Orphan Black 3.08

[selenak]

In which there's a lot of double crossing going on.



Okay, first of all, poor Crystal. (And Tatiana Maslany performs her "create a whole new character" miracle again. I appreciate the show while using the "ditzy blonde" trope also turned it around by revealing Crystal had been investigating, on her own, what the hell was going on, same as Sarah did in the beginning, only without any help, and kept her sympathetic.

Secondly, I have mixed feelings re: Delphine. I mean, in the interest of character layerdness it's good that after a season of Darth Delphine characterisation she gets shown as somewhat sympathetic again, and both smart enough to know when she was being duped (well, by one party) and as far as is shown sincere in wanting to keep all the Leda clones alive. However, I'm not on board with the eventual Cosima/Delphine reunion the kiss and the heavy hints of Shay being a Castor mole seem to signal; I'm not shipping Cosima/anyone, but I want her to have a relationship with SOMEONE who has absolutely no professional interest in her whatsoever and doesn't work for anyone who does, is that too much to ask?

Meanwhile, Helena moving in with the Hendrix clan and Gracie starting to work at the soap shop is a splendid way to keep Alison's subplot from wandering off into disconnectness again. Incidentally, I thought it was a bit unfair that the show seems to think Donnie's unreasonable/territorial in his initial objections to Helena as a housemate, because would you want to share living space (and have your kids do same) with someone about whom you really know only one thing: she has a serial killer past? Otoh Donnie gets his best line on the show to date in the same episode when losing his fight with Alison's old high school squeeze the drug dealer: "I may be a bitch, but I'm Alison's bitch." Sums it up perfectly. Donnie, I'm rooting for you over Mr. Cool Drug Dealer with his taunts about "girly" slaps.

Gracie and Helena reunion: aw. Thanks, show!

Gracie hearing Mark (along with the rest of the Castors) has a mayfly life span currently to expect, while Sarah tells her Mark wasn't like the others: also aw. Dammit, show, Mark is the one whose survival I'm invested in, and whom do you show me instead? Bloody Rudy menacing poor Scott by threatening his cat into handing over The Island of Doctor Moreau.

I knew Scott and Cosima were lying when they said they hadn't made a copy before that was revealed, it would have been criminally negligent for two scientists if they hadn't. (No wonder Delphine figured it out as well.) What I'd like to know is how Rachel got in contact with Doctor What's His Name (Neiman?) in time to arrange the Crystal switch. I mean, I have no problem believing that he'd switch his allegiance from Delphine back to Rachel the moment Rachel reveals she can decypher the book, because cracking the clone code tops everything else at Dyad, but she must have found a way to talk with him about it ahead of time without either Scott or Delphine noticing. Well, since he's a higher level Dyad minion I suppose he can go in and out of the secret lab where they've stashed Rachel. Anyway, Rachel managing to con both Sarah & Co. and Delphine, thus making them into the tools of her escape, is a good reminder that she didn't get to her top level position at Dyad just by being mean and a clone, she also has intelligence.


Lastly: thanks, show, for letting the cat survive unharmed. I can take exposed brains, but I draw the line at cat harm.

Not Orphan Black connected, two links:



Miss Piggy on why she's a feminist and deserves all the awards


Robotic arm delivered to little boy by Iron Man: because RDJ can be great when he does stuff like this

Comments

[lilacsigil]

Same on the cat harm! Clone harm, sure, but no cat harm!

Yeah, I don't think Donnie was being unreasonable, but they could have told him that Helena doesn't hurt kids, that might have helped. And Helena does seem to like him, and I was glad that she wasn't angry with poor Gracie.

[selenak]

So was I, and yes, Helena seems to like him, and I think Donnie warmed up to her when he saw her goofy sense of humor and how childlike she is. Also you couldn't ask for a more lethal bodyguard for the kids, which might come in handy given that he and Alison are now in the drug business. (How Donnie and Alison can have watched Breaking Bad and still think this will work out well for them is beyond me, but hey. :)

Now that I know Scott is a fellow cat lover in addition to being a geek and a loyal friend, I really desperately hope he will make it out of the season alive. Becoming Felix' next boyfriend is optional.

[likeadeuce]

So any guesses who the woman was that we saw from the back at the end of the episode? I had a crazy flash it might be Mrs. Hendrix though on reviewing I don't think the 'hairs' match, as Helena would say.

And I'm team Mr. Chubbs all the way.

Re: Crystal I loved that performance (also Felix's skill in slipping into a subtly different character, showing Jordan Gavaris can play this game too). I did miss a thread as far as what happened to her Hector/how she lost her monitor, is that something we knew about before?

[selenak]

If it wasn't in the one episode this season which I missed (3.02.), I think all the info we have is what Delphine says at the start of the eisode.

Re: Blonde woman - her being blonde means it's unlikely to be Marion (unless she died her hair) or Dr. Coady (who still seems to be in Mexico anyway), and Shay doesn't wear her hair like that, so I'm clueless.

[musesfool]

Maybe she's actually Susan Duncan?

[selenak]

Also possible!

[nenya_kanadka]

Ooooh, headcanon accepted.

[likeadeuce]

I feel like it's supposed to be a clue and not random but I might just WANT that to be the case.

[nenya_kanadka]

Man, if Shay really is a Castor mole, I will be so sad. I need Cosima to have a girlfriend who isn't trying to sabotage her. (And they were cute as hell together.) Actually we need to find out more about Cosima's non-science life and family, too. Does she have siblings, parents, non-Clone-Club friends?

Donnie's line to Jason was perfect. That's exactly right. (On that note, I love the occasional dips into femdom this show does, most notably with Rachel's lovers but a bit here too, where everyone knows that Alison is the leader here.)

Also quite invested in Krystal and her welfare. They absolutely did turn the blonde airhead cliche on its head, both with showing that she was investigating on her own and with the show being very firmly in her camp when it came to her relationships and her reproductive rights. (We heard the story of her encounter with the Castors from her, so she's no longer just a face in an elevator security cam.)

And oh, Felix. It sucks so much that he didn't break character any further and they weren't able to save her from her current fate...even though I get why they felt they had to con her.

Rachel continues devious and smart as always--nice to see she's still in there despite the aphasia.

I really, really don't want Cosima and Delphine to get back together. But I think that's where the plot is headed. :(

[selenak]

re: Cosima having non-Clone Club friends, well, Scott, but he's been co-opted now. :)

I do hope Krystal will be saved from the coma and Dyad; maybe Felix due to feeling bad about the con decides to go back, apologize and explain (as much as he can), and thus finds out Krystal has disappeared, at which point he and Sarah get the right suspicion...?

Re: Cosima/Delphine: I think they're becoming a NOTP for me, but alas, yes, this episode makes me suspect we're heading towards a reunion. :(

[nenya_kanadka]

Yeah, there is Scott! But he's always been a work friend and now he's been pulled into Clone Club as much as anyone. But he is there, that's true! I love his nerdy board-gaming ways. (And I'm fairly sure we can trust him. Which is good.)

I really want Krystal to stay around! There are a lot of one-off clones who show up for an episode or two and are never seen again, but I really want her to be one of the ones who sticks around. We haven't had a new main clone since Rachel, a season and a half ago. And she's just a neat character. Would love to see Sarah and Felix do some more poking around...

Cosima/Delphine I've kind of been thoroughly meh about for a long time, but it's getting NOTP for me as well. I like that at least the show is acknowledging that it IS fucked up and isn't pretending it's all happy shiny fluff. (The fact that Shay is so much more my type--though, admittedly, the actress as a brunette in Lost Girl is even hotter--is part of it, but I've been noping out of Cophine for ages before Shay showed up, so it's not just that.) Ah, well. We'll see. I hated Donnie's guts in season 1 and they've pulled that around, so maybe...? Probably nah, though. I'm probably not going to like it any better in future. We shall see!

[wee_warrior]

This ep was possibly the first time I liked Donnie in ages - if not ever, he's not exactly high on my favourite non-clone characters list - but I don't think we have to worry about Jason the drug-dealer being actual competition to him. Jason seems like a slightly more intelligent version of Vic - sleazy creep you outgrow - and I think Allison is coming to that realization by herself (not to mention that there are enough pointers that she loves Donnie aside from keeping him to stick it to her Mom).

The cat: oh, I felt the same way! And such a beautiful one, too, Norwegian Forest maybe? I was so, so glad that Scott wasn't the mole, I quite like him. And his gaming buddies were great, too, so excited at all the spy gaming.

Gracie and Helena reuniting was great, and I can actually see Gracie hitting it off with Allison and Donnie - they are still quite a culture shock after her family, but it's not as big a difference as to The Household of S.

Shay: Waiting to see here if she's really a Castor mole, or if there's a military faction different to Paul's (I mean, we still don't know if Cal is completely independent after all, and he might have allies, too).

Krystal was cute - you have read Sandman, yes? Remember Tiffany? She reminded me of her a little - and I really, really hope Sarah & Felix can save her. Although I have to hand it to Rachel, that was pretty clever (and the look with the eyepatch was perfect. Very Bond-villain).

The woman on the phone: I thought it was Coady at first, but her hair was clearly more blonde, and as you say, Coady was still in Mexico. But the way she was filmed did seem to indicate that we would recognize her...

[selenak]

I know what you mean about Tiffany. Maybe also Barbie?

And speaking of Sandman, I would say that in revenge for the cat threatening Rudy deserves to share a certain cat related nightmare, but considering I suspect Rudy's life expectancy is very limited (and not just in the way all the Castors are) right now, he wouldn't dream it for long anyway.

[masqthephlsphr]

Plus, if he had cat nightmares, he'd probably return and kill the kitty for reals.

[selenak]

Good and fear-inspiring point!

[wee_warrior]

Barbie, too, definitely. It's the same kind of bubbly personality and seeming shallowness, which hide a surprisingly deep inner life, playing with the readers/viewers' preconceptions and prejudices(and in Krystal's case, with those of Felix and Sarah, too).

Maybe the Corinthian instead? Boy is a rapist and likes to threaten cats and little children, he clearly has it coming.