Orphan Black S5 E8 Guillotines Decide

Maria Doyle Kennedy in Orphan Black

Orphan Black draws nearer the last episode with “Guillotines Decide,” the 8th episode of season 5. In this episode, it was the best of times. It was the worst of times. This is a recap. There are spoilers.

Sarah (Tatiana Maslany in one of many incarnations) and Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) are at home with Kira (Skyler Wexler). Mrs. S patrols the windows with a pistol in her hand while Kira sleeps.

Rachel, short one eye, stumbles bleeding to the elevator. She’s rescued by none other than Ferdinand (James Frain) who gets her bleeding stopped and her eye socket sewed up. She wonders how he knew to come back. He doesn’t answer. (But I know. Mrs. S sent him.)

Sarah wakes up Kira. She sends Kira off with Charlotte (Cynthia Galant) and Art (Kevin Hanchard). Art’s ex is going to hide the two of them.

Sarah’s a nervous Nelly wondering why Neolution isn’t after them. Mrs. S says Rachel’s the target now because the Neolution cabal has been exposed. Sarah isn’t satisfied with this reassurance.

Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) is back. She and Cosima lounge in bed. Delphine talks about how Neolution is after millions of DNA samples from around the world. Cosima just wants to have brunch with her lady.

Felix (Jordan Gavaris) and Adele (Lauren Hammersley) arrive at Mrs. S’s. Felix reminds everyone his big art opening is tomorrow. Mrs. S is strangely calm. Sarah is strangely nervous.

Maria Doyle Kennedy, Tatiana Maslany as Sarah and Cosima with Evelyne Brochu in Orphan Black

Mrs. S’s crew and Cosima and Delphine talk via Skype. Cosima wants to go to the art opening. Felix doesn’t want any clones but Sarah there because it’s too confusing. Adele mentions a big art dealer from Geneva is coming. Mrs. S keeps telling everyone Neolution is on the ropes and they should just relax and have a nice party for Felix.

Zoé De Grand Maison and Tatiana Maslany as Helena in Orphan Black

Helena and Gracie (Zoé De Grand Maison) chat over slices of cheese. Gracie says she no longer has any family. Helena tells Gracie her miracle babies remember her and they are her family now. Gracie is moved by this.

Tatiana Maslany as Alison in Orphan Black

Alison and Donnie (Kristian Bruun) help Felix hang his art show. Alison won’t help Donnie decide where to put things because she isn’t going to micro-manage him anymore. Then she says, “Is that what you’re wearing?” Purple hair on top doesn’t change what’s underneath, Alison. Felix thanks them for helping but tells Alison she can’t be at the opening.

At Mrs. S’s place, Adele makes snacks for the opening. Mrs. S feeds Adele whiskey and Sarah worries over the Neolution money trail. Mrs. S wants Sarah to stand down. S leaves to go after flowers and tells Sarah to be cool. Sarah isn’t feeling cool and she doesn’t like Mrs. S leaving.

Cosima shows Scott (Josh Vokey) a refrigerator full of doses of the Leda cure, which she hopes to deliver to Leda clones all over the world – if she can figure out how to find them. Delphine heads up the basement stairs. She says goodbye but will only say she’s going out. Cosima tells Scott, “We have this whole Don’t ask, Don’t tell thing going on.”

Evelyne Brochu and Maria Doyle Kennedy in Orphan Black

Delphine and Mrs. S meet up in the hallway outside the hotel room where Ferdinand and a recovering Rachel are hiding out. Delphine is visibly disgusted by working with the man who killed MK, but the four of them are in a pact to bring down Neolution for good. I’m having all manner of continuity problems with Mrs S’s hair being parted down the middle.

Mrs. S tells Rachel that Neolution wanted to sell curated commercialized evolution to the 1% rich enough to buy it. Coady’s minions were going to sterilize everyone else. Rachel sees the evidence of the money trail, but Mrs. S wants Rachel’s secret files too. They need both to bring it all down. S gives Rachel a flash drive with all her evidence.

Zoé De Grand Maison in Orphan Black

Helena tells Gracie the book she’s writing is so her babies can have a brighter future. Helena goes off to clean and Gracie calls Mark (Ari Millen). She tells him she couldn’t find Helena and will check another convent tomorrow. He suspects her of lying.

It’s the art show. Hell Wiz (Calwyn Shurgold) is DJ. He’s wearing a sweat shirt that says, “The future is female.”

After shooing away clones all day, Felix decides suddenly to have a clone swap. He introduces Alison as herself (earlier she pretended to be Sarah – love when Tatiana does that clone-in-clone bit) to the bigwig art dealer. He calls Alison by the name of a Greek goddess.

Poof. Alison is out the back door. Cosima comes in. Felix comments on how rosy cheeked she looks and how she’s bounding up stairs. Cosima says, “Yeah, I’m back to bounding.” One of the world’s better double entendres.

Felix takes her inside, introduces her as the goddess of wisdom and tells her to do whatever comes naturally. What comes naturally is Cosima stomping on Rachel’s face. Well, her figurative face painted on the dance floor. Everyone is walking and dancing on Rachel’s face. That Felix is such a little dickens with his art show.

Adele and Sarah argue about what kind of secret Mrs. S is keeping. Adele just wants to finish the food and go to the art show. Adele tells Sarah that all Felix did while they were gone was paint different versions of Sarah. All Delphine did was what Mrs. S told her to do – including meet Ferdinand. You can see the alarm bells in Sarah’s eyes at that revelation.

Ferdinand looks at the files S gave Rachel. She gives him a memory chip with her records of names, dates, and amounts of bribes. It was hidden in her necklace the whole time.

Rachel wants to destroy Westmoreland and Neolution and go somewhere off the grid and simply live. Free. Ferdinand wants to be filthy rich. He plans to talk to the Neolution board. Rachel pulls S’s flash drive from her computer and gives it to Ferdinand.

Tatiana Maslany as Cosima and Evelyne Brochu in Orphan Black

Cosima and Delphine discuss what to do with the freedom they are on the verge of finding. I seriously thought Cosima was going to ask Delphine to marry her in this scene but it didn’t happen. I’m distracted by dreaming up wedding fan fiction right in the middle of the episode. Must concentrate.

Delphine buys Felix’s painting of Cosima as Felix chases Cosima out the back way for another clone swap.

Sarah runs up the back steps at the art show. She tells Felix she thinks Delphine and S are in cahoots with Ferdinand. He ignores this, yells, “Curtain,” and reveals her to the guests. He introduces her as the goddess of war.

Mrs. S has a moment at home alone. She’s messing with red roses, several guns, and writing a letter with tears streaming down her face. We don’t see what she writes.

At the art show, Delphine gets a text that says “We’re in business.” She leaves. Art and Sarah share a moment looking at Felix’s painting of Beth.

Zoé De Grand Maison and Tatiana Maslany as Helena in Orphan Black

Helena finds Gracie’s phone and realizes immediately they have to get the hell out of there.

Ferdinand goes to the board thinking he can shake them down for millions. When he tries to show them the evidence on the flash drive he finds it blank. File not found, Ferdinand old boy.

The files are safely in Rachel’s computer. She gives it to Mrs. S. Rachel doesn’t look strong. She seems almost passive here, which is unusual for her. Rachel tells Mrs. S that Ferdinand won’t make it back from the board meeting.

But Ferdinand does escape the board meeting. Damn.

Helena and Gracie were too slow. Detective Maddy Enger (Elyse Levesque) shows up at the convent. She wants the babies inside Helena. She doesn’t want Gracie, however. She shoots Gracie right in front of Helena. That’s going to make Helena mad, Maddy. Better watch out.

Also, with Dyad and Neolution going kaput, why are they still chasing down Helena’s babies and their DNA? Westmoreland and Coady are making one last desperate move.

Kevin Hanchard, Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Jordan Gavaris in Orphan Black

S finally arrives at the art show. She gives Felix the roses. Sarah confronts her. S tells Sarah, Felix and Art that they have all the info they need to expose decades of misconduct by Neolution. They are ready to go with the information. “It’s done,” says S. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief.

two fingers over a computer track pad

Cosima and Delphine are looking at the computer. They are ready to release the evidence to governments and news media all over the world. They push the Submit button together. They laugh, then Cosima gives in to huge sobs of relief.

Tatiana Maslany as Sarah, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Jordan Gavaris in Orphan Black

Felix gives a lovely speech at the art show. He talks about being an orphan. He introduces Sarah, Mrs. S and his biosister Adele. He says, “We are all mysterious works of chance, of nature vs. nurture.”

Mrs. S tells Felix how proud she is of him. He introduces S to Colin (Nicholas Rose), the dude from the morgue. Felix and Colin seem to be on again.

Ferdinand returns to the hotel room. Rachel, who is popping pills, is surprised to see him alive. He almost strangles her, but stops. He leaves to hunt down S, Rachel calls Mrs. S to warn her. S says, “Thank you.” Rachel says, “Goodbye, Siobhan,” in a very final way. Is she planning suicide? A secret getaway?

Maria Doyle Kennedy in Orphan Black

S goes home. Ferdinand is there. He’s ransacked the place, found all her hidden guns. She tells him the information is out there in the world. He shoots her. Sarah, at the art show, feels it. “Where’s S?” she says.

A photo of Felix and Sarah

But Ferdinand didn’t know about the gun in Mrs. S’s boot. She shoots him in the throat. He dies. That’s the good news. The bad news is S looks at a photo of Felix and Sarah, says, “Chickens,” and stops breathing.

Eulogy for Siobhan Saddler

Maria Doyle Kennedy in Orphan Black

I loved Mrs. S so much. I love Maria Doyle Kennedy’s beautiful face, so full of strength and character. I love that dark hair and those blue eyes.

I loved how badass Siobhan Saddler was, how calm no matter what. I loved how much she loved her chickens, how protective she was of them. I loved the episode where she sang. The woman can sing! I loved the time she boinked Carlton (Roger Cross) standing in a hallway. I loved it when she shot Det. Duko (Gord Rand) at point blank range with a hunting rifle. I loved how her relationship with her mother (Alison Steadman) evolved. I loved how she knew all the right people to solve any problem.

I am not happy that John Fawcett and Graeme Manson, the creators of Orphan Black, decided she had to die. She did not have to die! I’m really going to miss Orphan Black, it’s a brilliant show and I love it. But killing Maria Doyle Kennedy is just wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Happy endings are a real thing, especially where heroic moms are concerned.

Even if everyone else lives happily ever after, it won’t be right without Maria Doyle Kennedy there.

Can an old granny be one of Mrs. S’s chickens?

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