Orphan Black – The Scandal of Altruism

By: Alex Steele

Can anyone else believe that we are already over half way through this season of “Orphan Black?” This is already episode six and we are still asking so many questions! The Scandal of Altruism began revisiting a blonde wigged Beth (Tatiana Maslany) who is seen popping pills, gun in handbag, entering a very fancy Bright Born party. She remains inconspicuous as she watches Evie Cho (Jessalyn Wanlim) and Susan Duncan (Rosemary Dunsmore) from a far where they are talking about the implants (we all know what those bots are like). Beth rushes past a waiter, spilling champagne on Susan. Sneaky Beth, sneaky. Susan is cleaning off the champagne when Beth shows up, pulling a gun her. She’s angry and confrontational, not letting Susan get a word in edge ways, she knows everything and she’s ending it now.

Back to present day, it is the morning after and Ira (Ari Millen) and Susan are discussing what life will be like once they have Kendall and the original genome. The conversation quickly turns into an interrogation; however, when Susan begins to assess whether Ira is glitching. He isn’t and hasn’t for quite a while now. Elsewhere, Cosima has caught Sarah up on all the new developments regarding the Duncan/Cho offer to collaborate on a cure in exchange for getting the bot out of Sarah’s cheek. It’s understandable that Sarah be apprehensive and cautious, these people are violent and fairly manipulative, and she knows there has to be a catch. But Cosima goes on to, for the first time this season, acknowledge how dire the situation with her illness is as she doesn’t have enough time to wait for her and Scott (Josh Vokey) to find the cure. Tatiana Maslany has quietly inhabited Cosima this season, with a subtle yet debilitating physicality to her portrayal. She’s becoming more hunched over, her hands frailer and her movement more labored. Tatiana is as good as she is because of visceral depictions such as these. Sarah is slowly noticing as well and decides to go ahead with the Kendall Malone exchange, ut she isn’t telling Mrs. S (Maria Doyle-Kennedy).

The first twist of the episode comes when Art (Kevin Hanchard) overhears an individual at the precinct telling her story. It sounds quite familiar and his interest is peaked. Able to guide Detective Duko away, Art makes contact with the blonde-haired beauty, who surprisingly is Krystal. She’s there making a victim statement about her “assault” at Bright Born. I feel as though there aren’t enough words in this world for me to describe the talent that is Tatiana Maslany as Krystal she is a polar opposite to what we’re used to seeing. Her facial expressions, mannerisms and accent are on point, character development not missing a beat. Art does question her to what she knows and quickly works out she is naïve to the whole situation. Meanwhile, Kendall (Alison Steadman) has summoned Mrs. S to the comic book store to break the news of her cancer to her daughter and just like that Maria Doyle-Kennedy has us all reaching for the tissue. She does Siobhan powerfully and protective so well, but her vulnerable and broken is just as flooring. Elsewhere, Sarah has made her first appearance on Bright Born premises and Susan, for once, seems a little speechless since she’s not used to seeing an unfamiliar face. What? Really? Her face is pretty much the same as all the other clones you’ve seen. Following this though, Sarah recognises a familiar face in Ira – she’s shocked and sarcastic but Ira ensures her he is nothing like his brothers.

Back at the safe house, Mrs. S is reeling from the news of Kendall’s cancer, but when Kendall shuts down treatment plans we become privy to the greater plan. Her leukaemia may just be a saving grace for the clones, isolating the white blood cells within the disease allows them to also isolate the Leda genes. What this also does is give them a bargaining chip – they will only give Susan Leda, not Castor. Ira doesn’t take this very well, making a snarky remark about Sarah not being the first clone to make it this far. He’s referring to Beth. This comment sets up the cut to the next scene, a flashback, where we revisit Beth and Susan. Susan is trying to talk Beth down, ensuring her she didn’t know about her father’s “tendencies” (Was Beth abused as a child?) and that she loves all of them. If Beth kills her, no one will protect them. We witness Beth come to a realisation, and as she tells Susan to close her eyes, gun still at her head, we wait for the shot but instead, Beth leaves. In real time, Sarah discloses the plan to Siobhan, who is not the least bit happy about it. Having just found out about the cancer and now Sarah having bartered her mother, it is raw and painful. Tatiana and Maria are soul-crushing in this scene when she utters the word “mum” and moves closer, it is undeniable the respect Sarah holds for her protector.

Cosima is also a little worried that this may not be the right move. She talks to Scott admitting such feelings and that all of this is so volatile, not to mention the fact of one missing soulmate (Can you hear the Cophine shippers hearts just break a little?). Scott assures Cosima they would have cracked it if they had the time, but they don’t. That’s enough to push Cosima through to doors to Bright Born. Elsewhere, Ira becomes upset at the fact they won’t receive the Castor gene to cure him, yet with a couple of sweet somethings from Susan, he seems to calm down. Art gets in contact with Sarah to inform her of his Krystal situation and she tells him that Felix (Jordan Gavaris) is on the case. He’ll be there to help. The plan gets well and truly underway with Kendall is under the watchful eye of Siobhan and Scott at the loft, while Sarah and Cosima are at Bright Born getting that crazy, toxic bot out of her cheek. With a minor hiccup in the procedure, thankfully, they remove the bot and all its crazy while Scott begins the procedure on Kendall. I’m not sure Felix (Jordan Gavaris) was expecting to be pepper sprayed by Krystal when they were reunited. It’s hilarious though! The dynamic between Jordan, Kevin and Tatiana when she is Krystal is unlike any other on the show. After the crisis is averted, Felix encourages Krystal to go back and live her life, but not before she mentions a “hot French doctor” that she previously slapped. Art and Felix start a line of questioning that uncovers Krystal was there when Delphine got shot. She saw everything. Um, okay, call Cosima and let a sister know!

The episode closes at such a fast pace where we hold our breaths as not to miss anything. It becomes quite obvious, extremely quickly, that everything is not right. As Scott finishes aspirating the last of Kendall’s cells, she leaves with her protection but they don’t do such a good job. When she gets outside, her guard is killed while she’s taken hostage. Sarah arrives shortly after to see blood puddles outdoor as well as Kendall’s cigarettes. Not taking too long to put two and two together, she races upstairs, grabs a bottle of bleach and destroys the samples. She informs Mrs. S that they’ve been double-crossed and this is when it all hits the fan. They tie Susan up. The fact that Cosima is still at Bright Born is a point of concern so they move her to the safe house. Siobhan is evidently distraught, not to mention angry, as she demands answers. Tag-teaming her, Sarah and Mrs. S work out that Ira may have betrayed Susan. With this theory, Sarah and Benjamin track Ira to a hotel where he lies in a bathtub suffering from a drug-overdose (obviously heartbroken over Susan). With this a dead end, that only leaves one other culprit – Evie Cho. It doesn’t take long to confirm that very thing when Sarah receives a call saying that all of Cosima’s research is gone.

Aafter handing over the research her and Delphine completed, Cosima is taken into custody by Evie and her hench woman. What follows is another illustration of how emotionally in tune Tatiana Maslany is, how her talent is a by-product of commitment and belief in these characters. Cosima has been bought to the location where Kendall is being held – by Detective Duko (Gord Rand) – to obviously eventually be killed.

Cosima needs to know why – why they are doing this. Evie remarks that clones are obsolete, that they no longer need their baselines that they are ready to create “perfect” right now. Showing a miniscule bit of humanity, Evie allows Cosima the chance to say goodbye to Kendall. It’s an exchange laced with so much regret and sorrow, the tears are almost immediate. The loss that Cosima has experienced up until now has been gruelling and now this, a failed plan, it may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. “What do we do?” Cosima asks Kendall. “These shites aren’t worth the salt,” she says talking about Kendall’s tears. Kendall displays resolve and acceptance in her final moments, telling Cosima to pass on messages to Siobhan and her sisters – our hearts continue to break. She’s proud to have been a part of them all and with that tells Cosima to turn around. The cold-blooded act of shooting Kendall point blank is mind-numbing and unbelievable. Cosima immediately feels it herself as it is debilitating and soul-crushing. She drops to her knees and, voiding that piece of humanity from earlier, Evie Cho puts the final nail in the coffin saying, “Delphine was shot dead at Dyad.” No feeling. No remorse. Tatiana Maslany expresses Cosima’s emotion in the most viscerally, heart-crushing way.

Cut with this are flashbacks scenes of Beth unapologetically bashing Evie’s face in – the contrast stark, but as the audience watches Cosima mourn and grieve. The bashing Beth unleashed on this new villain may have made up for it, but only slightly. Cosima kneels in the dirt as Evie gives her phone back stating, “Call Susan. Call Sarah.” and she does. The news of this development in well and truly going to shake the ground the sisters have been standing on. Actually, correct that, it is going to make it crumble. They are, for all intents and purposes, back to square one. And with Cosima becoming more and more ill, time is ticking. Let’s end this week’s review, standing and remembering Beth. She fought, till the bitter end, for her sisters. For their well-being. She fought the good fight and her death, now knowing the story behind it, hurts out soul that much more.

Other key plot points:

• Cosima called Delphine her soulmate – this is important
• Krystal still believes it all comes back to cosmetics.
• Adele has left
• Ira is recovering. Kendall is dead. Cosima is gradually approaching death. It seems as though the stakes in this endeavour have just reached a critical limit.
• Detective Duko is the worst. Evie Cho is just plain evil.
• Where was Alison and Donnie?