Orphan Black: The Scandal of Altruism
May 19, 2016 10:51 PM - Season 4, Episode 6 - Subscribe
Cosima admits doubt about finding a cure, which causes Sarah to make a drastic decision. Elsewhere, Art and Felix try to protect Krystal Goderitch from herself.
I mean, maybe it's because I'm a techie type, but you don't plug in some random evil corporation's hard drive directly into your system. Come on. Surely Cosima and co would have been clever enough to not do that.
(Also why is that hard drive GINORMOUS seriously you can get slim little multi-terabyte SSD external drives these days)
posted by olinerd at 4:51 AM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]
(Also why is that hard drive GINORMOUS seriously you can get slim little multi-terabyte SSD external drives these days)
posted by olinerd at 4:51 AM on May 20, 2016 [5 favorites]
Brutal episode indeed.
I guess this is pretty typical of OB, but I came out of that one feeling like they'd given us a LOT of answers, but then when you stop and think about the answers, a lot more questions crop up.
Like why does Evie need to destroy the clone project completely just because she considers it obsolete? Why not just let Susan continue pottering along with it while Evie continues working with her goddam maggot bots? And why does Evie consider it "over" just because the original has been killed--there are still several clones out there who have a good idea what all has been going on... not to mention Susan, who sure isn't going to take it lying down that her life's work has been destroyed. What's Evie going to do about Susan's role in the work, going forward?
(I'm also skeptical that all the work/research avenues have been destroyed. There was still the hard drive that Cosima handed over to Evie. Also Cosima pocketed Sarah's worm, for what that could be worth (?). And there's still Delphine, who I seriously doubt is dead, given the careful writing in the scene when Krystal says she saw her shot.)
I'm gonna miss caustic, chain-smoking Kendall, RIP. Her final exchange with Cosima was so brave and heartbreaking.
posted by torticat at 4:57 AM on May 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
I guess this is pretty typical of OB, but I came out of that one feeling like they'd given us a LOT of answers, but then when you stop and think about the answers, a lot more questions crop up.
Like why does Evie need to destroy the clone project completely just because she considers it obsolete? Why not just let Susan continue pottering along with it while Evie continues working with her goddam maggot bots? And why does Evie consider it "over" just because the original has been killed--there are still several clones out there who have a good idea what all has been going on... not to mention Susan, who sure isn't going to take it lying down that her life's work has been destroyed. What's Evie going to do about Susan's role in the work, going forward?
(I'm also skeptical that all the work/research avenues have been destroyed. There was still the hard drive that Cosima handed over to Evie. Also Cosima pocketed Sarah's worm, for what that could be worth (?). And there's still Delphine, who I seriously doubt is dead, given the careful writing in the scene when Krystal says she saw her shot.)
I'm gonna miss caustic, chain-smoking Kendall, RIP. Her final exchange with Cosima was so brave and heartbreaking.
posted by torticat at 4:57 AM on May 20, 2016 [4 favorites]
, but you don't plug in some random evil corporation's hard drive directly into your system.
But, Cosima (and Scott?) are bio not tech. MK, maybe, could do data recovery.
Plus, the work was on the drive, were Evie and Ira working together?
(Also why is that hard drive GINORMOUS seriously you can get slim little multi-terabyte SSD external drives these days)
Branding!
And, really, a 2TB drive: that's about the size I'd expect.
Like why does Evie need to destroy the clone project completely just because she considers it obsolete?
Have you met tech nerds? Because, that's my best guess.
posted by Mezentian at 5:17 AM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
But, Cosima (and Scott?) are bio not tech. MK, maybe, could do data recovery.
Plus, the work was on the drive, were Evie and Ira working together?
(Also why is that hard drive GINORMOUS seriously you can get slim little multi-terabyte SSD external drives these days)
Branding!
And, really, a 2TB drive: that's about the size I'd expect.
Like why does Evie need to destroy the clone project completely just because she considers it obsolete?
Have you met tech nerds? Because, that's my best guess.
posted by Mezentian at 5:17 AM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
I mean, maybe it's because I'm a techie type, but you don't plug in some random evil corporation's hard drive directly into your system. Come on. Surely Cosima and co would have been clever enough to not do that.
That was my feeling, too. You scan it, at the very least, but a full wipe, zero-out, and reformat would be absolutely called for. The show is good enough to where such bonehead mistakes really stand-out. And, yeah, the size of the thing was silly.
.................
But, Cosima (and Scott?) are bio not tech.
Eh. I'm freaking art, not tech, but I would know to wipe a hard-drive given to me by my enemy. Cosima and Scott were "tech" enough to put-together their little lab network. In any case, they are surrounded by enough other people to where someone in the gang would have explained proper security procedures to them.
.................
Also Cosima pocketed Sarah's worm, for what that could be worth (?).
Which, to me, was another eye-rolling moment. Are we to believe Evie, who took pains to carefully put the worm in a bottle, isn't going to notice that it's no longer sitting on the desktop right in front of her, in her own office?
I came away feeling a bit like I had watched a small train wreck, honestly. Entertaining, to be sure, but still kind of a three-card-monte of an episode.
And, Felix is back to being comic-relief. Poor Jordan. I hope there's some real meaty payoff in-store for his character soon. But, Felix is being written like he's become the character the writers are clueless what to do with, so they just invent gag scenes.
And, Sarah is still a real dickish loose-cannon. She's really become the least sympathetic character in the ensemble this season. Which is sort-of okay, so long as there's a reason for it.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on May 20, 2016
That was my feeling, too. You scan it, at the very least, but a full wipe, zero-out, and reformat would be absolutely called for. The show is good enough to where such bonehead mistakes really stand-out. And, yeah, the size of the thing was silly.
.................
But, Cosima (and Scott?) are bio not tech.
Eh. I'm freaking art, not tech, but I would know to wipe a hard-drive given to me by my enemy. Cosima and Scott were "tech" enough to put-together their little lab network. In any case, they are surrounded by enough other people to where someone in the gang would have explained proper security procedures to them.
.................
Also Cosima pocketed Sarah's worm, for what that could be worth (?).
Which, to me, was another eye-rolling moment. Are we to believe Evie, who took pains to carefully put the worm in a bottle, isn't going to notice that it's no longer sitting on the desktop right in front of her, in her own office?
I came away feeling a bit like I had watched a small train wreck, honestly. Entertaining, to be sure, but still kind of a three-card-monte of an episode.
And, Felix is back to being comic-relief. Poor Jordan. I hope there's some real meaty payoff in-store for his character soon. But, Felix is being written like he's become the character the writers are clueless what to do with, so they just invent gag scenes.
And, Sarah is still a real dickish loose-cannon. She's really become the least sympathetic character in the ensemble this season. Which is sort-of okay, so long as there's a reason for it.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on May 20, 2016
And, really, a 2TB drive: that's about the size I'd expect.
Dude. Their external drive looked like the ones I had to use in 2006 when I was working on a project that was optimistically assuming that 1 TB spinning drives would exist in affordable consumer form by the end of the project a year later. I was actually shocked they weren't just handed a USB key until I considered how much data might be in a sequenced genome and I thought, yeah, alright. But then I googled it. And they could have gone with the USB key.
But it still should never have been plugged into their system. USB keys are hilariously insecure and for anyone with even a vague interest in safeguarding against industrial espionage, they're known to be huge liabilities. Even my high school in the late 90s/early 00s stopped letting people bring them to the school labs in because of viruses. Hell, there was that thing several years ago at a G20 meeting where Russia handed out free USB keys to everyone that happened to be full of spyware. The Clone Club should have offered their own drive or DVD or other media to Brightborn, not put it on something given to them. They take so many precautions - how could they miss this?
I know it's a ridiculous derail/nitpick but it was just a huge OH COME ON moment for me for a lot of reasons. I mean, they're even referencing the Snowden leaks to show how this is TOTALLY TAKING PLACE IN THE PRESENT. Okay, so let your consumer technology and knowledge of security reflect that.
posted by olinerd at 5:33 AM on May 20, 2016
Dude. Their external drive looked like the ones I had to use in 2006 when I was working on a project that was optimistically assuming that 1 TB spinning drives would exist in affordable consumer form by the end of the project a year later. I was actually shocked they weren't just handed a USB key until I considered how much data might be in a sequenced genome and I thought, yeah, alright. But then I googled it. And they could have gone with the USB key.
But it still should never have been plugged into their system. USB keys are hilariously insecure and for anyone with even a vague interest in safeguarding against industrial espionage, they're known to be huge liabilities. Even my high school in the late 90s/early 00s stopped letting people bring them to the school labs in because of viruses. Hell, there was that thing several years ago at a G20 meeting where Russia handed out free USB keys to everyone that happened to be full of spyware. The Clone Club should have offered their own drive or DVD or other media to Brightborn, not put it on something given to them. They take so many precautions - how could they miss this?
I know it's a ridiculous derail/nitpick but it was just a huge OH COME ON moment for me for a lot of reasons. I mean, they're even referencing the Snowden leaks to show how this is TOTALLY TAKING PLACE IN THE PRESENT. Okay, so let your consumer technology and knowledge of security reflect that.
posted by olinerd at 5:33 AM on May 20, 2016
Like why does Evie need to destroy the clone project completely just because she considers it obsolete?
Have you met tech nerds? Because, that's my best guess.
Haha I'm surrounded by tech nerds but haven't yet met one that goes around assassinating people working on parallel research and then bombs the evidence to smithereens.
I mean that's not just professional jealousy or whatever, it's political and I can't understand the play. Especially since Susan and all the self-aware clones are left standing
posted by torticat at 5:46 AM on May 20, 2016
Have you met tech nerds? Because, that's my best guess.
Haha I'm surrounded by tech nerds but haven't yet met one that goes around assassinating people working on parallel research and then bombs the evidence to smithereens.
I mean that's not just professional jealousy or whatever, it's political and I can't understand the play. Especially since Susan and all the self-aware clones are left standing
posted by torticat at 5:46 AM on May 20, 2016
So I was wondering how Krystal could have witnessed the shooting of Delphine in the garage, and I went back and watched the relevant bits from last year's season finale. From what I can tell, we last saw Krystal still in the bed at Dyad where Delphine discovered she was not in fact Rachel. Next Delphine went and confronted what's-his-name, the worm-spitting guy who told her she would be dead by morning.
So then Delphine visited Shay and stopped by the clone dinner to say goodbye to Cosima and returned to the Dyad parking lot. I guess...Krystal may have been just leaving then? No idea why she would have stuck around that long. And also--with her propensity for running to the cops, why didn't she report that shooting?
posted by torticat at 6:13 AM on May 20, 2016
So then Delphine visited Shay and stopped by the clone dinner to say goodbye to Cosima and returned to the Dyad parking lot. I guess...Krystal may have been just leaving then? No idea why she would have stuck around that long. And also--with her propensity for running to the cops, why didn't she report that shooting?
posted by torticat at 6:13 AM on May 20, 2016
you are all HEARTLESS. I was sobbing for the last five minutes.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:28 AM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:28 AM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
I finished watching that episode and I was all like, "OMG THAT WAS AMAZEBALLS." Then I come here and y'all bust my bubble.
posted by amro at 9:11 AM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by amro at 9:11 AM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
I will admit that I kept waiting for Cosima to be shot, and I don't understand why they let her live after what she witnessed.
posted by amro at 9:14 AM on May 20, 2016
posted by amro at 9:14 AM on May 20, 2016
Orphan Black always had some plot holes. for instance, I remember thinking during season 2 "How did Daniel find Call's house ?"
Orphan Black for me has always been about the relations in Clone Club.
posted by Pendragon at 9:41 AM on May 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Orphan Black for me has always been about the relations in Clone Club.
posted by Pendragon at 9:41 AM on May 20, 2016 [2 favorites]
Pendragon, I totally agree. I was trying to reconstruct that garage scene only because why Krystal was there (and who she was with, or witnessing obvs) could be important to finding out what really happened to Delphine. Those things aren't plot holes, just questions that are yet to be answered.
posted by torticat at 12:25 PM on May 20, 2016
posted by torticat at 12:25 PM on May 20, 2016
My heart nearly broke when Kendall called Siobhan 'chicken'.
posted by plastic_animals at 3:34 PM on May 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by plastic_animals at 3:34 PM on May 20, 2016 [6 favorites]
Evie is using Krystal to manipulate the Clone Club is another possibility. My money is on Helena being the one who does Evie in at the end.
posted by axiom at 5:12 PM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by axiom at 5:12 PM on May 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
Can't clone club just use hair from Kendall's hairbrush or something for her DNA?
posted by amro at 5:14 PM on May 20, 2016
posted by amro at 5:14 PM on May 20, 2016
Can't clone club just use hair from Kendall's hairbrush or something for her DNA?
I have a science hunch.... yes?
posted by Mezentian at 5:42 PM on May 20, 2016
I have a science hunch.... yes?
posted by Mezentian at 5:42 PM on May 20, 2016
They can get her DNA from the hairbrush but would still have the same problem they had before -- inability to distinguish the Leda and Castor genomes.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:13 PM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 7:13 PM on May 20, 2016 [3 favorites]
all my creys as well
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:01 PM on May 20, 2016
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 9:01 PM on May 20, 2016
This was an emotional episode, yes, but it was also a super manipulative one, full of deus ex machina and plot holes a-plenty. It's like the writers decided they wanted a huge plot 'reset' and so they slash-and-burned, just like Evie, I guess.
posted by destructive cactus at 1:35 AM on May 21, 2016
posted by destructive cactus at 1:35 AM on May 21, 2016
I feel like Krystal is a bad apple. Her affect, given the nuance Tatiana brings to all these rolls, rings slightly false to me. All the other clones feel authentic, but she does not.
posted by heyho at 1:34 PM on May 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by heyho at 1:34 PM on May 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
I feel like the vial of Sarahworm dripping super deadly toxins is going to be the equivalent to Chekhov's ricin cigarette from Breaking Bad.
posted by elr at 8:00 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by elr at 8:00 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
I love Siobhan's gang. It's like watching a gritty thriller about the IRA with none of the moral ambiguity.
posted by ubiquity at 7:31 AM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by ubiquity at 7:31 AM on May 23, 2016 [4 favorites]
Eh. I'm freaking art, not tech, but I would know to wipe a hard-drive given to me by my enemy.
A wipe isn't enough. You can bake the malware into the firmware that controls the interface between the storage area and your computer, and that will survive a wipe of the storage area. Brightborn seems like it would have the resources to pull that kind of attack off if they wanted to, given all the other tech they're developing.
It's a big mistake, but I was sort of glad when they got burned by it, because how often do people plug in USB drives they shouldn't and nothing comes of it on TV?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:45 AM on May 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
A wipe isn't enough. You can bake the malware into the firmware that controls the interface between the storage area and your computer, and that will survive a wipe of the storage area. Brightborn seems like it would have the resources to pull that kind of attack off if they wanted to, given all the other tech they're developing.
It's a big mistake, but I was sort of glad when they got burned by it, because how often do people plug in USB drives they shouldn't and nothing comes of it on TV?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:45 AM on May 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that hard drive was a serious breach of reality that could have been solved with "no, we'll give YOU a hard drive with the data".
posted by destructive cactus at 11:53 AM on May 24, 2016
posted by destructive cactus at 11:53 AM on May 24, 2016
It's more like desperate people making a terrible mistake under pressure.
posted by plastic_animals at 2:40 PM on May 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by plastic_animals at 2:40 PM on May 24, 2016 [3 favorites]
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I am now on #TeamEvieMustDieHorribly.
The Delphine kicker, that was dark.
That said, shame on Beth. She had a gun. Why did she have to go and ruin an innocent traindriver's life?
posted by Mezentian at 2:22 AM on May 20, 2016 [2 favorites]