Orphan Black: Sarah and Siobhan’s Excellent Adventure

Title: “Orphan Black Season 5 Episode 4: Let the Children and Childbearers Toil”
Genre: Science fiction, Biopunk, Drama, Thriller
Platform: TV – BBC America
Director: David Wellington
Writer: Greg Nelson
Rating: TV-PG
Release: July 1, 2017
Cast: Tatiana Maslany, Dylan Bruce, Jordan Garvaris
Feature image: Source

[SPOILERS]

The Island

“Too many memories here.” Susan Duncan —Orphan Black

Susan Duncan (Rosemary Dunsmore) wakes up. Her caretaker is no one other but P.T. Westmorland (Stephen McHattie). She isn’t happy to see him. Susan: “You turned my daughter against me.” Charlotte (Cynthia Galant) and Aisha (Sirena Gulamgaus) are near the pigpen. One of their pigs, Daisy, is missing. They go out into the woods to search for her. They find Daisy with a big bite mark on her. Charlotte finds a tooth near her. Mud (Jenessa Grant) comes up behind them and tells the girls they can’t be out there. They hear a loud growl and quickly leave.

Susan and Westmorland are talking about the past. “Too many memories here,” she says about his house. “Imagine how I feel,” Westmoreland replies. They begin walking down memory lane. Westmorland: “Remember your greenhouse?” Susan: “Oddly, you let everything die.” Westmorland: “Well, you were the one with the green thumb.” Susan: “And your hands never get dirty.” Westmorland: “No. Only my beautiful, filthy mind.” Susan: “Still got that, do you?” Susan gets back to the present and tells Westmorland that she knows he has had a breakthrough and that she can’t trust him. Ira (Ari Miller) shows up. Susan is happy to see him. Westmorland prepares to leave but he says to Susan, “We can’t let our history stand in the way of the future.”

“Whatever weird shit is happening, it’s coming from the big house.” Cosima —Orphan Black

Cosima (Tatiana Maslany) is checking Charlotte’s breathing. She is happy to report that her little sestra is getting stronger. Charlotte tells Cosima what happened in the woods. She shows Cosima the tooth she found; Cosima determines it is human. Mud told Charlotte and Aisha that it was a bear out there. Cosima decides to get to the bottom of this and goes to the cafeteria tent to talk to Mud. Mud is enjoying her meal when Cosima asks her what is out there. Mud lies and says it was a bear. Cosima tells her she doesn’t believe her and asks Mud to be straight with her. “We’re on the Island of Doctor Moreau here,” Cosima says. “Whatever weird shit is happening, it’s coming from the big house.” Mud blurts out, “It’s not his fault.” Cosima asks her whom she is talking of. Mud is scared and runs out saying it was a bear.

Ira asks Susan about her history with Westmorland. Susan is delighted to detect that Ira is jealous. He tells her that is nonsense. Westmorland is ‘fossilized’. Susan explains to Ira that she and Westmorland parted when he picked another scientist who would do things she wouldn’t. Ira asks how she can work with Westmorland with his wild vision. Susan corrects him on this fact, they share the same vision, but they just have different methods.

Cooper (Stuart Hughes) and Salvador (Victor Gomez) menacingly ask Mud where ‘he’ is. Mud tells them she doesn’t know. Cosima follows her. Mud goes through a secret passage that leads inside Westmorland’s house. Cosima enters the house and sneaks past Mud who is hooking Westmorland up to a dialysis machine. Cosima heads towards the stairs.

Mainland

“I wanted to see how fast I could heal.” Kira —Orphan Black

Sarah (TM) is questioning Kira (Skyler Wexler) about what goes on at Dyad with Rachel. Kira gives her mom short answers. She is more concerned with finding her sneakers before going to school. When Sarah hugs her, Kira squeal in pain. Sarah removes her jacket to see a big cut on Kira’s arm. She brings Kira downstairs to show Felix (Jordan Gavaris) and Siobhan (Maria Doyle Kennedy) the cut. Sarah asks what Rachel did to her. “It was me,” Kira reveals. “I cut myself. Stop blaming Rachel.” Sarah is in shock and asks her why. Kira: “I wanted to see how fast I could heal.” Sarah wants to keep her at home, but Kira still wants to go to school. Siobhan asks Felix to pick Kira up from school and let her sleep over. She tells Sarah she has a lead that will help them against Rachel and she needs Sarah to come with her. Sarah isn’t happy but she goes along.

At the comic book store, Scott (Josh Vokey) gives Sarah and Siobhan Westmorland’s history. Siobhan had Hell Wizard (Calwyn Shurgold) hack into someone’s email. He asks her about it but realizes this is need to know. Siobhan tells Scott to keep researching Westmorland as she and Sarah prepare to leave. Scott: “Where are you guys going?” Sarah: “You think she tells me anything?”

“Your daughter is struggling on the threshold of what it means to become you.” Dr. Perkins —Orphan Black

The ladies arrive at a fancy hotel bar. Sarah tells Siobhan that she is casing the place. Siobhan points out that Sarah is doing the same thing. She asks Sarah can she pick out the mark. Sarah looks around and notices a professionally dressed woman on her laptop drinking alone. Siobhan tells her their mark is Dr. Emily Perkins (Sarah Orenstein) who is a psychiatrist, heavy drinker, and a woman whose relationship with her daughter is so bad, the daughter is suing her. Dr. Perkins has access to someone they need to see. Siobhan needs Sarah to get her wallet. Sarah smoothly starts a fight with Siobhan and throws a drink in her face. While Dr. Perkins is trying to comfort Siobhan about her daughter, Sarah steals the wallet. Dr. Perkins invites Siobhan to join her for a drink. While Dr. Perkins is psychoanalyzing Siobhan and her daughter’s problems, Sarah is going through her wallet in the bathroom. She takes her I.D. Dr. Perkins wants to give Siobhan her card, fortunately Sarah arrives to put her wallet near her laptop. As Siobhan and Sarah prepare to leave, Dr. Perkins gives her one last piece of advice, “Your daughter is struggling on the threshold of what it means to become you.” Siobhan seems to take this at heart.

“Darling, you know that even if Rachel is being nice to you, we can’t trust her — we don’t know what she wants to do with that special part of you.” Felix —Orphan Black

Kira and Felix arrive at his loft after school. They discuss her teachers, some he remembers from when he attended the school. He asks her about her cut. She says it is fine. Later, Felix is painting a portrait of Kira. She wants to look even though he isn’t finished. Kira looks at it and remarks she looks like her mother in this painting. Felix says she is reminding him more of Sarah as she is stomping around like a pug. Kira tells Felix she is trying to help her mom. Rachel is telling her things that are explaining what makes her special. Felix: “Darling, you know that even if Rachel is being nice to you, we can’t trust her — we don’t know what she wants to do with that special part of you.” Kira seems to understand what he is saying.

Felix puts Kira to bed and he hears a knock at his door. It is his biological sister Adele (Lauren Hammersley). He is surprised to see her, especially after he finds out Siobhan sent for her. Siobhan told her their family secret, clones. She tells Felix he could have trusted her with this information. Felix: “Adele, there was a reason I didn’t tell you. Oh yeah, our life is hell, and our people regularly die violently.” Adele spills one of her secrets; her reason for being disbarred was actually for embezzlement. She isn’t a good embezzler but she is good at tracking money. Siobhan is sending her and Felix to Switzerland to track some Neolution funds

Siobhan and Sarah are on the road to a high security psychiatric hospital where Dr. Perkins was going to see a patient. The patient is a high-level Neolution defector, going by the alias Alex Ripley. Dr. Perkins was supposed to see her tomorrow, but they are going tonight. Hell Wizard had hacked Perkins email. Sarah wants to know who is feeding this info to her. Siobhan won’t reveal her source. Since they have time, Sarah wants to stop at a convent that is nearby.

“You knew we were connected. Kira feels that too. She feels all of us.” Sarah —Orphan Black

A silent nun (Eileen Sword) leads Sarah and Siobhan to see Helena (TM). Siobhan needs to prepare for tonight’s mission, so she tells Sarah to give Helena a big hug for her. Sarah walks into the room and says, “Oi, Meathead!” Helena looks surprised and happy and says, “Sestra!” Helena explains that the nun, Sister Irina, was kind to her as a child at the convent she was raised. The other mean nuns saw that as an act of blasphemy, and cut her tongue out. Helena has been busy writing her memoirs. (They would be a best seller.) She senses that Sarah’s heart is heavy. Sarah tell Helena about Kira cutting herself to get answers about herself; answers that Sarah can’t provide. Helena tells her she use to cut herself until she found peace and gained the acceptance of her sestras. She tells Sarah that Kira is an old soul, Sarah has to tell her of the horrors they have gone through. Sarah doesn’t want to burden Kira with this info, but Helena reminds her it is for Kira’s own good. Sarah changes the subject and admits she wasn’t a good sister. Helena agrees they did try to kill each other. Sarah meant after their initial troubles. Sarah: “I avoided you. My twin, my other…self. Because of what you felt. You knew we were connected. Kira feels that too. She feels all of us. But I didn’t until I was half-dead on that island. She flowed right through me and picked me up.” She asks if that is what Helena feels, and Helena confirms she does. “I don’t give a shit about genetics; this is what Rachel can’t have,” Sarah vows. Helena suggests after she has the babies; they kill Rachel and the ‘old man’. Sarah tells her no, she has to have her babies and raise them. Helena says they are miracle babies like they are. Sarah tenderly touches her sestras’ belly.

“We shared the same goal once — To control human genetics and modify the species. Needless to say, we didn’t always get it right. Coady —Orphan Black

Sarah leaves Helena and sees that Siobhan is dressed like Dr. Perkins, and she is sporting an American accent. It is time for them to go. They pull up to the hospital. They con Dr. Nimitz’s assistant (Varun Saranga) with Sarah playing the stressed out assistant to Dr. Perkins who messed up the appointment. They convince him to give them visitor passes to walk around the facility, so their trip won’t be a total waste. When they get into the secured ward, Siobhan asks Sarah to remain calm when they meet Alex Ripley. Sarah asks Siobhan if she knows her, Siobhan tells her she knows her too. The heavily medicated patient they walk up to is no one other but the villainous Dr. Virginia Coady (Kyra Harper), the former head of Castor. Siobhan asks the drugged up villainess what they have her on. Sarah grabs her face and asks, “You faking, you genocidal bitch!” Siobhan injects her with something that makes her coherent. She recognizes Sarah and Siobhan and asks about Helena’s pregnancy. Sarah slaps her for Helena. Sarah is ready to kick this evil witch’s arse but Siobhan is able to calm her down before the staff notices. Siobhan asks Coady who put her here. “Get me out,” she says “Then we’ll talk.” You want to get out here?” Siobhan replies. “You need to earn it.” She tells them Susan put her here. Coady: “We shared the same goal once — To control human genetics and modify the species. Needless to say, we didn’t always get it right. We knew from the start we’d have to break a few eggs. But she never really had the guts for the wet work.”

While she is talking to Sarah and Siobhan, we see Cosima sneak into the basement. There are pictures of someone’s deformities. Coady continues, before they started cloning, before they met Siobhan’s mother, Kendall, they met a test subject with a unique genome. It was a young boy. The science was primitive, and they made too many mistakes on the child along the way. Cosima finds blood smeared on the walls next to a pair of manacles. Mud catches her and tells Cosima she can’t be found here. Cosima demands to know who it is. Mud is terrified and begs her to leave. Westmorland starts calling for her. Coady’s voiceover continues, it was a beautiful child but he developed tumors and deformities. Susan wanted to stop, but she was not squeamish and she pushed on. “And we created a monster.” Cosima follows MUD into the woods. She is taking a blanket to the monster. He comes out to get it. The creature (Andrew Musselman) roars at MUD and runs off with the blanket.

Susan was angry with Coady for what she had done; they could no longer work together. Susan took Leda, Coady took Castor, and Westmorland kept them apart. Before she will tell more, she demands a key card to get out of the hospital. Before they can do it, Kr. Nimitz (Doug Murray) walks into the ward. Luckily, he hadn’t met Dr. Perkins before, so he doesn’t know what is going on. Coady attacks Sarah and during the scuffle, she takes Sarah’s keycard.

Ira has just heard Susan tell him about Coady. She locked Coady up to keep her away from Westmorland. Her science is unsound and she is dangerous. Susan has figured out that Westmorland’s breakthrough is connected to Kira. Ira asks her is she working with Westmorland to protect Kira. Susan tells him it is to protect them.

Sarah and Siobhan are with Adele and Felix. Felix is mad that Siobhan involved Adele. Sarah agrees with her call. Against Westmorland, they will need Siobhan’s judgment more than ever. Scott has tracked six Neolution subsidiaries in Switzerland. Siobhan wants Felix and Adele to track them. He wants to stay in town for Kira, and he has an art opening in three weeks. Siobhan needs him in Switzerland with Adele; he is a quick study and survivor. Siobhan: “We do this as a family.” Welcome to the Clone Club Adele.

Westmorland and Susan meet; they agree to work together. Rachel has the reins of Neolution, but as Susan points out, he needs her for the science. She tells him she will need real time info on Kira’s anomaly. He agrees to her terms. They drink to the future.

_________________________________

The all-out war between the Clone Club and Neolution is on the verge of beginning. Siobhan is gathering information on their enemy. She doesn’t plan to fight this war in the dark. Her reconnaissance mission with Sarah was the best part of the episode. Watching those two work a con together was a delight. If they should ever do any spinoffs of this show, a show with Sarah and Siobhan working high-level grifts against the elite, (something like Leverage) would be my favorite show on TV. I have always enjoyed Mrs. S. she is my favorite non-clone character on the show. Maria Doyle Kennedy brings such depth and strength to the character. She is the only person alive who can keep Clone Club in line.

It is interesting that they are using Kira so much in the final season. It was always obvious she was probably the key to everything. You knew after her accident in the first season, her miraculous recovery indicated she wasn’t an ordinary kid. It looks like we will find out how extraordinary she is. I’m glad that Helena told Sarah to let the kid know what is really going on. That is the best way to protect her from Rachel. She has to know what kind of snake ‘Aunt’ Rachel really is.

I’m not that interested in the creature yet. He looks like a regular guy with bumps on his face. Knowing that Westmorland, Susan and Coady created him lets you know how evil these three are. I wouldn’t be surprised if Scott found out Westmorland’s work might have influenced the Nazis. He is a creepy and slimy dude.

The episode was good, but they had too many storylines to follow. There is the Kira tween drama, Adele is back, Sarah and Siobhan’s excellent adventure, and all the happenings on the ‘Island of Doctor Moreau’. You include reintroducing a major character like Virginia Coady, and it was too much. Each of these storylines deserved more attention. They only have six more episodes left, so they might be packed like this the rest of the way. I just hope it flows better in the upcoming weeks. Aside from the con in the hotel bar, my other favorite scene was between Sarah and Meathead. A very sweet scene shows how close these sisters have grown. This was the most relaxed we have seen Helena. I thinks the circles under her eyes were gone. If you weren’t familiar with the show, you would not have caught on that the same actress was playing both parts and she had that type of chemistry with herself.

Clone MVPs: Sarah Manning and Siobhan Sadler

I know Siobhan isn’t a clone, but she is Club Clone mom, and Sarah was with her nearly the entire episode. They worked so well together, it was as if they were each other’s clone. It is interesting seeing Sarah become more like her mum.

Grade: B+