'Orphan Black' Recap: "Manacled Slim Wrists"
Sabrina Petrafesa ‘18 / Emertainment Monthly President
After a long absence, Krystal Goderitch (Tatiana Maslany) appears like a breath of fresh air in Orphan Black after a season of angst and craziness. Krystal’s character brings a lightness and humor to the show that has been lacking in the last few episodes so saturated with drama. We also learn some truths about PT Westmoreland (Stephen McHattie) and Kira’s (Skyler Wexler) fate is kind of uneasy at the end of this episode.
True to her character Krystal has stumbled upon a lead that will help the Leda clones without even realizing what she was doing. Krystal, who has been told that she’s a clone still thinks the clones are trying to find a way to take down “big cosmetics.” She has a source at a big cosmetic company run by Leonard Sipps (Tom Cullen) – and by source she means she’s sleeping with Sipps. Sarah (Maslany) and Art (Kevin Hanchard) have Krystal set up a meeting so Sarah disguised as Krystal can get information out of him. Krystal hijacks that plan and interrogates him herself. The whole scene is hysterical. Krystal keeps getting distracted by Sarah and Art talking to her through an earpiece and Sipps keeps trying to get her in bed. Krystal is blunt and accusatory and a little scattered, but when it came down to it she used her self defense skills and put Sipps on the ground forcing information out of him. It. Was. Awesome. Turns out his company makes a cream that affects people on the genome level and Dyad was really interested in buying for whatever diabolical reasons.
As you may remember from last week’s episode Cosima is still locked in a cage in the basement. She tries unsuccessfully to get Mud (Jenessa Grant) to free her. However when Ira (Ari Millen) starts glitching it’s evident that Cosima needs to be freed if he has any hope of surviving. Cosima, Susan (Rosemary Dunsmore), Ira, and Mud concoct a plan to kill PT and get Cosima free and all of them off the island with Charlotte (Cynthia Galant). Now this wouldn’t be Orphan Black if the plan went off without a hitch. Mud gets cold feet at the last second and calls on Virginia Coady (Kyra Harper) to help her save PT. Ultimately, causing the death of Susan and Ira who won’t leave without her. (Side note: We also discover in this episode that Susan took Ira with her when he was only eight. Susan is not a great person, but it is very creepy that she started a sexual relationship with someone she basically raised.) only Cosima and Charlotte get off the island after Cosima reveals PT’s secret to the whole island. That he isn’t who he says he is and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
Kira has taken on a greater role this season now that she seems to be the crux of the Dyad plans to make neolution stronger and PT Westmoreland live forever. Sklyer Wexler has always been an actor who was there but has never been a big player in Orphan Black. Now we are able to see her acting skills come out full force. Wexler brings out this angsty weirdness to the character of Kira that has always been a treat to watch. Unfortunately, her arc is less than fun to watch. Dyad is using Kira for her DNA and are going to harvest her eggs. The episode ends with Rachel (Mislay) coming to Sarah and Mrs. S’s (Maria Doyle Kennedy) house and taking Kira for a “ sleep study.” Kira puts on a brave face and leaves with Rachel knowing that Sarah will understand her coded messages she’s been working on for the last two episodes.
Next week will surely bring all the drama as the Leda clones come back together at least a little bit to hopefully save Kira from Rachel.
Episode Grade: A
Orphan Black airs on BBC America Saturdays at 10PM.