Orphan Black, episode 7 of season 3, “Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate” is part thriller, part mystery and part slapstick. Most of the episode centers around Alison, (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude) Donnie (Kristian Bruun) and Felix (Jordan Gavaris) at a meeting for the school trustee election.
Sarah and Helena
Helena and Sarah are in a Mexican cantina waiting for a ride. Helena wins money playing dominoes with the some local hombres and buys food.
In walks Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) looking like something straight out of a Clint Eastwood western. I love this shot and her entrance through the cantina door.
Helena wants to kill Mrs. S for betraying her. After throwing a few punches, she allows Mrs. S to hug her and ask her forgiveness. Then Helena goes outside to walk it off.
Sarah is upset about Paul and utterly exhausted by everything. She turns to Mrs. S for support.
The final scene suggests that Helena might be in trouble again because both she and her domino playing buddies are out of sight.
Rachel
Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) brings Rachel to Scott (Josh Vokey) for testing. Scott shows Rachel the “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” She wants to get her hands on it. He wants to get Rachel alone to ask her about the code. She stays to play a board game with him as a cover story. (Cosima made him promise not to let Delphine know about the book or that Rachel may hold the key.)
Although Rachel says the code was a secret between her and her father, Scott points out that he didn’t leave the book for her. Rachel starts writing out the way the symbols are used to decode the book. We don’t get the full explanation, but it’s a start on that lingering mystery.
Cosima
Cosima and Shay (Ksenia Solo) are very, very naked when Delphine arrives at Shay’s door. Shay lets her in and the two rivals look each other over. They talk as if they don’t know each other, as if they’re just meeting for the first time. I can’t decide if that is the truth or an act for Cosima’s benefit.
Shay pretends to give them privacy, but she’s listening to their conversation. Delphine wants urine from Cosima, who is coughing a lot more now. Cosima tells her never to come to Shay’s again. She’s distrustful of Delphine to the point of paranoia.
Cosima calls Alison because she wants to use Alison’s urine instead of her own. Alison tells Cosima to come find her at the school trustee election meeting.
Alison, etc.
Alison and Donnie have two things going on today. 1. The school trustee election meeting where Alison will give a speech. 2. The payment of $30K to the drug dealer for more pills. They have a manila envelope ready for each of these events.
Felix is helping Alison prepare for her photo shoot, her speech and all the other meet and greet politicking she will be doing at the event. He meets Marci Coates (Amanda Brugel) and tells Alison, “We will dismantle that bitch.”
Everything happens at once with the Alison ensemble.
Jason takes Donnie to meet the drug supplier. Donnie, of course, takes the wrong envelope to the drug supplier, Pouchy (Tony Cianchino). Pouchy wants to cut off Donnie’s nose with the same paper cutter he used to remove Vic’s finger. Jason (Justin Chatwin) heads off to find Alison and the envelope with the money.
Alison’s mother (Sheila McCarthy) calls and claims to be having a heart attack. Alison rushes off to Bubbles. That’s about the time Cosima arrives, wanting Alison to pee for her. Since Alison is temporarily absent, Cosima ends up posing for photos as Alison and almost giving a speech for her. Alison comes back. Her mother shows up. It’s one of those sequences only Felix and two clones can pull together for hilarious results.
Jason is babysitting Alison’s mom while Felix plays Keystone Cops with Alison and Cosima. Mom remembers Jason fondly from high school when he and Cosima were a couple. Jason convinces Mom that Alison will take good care of the store, even though she’s married to Mr. Chubbs. (Donnie took Alison’s name when they married. His given name was Donald Chubbs.) So Mom, who was holding out, finally agrees to sell Bubbles to Alison and Donnie.
Alison arrives after Cosima is already mid speech. She takes over when Cosima walks to the side pretending to need a drink (she’s coughing a LOT). Alison wows the crowd and they give her a standing ovation.
Alison refuses to pee for Cosima. Alison says they need to let Dyad monitor their health. Once Alison takes the signed Bubbles contract from her mom, she introduces pee-less Cosima to her mother – as her clone. Her mother cannot grasp the whole thing and decides that Cosima is Alison’s mulatto half sister – it’s the hair, just go with it – and that the whole thing is due to a mixup at the fertilization clinic.
Cosima heads for Shay’s where she hops in the bath. She’s ready to reveal her health problems to Shay as the tub darkens with blood that’s gushing between her legs. That’s where the episode ends.
Some thoughts
I was mislead by the previews from last week into concluding that Shay is Cosima’s monitor. There’s still something mysterious or dishonest about her, but that may not be what it is.
The Castor clones were not around in this episode. We don’t know if Virginia Coady or Rudy survived the hand grenade explosion from last week.
I’m happy that we are finally getting into the code in “The Island of Dr. Moreau” but I’m still thinking about that tank of liquid nitrogen that Helena left at Felix’s apartment. These little details nag at me. According to Wikipedia, “depending on the size and design, the holding time of vacuum flasks [of liquid nitrogen] ranges from a few hours to a few weeks.”
It’s already episode 7. There are only 3 episodes left in this season of Orphan Black. They are no closer to finding an answer to the sicknesses affecting the clones. Therefore, I’m starting to think that we may end this season the way we did season 2 – wondering if Cosima is going to survive.
The Kissing Question
Donnie and Jason are facing off over Alison like two dogs over a bone. While Donnie is busy protecting his face from Pouchy’s paper cutter and Jason is trying to collect the real envelope from Alison, Jason plants a big kiss on Alison. Except is isn’t Alison; it’s Cosima. When Cosima tells Alison about it, Alison wants to know if Jason’s lips are still soft.
It’s pretty funny that Jason picks Cosima to kiss. Of all the clones, he picks Cosima. Of course, he doesn’t know it’s Cosima, but it still strikes me as funny.
Tatiana Maslany has to kiss almost everyone who comes on the show. Sarah, Alison, Helena, Cosima, even Rachel – they all kiss someone at some point. I think Tatiana has kissed almost everyone in the cast except Mrs. S and Art Bell. I wonder if they go to Tatiana before they add a new face to the cast and ask her if there is someone she’s been dying to kiss.
How about an informal poll? Leave a comment naming the recipient of Tatiana Maslany’s sexiest, most perfect kiss. Paul, Cal, Felix, Vic, Donnie, Delphine, Shay, Jesse, Jason, Rudy – who got the very best kiss?
The Title Quotation
Again from Dwight D. Eisenhower, here’s the source of this week’s title:
“Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”