Orphan Black 1.6: Welcome to the Clone-Go-Round

[Full episode recap with a side of review!]

Tonight was the Venn Diagram of Beth, Alison, and Sarah’s life intersecting at suburban crisis point. Vic [the Dick] has met Alison who he thinks is Sarah. Paul knows Beth is dead and who he thought was Beth is really Sarah. Alison and Cosima are, well, in trouble. Alison has a rod made of the very finest steel supporting her backside. When that’s coupled with a paranoia of the highest degree, bad things are going to happen. After last week’s glimpse into Donnie’s role in something we don’t know about yet, Alison uses her nanny cam and watches as Donnie gets out of their bead and leaves. Where to, no one knows, but it is a brilliantly scary moment when Alison confronts him and he ignores her. When he won’t listen, she takes a golf club and if he wasn’t going to talk to her of his own volition, then by clone, she was going to help him.

Paul and Sarah – Sarah as Sarah, not Sarah as Beth – are talking about actual things that are actually happening. This should be a huge relief. Except it’s not. While he may have put the gun down, Paul’s still got some ‘splaining to do, which he does to little satisfaction. However, kudos to the writers for having him point out Sarah sleeping with him, pretending to be someone else. Because that’s just a bit rapey. As is Paul not being who he said he was when he was with Beth. Tsk Tsk, everyone.

I’m going to need a flowchart for this mess.

During their conversation, we discover Paul  has a military past, he’s been monitoring Beth for two years, and didn’t choose this. Everything done to Beth (and most recently, to Sarah) has been sent to Olivier, who is still this huge unknown. Paul  was serious about taking Sarah-now-Beth to Rio, away from…  whatever this is. He insists on truthfulness but never really answers anything himself. Sarah, freaking out (rightfully so), ends up sneaking out of the apartment right under Paul’s nose. Doesn’t matter though; ex-military man that Paul is, he’s got a tracer on her car. The unspoken, loud question of this encounter: What kind of leverage gets this level of obedience from someone like Paul?

And Paul, not one to leave ends fluttering in the wind, calls Sarah in an attempt to have some more face to face time. Right. That’s exactly what Sarah needs. That and a shot of the liquor Paul’s just added a crushed-up drug cocktail to. Sneaky, Paul. I almost liked you.  And double-blind that Paul is, he’s also pulling one on Olivier by not telling him Beth is now Sarah, and by all appearances, is working towards not getting blamed if Beth/Sarah gets dead by his alcohol-drug cocktail combo. More distressing is the seemingly innocuous conversation between the two, where Olivier (a quietly menacing David Richmond-Peck) states “As long as the subject makes her own choices there are no wrong decisions.” Which posits that Olivier is possibly a middle man, and that they are monitoring a long-running experiment on a grand scale, the realities and reasons of which we won’t find out for a long while.

Sarah, having left, calls Cosima, who’s struggling with her own brand of paranoia – which she doesn’t do. Though we already knew it, Cos confirms the double-blind that Olivier is pulling on the monitors. And, despite Sarah’s warning, Cos approaches her own possible newbie monitor, Delphine. Seems Cos is just as single minded as her copies. This would be shocking if… no it’s just not. But it’s a good move to make Cosima’s tale more integral to the already tangled interweaving of the surviving clones. The ones we know about.  And though she probably shouldn’t, Cosima accepts Delphine’s invitation to a Neolution seminar. The speaker (hosted by personal favorite Eureka and Supernatural guest, Matt Frewer) is Dr. Leekie, who adds another strange tangent to the evolution of clonekind thinking.

Alison, after using the 9 iron on Donnie’s skull, calls Sarah; she needs some double backup, stat. Alison ties Donnie up and begins to question him; soccer mom gone bad makes for a special kind of torture, one Donnie clearly wasn’t prepared for. And if you weren’t sure whether to laugh or cringe at the glue gun pain, do both.  Moral here: Never, ever mess with a clone. Ever.

Donnie denies knowing anything about anything, but Alison isn’t buying it. (I’m not either.) Sarah arrives to a harried Alison and a tied up, gagged and blindfolded Donnie. Alison has Sarah interrogate Donnie as herself while guests arrive for the monthly pot luck. Oh, suburbia, you do create a wonderful genesis of plot machinations for this show.  Our detailed, prim Alison isn’t one whit prepared for this event that’s happening in her house, right now. As her control slips, as does her sobriety.  The fact that her neighbors think Alison is covering for her spouse means there’s something else we’re not understanding.

Sarah, as Alison, tries getting  info from Donnie, but it appears the guy knows nothing. (Still not buying it.) When Sarah loses it after Donnie disparages Alison, she refers to herself as Alison in the third person, freaking Donnie out, and shows us how much Sarah has come to grudgingly respect admire Alison.

In a jarringly hilarious call to Felix, whose afternoon S&M session has ended, Sarah convinces him to traverse to Scarberia as an impromptu bartender to help with damage control.  When Felix leaves his studio, who shows up, but Vic [the Dick]. Unlike Paul, Vic has no car tracer. What he does have is Felix’s laptop with Alison’s address; tri-clone crash: imminent. Anyway, Felix shows up to a mess of a party, with an even messier drunk hostess. Sarah relays her thinking that Donnie isn’t Alison’s watcher, a belief supported by the fact that Alison has known Donnie since high school. (Third time’s a charm, right? Still not buying it.) A distraught Alison then proceeds to pass out.

Cosima gets [intellectually] hit on by the Neolutions guy, and after stealing some wine from the after-seminar-party, runs off with Delphine. The two part ways after a few moments, but it’s gratifying to see that Cos is playing the part; It’s tricky realizing that her heart is getting involved already, too.

Back at the house party, and this is where things get complicated, Vic [the Dick] shows up. Paul sneaks in. Sarah pretends to be Alison to the party guests. Paul sees the real (passed out) Alison, thinks it’s Beth, but no scar. He goes into the room Donnie’s tied up in (!) and sees Vic in the bedroom via nanny cam, where Sarah walks in. Paul goes to the bedroom and it’s now Paul vs. Vic vs. Sarah. Paul pretends to be working a pretend con with Sarah, and Vic pulls a gun. Strange neighbor lady (possibly Alison’s real monitor)walks in, Vic walks out with Paul.

Got that? It’s going to continue for a moment.

 Sarah-as-Alison is with neighbor lady but finally shakes her, even though the lady realizes the clothes are different. Sarah goes to the garage where Paul’s disarmed Vic and is demanding info on Sarah, which he gets. Sarah shows up. Paul knows who Sarah really is (not Beth’s sister, surprise!), and Sarah kicks Vic out. Neighbor lady again shows up to meet Paul, and Sarah, pretending to be Alison, pretends to be having an affair with Paul.

Whew. Glad that’s over. But it isn’t quite yet. The party’s done with, but the explanations aren’t. Sarah and Paul are back at Beth/Paul’s place. And Sarah finally says the ‘c’ word which causes Paul to forgo the drugged liquor for the just-get-drunk variety.  Awake and sober Alison apologizes to a now-untied-but-bruised Donnie, who in turn apologizes and cries on her shoulder about an affair he had, and that’s what his secret box was about. Still. Not. Buying. It.

Next week seems to prove that tonight’s craftily managed inter-clone-section is going to be, once again, trumped when Dr. Leekia and Delphine are shown to be in cahoots, and more of Paul’s history is revealed. Helena makes a return appearance also.

What the what? 1.  I want to believe Donnie, but after that short bit with him in the field, nothing he’s said can make sense of that. 2. Delphine. She bothers me tres bien. 3. Like Vic [the Dick] would really just leave. He’s not done. 4. Is there no end to the humor Felix will surprise us with? 5. Sarah tells Paul of nine clones. We have four in front of us. Odds that more will pop up soon?

Orphan Black airs on BBC America on Saturdays, 9/8C

Tonight was the Venn Diagram of Beth, Alison, and Sarah’s life intersecting at suburban crisis point.  Vic [the Dick] has met Alison who he thinks is Sarah. Paul knows Beth is dead and who he thought was Beth is really Sarah. Alison and Cosima are, well, in trouble.

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