Like pretty much every episode of Orphan Black, the sixth installment of season three wastes no time in jumping right where we left off. In fact, the show rarely drops to strolling pace – we feel like we are constantly running. We should, then, be tired by now? Nope.
Even the storyline you could tag as the most trivial has Alison and Donnie celebrating their vastly improving cash flow by dancing with the money on the bed. Thought I was watching a rap video – and that’s the idea I think. With their new found fortune the odd couple have re-deveoped a sexual appetite and a seemingly thriving marriage. Alison is the brains of the operation though (we knew that), who whille Donnie is inconspicuously buying a posh car with cash, she has a plan to make their dealings a little more clandestine.
Cosima wakes having gone to bed with Shay, who appears to know the name Sarah because Cosima was dreaming it. Apparrently. Back at work, Delphine is back on the scene. She is ruthlessly enquirig about what Cosima and Scott are up to. Oh Delphine, you used to be fun. Well, not as uptight. Has the power gone to your head? Not totally, as she later confesses that she misses Cosima.
While Felix and Siobhan worry about Kira and Sarah, Gracie brings them tea. Told she does not have to serve them, she says that she just wants something to do. Gracie is brought to Cosima’s lab, accompanied by Delphine, to delve deeper into the consequnces of what we learn is an affliction that can be sexually transmitted (by Mark in this case). Meanwhile, Felix border-line flips out with Rachel in an attempt to find out where his sister is. Scott then thinks Rachel might know the all-important genetic code inprinted into the ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’ book. I know, this could be like the dramatic forward-driving equivelant of too much information.
In the hot desert, Helena is on the run, while the Rudy is in pursuit. In what might be classed as a more natural habitat, the scorpion taunts the tiring Helena. She responses by taking the little creature between fingers and thumb and eating it as though a warm, crunchy pretzel. Is this Helena turning a corner and banishing that devil on her shoulder? Was she really, really hungry? Or both?
Sarah is hallucianting. No, wait, dreaming. Actually this could aso be a bit of both. She is seeing her daughter Kira, leading her through a kind of homemade play-fort, to some rather shifty blood transfusion work. Only to wake finding she has a band aid on her neck, and that reality and the imaginery may be related. Sarah’s semi-conscious visions later take her to sitting down for tea with Beth, who expresses her distaste for Paul and having being consumed by the whole clone conspiracy. She was not the onnly one, right?
Paul is digging deeper into the personal contact jorunals the Castor clones are made to fill in. When someone says to him “I hope it is not as twisted as it looks.” you can almost feel him rolling his eyes. Back at the military base Paul discovers Sarah in a bad way, with a fever and a little delirium. He attempts to arrest Dr. Coady and company for their unorthodox, unethical experiments. Attempting to escape with Sarah, Paul is forced to kill Miller (the miltary-clad Castor clone), but he is stabbed in the struggle. The bleeding Paul urges Sarah to escape on her own while he stays behind, strongly implying that he loves her. Dr. Coady shoots Paul several times, as the leering Rudy watches on, only to realise our hero has a large activated greande. Boom!
The final moments of the episode blend together the whole eminent tension and dream sequences thrown at us during the under-hour running time. There is something extremely emotive, too, having Helena come back for her sister Sarah to help her escape. I’m sounding like a broken record now, but Orphan Black once again delivers acrosss the board of no-nonsene, fast-paced drama, while keeping us firmly invested with these characters. For the most part you are on the edge of your seat, but never ever are we not firmly perched in it.
