Orphan Black ends season 4 with “From Dancing Mice to Psychopaths.” We didn’t see any dancing mice. We saw one very welcome face and one hugely dangerous psychopath. Spoilers everywhere in this recap.
We begin at the end of last season, with Delphine Cormier (Evelyne Brochu) getting shot. Krystal (Tatiana Maslany, an entire breed) is there in the parking garage and sees it. Det. Duko (Gord Rand) is the SOB who shot her.
Duko hears a noise and runs. Krystal goes to Delphine with the intention of calling 911. A van approaches.
Dr. Ian Van Lier (Scott Wentworth) hops out of the van. He is Evie Cho’s (Jessalyn Wanlim) personal physician at Brightborn. He calls Krystal by name. He packs Delphine off in the van.
When Delphine wakes up she sees this dude (Géza Kovács), who is the same guy Rachel has been seeing with her biotech eye.
The work at the island of Dr. Moreau has paid off. A joyful Cosima calls Sarah and Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) with the news that there will be a cure. As they talk, communications are cut off. WTF.
About the same time, Krystal calls Felix (Jordan Gavaris) to say she has intel on the french doctor, but won’t turn it over without answers. She’s learned the name of Dr. Van Lier from news broadcasts about the scandal at Brightborn.
Ferdinand (James Frain) arrives at Rachel’s hotel room. She and Ira (Ari Millen) were happily talking with Susan about the fact that human cloning experiments can now continue.
Since she was outed as a baby killer, Evie Cho’s board at Brightborn wants her out. She refuses to go.
Van Lier offs her with a gadget that activates her bot. Goodbye Evie Cho. I though Evie Cho was his boss. Well, maybe not. So – who is his boss?
By the way, henceforth, Jessalyn Wanlim can count me among her devoted fans.
Helena, Alison, and Donnie (Kristian Bruun) hide in the woods. They live in Helena’s yurt. They tell Sarah they are fine, except for having the runs from eating Helena’s cooking.
Felix takes Krystal to meet Sarah. Krystal flirts with Art (Kevin Hanchard). Then Sarah introduces herself as Krystal’s clone.
Krystal hilariously thinks she and Sarah look nothing alike. For one reason, her tits are way bigger than that other girl’s. For another, what’s-her-name has really bad hair.
She tells them about Delphine, Van Lier, and her theories on how neolution and Estee Lauder are trying to pull something shady.
Ferdinand wanted to be dominated by Rachel, and she finally complied. Ira interrupted their games. Ira’s horrified comment, “He has his socks on.” Rachel and Ferdinand cuff Ira to the bed and take off.
Cosima overhears Susan talking about restarting the clone trials. She realizes she’s been used. It was never about a cure, it was only about the clone science. Stupidly she confronts Susan, who locks her in a room.
Sarah (in disguise as Krystal) lures Van Lier away from a press conference. Mrs. S, with a gun in his back, gets him into her truck. She and Sarah question him about everyone’s whereabouts.
They learn enough to go looking for the trussed up Ira. They make him order a helicopter to take Sarah to the island.
Rachel celebrates by going to the board that formerly listened to Evie Cho. With Evie out of the way, Rachel wants Susan Duncan out and herself in. She tells them she wants to combine the technologies – put bots in clones. Do all kinds of experiments. She says, “neolution follows the science.”
As Sarah readies to go to the island, Kira (Skyler Wexler) says, “I’m worried about all the sestras. There are so many we don’t even know.” Wow, really? We’ll learn about that in season 5, I presume. Oh, joy, I can see it now – dozens of sistras gathered on a hilltop overlooking the smoldering remains of neolution. Season 5 ends with the triumphant strains of an orchestra. Wait, I think that already happened on another show.
On the island, Rachel stabs Susan Duncan with a butcher knife. Charlotte (Cynthia Galant) and Cosima run. Out into the cold. Charlotte is trying to take them to a boat dock on the island. She gets lost.
It’s freezing cold. Cosima is weak. They finally sit down to lean against a tree and probably freeze to death.
When Sarah gets to the island, she follows the trail of blood and finds Susan. Susan tells her Rachel took the whole cell line.
Rachel comes in and attacks Sarah. First with her cane, then she stabs her in the leg with the same knife she used on Susan. Sarah manages to get away.
The man in Rachel’s eye, the man Delphine saw, finds Cosima and Charlotte. He takes them to the camp we’ve only seen through Rachel’s eye.
Delphine comes out of a cabin. She goes to Cosima, who simply collapses in Delphine’s arms.
They put Cosima in a bed, cover her to warm her, start some IVs. Bonus points for Delphine stripping down to her underwear to crawl under the covers to help warm Cosima. Cosima whispers, “I think I’m dying.”
Delphine answers, “I won’t let you.”
They kiss. Fandom explodes. Cosima says, “I finished our homework.” Cosima took a case with petri dishes full of the needed genome with her when she ran from Rachel. A cure is still possible. Delphine warns Cosima not to tell anyone what she has. Cosima can’t get enough of simply looking at Delphine’s face.
Rachel and Susan can’t stop talking while Susan bleeds all over the place. They discuss Rachel’s visions. Susan tells Rachel, “Your eye is getting capricious in his old age.” The eye is the man behind the curtain, the man who wrote the book on neolution over a century ago.
Sarah makes it to the beach where the helicopter left her. She calls Mrs. S and says, “I need help,” before Ferdinand grabs the phone away from Mrs. S.
Rachel gets cleaned up and opens a Skype call with the Brightborn board. She thinks she’s taken control. She can’t stop gloating to herself. She’s even grinning. Rachel grinning is scary as hell.
A board member says, “Mr. Westmoreland will see you now.”
There’s a knock on the door.
Season 4 of Orphan Black ends.
Some Thoughts
What a great season finale! Some great cliffhangers, particularly Sarah bleeding on the beach and Cosima maybe having what she needs for a cure.
There’s a lot left to do in season 5. Will they destroy neolution once and for all? Will Rachel be defeated? Will Cosima and Delphine get back together? Will more and more sestras show up at the door? Will Cal drop in from Iceland or where ever he’s been to say hello to his little girl? Will Helena’s babies be a blessing or a prolethian curse? Will Dizzy be back? Will Felix have a chance to get to know his bio-sister in peace? Will Donnie go to jail? Cripes, will Helena go to jail? Is the old dude on the island actually Dr. Westmoreland, the creator of neolution? Will Peaches sing another song?
I can’t wait for season 5. I love this show! Only one more season of Orphan Black, but I’ll bet it’s a kickass season.
Please, share your reactions to this season finale and your predictions for season 5.
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That was great episode! I think it’s one of my favorite episodes from this season. It’s really sad that we have to wait another year for new season.
I hate waiting too. And when it finally arrives, it goes by too fast