Orphan Black: From Dancing Mice to Psychopaths

June 17, 2016 9:59 AM - Season 4, Episode 10

When communication with Cosima is cut off and Neolution appears to be within striking distance, Sarah’s alliance with Rachel goes out the window. Sarah lures a high-level Neolutionist into a trap, and sets out to bring down Neolution once and for all.
posted by Pendragon (35 comments total)

Next season wil be the last season.
posted by Pendragon at 10:00 AM on June 17, 2016

I had trouble buying clone club letting themselves get betrayed by two separate 'factions' of Neolution in succession, but I guess Cosima was sick and just focused on the science. Sara made it all the way to the island just to get roughed-up immediately, and Ferdinand somehow figured out where Siobhan's safe house was and infiltrated it. I get that they have to have a big cliffhanger, but to me it feels like the clone club don't learn from their dealings with these people and are constantly vulnerable, despite being very adept and dangerous when the situation calls for it.
posted by destructive cactus at 10:04 AM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Why didn't Rachel just kill Susan and Sarah? (I mean, I know they didn't want to lose the characters, but narratively, it made no sense.) I feel like we're just seeing the same plot over and over again.
posted by Ragini at 2:00 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

A couple of other questions are raised in my mind...
• Where in heck is this secretive private island that is also a mere helicopter ride away from the big city?
• How does a sketchy individual like Sarah get a ride on a military helicopter, by herself and at the drop of a hat?

I have to give them props, though, for targeting a definite end to the series. A show like this could easily drag-on forever.

I was, in the back of my head, hoping Kira was going to somehow play a major role in the finale. Other than her cryptic statement that there are many more sisters than they know of, she was pretty inconsequential.

Still, even with all the flaws, it's still a better season ending than most other shows manage to put together *COUGH*theamericans*COUGH*
posted by Thorzdad at 2:05 PM on June 17, 2016

Ok, I'm totally confused about Delphine's campground hideout. Is it a secret? Where is it in relation to Susan's fancy modern lair? Can we just go ahead and name it Camp Deux Ex Machina?
posted by TwoStride at 4:01 PM on June 17, 2016

It's where the original Neolutionist is; I forget his name. No clue why they're living out there in the woods, if the house originally belonged to him. Maybe he turned into a mushroom growing on the side of a tree.
posted by destructive cactus at 4:52 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

P.G. Wodehouse P.T. Westmorland.
posted by axiom at 5:09 PM on June 17, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ferdinand had been to the safe house before. He made Siobhan a fritatta.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 8:36 PM on June 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes, he HAS been there, but they were very careful to bag his head and restrain him so that he couldn't see how to get there. Also, after all of that, he became dead broke. I assume Rachel bankrolled him, but did SHE know where that safehouse was?
posted by destructive cactus at 2:34 AM on June 18, 2016

I liked this season better than the third season, but I don't think they can top that great first season.
posted by Pendragon at 3:05 AM on June 18, 2016

Twostride, you can also see the huts of Westmoreland's 'compound' on Charlotte's hand drawn map of the island, up and right of where the boat was.
posted by SeanMac at 7:36 AM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

I feel like we're just seeing the same plot over and over again.

I have to agree. What started out as a startlingly fresh mystery adventure showcasing an astonishing acting talent & cutting edge SFX to support it has become weekly episodes of Days of Our Clones. Even the introduction of Crystal has failed to breathe life into the end of the season. I've been enthusiastic the whole way through but now I'm really quite disappointed.
posted by scalefree at 5:32 PM on June 18, 2016 [1 favorite]

• How does a sketchy individual like Sarah get a ride on a military helicopter, by herself and at the drop of a hat?

I assume that was arranged by the Neo lieutenant they kidnapped. They did kind of gloss over it though.
posted by scalefree at 5:34 PM on June 18, 2016

It's amazing to me how this futuristic, sci-fi show engages in the same tropes that the Greek tragedians engaged in: the evil of hubris, parents ruining their children's lives, children killing their parents, siblings fighting (often to the death)... plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
posted by ubiquity at 7:13 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

The most horrifying part for me was when Rachel washed the stabby knife and then put it away wet! eek!
posted by DowBits at 9:09 PM on June 18, 2016 [3 favorites]

This season was very meh for me. It seemed to be missing the specific kind of batshitinsanity that the previous ones had. It was just sort of Let's Do More Conspiracy without the same sparkle.
posted by BungaDunga at 11:05 PM on June 18, 2016 [2 favorites]

We're on the down side of the arc. Previous seasons could afford to pile on more crazy, but this season and next have to work toward the wrap-up. I think this year did that admirably. The recap of Beth, with a new clone from the past, killing off "the original," Rachel bouncing back, the mystery of Delphine, even Fee's sister were all storylines that paid off for me. The one that seemed like a rerun was Brightborn, but the caper with Donnie and Crystal made it worthwhile in my mind. Endings are super hard for a series like this. I'm starting to worry about Alias level suspension of disbelief with the Westmorland guy, but the fact that they are obviously working toward a conclusion makes me hopeful.
posted by rikschell at 4:47 AM on June 19, 2016 [3 favorites]

Don't forget that next season is going to give us Helena's (super) bebes, wormbots in armies of clones and everyone getting miraculously healed.

*gasp*
posted by arzakh at 4:53 AM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

I watched it late and quite sleepy and at the credits my thought was, wait where was the episode, that was just a (long) recap. Seems to be a very tricky writing challenge to have enough plot threads to be interesting but just one more and it's more than any one episode can contain.

Missed the fun group dinner scene with all the clones together.
posted by sammyo at 5:27 AM on June 19, 2016

One thing that wasn't clear to me was the bit where Cosima shows Delphine the "homework"; did she manage to abscond with all of the samples (thus leaving us with a scene of Rachel inflating with rage at the beginning of next season when she discovers it), or did she just manage to sneak away a piece of it, leaving Rachel with the balance? Rachel seemed pretty confident, so I'm guessing she has at least some of it in her possession.

I really enjoyed Rachel's full villain turn here--I felt like she was always the show's most effective antagonist and having her back in that role feels right.
posted by Kosh at 7:17 AM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

The swan doctor Westmoreland seems to be much older than he ought to be, meaning life-extension. I'm now guessing that the clone initiatives among other initiatives were intended to discover how and why Westmoreland lives so much longer than ordinary people. I further guess that the initiatives were begun by Westmoreland but got out of his control some time ago, perhaps generations ago, and further guess that whatever made him live longer has its origins at least partially in the location on the island. Remember the lines about how the island is Precambrian and billions of years old? "We're at this end," Charlotte says.
posted by cgc373 at 2:26 PM on June 19, 2016

Susan Duncan's actress did some amazing work since there's no way she's the worst villain on the show when you count it all up murder by murder, but she was the most loathsome by so far, and the most self-loving by so much, and that was why it wasn't even really satisfying to see her get what she deserves - she'll die slowly of her stomach wound (or not) locked in the same room where she's imprisoned other women and little girls, and the whole time she'll think the only thing she did wrong was not put Rachel down like an animal when she could have, when she'd already found better models to play with.

I forget which earlier episode it was when Beth caught her in the bathroom and her absolute cowardice and bewilderment and physical fear just spilled out of her, it was incredible. she is always so confused when people notice that she's a monster. one way Rachel is more adult and responsible than her mother ever was, Rachel knows exactly how nasty she is.
posted by queenofbithynia at 3:00 PM on June 19, 2016 [5 favorites]

I assume that was arranged by the Neo lieutenant they kidnapped. They did kind of gloss over it though.

I was wrong. Just rewatching the episode now. Sarah gets Ian to make the call & set it up, back in Felix's pad.
posted by scalefree at 4:41 PM on June 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

she'll die slowly of her stomach wound (or not)

Yeah, maybe not. In this show, if we don't actually see the corpse, I wouldn't bet on death. Even with a corpse, I might still take odds.
posted by ubiquity at 4:44 PM on June 19, 2016

Loved seeing Family Hendrick out in the woods with Helena. Cosima and Sarah also end this season in the wilderness. I'm not sure where Krystal and MK ended up.

My favorite thing about this episode was how Delphine appeared not to be wearing makeup. In the shots where she was trying to save Cosima's life. I like how this show portrays women as actual people and that in this particular situation it would be ok for someone not to be wearing makeup.

That being said though I need to watch it again because someone was talking to me and I missed a bunch of exposition.
posted by bleep at 9:51 PM on June 19, 2016

One thing that wasn't clear to me was the bit where Cosima shows Delphine the "homework"; did she manage to abscond with all of the samples

Yes, I think Cosima took all the samples. It was right after she told Charlotte to hold on; she ran back to the lab and got the stem cell stuff. Susan thought Rachel had taken them, but she was mistaken. Rachel was lying outright to the board when she said she had the goods. I think Rachel's just feeling ruthless enough at the moment that she is confident she can track down Cosima and get them back.

I agree with the comment upthread questioning why Rachel didn't finish off Susan and Sarah. It really made NO sense that she let Sarah go staggering off, instead of following and putting a couple bullets in her.

The swan doctor Westmoreland seems to be much older than he ought to be, meaning life-extension.

That guy is not Westmoreland. He's a "messenger." He said he "takes orders." We haven't met the actual Westmoreland yet--or if we have, we don't know it. He could be Ferdinand for all we know. :)

Yes, he HAS been there, but they were very careful to bag his head and restrain him so that he couldn't see how to get there.

But did we ever see him leave? He might have been at the safe house the whole time and just managed to get free & turn the tables on Siobhan. They held onto Ian as "collateral"; maybe they'd done the same with Ferdinand?
posted by torticat at 12:43 AM on June 20, 2016

...oh no, I guess the scenes with Ferdinand and Rachel in this last ep would have been after Mrs S kidnapped him. So yeah, he infiltrated somehow.

Re this:
It was just sort of Let's Do More Conspiracy without the same sparkle

I don't know, the humor still gets me every single episode. This one, Ian saying, shocked, "He has his socks on!" when he finds Rachel and Ferdinand in bed.

And Maslany as Crystal, OMG. She does the whole thing by putting on a perfect duckface which NONE of the other clones do. And her scene with Sarah and Fee, when she just utterly rejected Sarah as a possible genetic identical of hers... "um, who are you?" "I'm Sarah. I'm your clone." "Okay. whatever."

SO funny.
posted by torticat at 1:02 AM on June 20, 2016 [7 favorites]

It occurs to me that if Cosima has taken all of the cure then it is in Rachel's best interest to keep Susan alive (which would explain why she stitched her up).
posted by plastic_animals at 6:39 AM on June 20, 2016

it's Krystal, everyone.

I had the same impression as Kosh's second guess, which is that Cosima took whatever she could carry, and Rachel still has enough samples to work with. I think Rachel stitched up Susan to let her rot in that room as revenge. She's eeevil. But yeah, I dunno why she didn't just go after Sarah. Maybe she assumed Sarah had no way off the island and would just bleed out and die.
posted by numaner at 9:34 AM on June 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I thought I saw that Cosima has two petri dishes, and it looked like there were more slots than that in the box in the office. That doesn't mean there were more than two dishes to begin with, but I read it that way while watching the episode.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:43 AM on June 20, 2016

No, Cosima is smart enough that she would have taken everything. We had the scene with her and Susan when she questioned whether Susan had wanted to find a cure at all. Why would she have left anything behind?
posted by torticat at 6:20 PM on June 20, 2016

My hope is that Cosima did something to the remaining dishes so it would only appear that Rachel had what she wanted.
posted by armacy at 9:38 AM on June 23, 2016

And Maslany as Crystal, OMG. She does the whole thing by putting on a perfect duckface which NONE of the other clones do. And her scene with Sarah and Fee, when she just utterly rejected Sarah as a possible genetic identical of hers... "um, who are you?" "I'm Sarah. I'm your clone." "Okay. whatever."

At this scene I turned to my partner and said that it was her performance as Krystal that finally won Maslany the Emmy. That scene was awesome.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2016

Orphan Black Season 5 Trailer
posted by homunculus at 12:38 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Favorite line, Sarah: How does Krystal figure this shit out?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:49 PM on June 15, 2018