordon Gavaris) in that salon. She’s more intuitive than you think at first glance. The writers should definitely get her out of that coma ASAP and into Clone Club interacting with Allison, because let’s face it, those two would have amazing girl talk with very large glasses of wine.
Last week took a break from some of the Castor drama, and because of that Helena (Maslany) and Sarah (Maslany) also took a back seat. Now Helena and Sarah are back, but not for much of the episode. Helena, however, deserves a spotlight. Something weirder than normal is happening with her. She is much nicer and far more creepy than usual because she’s not threatening to hurt the people around her anymore. Helena and Donnie (Kristian Bruun) interact for what feels like the first time ever, and rather than making fun of or threatening Donnie, Helena… flirts with him? Helena felt so out of character this episode and it feels like the writers weren’t sure what to do with her. Helena was even nice to Gracie (Zoe De Grand Maison). Some might want to chalk it up to pregnancy hormones, but it feels like it could be more than that. Like maybe more went on with Mrs. S than we are aware of and Helena turned over a new leaf, because this feels like a strange path for Helena from the writers.

Sarah wasn’t up to much this episode but you can really see the mother hen in her when it comes to her sisters, even ones she hasn’t met. Although, it is not the typical way one would protect their nest. Sarah’s first instinct is to shield Krystal from the world of clones while simultaneously stealing her identity. It’s almost comical, but this scene feels more about Felix than anyone else. It is so hard for him to look Krystal in the eye and tell her lies and take her identity. Felix sees his sister in that face and that confusion and that sense of being completely lost in her is not something he can just let her feel. Graves really gives something special to this scene because for whatever reason he is able to connect with each of the clones on a very deep level that just can’t be ignored. Whether it’s just because Gavials and Maslany have such amazing chemistry together or Felix is just that type of friend you want to have in literally every situation it doesn’t matter. Felix’s interaction with Krystal was one of the best scenes in the episode, second only to Delphine’s and Cosima’s emotional scene together.
Overall, the episode felt like it was trying to explain the things that have been missing from the plot the entire season and with only two episodes left, they have to pack in the information before everything goes into overload. With the Castor boys having been on the back burner for two episodes in a row, the writers must be gearing up to something really big for them. There were so many good things that happened this episode, but we can’t forget that with a plot like Orphan Black’s, it’s easy for the plot to get out of hand. In spite of that Orphan Black’s writing is still going strong and only falters slightly a few times each season. Hopefully, next week we’ll find some of Clone Club in London since the series is a BBC show and has never had a scene in England. It feels kind of exciting and makes one think, as Felix put it, “Are we going home?”
Overall Grade: A-