Orphan Black – Ease for Idle Millionaires

By: Michelle Lopez

LIN28A
Cosima (Tatiana Maslany) is busy burning the midnight oil as she drills into the tooth Charlotte found to get some DNA. She flashes back to the last episode when she found where “The Creature” (Andrew Musselman), whose name we’ll find out is Yanis, was locked away by Westmorland (Stephen McHattie). She’s snapped back to reality when the centrifuge beeps and the DNA is ready to be sequenced. She starts the sequencing, falls asleep and dreams about when she discovered that she and her sestras are intellectual property. After telling Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) about the patent, Cosima begins to meltdown and Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) tells her to not let them win. Yes, they created her and have lay claim to her biological makeup but they have no claim to who she is as a person. They can’t touch her integrity, intellect, or humor unless she lets them. Delphine puts her Cosima’s hand on her heart, swears fealty to her and begs her to defy them and live her life. Cosima’s jolted away when alarms start blaring because while she was busy doing crazy science some bro walked into the woods in the middle of the night for a secret smoke break and got attacked by Yanis after he followed a trail of egg shells further into the woods.

Cosima wanders outside to find Revival panicking as they discovered the injured but not dead bro in the woods and everyone wants answers about the “Bear.” Cosima’s not interested in lies so she decides to give Aisha (Sirena Gulamgaus) a checkup despite the grumpy Messenger’s (Geza Kovacs) orders. She finds that Aisha’s tumor is significantly smaller than when she arrived and borrows her “diary” for further study.

The armed Patriarchy representatives of Revival plan for war against Yanis while Mud (Jenessa Grant) tries to explain that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. They ignore what she says, but bring her along on the hunt since she might be able to calm him down and is good bait.

Cosima finds Mud and asks about why Revival is in a police state despite knowing it is Yanis related. Cosima’s seen where he was kept and she wants the truth about what happened. Mud explains that he used to have a room upstairs in Westmorland Manor, but they started new experiments on him so he ended up chained in the basement. Mud couldn’t stand to see him like that so she set him free. Before being dragged away by a hunter, Mud tells Cosima to behave since there are VIPs visiting Westmorland manor. Cosima turns toward the manor and sees Delphine being escorted up.

Inside, Westmorland and Rachel (Tatiana Maslany) toast to whatever is happening that evening. After their drink, Westmorland prepares a dose of Cosima’s cure for Rachel, the clone most deserving of it. Delphine facepalms as she hears that lie while waiting to be summoned. He needs Rachel to go talk to her mother to assure her that they’re all on the same team. Rachel brings up Yanis and how she doesn’t understand why he’s not dead, but Westmorland’s not opening that can of worms so he calls in Delphine. Rachel calls her “windblown,” which is a synonym for “angelic” that I’ve never heard before. They’ve called her here under the pretense of science, but really to let her know that her gal pal has been snooping where she’s not welcome. Delphine plays the good soldier and asks what Westmorland wants to know about Cosima’s activities.

Ira (Ari Millen) helps Susan (Rosemary Dunsmore) get ready and voices his concern about Westmorland and Rachel. He rolls her into the greenhouse as Rachel knocks on the door and they faceoff. They go toe-to-toe until Susan lays her cards on the table and makes clear that her goal is Neolution’s advancement. Susan comments on Rachel securing Kira for their research so Rachel attacks her because it’s not “their” research – it is Rachel’s.

In Cosima’s yurt Delphine shows up overjoyed to see her lady again, but Cosima is wary of her motives. She knows that Delphine saw Westmorland and wants to know what’s going on. Delphine explains as much as she can and asks what Cosima’s figured out. Aisha’s tumor is being treated with gene therapy related to LIN28A. Delphine recalls Leekie researching organ regeneration in spiny mice since they’ve got 90% of the same genes as humans.

In the medical building, Delphine and Cosima review Aisha’s medical records to see if LIN28A is responsible for her healing. The DNA sequencer has finally finished running Yanis’s DNA and Cosima has no choice but to fill Delphine in on her knowledge about Westmorland’s lost research subject. She compares Aisha and Yanis’s DNA and finds that they’re messing with LIN28A in both. That’s their fountain of youth. Delphine warns Cosima to stop pushing so hard and sticking her nose into Westmorland’s business because she’s attracting a lot of attention and jeopardizing her work outside of Revival. Cosima wants to know what Delphine is up to, but (as usual) she needs to keep her plans secret. The Messenger shows up to bring Delphine to dinner, but Cosima’s not sitting out. She demands a seat at the table and sends the Messenger to tell Westmorland she’s found his fountain of youth.

Mud and her designated hunter begin their trek into the woods in search of Yanis. Mud insists that he’s not a monster, but nobody is willing to risk their lives to save him. They all came to Revival to extend their lives and they’re not going to throw that away for what they consider a monster.

The Messenger escorts Delphine and Cosima to a dressing room full of old-timey formal wear. They need to dress up for dinner or leave. When they’re alone Delphine explains that Rachel has access to Kira and asking too many questions will put her in danger. They need to play along and learn as much as possible. They get dressed and meet The Messenger in the hall, Delphine in an old timey dress and Cosima in a tux. Delphine is pulled away to talk to Westmorland and Cosima enters the dining room. Susan and Ira are already there and Westmorland escorts Delphine on his arm to the table. While they wait for Rachel, Cosima, much to Delphine’s horror, can’t help but comment on Westmorland’s extensive taxidermy collection. Westmorland finds a way to turn taxidermy into a question about Cosima’s parents. Not one for games, she gives them the truth. Her parents think she’s still in school and have no clue about the clone situation or Cosima’s illness. They’d be crushed if they found out the truth so Cosima’s isolated herself from them. As Cosima finishes up Rachel arrives.

Rachel toasts to LIN28A and their pending success, but Cosima’s got a few shots to fire. They’ve isolated that gene in Kira and found that it’s self-regulating, meaning it heals her. Westmorland is tickled by Cosima’s investigation, but decides to take a shot of his own. He mentions that Delphine informed him of her trip to his basement. Before things can get too out of hand a clock chimes and they must end the meal. Delphine’s got to go to Geneva so Westmorland tells Cosima to walk her out thinking he’s killed their relationship.

In the dressing room, Cosima goes off on Delphine for throwing her under the bus. Delphine explains that she had to give Westmorland something so she could get to Geneva and meet up with Felix and Adele. They’re working on the endgame and it must be a secret for now. Delphine reminds Cosima of the promises they made to each other – Delphine to protect Cosima and Cosima to defy her creators. Their relationship has never been simple. Cosima seeks out the truth like a bull in a china shop while Delphine works in the shadows doing whatever is necessary. Delphine gives Cosima the choice, they can end their complicated relationship or they can accept it for what it is. Cosima kisses Delphine like her life depends on it and they decide to beat Westmorland at his own game. He wanted to tear them apart, but he brought them closer together and they’re going to use it against him.

In the woods, Mud and her escort are sent to check out movement by the wood shed. When they arrive Mud is sent ahead as bait, but Yanis isn’t there. He’s busy sneaking up behind the jerk with a gun. Yanis strikes him down with an ax and attacks Mud until she breaks through to him and he runs off.

Cosima returns to the dining room and Westmorland fills her in on Yanis’s history. He was the first person they found with LIN28A healing abilities. Susan didn’t test him, but she took his gene and put it in the LEDA clones to see if it would manifest in them. It obviously did not, but they want to see if Kira is an anomaly or if it’s a second-generation trait. Westmorland is pulled away to deal with Yanis’s attack. Cosima surmises that Rachel plans on harvesting Kira’s eggs and using them to see if the trait is passed down. Susan admits they have 1300 surrogates already lined up and Cosima is baffled at the immense violation they’re planning. Susan’s not going to setup and stop Westmorland so Cosima heads out to stop him herself.

Cosima runs into Mud in the hall and she’s freaking out because Westmorland knows she let Yanis out. Everything has escalated because Westmorland is not well. Mud begs Cosima not to go into the basement so, naturally, Cosima heads straight for the basement. She finds a drunk Westmorland watching Yanis in his cell. His attacks were just him trying to return home. Cosima calls Westmorland out for his reckless science focusing on one gene to try and save his own life. He’s dying and Yanis is his legacy. Westmorland shoves a gun in Cosima’s hand and tells her to put Yanis out of his misery since that would be the ethical choice. But Cosima promised to defy her enemies and she’s not handing over her humanity. She rushes into the cell to comfort Yanis when Westmorland shoots him and locks Cosima in the cell.

The Art of the Hustle
At home, Siobhan (Maria Doyle Kennedy) and Sarah talk next steps in their investigation of Westmorland. Siobhan is headed to the comic shop to try and make sense of Coady’s story. Kira (Skyler Wexler), who’s been busy drawing on the walls, gets annoyed because once again she, a child, is not privy to everything the adults are dealing with. Sarah, not wanting her daughter to carve up her body looking for answers, relents and tells Kira that they’re trying to figure out what the Neos are up to so they can stop them.

Sarah’s finally accepted that the clones and Kira have a special connection so she decides it’s time to talk to Kira about it. She visited Helena to get her take on it, but Kira’s got a better lock on it than anyone else. She makes a deal with Kira – teach her about the connection they all share and she’ll let Kira in on all the adult stuff.

At the comic shop, Scott (Josh Vokey) and Hell Wizard (Calwyn Shurgold) update Siobhan on their Westmorland timeline. They’ve got all the recent stuff including the clone projects and Leekie’s reign over Neolution. They’ve got his life through his presumed death but nothing in between. Siobhan wants them to dig into people who died around his presumed death to see if the man claiming to be Westmorland is, in fact, the same guy.

At home, Kira’s sharing each clones code name with Sarah when Siobhan returns. She wants to know what’s going on and is stunned to learn that Sarah’s brought Kira in on their plans. Kira’s excited to join the team and hone her skills as a hustler. Her first target is Rachel. Siobhan isn’t as thrilled because the first step is to give the mark what they want without them realizing and, so far, they have no clue what Rachel wants.

Kira, Sarah and Siobhan have fallen asleep cuddled up on Kira’s bed. Siobhan wakes when she hears a noise downstairs. She grabs her rifle and goes to investigate the intruder. It’s just Delphine stopping by before her flight to Geneva. She hands over the information on LIN28A and Rachel’s plans for Kira.