Orphan Black 2.09 - "Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done"

So hey, this is the penultimate episode of Orphan Black’s second season, which means that a lot of loose ends get tied up, and new events push the storyline forward into the finale.  Alison and Donnie bury the hatchet (and the body), Cosima buys more time with Kira’s bone marrow, and Helena burns down the whole damn Prolethean complex to return to her sisters.  Most everyone is out of the woods by episodes’ end - except, of course, Kira, and by extension, Sarah.  This is the natural order of the show, echoing last season’s finale, and we hope this is going to drag everyone back into the woods - the natural order of the show.  After all, this season has marched steadily from EVERY CLONE FOR HERSELF, back towards CLONE SISTERS.

ORPHAN BLACK 2.09 - “THINGS WHICH HAVE NEVER YET BEEN DONE”

Truthfully, the two most interesting clone sisters this episode were the two that have never interacted - Rachel, and Helena.  But despite having never met face-to-face, Orphan Black actually interacts them quite a bit - thematically.  Rachel and Helena are both products of their contexts, bequeathed entitlement through their affiliations with corporation and religion, respectfully.  They stand on opposite sides of Sarah, given inverse relationships with control and chaos, but the same relationship with power.  They dye their hair blonde to differentiate themselves, to assert their own identity - which is ironic, considering that their identity is not derived from themselves, but through their alliances.  They feel power because of their belonging - to DYAD, to the Proletheans - and the narrative of Orphan Black has been slowly tugging the rug that these two stand on.  As an audience, we watch them reorient themselves, and wait for the big yank.

“Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done” puts Helena and Rachel forward in the narrative, and through this, lets them demonstrate their similarities and differences.  The episode does this mainly by letting us watch their relationship with a) their institution, and b) children.  We witness Helena begin her willing reintroduction to life with the Proletheans, an off-shoot of the context she was raised in, and we are shown Rachel completely ensconced in DYAD.  And within those respective walls, we see Helena interact with a child not too different from herself, and we see Rachel interact with Kira, and the opportunity to raise Kira through DYAD.  Basically: both women are faced with children that might echo the life she herself lived, raised in the snug empowerment of a stringent affiliation.

But in their reactions to the same basic stimulus, the differences between Helena and Rachel are illuminated, in the synthesis of chaos and control - we see the ability for these characters to change.  Helena connects with Faith (an ironically-named little girl) because Faith echoes to Helena her own self.  They zero in on each other, equally fascinated.  And when Faith is chastised by Alexis much like Helena was chastised by a nun in Ukraine, Helena protects Faith.  She steps between Faith and the life Helena got, and acts as an agent of change.  It’s echoed again with Grace - Helena puts herself between Gracie and the life her father’s forcing her into, and protects her from it.  And it ends with the ultimate change agent: fire.  Helena levels the whole compound, wildly burning it to ash for a better rebirth.

But where Helena destroys pain by fire, Rachel preserves it in ice.  In the throes of her original context, Rachel has a similar opportunity as Helena.  She’s kidnapped Kira to harvest a cure, yet she still puts her up in a pretty bedroom that’s decorated very carefully to be a home for a little girl.  She sits with Kira, waits for her to wake, and greets her warmly.  (Or as warmly as Rachel greets anyone.  Kira probably still felt a chill cascade over her.)  And the icing on the cake: she tells Kira, “You may even grow to like it here, just as I did.”  Here Rachel is, facing a child who might walk down the same path she did, and she says, “YEAH I KNOW IT SUCKED TOO BUT I LEARNED TO LIKE IT AND SO WILL YOU.”

So where Helena is an agent of protection, Rachel is an agent of perpetuation.  Helena, who was tortured, brainwashed, and caged, is capable of change.  Change is chaotic, and Helena thrives there.  Rachel, however, is not capable of change, because it can’t be controlled.  It is predicated on letting go, and Rachel is fundamentally incapable - and unwilling.  All season long, I’ve been waiting for some crack in Rachel’s exterior - to watch the hard shell split away and let all of Rachel’s issues come roaring out.  And yet, when this happened, it still felt dissatisfying to me.  Rachel reset right back to zero and pretended she didn’t just have a screaming fit where she broke things and threw plants.

It’s frustrating, and yet at the same time, this episode provided the saddest justification for that: unlike Helena, maybe Rachel is not capable of change.  And what else would make that difference but her sisters?  Helena can be an agent of change because she herself was changed - by Sarah.  She jailbreaks out of Prolethean Land because she belongs somewhere else, with her sestra.  She is no longer trapped by her context, because someone gave her a new place to belong.  Rachel doesn’t have that.  Not unlike Dr. Frankenstein’s creation (thanks for the thematic assist, Henry), Rachel is a monster because (cheese alert) she wasn’t shown love.

Or wasn’t she?  That somewhat thin conclusion doesn’t stop there, because Orphan Black has developed something deeper and more complicated for Rachel.  We have actual home videos that indicate Rachel was shown love in her life.  Not only have we seen these home videos, but Rachel traps herself with them.  She locks herself in a glass room with a martini and watches her own happiness, and tells herself it was all a lie.  Rachel was shown love, but she rejects that it could be real.  Helena may have tortured herself with a blade, but Rachel tortures herself with memories, and feelings she won’t allow herself to feel.  So like the home videos she watches, she’s stuck in a loop of self-torment until she implodes.  Then, she carefully reconstructs her facade, and the whole process is nothing short of fascinating and horrific.

I used to wonder how Helena could ever survive in this narrative.  How could she truly live in this world, all teeth and violence and remorse?  But Orphan Black has successfully resurrected the character for Season 2, and given her a believable chance at change and belonging.  Now, I find myself wondering if Rachel can survive this narrative.  “Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done” shows that she is similarly-derived as Helena, but suffers fundamental differences in how she moves through her own life, and what she allows herself to feel and do.  Can the writers feasibly keep her as a villain, in a time loop of tragedy and outburst?  Can they develop her, and let her change?  Or is Rachel the Javert to Sarah’s Valjean, doomed to pursue her endlessly, until she decides to step over the edge of her ivory tower?

STRAY OBSERVATIONS -

• Rachel/Marian interactions are deliciously loaded.  I like extending the idea of Leekie as surrogate father to the idea that Marian is Rachel’s surrogate mother, and their interaction was delightfully laced with a daughter’s false respect and a mother’s polite disappointment.  I practically screeched at Marian’s backhanded insult to Rachel about Sarah.  She may as well have said, “Why can’t you be more like Sarah, Rachel?  You’re genetically identical, and yet Sarah’s pretty much outsmarting at every turn.”

• I also dearly enjoyed Marian asking if Rachel, too, was intrigued by Sarah. “BIOLOGICALLY,” Rachel replies with a barely-suppressed eyeroll.  “I MEAN I GUESS SHE’S COOL IN LIKE A GENETIC WAY LIKE IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT HER SCIENTIFICALLY BUT MOSTLY I THINK HER LEATHER JACKET IS DUMB AND HER ACCENT IS STUPID AND I’M NOT INTERESTED IN HER UTERUS AT ALL SO I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU WOULD ASK, MOTHER.”  Then she goes back to reading Tiger Beat, and muttering under her breath how embarrassing her mom is.

• Kudos to Orphan Black for giving Kira the decision about her bone marrow donation, and double kudos for letting Mrs. S. be the one who points it out.  On a show about choice, and agency over women’s bodies, it’s nice to see it echoed down into plot decisions and applied to young girls.  Kira’s body, Kira’s choice.  They gave her all the information going in, they didn’t sugarcoat it, and Kira was courageous and made her own choice.  Sure, this was a plot thing that had to move forward anyways, but it was still nice to see it pushed there by Kira’s own decision.

• Did Rachel really say that Delphine makes a good interim director because she’s telegenic?  I won’t lie; I looked that word up to see if it had a scientific definition - telomeres?  genes?  science things I vaguely remember from high school?  But NOPE, it literally just means, “Delphine looks good on TV.”  “Well… yeah,” says all of the audience like this isn’t news at all.

• “I’M NOT AS PERFECTLY COMFORTABLE WITH MANSLAUGHTER AS YOU ARE.”

Orphan Black 2.08 - "Variable and Full of Perturbation"

Hello, universe.  Remember when I wrote Orphan Black reviews?  Yeah, me neither.  And if it turns out that I barely remember Orphan Black itself, just leave me a little comment to nudge me towards accurate information.  Additionally, since this is the episode with Tony, please let me know if I inadvertently demonstrate ignorance towards his trans identity, or the trans community.  I will absolutely make corrections.

So let’s do this, shall we?  It’s only five months later!

Hey guys, remember us?

ORPHAN BLACK 2.08 - "VARIABLE AND FULL OF PERTURBATION"

Variable, and full of perturbation.  There’s a fairly linear connection between this phrase, and Tony himself.  After seventeen episodes of dealing with the Clone Club identified as women, the showrunners now give us Tony, from the same batch of clones -- Tony, who identifies as a man.  That’s a pretty significant variance, given our understanding of the words “genetically identical.”

Clearly, the writers have introduced Tony to do exactly that: raise questions about what it means to be genetically identical, and the biology of gender identity and expression.  They’ve wheeled out a substantial topic to parse, and yet they concurrently do something kind of wonderful: they don’t try to.  No one says, “Hey, how can this be?”  They only say, “Oh, I guess this can be, then.”  Which is lovely, because that means that Tony’s identity, itself, is never called into question.  Questioning the existence of a trans clone is not any different than questioning the existence of a trans human, and OB’s not playing that game.

What’s nice about this portrayal is that it falls in line behind the LGBT representation that Orphan Black has already casually yet firmly displayed.  Cosima’s sexuality is never questioned, and so neither is Tony’s.  Gender and sexuality will always slide back on the list of main identifiers for these characters - like Cosima told Rachel, it’s not the most interesting thing about them.  Sure, they’re clones, and that’s always going to hold the trump card on interesting, but also, it’s quietly prescriptive: clone or no clone, that’s how it should be.

As a result, this plugs into grander, more universal themes.  Humanity is a central tenet of this show, and every clone expresses the need to be treated as a person and not a project.  We are not what defines us; we define ourselves.  This contextually-LGBT philosophy is actually central to the show, echoed across all the main characters, regardless of sexuality.  The ability to express one’s own identity is a human right, regardless of gender, sexuality, science, or nature.  It blows my mind a little bit that Orphan Black is thus a show that doesn’t narratively sequester LGBT themes in a “niche,” but rather carries them over to all the main characters.

So really, “variable and full of perturbation” is not just a phrase for Tony, a trans clone.  A major theme this episode was, “It’s not just me; it’s all of us.”  We’re not talking about Tony being variant or perturbed because he’s trans.   All of the clones are variable, and full of perturbation.  There are two previous episodes that have some version of the word “variable” in the title, and if you look up “perturbation,” you don’t necessary get the synonym “disturbed” (a word you really don't want to see applied to anyone identifying as LGBTQIA) - you get the emotional application, “anxiety, mental uneasiness,” and the scientific application, “a deviation of the system.”  If that doesn’t describe everything about Orphan Black, I don’t know what does.

Moreover, we get a few narrative connections between Tony and the other clones - mainly Cosima, and Sarah.  In this episode, both Cosima and Tony demonstrate the idea that they too, don’t call into question their own identities.  There is no crisis in key moments that would cause breakdown for others - Cosima casually strolls up to her maker and shakes his hand, and Tony has the biggest non-reaction to being told he’s a clone.  Identity issues are long since sorted through, and these two are the most resilient and adaptable in the bunch.  (LGBT themes may not be “niche” on this show, but it’s still important to acknowledge how they might manifest uniquely in context.)

There’s also Tony and Sarah.  Of course, Felix says, “He has some of your worst qualities,” about Tony the clone, but we also get a little scene with Rachel that illuminates the concept of variance.  What exactly is it about Sarah that makes her so different?  Why - not how, why - did she succeed in fertility when they were designed to be barren?  Like Tony, she was raised out of the control of DYAD, unmonitored, and that has cultivated a whole host of “chaos” on her identity.  Can we say exactly what happened, biologically, genetically, environmentally?  No.  It’s just who she is.  And the same goes for Tony.

The idea that “it’s all us” is specifically voiced by Cosima, as she struggles to forgive Delphine for betraying her trust in favor of protecting her.  (What’s that about respecting what people express about themselves?)  Delphine can’t make decisions for Cosima, because a) that’s a basic human no-no, but also, b) Cosima comes with Sarah, Kira, Helena, Alison, Tony, and yes, even Rachel.  No clone is an island; their fates are entwined.  Rachel herself voices this as well, as she uses the phrase “all of us” not once but twice in this episode (once with Delphine, once with Duncan).

So, from a thematic perspective, Tony slides easily into the world Orphan Black has created for itself.  Welcome to the family.  But from a narrative perspective?  Admittedly, the introduction of Tony feels something like proof of concept.  He whisks in, from nowhere, and whisks back out, into the black, with only the Clone Phone as a direct line back to the narrative.  In the grand scheme of the season, it’s likely that he will lift right out without any consequence.  Hell, in the episode, he lifts right out without much consequence.  They had to really work the timeline to pull Sarah out of her own plotline to even meet him.

Yes, they invented a reason to make Tony relevant: he comes bearing a message.  Mystery!  Intrigue!  Suspense!  Well - theoretically.  Tony’s message comes from Beth, via his dead partner (or monitor?) Sammy.  Narratively-speaking, messages from the dead are usually good devices.  But this one fell short.  There weren’t enough stakes generated during the time Tony held onto the message (except the looming threat that Felix was going to kiss a genetic identical of his adopted sister) - and the reveal of the message, which should ramp everything up, felt more like the air going out of a balloon.  Something about Paul, or something?  At which point Sarah screwed up her face and said, “Paul?”  Like she was trying to place him.  Us too, Sarah.  Us too.   His absence isn’t all that inconvenient, nor his is silence all that irksome, contrary to what Rachel says.

In all seriousness, bringing a message that Paul is military and is “on it,” is not all that revelatory, mostly because that message seems to baseline “he’s a good guy, DON’T WORRY” and not much else.  Yawn.  Orphan Black has long-suffered from a Paul Problem, and this message pretty much sums it up.  He’s supposed to be a mystery, which is supposed to invest us - but the problem is, there’s not enough there to make us care.  And they can’t give us more information to hook us, because a) then there’d be no mystery, and b) this is not Paul’s show.  As a viewer, I would probably be annoyed about following Paul through a mysterious adventure, thereby taking screentime away from more interesting elements of OB.

In a way, “Variable and Full of Perturbation” reminds me of a one-off episode that borrows elements of a different genre - in this case, a crime mystery.  We begin the hour in the middle of a car chase, where we meet a brand new character, and then wonder how this all connects to the main narrative thread.  In other words, the pre-credits sequence was exactly like one in Bones or Castle, with a hint of Lost sprinkled in.  Then, Tony has a mysterious message, and won’t talk until he gets more information - which Felix isn’t willing to give up until he gets more information, through Art.  Stand-off.  Art conveniently gets information, with no obstacle.  Added to that, there’s the suspense that someone’s going to come after Tony and shoot him too - except it doesn’t even come close to happening.  It’s very cop show-ish, without much air in it.

Let it be said, though, that genre-borrow isn’t necessarily a bad thing - but it definitely makes itself noticed.  In another way, the hour reminded me a bit of the Lost outing that “explained” Nikki and Paulo, distracting itself with a conceptual hook and letting an element of tension and dramatic irony carry through the diversion.  (And then promptly ending with only a remote possibility that this would be brought up again.)  But the bad thing about Nikki and Paulo - and the risk of genre-borrow and one-off episodes on serialized shows in particular - is the nagging question who cares?  Why care about these yahoos when Jack and Kate and Sawyer are traipsing around?

This same nagging question surfaces with Tony, unfortunately.  Would it have been better to parcel off some of Tony’s screentime to another character - Cosima, or Helena, or even (dare I say it) Paul?  If there weren’t another story thread or emotional beat that could have benefited from more clocktime, I wouldn’t necessarily say yes.  The problems in Tony’s storyline could be fixed within Tony’s storyline.  But in “Variable and Full of Perturbation,” there was another area that could have used the extra time - with Rachel Duncan’s meltdown.

That sequence should have been great!  Here’s this character who’s been buttoned-up for so long, pressurizing her emotions in fragile glass, and finally - she combusts.  It’s a huge deal, right?  Except it wasn’t, really.  The cutaways were, first of all, confusing, because it was difficult to tell the time and place for of her breakdown.  The sense of disorientation pulled the audience out of the moment, and we weren’t so much feeling anything as wondering where we are.  You could argue that the cuts helped to make her explosion more jarring in contrast with her usual demeanor, but I personally feel like we should have seen a stone-faced Rachel slowly crack and then unleash her tornado of pain and anger.  Cutaways just don’t do it justice, especially when they untether the audience from the emotions.  The scene would have benefitted from more screentime to build that emotional climax, and unfortunately, Tony’s part is the storyline with excess time to give.

So, in the end, the point of bringing Tony into the fold kind of remains on the idea that the OB writers wanted to demonstrate that a trans clone is, indeed, possible.  And y’know, given the space that Orphan Black has created for LGBT characters, and the way their presence is fundamentally thematic in all of the main characters -- it’s hard to argue with that.  This is the concept episode, the genre episode, the proof of concept, and the proof that identity - gender, and sexual - is in a person’s voice, not their DNA.  But in the realm of television writing - story building, plot threading, stakes and obstacles - “Variable and Full of Perturbation” was a little left of target.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• How much did I love Kira’s exasperated “MO-OOOOM!” at Sarah questioning if Dr. Moreau was appropriate for kids.  How lovely that they still get to have some hints of “normal” mother-daughter interactions.

• Kudos to Josh Vokey, who plays Scott, for the scene where he finds out that Cosima is 324B21.  It’s a lovely little moment of realization and compassion, as suddenly the science becomes very human for him.

• THE KIDS ARE TRUANT.  Alison’s manner of speaking is still the best thing ever.  Also, of course she would criticize Donnie’s sloppy handling of Leekie’s body.  And of course she’d be irate that Donnie used one of her guns.  Of course, Alison.

• “You cannot imagine the strange colourless delight of these intellectual desires.  The thing standing before you is no longer an animal, a fellow creature - but a problem.”  This week, on meta-relevant excerpts from in-narrative novels!

• Did Tony remind anyone else of Apolo Anton Ohno?  I mean, it’s Canada.  He probably skates.

Orphan Black 2.07 - "Knowledge of Causes, and Secret Motion of Things"

Let’s just break this down for a second: this episode of Orphan Black was both sinister and absurd, equal parts mania and measure, comedy and disaster.

Ladies and gentlemen?  I believe we have found the episodic incarnation of Alison Hendrix.

ORPHAN BLACK 2.07 - “KNOWLEDGE OF CAUSES, AND SECRET MOTION OF THINGS”

It’s obvious that Alison was meant to be the centerpiece of the episode, and it makes sense that her character traits sprawl outward from her place at the epicenter, wreaking havoc in both funny and awful ways.  This calls back to the delightful season 1 outfit “Variations Under Domestication,” which served as a little sidecar of pastel suburban horror to Sarah’s squeeze between the cops and the corporation.  Sarah imitating Alison?  Check.  Hiding a body from Alison’s peers?  Check.  Craft supplies in conjunction with bodily harm?  Oh, check.

Of course, when it comes to Alison, absurd ridiculata is usually followed by genuine terror and heartwrenching tragedy.  So not only did we have the hijinx of trying to dispose of Vic and cover for Alison, but there was also Cosima learning that Delphine betrayed her trust, Alison discovering that Donnie participated in a “social experiment” with no knowledge of its real repercussions, and Rachel finding out that Dr. Leekie killed her mother.  And of course, the errant gunshot that capped the episode and dropped all of our jaws - rounding out the hour as absurd, tragic, and violent - just like Alison herself.

But Alison wasn't the only focal point of the episode - there was also Rachel Duncan.  Helena was absent, and while Sarah and Cosima certainly had their emotional moments, the bulk of the screentime was devoted to Alison and Rachel, and the rapid unraveling of their worlds as they know it.  Remember a few weeks ago, I charted Alison and Rachel as characters both wildly resistant to vulnerability?  Neither of them can cope with a loss of control, and they both take great efforts to construct the world around them to the exact specifications of their liking.

In “Knowledge of Causes, and Secret Motion of Things,” both Alison and Rachel receive new information that nudges their worlds off their axes, and watching them struggle to deal is a fascinating character study, both individually and together.  Of course, Alison has been perpetually unempowered since the start of the show, and her unraveling has been a slow, steady, and tragicomic descent.  Learning that Donnie’s betrayal was foolish instead of malignant is just another disintegration of an already-crumbling world.  Rachel, however, is buttoned-up in an apex of power, and the news that Leekie killed her mother is the trigger on a what will likely be a sudden implosion.  In other words: we only just witnessed the early tremors of the inevitable self-destruction of Rachel’s carefully-selected identity.  What more, Rachel has power - where Alison is locked up and disenfranchised in rehab, Rachel has the ability to start a war. (Cue Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball.")

This connection between Alison and Rachel also makes the final moments of the hour more inspired than mere plot shock and gun horror.  After all, the newest chasm in Alison’s life comes with the knowledge that Donnie’s affiliation with DYAD is laughably innocuous, even though it destroyed everything anyways.  And the first crack in Rachel’s world comes with the earth-shattering truth that Leekie killed her mother and raised her in DYAD's image.  So with these control-centric ladies spiraling into terrifying and uncharted new worlds, who should cross paths at the end of the episode but the two men whose actions were the cause?

It’s also a huge statement to set up Leekie as a powerful villain in this episode, and let Donnie Hendrix kill him with an errant bullet.  We learned Leekie was the Mad Scientist, the Villain, and Donnie was the Fool - and yet it’s the fool who puts a bullet through the Villain’s brain.  For a man attempting to design an outcome, it's awfully ironic he was felled by happenstance.  For Donnie, it's accidental vengeance, an irony of agency - suddenly the extension of Alison has power, just as the extension of Rachel does not.  Moreover, it's a new Secret Motion of Things to push us forward into the final act of the season.

Of course, with Aldous Leekie’s demise waiting at episode’s end, Orphan Black revealed a new stratum of power within the DYAD corporation: Dr. Marian Bowles.  Here’s a new shadowy figure for us to observe and suss out - because with DYAD in particular, power dynamics are nebulous and shifting.  Every episode adds new information that reveals a different dimension to the chain of command.  The heads of this beast twist and snarl, and we only learn how it operates if we pay close attention.

Here’s what we know about Dr. Marian Bowles: upon first glance, she appears to be a scientist.  But then, you realize her pristine white coat is not of a laboratory but of an office.  She is a well-groomed businesswoman, silver-tongued and shark-toothed.  She gives Leekie the impression it’s the two of them against Rachel (she’s even costumed the same as him during their meeting - white exterior, black underneath) - when in fact, it becomes her and Rachel against him.  After all, she and Rachel are to sit in the big chair.  Not the lab coat, but the businesswoman’s coat.  Marian is obviously meant to be another interpretation of Rachel - perhaps an amalgamation of Rachel and Sarah - and I’m curious to see if the show will present her as a pseudo-mother figure to Rachel, to match Leekie as her pseudo-father, and foil Mrs. S. as a mother figure to Sarah.

Which leads me to another instance of having to Pay Very Close Attention to understand the true structure and inner workings of a design: in this case, of Rachel Duncan and her Nebulous Tucked-Away Emotions.  She meaningfully interacts with two father figures in the episode: first with her adoptive father Ethan, who’s probably a shell of how she remembers him, and then with Aldous Leekie, the man who took her in and raised her as one of DYAD.  Leekie hijacked Rachel as he hijacked Project Leda - and yet, Rachel shows him mercy when he’s meant to be disposed of.  “Nurture prevails,” she says, without a single tear in her eye, leaning coolly against a desk, rattled but keeping it together.

Compare this to her interaction with Ethan - who, it bears stating, is just the previous Nurturer for Rachel.  He is not her nature - that we know of - he’s simply the man who came before Aldous Leekie as a Father Figure.  We are not privy to the conversation that they share; however, in the moments leading up to it, we see tears shining in Rachel’s eyes and a fairly recognizable struggle for composure.  Combine Rachel’s lack of emotion with her action of mercy, and a big question mark for how she interacted with Ethan - and we’re looking a mysterious puzzle of a lady.  I’m guessing Rachel Duncan understands her own emotions even less than we do, so watching this shake out is going to be interesting.

“Nurture prevails” is of course a big statement to come out of the mouth of one of the characters on this show, given the constant push and pull between nature and nurture as indicators of someone’s identity, appearance, and behavior.  It's also applicable to a few other situations in the episode.  Nurture leads Rachel to make her choice; Nurture gives Sarah similar destructive calculations as her adoptive mother; Nurture connects Alison to her adopted children; Nurture brings Felix to Alison’s aid, and Sarah to Alison’s aid, and Sarah to Cosima’s aid.  Nurture is fingerprinted all over the episode, with one notable exception: Cal Morrison.  Cal is biologically connected to Kira, and, while having been absent from his role as Nurturer, takes up the mantle through his biology as genetic dad.

The idea of a study in nurture spins a few facets in new light.  What exactly comprises nurture?  If nurture is caring for someone, cherishing and fostering and encouraging - then Orphan Black presents us with a variety of flawed expressions.  Delphine is tragically intent on nurturing Cosima, at the expense of Cosima’s agency and Kira’s potential safety.  Alison loves Donnie, but the way she shows it can be destructive for him.  Mrs. S does what’s best for Kira at the occasional expense of Sarah; Leekie cares for Rachel but hides a devastating truth from her; Donnie loves Alison but allows for social experiment on his family.  In short: Helena is not the only character on Orphan Black that loves imperfectly through misaligned expression, and thus nurture is rendered in a gray area as a function of good intent, personal agenda, and difficult circumstance.

As we move forward, it seems the best example of nurture is perhaps exemplified with Sarah: with Cosima's life on the line, she seems ready to bring Kira in to DYAD and negotiate a cure.  Given that Sarah's original character construction hinged on Kira and Kira alone, it's a huge statement about her development if she makes this choice - even if she's running a con.  Sarah and Cosima may share identical DNA, but it's the relationship and the circumstances that are informing Sarah's decision.  Nurture prevails, indeed.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• “FINKS AND RATS AND SNITCHES AND FUZZ” is the greatest assembly of human language, ever.

• WHAT’S NEW WITH PAUL: we found out he likes pottery!  And that’s it for this week on WHAT’S NEW WITH PAUL!

• When Cal told Sarah he has people in Reykjavik, I half-expected her to say, “But I have people here.”  And then I would’ve cried.  Sarah Manning's family arc, everybody.  Sniff.

• Can’t lie; I felt a genuine pang of sympathy seeing Cal watch Sarah go - probably wondering if he would ever see her or Kira again.

• I very dearly enjoy when Orphan Black reminds us that Alison has children, and is family-oriented not just in the comedic-soccer-mom way.  Motherhood is such an important facet of this show, and Alison’s kids should be included in that.  Not only that, but it’s a way to connect Alison to Sarah, and Mrs. S. - narrative connections that are personal faves - and a handy construction to keep Alison in the fold.

• Where does Rachel’s power hit a brick wall?  When is she limited, because she’s a clone?  I wait anxiously to find out.

Orphan Black 2.06 - "To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings"

Remember how the story of season 2 has been less CLONES ASSEMBLE and more EVERY CLONE FOR HERSELF?  And remember how that’s inherently upsetting?  Well, turns out that defining this thematic switch as an actual LACK for the characters, emotionally, is infinitely more upsetting.  I need about ten thousand years to cry about clone sisters, and the way this episode underscored the concept of family by crossing it with a main theme: the assertion of humanity.

ORPHAN BLACK 2.06: "TO HOUND NATURE IN HER WANDERINGS"

The title sets it all up: this season, our clone sisters have set out on their own paths, isolated from one another.  We’ve seen it in every episode, and it’s a tragic pang of reality about their individual situations.  But this episode doesn’t just unequivocally present this story as the new normal; it wistfully shows us a few hints of what might possibly be, if only our heroes weren’t under constant duress.  If only Cosima and Sarah could go break Alison out of rehab right now.  Maybe Helena and Sarah really could be true sisters, having adventures.  Maybe Helena could have a relationship with a boyfriend.  Including these moments of connection served to highlight the fact that the clone family is splintered right now, and created a beautiful kind of yearning in the audience that they could actually be a family, and maybe even one day, free from this.  They are, after all, stronger together.

This emphatic inclusion of emotional unity amongst the clones is thus a big indicator about the theme of the episode.  The concept of family is the big throughline, the empathy anchor.  It anchors emotional moments like Sarah and Cosima’s phone call.  It’s mentioned casually, like when Mrs. S refers to the clones as “Sarah and her sisters.”  It’s embodied in larger storylines, as Helena and Sarah have the most absurdly wonderful sisterly interactions on what is basically a road trip.  It emerges in small details, like Helena’s cover story at the bar comprising the identities of her sestra clones.  It even reveals in dialogue: Alison judges Vic for abusing Sarah; Sarah tells Cosima they’re stronger together; Cosima worries about her illness putting fear in Sarah over Kira; Helena is momentarily fooled when Gracie refers to herself as her sister.

This episode deploys the concept of family in full force, and its purpose is more than just to tug at our heart strings.  After all, we also reunite with the shady Mrs. S, and meet the elusive Ethan Duncan for the first time.  These are both examples of family - Sarah’s foster mother and Rachel’s adoptive father - that have ulterior motives for their loved ones.  Siobhán Sadler continues to be maddeningly (delightfully) gray in her actions and motives, and Ethan Duncan reveals himself to have been Rachel’s first monitor.  “To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings” brings into sharp focus the repeated conflation of family with experiment, to fantastic and horrific result.  Because this, even more than individual isolation, is the reality of the clones’ situation.  Who can you trust, when you are a loved one but also a project?  How can you forge genuine human connections when it’s possible the other person may not see you wholly as human?

Orphan Black has danced with all these ideas in the past, but “To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings” brought them to the forefront, and fused the clones together with these shared bounds.  Helena is supposedly a member of the Prolethean’s family, but she’s also their science experiment and the womb for their new generation.  Delphine loves Cosima and wants the best for her treatment, but we’re reminded that their relationship is not just love: it’s a science experiment, and a power imbalance due to restriction of knowledge.  Paul and Mark sit in dark corners of a bar and talk about Sarah and Helena like property: “You take your girl, I take mine.”  Even innocent Scott, upon realization that DYAD has clones, asks bluntly if he can see one, like he’s at a zoo - not realizing the woman he has been working with is in fact a human AND a clone.  And Alison, adrift Alison, who thinks she may finally have another human caring for her recovery, is in fact being tasked with another kind of monitor.

Basically, this episode was filled with relationships that are blemished by the other party treating the clone as something other than simply human - whether object, target, possession, task, or even womb.  This has always been a core theme of the show, and a great source of tension: how do the clones assert their humanity, when they’re derived from science, and patented property?  Not only that, but their existence is, as Ethan Duncan so succinctly put it, proof of concept.  They’re a project, conceived on paper but made breathing and living and loving - only to be owned and monitored.  What results is a painful and fascinating tension, and another important theme for the clones: the importance of asserting their humanity.

Last week, I charted Sarah as the character defined by chaos and vulnerability, and her capacity to find power in that space.  This week, it was demonstrated completely, as the emotional pinnacle of the episode came with her confrontation of Ethan Duncan.  She doesn’t threaten Duncan with violence, or attack him with reason.  She humanizes herself, and Cosima, and Alison, by telling Duncan who they are as people.  A brilliant scientist; a mom.  She confronts Duncan with their humanity, which is so often denied them because of their origins.  She forces him to look her in the eye, and tells him that she is not a concept: she is a human consequence for his actions.

What’s even more beautiful about this moment is that it pays off the quietly-building theme of family.  Sarah doesn’t assert just her own humanity; she asserts the humanity of her sisters as well.  The reality of the situation really isn’t “EVERY CLONE FOR HERSELF.”  Her situation is also Alison’s, and Helena’s, and Cosima’s.  They are stronger together, through their vulnerability, in the sanctity of a family that knows the importance of humanity unmarred by treatment as object, target, possession, task, or womb.

Of course, the implications of Sarah’s conversation with Duncan is also interesting under the lens of gender.  While it’s true that Sarah uses her and her sisters’ humanity to appeal to Duncan, it also manifests in a gendered way: “your little girls are dying.”  Typically, the show draws parallels between humanity and femininity - which makes the expression of strength through vulnerability all the more powerful.  Orphan Black’s female clones may be unempowered, they may have flaws - but they are active, and strong.

But this is an expression of the clones shared solely with the audience.  For the purpose of Duncan, Sarah just wrangled them all into “daddy’s little girls,” to incite fatherly love and paternal protection.  Combine this with the fact that Duncan claims that they pursued cloning because they wanted not just babies but little girls, and we’re very squarely in the idea that gender is of huge importance to this show’s narrative.  It is no coincidence that this alignment comes in an episode where our leading ladies are engaged in relationships with individuals who see them as less than human, and where they voice their strength through togetherness.  Under the lens of gender?  This is a big statement about women, the right to their own bodies and identity, and the power in women connecting.

In short: “To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings” is a damn good hour of television.  But it’s also something more: it’s a damn good episode of Orphan Black.  It inhabits its own universe and harvests its own themes and creates more meaning with them, putting them to use not only in the plot twists and narrative turns, but also in the characters’ actions and emotions.  This show sprawls in the most engaging and thoughtful way, and “To Hound Nature in Her Wanderings” demonstrates that near-perfectly.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• Helena’s boyfriend storyline seemed bewilderingly out of place at first, until the slow dance revealed why it’s important to this episode in particular.  Here is Helena allowed to feel finally.  Her whole life has been a series of interactions in line with the theme of the hour: families manipulating or dehumanizing her.  She even perceives her relationship with Sarah in some level of mistrust, leveraging her knowledge to achieve togetherness.  But dancing with Jesse in a bar?  Helena’s heart is finally ungoverned, free of constraint, and achingly human hoping.  What could have been a goofy storyline actually ended up being thematically resonant and beautifully important.

• Alison basically has two monitors now.  Ha.  Ha ha ha.  (I cry.)

• So much comedy in this episode, which made the heartwrenching moments even more poignant by contrast.  Plus, each clone had funny moments in her own specific way - which means that Tatiana Maslany is not of this planet, basically.

• After several rewinds and a best-effort attempt to understand Science, we’re on with the idea that Cosima’s stem cell donation came from Kira’s baby tooth, yes yes?  In which case, it seems to point to the idea that Mrs. S. is responsible for that.

• Speaking of Mrs. S, I am so all-in on the Murder Lady of the Night intrigue, it’s not even funny.  She’s the protagonist’s MOTHER, which has its own archetype at this point, and yet here she is, in a t-shirt and beanie and wielding a gun.  Motherly protection, indeed.

• And, finally, I am also very ready to see what the show does with Rachel’s father, especially as it might mirror Sarah’s relationship with Siobhán.

Orphan Black 2.05 - "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est"

Bam boom!  Orphan Black is finally greasing the wheels and getting this season MOVING.  "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" got back on track with breakneck pace - and along with some great storytelling and narrative devices, created a pretty gripping hour of television.

ORPHAN BLACK 2.05 - "IPSA SCIENTIA POTESTAS EST"

There are several reasons "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" works so well - but mainly, they all stem from the fact that it allows its characters to MOVE and DO.  The first episodes of this season found Alison trapped, Helena trapped, Cosima trapped, and Sarah hiding.  The show, by nature, limits the choices these characters have - but when their hands are bound completely, it can sometimes make for a less dynamic narrative thread.  At some point Sarah’s gotta kick through the bathroom wall.  So, "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" freed up Helena and Sarah, dialed up Rachel, created communication between Leekie and Cosima, and, since she’s immobile in rehab, wisely left Alison out of the picture.  (More on this down below.)

In other words, this episode allowed for characters to make and act on their choices, thereby knocking down dominoes into other characters who in turn make and act on their own choices.  Plot forward, characters changing and adapting.  This kind of scenario is when Orphan Black is firing on all cylinders, and "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" didn’t disappoint.  But as we all know, I’m rarely focused on plot.  Nah, I’m here for the characters.  Let’s discuss.

Last week, the show did a wonderful job setting up Rachel, Helena, and Sarah as the three central figures of the season, inherently interesting because of their complicated connections and thematic representations.  It became clear that the writers were intending to compare and contrast Rachel and Helena with regards to Sarah - with their shared elitist views endowed to them by their group-based context, and the ways in which they challenge Sarah.

This episode followed through on this similarity, even going so far as to put the words right in Felix’s mouth: “You’re now pitted between two psychopaths!”  Sarah found herself trying to keep her feet in the crossfire of Rachel and Helena firing up their actions.  Helena doesn’t stay caged at Art’s long; instead she gets a sniper rifle and goes to take out Rachel.  Rachel doesn’t mourn Daniel’s death long; instead she manipulates Paul, frames Felix for murder, and shuts down Cosima’s treatment in order to force Sarah’s surrender.  Rachel raises the stakes, Helena creates an obstacle, and the drama for Sarah is elevated.  These ladies don’t mess around, and the show is better for it.

But regardless of episode construction, I keep going back to the title of the hour: “Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est.”  In Latin, it means “knowledge itself is power.”  And this episode of Orphan Black presented a whole smorgasbord of material touching on knowledge, power, and the inherent consequence of lacking either: vulnerability.  It’s a core function of the show’s themes, with a rather drama-rich result for its characters.  After all, vulnerability - or a lack thereof - is a cornerstone of most human interaction.  And we saw it all over this episode.  How does each character handle being vulnerable?  Do they seek power for themselves, or over others?  Who chooses vulnerability, and who resists it?

The relationship between knowledge, vulnerability, and power crops up with pretty much everyone in the hour.  Rachel refuses to be vulnerable with Paul, and therefore seeks power over him sexually.  Sarah chooses to be vulnerable with Helena, and in turn receives compliance with her wishes.  Delphine discovers that DYAD is exerting power over Cosima by denying her access to “the science.”  Leekie chooses to amend this, despite the possibility of being vulnerable as a result, and in return receives information from Sarah.  Rachel keeps secrets from Leekie in an effort to disenfranchise him, because she doesn’t trust him to make the right decisions.  Cosima keeps the truth of her illness from Sarah to avoid seeming vulnerable, or pitied.

Let’s talk Rachel for a moment, since she’s the character with the most pronounced relationship to vulnerability, power, and knowledge.  Thus far, Rachel has stood in a glass tower, staring out the window with all the knowledge, all the power, and no vulnerability.  She has designed it that way.  Rachel is so embedded in her own rigidly-defined power structure that she bends no rules for no one.  Her sex with Paul almost plays as compulsory, as though she’s obligated to have sex with her monitor, simply because it’s how the power structure at DYAD works.  Rachel doesn’t appear to have any emotions clouding her relationship with power, because that’s the best way to keep it.  It’s exactly what her criticism is of Leekie.  And even though she was sleeping with Daniel, she insists on seeing his bloodied corpse.  She refuses to be treated with consideration to her feelings, because obliging is an admission of having them - and being vulnerable.

But the show does something interesting with Rachel and vulnerability, during the sex scene with Paul.  Here, Rachel is in complete control.  She instructs Paul what to do when, and slaps him when he move towards her without permission.  This situation is designed to be physically intimate without being emotionally intimate, and still Rachel is vulnerable - because Helena has a sniper rifle leveled at her across the street.  There’s a wonderfully tense dichotomy going on here.  The writing and direction allow the audience the dramatic irony of knowing Rachel’s vulnerability, while simultaneously witnessing a situation where she’s actively denying anything less than absolute power.  And to make that situation a sex scene, where some level of vulnerability is implied, is even more telling.

It’s also an expression of Rachel’s big flaw: nothing is absolute.  Life is chaos, not controlled.  She can manipulate situations to her will using power and knowledge, but vulnerability can’t be kept out forever.  Sometimes another version of you is pointing a sniper rifle at your face and you’re none the wiser.

What’s even more interesting is the show’s definition of science in comparison with Rachel’s outlook.  It’d be easy to conflate science with control.  But Cosima, the show’s bastion of science, is expressive, adaptable, and full of life.  Rachel, however, is science through corporate: an inflexible pillar of controlled data and measured outcomes.  She’s doomed to fail.  Messy humanity - embodied by Cosima, Sarah, and Helena (messy, messier, messiest) - will overtake her.  Her glass tower will shatter, and fall.

So of course, it makes sense that the person on the other end of that sniper rifle is the one person who threatens Rachel’s power in the messiest way possible.  Cosima is confrontational of Rachel.  Sarah is even more confrontational of Rachel.  But Helena?  Helena is the most confrontational.  She is not controlled science; she is controlled religion.  She is as fragile and destructive as Rachel, but unlike Rachel, she’s completely chaotic.  She may kill in the way Rachel would likely kill - from a distance, with a clean bullet through the head - but Helena goes and plays in the blood.  She’s untamed where Rachel is repressed, and that’s the biggest threat of all to Rachel’s repression.  (I hope they meet soon.)

What’s notable too about the sex/sniper scene is the way in which OB uses the tension of intimacy and power to tell the story.  It serves almost as a dramatic device, ramping up the suspense.  Then I realized that the episode does something similar in two other places - first, with Felix and Colin, and second, with Cosima and Delphine.  In the case of Felix and Colin, sex and intimacy is used to underpin Felix’s complete vulnerability when the situation changes, and Paul bursts in with a gun.  The tone changes on a dime, and Felix goes from playful and confident to terrified and dominated.  He doesn’t know what’s happening, and he has no control over it.  It’s a jarring switch of vulnerability, power, and knowledge.

The other example belongs to Cosima and Delphine.  When Cosima finally receives her treatment from Delphine (thanks to Dr. Leekie) the scene plays very plainly like a sex scene.  But not a sex scene like Rachel and Paul’s, or Colin and Felix’s - because it’s not actually sex.  Unlike the other two relationships, Cosima and Delphine’s is basically defined by emotional intimacy.  Delphine kisses her cheek, whispering “mon amour,” and the whole thing is shot in in a series of extreme close-ups, all backlit with narrow depths of field.  It’s a complete embracing of intimacy - and vulnerability, by admission.

The show goes out of its way to have Cosima and Delphine talk about how they don’t know what’s going to happen - but they’re okay with that.  Which of course begs the question: is there power in vulnerability?  Usually a denial of knowledge means a denial of power, and the victim of that is forced to be vulnerable.  This is how Rachel views the world.  But when you’re in a loving relationship with your monitor, what else do you have but vulnerability and trust?  The monitor dynamic is inherently a power imbalance, yet Cosima surges forward, completely vulnerable, and mostly okay with that.  To choose to be vulnerable, as Cosima has done with Delphine and DYAD - is there power in that?

I’m inclined to say yes, considering what "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" designed for not only Cosima, but for Helena and Sarah as well.  With Helena threatening to kill Rachel, and with Felix’s safety on the line, Sarah was at the mercy of other people’s power - Helena, and Rachel’s.  But in order to stop Helena from pulling the trigger, Sarah chose complete vulnerability - not just physically, but emotionally.  She steps in front of the gun, puts herself in physical danger, and tearfully confesses to Helena that she isn’t just using her.  Sarah shows emotional vulnerability, and Helena puts the gun down.  Like with Delphine and Cosima, there’s power in intimacy, and emotional honesty.

Considering how each of the clones were deployed in this episode - and taking into account Alison, who specifically wasn’t - there’s a very interesting spectrum going on with them, in terms of how the show has designed their traits and how they’re embedded in the narrative.  It’s almost as if they can be plotted with consideration to two extremes: vulnerability and power, and control and chaos.

• There’s Rachel, who wields power and control, and is screechingly uncomfortable with a lack of either. 
• Then there’s Alison, who has a similar need for control but lacks any kind of real power - she’s perpetually vulnerable, and completely disenfranchised in rehab for the episode.  It's why Alison is both a comedic and tragic figure: her comfort zone is in complete contrast to her situation pretty much at all times.
• Inverse of Alison and in split-contrast to Rachel and Sarah (fittingly) is Helena, who actually has some kind of power, usually violence-derived, and she’s completely chaotic.  
• Then there’s Sarah, who’s split-contrast with Alison and Helena (her two most interesting interpersonal reactions, in my opinion) and inverse of Rachel, her narrative foil.  Sarah thrives in chaos, but she also thrives in vulnerability - and the show is strongest when Sarah’s power is threatened.  
• Finally, there’s Cosima, who I would actually put at the neutral point on both spectrums.  The brain who thinks with her heart, she can find vulnerability in power and knows there’s no such thing as control.

Of course, there's a lot of room for interpretation and debate with this graphic, as characters shift in different situations and episodes.  It's not an exact science here.  But there's a lot of interesting things to mine from this perspective - the two clones that thrive in chaos are the two in the black, ungoverned and still pursued by DYAD.  Looking at Sarah and Alison in positions of vulnerability also illuminates a syllogism of the Orphan Black universe: vulnerability equates humanity, equates motherhood - and Sarah and Alison are the two clone mama bears.  Helena and Rachel both operate in power, because they were raised by systems which instilled in them a kind of twisted sense of entitled empowerment.  Diagonally across the graph are pure challenging foils, and adjacent are complicated expressions of similarity and difference (and still challenging in their own way).

So, denying vulnerability, coughing up knowledge, and shifting power means that the plot has accelerated for next week, as more shit hits the fan and Mrs. S. comes back to tantalize us with Lady of Mystery intrigue.  But even beyond plot, "Ipsa Scientia Potestas Est" gave us rich character moments carved out in vulnerability and intimacy.  Another excellent exploration as applied to theme, character, and the confluence of the two.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• So, I was wrong about Rachel knowing she has a monitor.  But, this fits, and is still interesting.  Rachel’s compulsion for order and system is even more remarkable now knowing that she’s willingly subjected herself to the monitor program.  It means that she cares more about order than she does about seeming elite.  Or, order is a key component to seeming elite.

• I feel badly saying this episode was better for not having Alison in it, because Alison is a treasure and very frequently in the running for My Favorite Clone (every fan’s personal struggle).  But caging her in rehab means there’s not much to do with her, and she slows things down.  I would love for her to function in the narrative more than that, though.  It reminds me of her scene in Season 1 when she admits that Beth and Cosima were helpful as the law and the science, and she… was the pocketbook.  More for Alison, somehow, please!

• Effective use of the Proletheans, too.  Minimal exposition or mystery, just pure body horror and suspense-building.

• Cal to Kira: “You’re quick on your feet.”  Seriously, was there anyone who didn’t say aloud “LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER” in that moment?

• Art!  Art!  Art!  I love having Art in the narrative because he's basically the only one who actually signed up for this shit.  He has no ulterior motive except loyalty and friendship and justice.  What a dreamboat.

• First the Ferryman, now the Swan Man.  Probably not the same guy.

Orphan Black 2.04 - "Governed As It Were By Chance"

I did a very smart thing this week: I watched this episode twice, and I put on closed captioning.  Now I have everyone’s names right, and also I’m not completely in the dark on Carlton’s marble-mouthed dialogue!  So, with more information under my belt, let’s discuss.

ORPHAN BLACK 2.04 - “GOVERNED AS IT WERE BY CHANCE”

Last week, I talked about the story of the season being one of separation, as each clone and ally is pushed out on her own journey and left to fend for herself against persecution by oppressor.  This week, “Governed As It Were By Chance” intersected several characters on their paths - a fitting expression of the episode title.  After all, three of our clones were left in danger last week, and surely required assistance in escaping from it.  But there was one main intersection I'm interested in: the reunion of Helena with Sarah.

Orphan Black is particularly good at connecting and disconnecting characters from each other, and Helena with Sarah is perhaps the best example.  While Helena came into the narrative as a villain, she felt a connection to Sarah, which was ultimately attributed to the fact that they shared a womb.  In season 2, the connection has gotten deeper, with the reveal that the sisters are actually mirrors of each other.  It’s an apt embodiment of the characters’ dynamic, as the writers have written Sarah and Helena to be at odds yet completely intertwined.  They’re two sides of the same coin, yet they share so much in common.  They are not light and dark individually, but rather they both have light and dark within them.  Watching that kind of complicated interaction will never not be rewarding.

And Orphan Black knows this, as “Governed As It Were By Chance” was clearly designed to reunite the two with a big emotional payoff.  Both characters found themselves completely isolated in the narrative, with new “families” surrounding them - Sarah with Cal and Kira, Helena with the Proletheans.  And while Helena managed to save herself (with a handy assist by Art; more on that later) - the writers specifically chose for Helena to be reunited with Sarah by saving her from torture.  (Clearly, because there are some plausibility holes in Helena finding her way back to the city from that farm, and getting past Rachel’s locked door.  But the payoff is worth these quibbles.)

There are many things wonderful about the shower scene.  Even just as a standalone scene, it’s phenomenal in its construction.  Here’s Sarah, completely vulnerable and terrified.  She can’t kick through the bathroom wall this time - she’s tethered, and bound.  Even her silver tongue can’t get her out of the scenario, and she knows it.  The palpable panic and fear building in Sarah only compounds when she sees her presumed-dead sister covered in blood and holding a knife.  And it’s on purpose, so that when Helena hugs Sarah, there’s a designed choice for Sarah to let it all go and willingly sob in the arms of someone who keeps coming back to her.  “We make a family,” Helena has reminded us again and again, and the fact that Sarah shooting her couldn’t even destroy that only means that the feeling is more powerful.  The narrative doesn’t exactly refute Helena when she says, “We were meant to be together.”  They are, after all, twins and mirrors.

This is part of what makes the shower scene powerful, on a larger scale.  Helena steps in and saves Sarah, because Sarah is her religion now.  On a show where faith is questioned and doubts are daily, Helena can be trusted on one absolute: her family.  Not unlike Sarah herself, Helena has one driving force, and it’s the concept of family.  She is no longer a disciple of god, but of her twin, the piece of her that she felt was missing.  Of course, Helena’s definition gets a little twisted along the way, as so far it only extends to Sarah and Kira and all other humans could just as easily be stabbed.  This is what makes Helena a wonderfully complicated and dangerous character.  But at the core, Helena and Sarah remain twins and mirrors, in so many ways.  Sarah shot Helena, and yet Helena saves Sarah’s life.  Because Sarah is family, and that’s an unbreakable bond.

The Sarah-Helena dynamic expanded further in “Governed As It Were By Chance,” as the show created another meaningful clone connection - this time, between the twins and Rachel Duncan.  Before now, Rachel-Sarah connections have popped up here and there, in a similar (although smaller) fashion to Sarah-Helena.  Rachel, all buttoned-up and business-like, acts in contrast to Sarah, who represents life and survival and messy humanity.  They challenge each other’s existences, simply by being who they are and who they’re associated with.  But not only that, this episode revealed that the Duncans, Rachel’s adoptive parents, were originally meant to have Sarah and Helena as their children, before Amelia spooked and hid them from DYAD.  Leaving the Duncans, of course, with Rachel instead.

The idea that Sarah and Helena were almost-Duncans, but for the choices of one woman alone, is compelling in how it officially connects the characters to Rachel.  The three exist almost on a spectrum now - on one side of Sarah there’s Rachel, who’s quelled all her human urges, and on the other, Helena, who’s practically feral.  Sarah’s the balance of these extremes, designed to be challenged by her interactions with the poles.  It’s no coincidence, then, that Sarah’s rescue by Helena happens not just anywhere, but in Rachel Duncan’s posh empty hotel room.  Helena, Sarah, and Rachel are connected, powerfully but tenuously, through “almost” - a missed connection that somehow means far more than it reasonably should.

But the connection becomes most meaningful when you consider where all three “sisters” ended up: because of Amelia, Helena went to the church and Sarah to the state; because of Amelia, Rachel went to the corporation.  All three were assimilated not into families like Alison or Cosima but into groups, into systems, and the relationship between individual and system is one that Orphan Black loves to explore.  Because of this choice, OB is mobilizing Sarah, Helena, and Rachel into the three most important clone pillars this season, as the mystery unravels.  They are thematically representative, narratively connected, and poised for conflict.  More so than the others, they act not only of their individual will but also as a result of their contextual upbringing.

Of course, “Governed As It Were By Chance” revealed that Rachel Duncan’s behavior doesn’t quite align with her personal history, as Sarah witnesses her happy memories recorded on VHS.  There’s no evidence of a hardened and clinical narcissist, but rather of a happy child at the center of warm family affection.  Rachel Duncan lived the happy childhood neither Sarah nor Helena had, and yet here she is, repressing all humanity and exhibiting the psychology of someone with no emotional attachments.  What happened to Rachel that caused this change?  It’s a great mystery for OB to set up, and I can’t see how anyone wouldn’t be fascinated by at least the question, if not the answer.  Well done, show.

All of this thought about Helena and Rachel’s parts in “Governed As It Were By Chance” led me to the concept of agency.  Orphan Black regularly addresses empowerment and personal agency as one of its core themes, especially as it extends to the conflict between one vs. many.  Helena and Rachel, both raised by groups, have behaved with more entitlement than other characters; empowered by the association with science and religion.  With Helena, it’s been clear for awhile that her participation in her empowering group is actually hindering her agency, and more so than ever with her current storyline with the Proletheans.  Agency is a huge (missing) part of her marriage to Henrik, as he harvested her eggs without any consent whatsoever.  Helena only realizes what has been perpetrated against her through traumatic sense memory, which OB displays in full acknowledgement of horror.  The visual of an unconscious woman having her legs spread is universally stomach-turning, and OB didn’t shy away from using that image to communicate how not okay it is, what happened to Helena.

Looking at Rachel, we haven’t seen any evidence of a lack of agency.  In fact, in previous episodes, it’s demonstrated that Rachel is actually at a high station in the company.  She ranks higher than even Leekie, who was heretofore presumed by the audience to be Head Honcho of DYAD.  But “Governed As It Were By Chance” revealed that Rachel may not be different from the other clones in one aspect of powerlessness.  Like Alison, and Cosima, and Beth - Rachel has a monitor.  Or at least, it’s suggested, through Sarah’s assumption and the phone call Daniel makes to Leekie.  If it’s true, it begs the question: does Rachel know that Daniel’s her monitor?  Is she complicit with it, like Cosima, or is she being lied to?

To me, it’s far more fascinating if it’s the latter, because it removes Rachel from her position of power and makes her just like our merry clone club.  It means that her affiliation with DYAD only goes so far, and that in the eyes of the company, she will be treated no differently than Sarah or Helena, when it comes down to it.  Like Helena, Rachel is being lied to, and the position that’s creating their sense of entitlement over the other clones isn’t real; she’s no better, no worse.  (Like with Helena, will it be Sarah to burst this bubble?)  Combine this with the news that Rachel’s corporate-clone sense of entitlement is masquerading a once-happy childhood, and Rachel Duncan easily becomes the most fascinating fixture on the show.

The possibility of Daniel being Rachel’s monitor is doubly intriguing (and disturbing) under the lens of agency, when you consider what Sarah pointed out - Daniel is sleeping with Rachel, so he must be her monitor, yeah?  If the insinuation is true, Daniel falls in line behind Paul, Donnie, and Delphine as monitors who have a sexual intimacy with their subjects.  And if it’s a purposeful deployment, the question of consent is raised again - because if sexual partners are the best candidates for monitors, it suggests that the reason is because monitors are granted access to their subjects’ bodies in a way that others aren’t.  The idea that consensual sex is being conflated with nonconsensual access to biology is pretty horrific, because it means the monitors have more power over their lovers’ bodies than they do.  We haven’t seen enough of Daniel yet to have an example, but last season Paul allowed for secret nighttime testing on Sarah-as-Beth, this season, Delphine gave Cosima’s blood samples over to DYAD without permission, and this episode, Donnie basically blackmailed Alison into staying in rehab.  The power dynamic in the monitor-clone relationship is fascinating, twisted, and troubling.

More stuff happened, but the bulk of my interest in the episode came with the reunion of Helena and Sarah, the new information about Rachel, and the themes of agency and connection.  Everything else, for the sake of brevity, can be listed in the…

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• How much do I love the Alison-Helena match fade transition?  Connecting any and all clones will always be a fun endeavor, and seeing any kind of relation between Alison and Helena is unexpected and welcome.

• I’M SO CONFUSED ABOUT MRS. S.  Look, I’m all for Mrs. S. badass-espionage-sexcapade shenanigans, I really am.  BUT ALSO WHAT’S HAPPENING.  The first time I watched the episode, I hadn’t wised up to closed captioning yet, so her scene with Carlton really did play like STRANGLE, oh never mind ha ha ha, then a few mumbled words, then SEX, and I was bewildered as to WHAT WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING.  I don’t know what’s happening.  I guess that’s a good thing.  Keep it coming, OB.  Take me to the ferryman.

• I rattled on so much about agency up above, but a point I did want to make about Helena’s escape was how pleased I was that it really was Helena’s doing.  After all the nonconsensual actions taken against Helena, I really wanted to see Helena bust her way out on her own, even though Art was standing nearby and could feasibly “rescue” her.  Sure enough, OB did a solid and had Helena make her own way out, and still allowed Art a helpful assist as he stalled Mark & Co. and their very large guns.

• The costuming of Helena and Sarah is worth noting in the shower scene - Helena all in white, Sarah all in black.  A guardian angel, an orphan in the black, opposites embracing each other, light and dark in both.

• Also worth noting, in the Rachel-Sarah-Helena connection, that either end of the spectrum, the ones who originated in entitlement and superiority, both dye their hair blonde, presumably as an externalized demonstration of their self-identified differentiated status.

Orphan Black 2.03 - "Mingling Its Own Nature With It"

PEOPLE OF EARTH, I AM UPSET.  This episode left three of our clones in immediate physical peril.  You know it’s bad when Cosima’s looming-death disease is actually the least of our worries (for right now, anyways).

ORPHAN BLACK 2.03 - "MINGLING ITS OWN NATURE WITH IT"

One thing I absolutely adored about Season 1 of Orphan Black was the ways in which the narrative threw the clones together, and created unexpected alliances between these humans who, in an ideal world, would rather not have to confront the fact that they’re a science experiment.  The coming together of Clone Club was a major thread of Season 1, and it happened largely as a matter of shared goals: protect Kira, protect themselves.  The unity extended even further than the clones - to Mrs. S, Felix, Art, Delphine, and Paul.

In Season 2, however, the story is spiraling the clones and their allies away from each other, and onto their own paths.  It’s no longer CLONES ASSEMBLE, it’s Every Clone for Herself - and “Mingling Its Own Nature With It” displayed that in full force.  Sarah sought assistance outside the clone group, Mrs. S. is nowhere to be seen, Felix left Sarah’s side, and Alison and Cosima struggled to express solidarity with one another.  The support system just isn’t there for any of our clones anymore - Sarah, Cosima, Alison, Helena - and it’s no surprise, then, that the end of the episode finds each of them in pretty dire situations, at the fingertips of the enemy.

So this is the story of Season 2, and it fundamentally makes things dark, and even a little dissatisfying.  Because of course, as an audience, we WANT to see the clone sisters protect one another, and the fact of the matter is that the narrative has them on their own journeys right now.  What makes this an even more interesting choice is the importance the show places on individual vs. group as a larger theme.  I’ve mentioned in the past that Orphan Black deals thematically with collectives enacting ideals as a form of system, and the repercussions that has on its singular components.  On a show about clones, it’s a huge question: what does it mean to be one of a kind?  What does it mean to belong to a family?  How is that family defined? Is it DNA, or is it shared beliefs?  And what strength or power goes along with that?  For me, that theme is endless fascinating, and I’d love for Season 2 to explore splintering the clones through that filter.

The main “group” of “Mingling Its Own Nature With It” was the New Order Proletheans, led by Henrik and family. Henrik intends on incorporating Helena into his family, which is 10,000 levels of disturbing and PLEASE DON’T, because it manifested in him “marrying” Helena and carrying her off to their wedding bed.  Not only this, but Helena was clearly not in her right mind for any kind of consent, and with no other clone nearby to help her, Helena is powerless against her captors.  She is but a vessel for their wishes, to impregnate her, and they're willing to defend this stance through justification of a higher being.  It's painfully horrific to watch, and I sincerely hope that Art - since he's the closest nearby - can help Helena out of this situation, if she's unable to help herself.

The most interesting Prolethean scene, for the purpose of thematic exploration, came with Henrik talking to Grace about Helena belonging in their family. Grace had doubts, and Henrik immediately equated doubt with fear, and a lack of faith. The concept of uncertainty is pervasive in this show. At its core, it’s a mystery thriller.  Not knowing is what propels the drama, and for the characters within the narrative, it's also something to fear, especially when it’s about your own biology.  Not knowing is a thing to conquer, for both Science and Religion, OB’s two main philosophical pillars.  It boils down to this: what do you believe?  Do you believe in data, or God?  Do you believe in someone who says they love you?  Do you believe you’re safe, or do you believe you have two monitors?  Who can you trust, and in what can you truly have faith - if anything at all?  This is another way in which the clones are made different from the groups acting against them: their faith - in science, or God, or whatever they hold fixed - is burned, or at least shaken.

Along these lines, Cosima and Delphine had one of the more interesting narrative threads, in that it blended hope and fear with belonging, in a kind of horrific funhouse mirror. Delphine reveals to Cosima that there was another clone, Jennifer Fitzsimmons, who suffered the same respiratory disease that killed Katja Obinger, and that plagues Cosima currently.  Not only that, but she was contacted by DYAD, made video diaries, and ultimately… died three days ago.  This was a huge thing to confront Cosima with.  She watched Jennifer’s videos as a form of research, but what she’s really looking at is herself, and what she’s really facing is her demise.   Jennifer is a spectral version of Cosima’s future.  Jennifer is a warning of what’s to come, of what Cosima might be powerless to stop.

And like Cosima, Jennifer too, had a monitor. “Sometimes I forget you’re mine,” she tells Delphine, as she realizes.  Because what is Cosima supposed to put her faith in, when she’s staring down the barrel of a deadly disease with her name on it?  Science?  Her lover?  She rather bitterly equates the monitor relationship as being promised fake hope, which Delphine promptly defends.  Until this point, Cosima is the clone that's kept the most faith, against all odds.  She has chosen to comply with her circumstances, to live in the lion’s cage as long as she can keep her surroundings - but this exchange with Delphine reveals that maybe Cosima isn’t entirely happy with that.  Then again, what choice does she have?  She’s basically dying.

Truthfully, I wish we’d seen more of these two.  The idea that Cosima and Delphine dissected Jennifer’s body is so horrifically heartbreaking, and fits their tension so well.  How do you negotiate science and humanity?  Is it reasonable to have faith in Delphine?  Is this body just a body, or is it a projection of myself?  And is it okay that Jennifer Fitzsimmons didn’t know the whole story of her relationship, her biology, her identity?  Oh, there was so much in this new clone’s presence, and how it extended into Cosima and Delphine’s core conflict.  Cosima’s struggles in particular this episode were really affecting, and I wish she’d gotten more screentime.

Auntie Alison is also having a rough go of it, as the only other clone on the homestead, as it were.  She makes a desperate call to Cosima about possibly having a second monitor (snooping Angie) and Cosima doesn’t really have time for her. I  love the idea that the two clones left in conjunction are the two clones with the biggest disconnect - echoing the theme of the season.

As for Alison, the pressure of performing is bearing down on her, both onstage and off.  She knows Donnie is her monitor, and the guilt of having let Aynsley die roars up with abandon.  She has Angie on her back now, and Alison is just paranoid enough to fully understand that she is not a coincidental new acquaintance.  Plus, to cope with all this, the pills and alcohol are back.  So Alison literally takes a fall - offstage, in front of everyone.  I am so beyond glad that Felix is in that theater to help pick her up.

Of course, Felix is in fact in that theater because he chose Alison over Sarah, in a way.  Or at least, Felix knows that his role in Clone Club is one of support, and he doesn’t have that place with Sarah at the moment.  Not when Sarah takes him and Kira straight to Kira’s dad, without consulting Felix or even telling him the plan.  Jordan Gavaris was absolutely heartbreaking when he tells Sarah he doesn’t have a place with her anymore.   Feeling like he’s bumped from her family, from her circle of trust, is overwhelmingly sad, and palpable.  So he goes where he’s needed - to a rapidly-crumbling Alison.

Sarah’s actions in “Mingling Its Own Nature With It” are worth discussion - especially since Orphan Black put a lot of effort into making Cal’s presence a reveal. I do think that this resulted in having to remove Sarah as the POV character in the beginning of that storyline, so we wouldn’t cotton on to her choosing to go to Cal’s instead of randomly finding a house to stay in.  Because of this, we kind of got a kaleidoscope of Sarahs.  We were treated to Mom Sarah in several scenes with Kira.   We had on-the-run Sarah, as we’re used to seeing her, and then Cal’s Sarah, who’s basically a duplicitous grifter. There's also a Sarah who clearly cares about Cal.  At the end of the day, Sarah is who she needs to be in order to survive, and we saw that in full force in this episode, even as she tries to do the right thing by her daughter and her own moral code.

Obviously, Cal’s inclusion in the show is a big deal, and one I wasn’t exactly prepared for in the third episode of Season 2. I’m still in “wait and see” mode on Cal, and his introduction as it fits into the larger design of the season.  It’s probably fundamentally valuable to the show’s narrative to keep threatening Sarah and Kira with separation, and the idea that Kira winds up in Cal’s care for awhile is interesting.  And of course, Sarah, Cal, and Kira make up a traditional “family” as the show hasn’t quite presented yet.  Whether or not it’s the ideal is left up for debate, but Sarah obviously feels a lot of pain from not having a proper mother and father in her life.  Creating a mother, father, daughter unit with these three is another element in the show’s exploration of family, alliance, and belonging.  So as long as it continues to connect with this concept, it’s definitely worth the show’s while, and I’m along for the ride.

But really, the most pressing concern is the fact that SARAH, HELENA, ALISON, AND COSIMA ARE IN LIFE-THREATENING SITUATIONS RIGHT NOW.  Breaking up the Clone Club is so not good for my blood pressure.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• For levity, we were treated to Cosima’s spot-on Leekie impression, and the return of everyone’s OTP: Helena/food.   Also, since we could use some more, I’ll tell you that I abbreviated the Felix-and-Cal conversation as Fe/Cal in my notes and had a good laugh realizing what I’d spelled.  Because I am twelve years old.

• Given that Daniel wasn’t shown as having any contact with Leekie or Rachel in the episode, I’m wondering if he’s acting of his own accord.  Which is interesting!  Although it pokes holes in my theory that people who act against their group are usually “good guys.”  Unless he IS a secret good guy.  Which is doubtful.  But maybe they want us to THINK that.  (...this is why I don’t theorize about OB.)

• Why on earth would Cal and Sarah let Kira go feed the chickens ALONE.  Like, really.  On a show that’s had a man with a TAIL, this is the thing I have the hardest time believing.

• Helena’s whole scenario is overwhelmingly disturbing, and made even more so when you realize her initiation into the family is just as much baptism as it is wedding.  In a long white dress, she’s made powerless and infantilized, a bride and a child, being initiated into a new family, new beliefs, and a new purpose for her body.  I can’t think about it without getting a head-to-toe shudder.

• More Jennifer Fitzsimmons, please.

Orphan Black 2.02 - "Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion"

For as much as the first season kept accelerating to the finale, it was a bit disappointing to note that the second episode of season 2 lost some of the wind in its sails. I suppose it was inevitable, and certainly not a glaring misstep - but by comparison, this episode didn’t quite keep the same pace we’re used to. With massive world expansions, new characters, and the settlement into a new status quo, “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion” kept its events carefully paced and under control - until of course, the final act, when things went spinning again in a new direction.

ORPAN BLACK 2.02 “GOVERNED BY SOUND REASON AND TRUE RELIGION”

Truly, the thing that astounded me most about “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion” was the sheer amount of WORLD EXPANSION happening.  This episode doled out information and exposition, without really answering any questions.  We learned that the Proletheans actually have a division amongst them, an Old Order - comprising Tomas and Helena - and a New Order - comprising Bomb Girl’s Bob Corbett and Alien Insect Joaquin Phoenix.   (Okay, fine, I’ll use character names. Henrik and Mark it is.)  Turns out these New Order folk live on a kind of rural compound, and they’ve taken in Helena and Tomas.  Henrik and Tomas have a nice conversation about the role of science in religion, and then Mark shoots him with a nail gun.  That's about the sum of it.

The other world we’re introduced to also happens to take place on a kind of rural compound.  Turns out Kira’s kidnapping was actually done by Mrs. S, as we feared, but in actuality, she staged the ransack and fled for safety.  Which is I guess what we’d hoped, but I won’t deny that a small part of me was disappointed that the element of danger in Kira’s kidnapping deflated so quickly.  I mean, obviously I don’t WANT Kira to get hurt, but I also want to be on the edge of my seat, and the “reveal” that Kira was kidnapped by the Proletheans was tantalizingly stakes-upping.  The bait-and-switch on Sarah’s “kidnapping” from the motel to the woods worked well enough.  But going to hang out at Happy Orphan Compound in the wake of that was a definite lull.

Even so, the lull was likely intentional, because Mrs. S’s past allies turned on her quickly - as a result of a payoff by the Proletheans.  And it’s for this reason that I can’t be too fussed about the lengthy lull of worldbuilding through most of this episode - the scenes of Sarah escaping and Mrs. S realizing the betrayal were a roar of horror that was even more jarring when set against innocuous plotting that came before it.  Indeed, it was protracted even further by the almost pastoral rendering of that environment earlier in the episode.  Sarah and Mrs. S returned to a safe place, a home and a family - only to have that family splintered and violent.  The image of the darkened house, with the sudden flash of Mrs. S’s gunshot, was in sickening constrast to the images OB made a point for us to see earlier on - Felix and Sarah’s names carved into a headboard, a family dinner around a homemade meal, memories and fond reminiscences of happier times.  That house, and those memories, won’t ever quite be the same now.

Particularly intriguing about this series of events too is the role that Mrs. S is playing in them.   Of the “trust issues” characters deployed into OB’s narrative, I personally find Mrs. S the most compelling.   The question of her loyalty runs much deeper than Delphine’s, Paul’s, or Donnie’s. Her alliance with Sarah and Kira connects to the emotional core of the show: motherhood, protection, and humanity - and while we want to trust her, perhaps even more than we want to trust Delphine or Paul, it remains that most of her history is obscured from us.  We don’t have all the facts when it comes to Mrs. S.

Of course, neither does Sarah.  Which is why she withholds information about Amelia and Helena, confronts her with the photo Amelia showed her, and steals away with Kira in the night.  More interesting still is Kira’s agreement that Mrs. S has bad secrets.  We, the audience, learn that Mrs. S clearly knows something about Project Leda - but we also see her step aside to let Sarah leave, and exact vengeance on Brenda for her betrayal.  And more powerful than anything, for me, was the hurt in her eyes as she stood in the headlights of Sarah’s escape and fully processed what Sarah had done.  Oh, it wounded, and Maria Doyle Kennedy deserves props for that bit of subtle acting.  How many times in Siobhán’s life do you think Sarah has disappointed her?  And we want so badly for Mrs. S’s permanence in Sarah’s life to be a sign of unconditional support, and not a contractual obligation.  Maybe more than anything, it's penance.

But it’s likely neither black nor white, if we’ve learned anything from the exploration of loyalty on this show.  The only constant loyalty I trust is amongst the clones themselves - and that’s being tested as well.  DYAD goes to great (okay, fine, conversational) lengths to ensure that Cosima has no alliance with Sarah, then asks her to sequence her DNA and figure out what’s different about her.   Apparently neither Leekie nor Rachel picked up on Cosima’s subtle delight in Sarah stealing Leekie’s swipe card and kicking Rachel’s ass.

Truthfully, “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion” did little to make Leekie and Rachel the sinister villains they’ve appeared to be in the past.  It was a bit jarring, actually, how close they bordered on… buffoonery, maybe?  Leekie’s scenes with Cosima felt like an overeager grandpa trying to buy his surly granddaughter’s approval, and his scenes with Donnie spying on Alison were straight out of a sitcom.  Then there’s Rachel, who can’t think of anything else to say to the woman who decoded her own genome than, “So, you’re gay?”  Smooth, grandma.  So, DYAD & Co. weren’t very threatening this episode, and I’m curious to see if that’s going to affect any believability in raising the stakes later on.   I suspect this situation between Cosima and DYAD is meant to be a tense and fragile landscape where the war is waged intellectually… but it would help if Rachel and Leekie didn’t skew Ma and Pa Science.

Ma and Pa Science, (un)naturally

Meanwhile, Alison’s corner starts to crumble, and it’s happening sooner than I would have expected.  Which is certainly not a complaint.  Alison realizes very quickly that Donnie is her monitor, and the fact that the terms of her contract have been breached sends her spiralling.   Actually, it’s important to note that the whispers of her snotty peers weren’t enough to turn her back to drinking - but mysterious text messages implicating Donnie as her monitor were.   She confirms it through some clever trap-setting with her conveniently-named theatre friend Sarah, and catches Donnie - without revealing herself.

The idea that Donnie is Alison’s monitor does have a sinister element to it.  Beth and Cosima were given monitors that are super hot and super specialized - Delphine is a brilliant scientist, Paul has a military background.  They entered Beth and Cosima’s lives fairly late in the game.  But Alison has known Donnie since high school. Has he been her monitor since then?   Or did he turn on her at some point in their marriage? Either way you shake it, it’s terrible.  Alison has been nearly has family-centric as Sarah, and the fact that her partner either a) doesn’t love her anymore, or b) never did, is heartbreaking.  And just how incompetent is Donnie?   He’s no scientist or military guy, but he’s awfully good at lying.  Way better than Delphine, that’s for sure.  Even though he fumbled the cemetery stakeout, he covered it up damn well, and damn quickly.  The unassuming Nice Guy shtick makes it easy for Donnie to pretend that he cares, throwing Alison off his track and making him the Good Husband.

So Alison’s turned back to drugs and pills, and the second most heartbreaking scene in the episode came when she melts down at the news that Felix is leaving. Their dynamic is one of the show’s surprising standouts, and the fact that Alison clearly can’t cope without Felix in her support system just means she’s going to hit rock bottom even harder.  The death of Aynsley, the spousal betrayal, and the continued threat of observation are going to undo Alison.  Not only that, but she’s got the musical to pay attention to, and it’s a classic Alison construct.   She will fracture under the weight of performing. Because that’s what Alison does - she pretends, until she can’t pretend anymore.  And then it gets ugly.

In the end, Sarah takes Kira and Felix on the run, the New Order Proletheans take out the Old, Alison must face the truth about her carefully-designed life, and Mrs. S is left with a shotgun and the bodies of two former friends.  As Henrik says in the episode’s last moments, “it’s a brand new day.”  With the shocks of the premiere behind us, and eight episodes left to go, “Governed by Sound Reason and True Religion” seemed to echo that sentiment, heralding new sects and shifting situations, introducing us to a new normal and all the mysteries therein.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS --

• “How’s Auntie Alison making out?” “Don’t tell Sarah, please!”  This bulletpoint has been brought to you by my undying appreciation for Sarah and Alison’s delightful dynamic.

• Apparently Helena was born as a mirror to Sarah, which means that a) her heart is on the opposite side, hence her apparent invincibility, and b) she possibly also could birth children.  The thought is terrifying for multiple reasons.

• I like that the new clone phones are bright green.  No real reason.

• Art went from being very involved to being very not-involved.  It honestly felt like a plot hole that Sarah would get whisked away at the hotel and Art wouldn’t try to contact her afterwards.  But maybe he doesn’t have her new number.

• Angie continues to be a delightful hardass.  I got a good chortle out of her reassuring Art she wasn’t going to go to the hospital, only to cut away to… her at the hospital.  What a lil Sarah Manning she is.  I am super nervous about her popping up in Alison’s storyline next week, though, because, well, Alison kind of murdered somebody.   Or at least, Aynsley wore a scarf in the kitchen.