Tag: season 3

3 Themes in Season 3 of Orange is the New Black

Season 3 of Orange is the New Black returns again and again to several themes. My big 3 are the difficulties of maintaining a family while in prison, the need for some sort of spiritual hope, and the need for love.

If you haven’t watched all of season 3 yet, there are spoilers ahead.

Parents in Prison

Elizabeth Rodriguez and Dascha Polanco in Orange is the New Black

Pregnant prisoner Dayanara Diaz (Dascha Polanco) struggled for most of the season with what to do with her baby. Her mother Aleida (Elizabeth Rodriguez) is in prison, too. Aleida is a terrible parent – the worst! – but she tries to guide Daya to a good decision.

Daya hopes the baby’s father, Correctional Officer John Bennett (Matt McGorry), will step up and take the baby, but Bennett isn’t up to the challenge.

Daya reported another Correctional Officer, the horrible “Pornstache” (Pablo Schreiber) as the rapist who got her pregnant. Now she’s living with the lie.

Mary Steenberger in Orange is the New Black

Pornstache’s mother Delia (Mary Steenburgen) wants to adopt the child. Alida loves this idea because it means money. Even after Daya tells Delia the truth about whose baby it is, Delia wants it. Daya wobbles back and forth between wanting to give her baby to Delia and wanting to keep it in the family. The decision she finally makes feels right, but ends in disaster.

In other story lines about families, the character Maria (Jessica Pimentel) is dealt a painful parenting blow from her little girl’s father. Gloria (Selenis Leyva) struggles to keep her teen on the straight and narrow. Sophia (Laverne Cox) has some especially hard parenting problems.

The fact is, most women in prison have children, over half of them under the age of 18. Because of changes in sentencing laws during the war on drugs, the number of parents of minor children in prison increased by 79% between 1991 and 2007. Orange is the New Black can’t take us through story lines about the long term effects of so many mothers being locked away, so many broken families, but the series does its best to bring the problem to the front.

Think about Big Boo’s (Lea DeLaria) comments on the book Freakonomics about the number of unwanted children being reduced by Roe vs. Wade resulting in fewer neglected and abused children turning to crime 20 years later. Flip that on its head and ask yourself what the result of harsh drug sentencing laws that sent thousands of mothers to prison for minor drug crimes will be in 20 years.

Faith & Religion

Annie Golden as Norma annoints an inmate played by Danielle Herbert.

Norma (Annie Golden) is at the center of one of the crazy rumor-driven stories in the prison. Some of the prisoners decide she is holy. Since she doesn’t speak, she simply smiles and pats them on the shoulder when they suggest this. They think she’s blessing them, and eventually she starts enjoying the attention and begins to act like the guru she followed as a younger woman. Everyone wants something to hang on to, some spiritual hope, and Norma is it for the moment.

A second plot line around religion involves the discovery that if you ask for a kosher meal, you get better food. Many of the inmates start asking for kosher food. Black Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) wants to learn enough about being Jewish to pass the test when they ask her why she should be eating kosher.

Cindy starts off on her Jewish experience watching Woody Allen movies but soon turns to an actual study of the faith. By the last episode, she has been accepted as Jewish by other Jews and even experiences a mikveh, or total immersion in water, as a symbol of her new identity as a Jew.

The Need for Love

Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon in a scene from Orange is the New Black

Was it love that made Piper (Taylor Schilling) rat on Alex (Laura Prepon) in season 2, so she would be back in Litchfield Prison in season 3? Whatever the case, they reunite with hate-sex that involves lots of slapping, shoving and biting. Piper eventually asks Alex to be her official girlfriend. Alex says yes. Then the new inmate Stella (Ruby Rose) catches Piper’s eye and official girlfriends don’t seem so important.

Uzo Aduba and Emily Althaus in Orange is the New Black

They had to burn all the books because of bedbugs. Suzanne (Uzo Aduba) fills the gap in reading material when she writes crazy sci-fi porn and passes it around the prison. She gets fans! She has readers! Prisoners are desperate for any kind of love and/or romance they can find, and Suzanne provides them with a semblance of a love story. One fan in particular, Maureen (Emily Althaus), really wants to connect with her idol Crazy Eyes. Suzanne doesn’t know how to act around the idea of having a real girlfriend, not a dandelion. In the last episode, Suzanne and Maureen make tentative but thrilling contact.

Samira Wiley and Kimiko Glenn in a scene from Orange is the New Black

Poussey (Samira Wiley) is so lonely and love-starved that she stays drunk on her homebrew most of season 3. Soso (Kimiko Glenn) is lonely, rejected, friendless, and depressed most of season 3.  Something happens that brings these two closer and may be the much needed relationship they both lack.

The loyalties, the friendships, the “families” that form inside prison help people retain their sanity. Maria points out in the first episode, “Mother’s Day,” once people get released, they forget their prison friends. Yet, while inside, the need to feel connected, to be seen and understood by at least one other human being, does not go away. Crazy Eyes even says it out loud, “People need love.”

In addition to this big 3 list, season 3 of Orange is the New Black also deals with the idea of for-profit prisons and the lack of mental health care for inmates. It does all this while still managing to be funny, character driven drama of the highest order. It’s changing American culture, one story at a time.

Note: This post was syndicated at BlogHer.com.

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Orphan Black: S3 E10 History Yet to Be Written

“History Yet to Be Written” is absolute perfection as a season 3 finale for Orphan Black. It takes us back in time to tie up questions, while opening up new directions for season 4. There are some losses and some happy moments. I’m going to start with the technical achievement of the season: the four clone dinner party.

Alison (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude) wins the school trustee election by 56 votes. She gathers everyone in the bubble gum world of Bubbles for a family dinner. They toast each other, even clink glasses. This season it’s Donnie (Kristian Bruun) who moves around the scene, filling wine glasses. They are all safe and happy and have hope for the future science to come.  This scene is bound to be a favorite topic because of the difficulty of filming it.

Okay, how did episode 10 get us to this happy family moment? I’m going to summarize out of order, but the big reveal is that the Neolutionists from season 1 have been in charge of both Dyad and Topside all along.

Kendall Malone, the original

Kendall Malone is under scrutiny by Felix, Sarah and Scott

Art Bell (Kevin Hanchard) brings Sarah and Felix (Jordan Gavaris) into a big warehouse where Scott (Josh Vokey) is constructing a clean room of sorts out of plastic sheets. When they are sure everything is ready, Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) brings her mother into the room. Kendall (Alison Steadman) complains all the way about her treatment, and because Mrs. S is herding her along with a baseball bat in her hand.

Cosima meets Kendall, and tells her that Kendall is actually the older sister of the clones. Cosima disarms Kendall with charm and takes blood samples from her.

Mrs. S burns with rage at her mother. It seems Kendall had something to do with John Sadler’s death. Mrs. S unveils a tub and several bottles of sulfuric acid, which she tells her mother she plans to use on her.

Mrs. S tells Kendall that Kira (Skyler Wexler) is Kendall’s niece. She asks Kendall to explain who she is. Kendall said Duncan had come to her 5 or 6 years after he’d harvested her. Duncan was in fear for his life from something called Neolution. He said they’d poisoned the science and corrupted his wife, Susan. He’d hidden Kendall from everyone.

Duncan told her there was one child outside it all, lost in the foster system. Kendall sent him to her daughter, the rebel. Siobhan had the connections to hide the child and Kendall sent the child to her. So Kendall put Sarah and Mrs. S together, who have been blood relatives all along. Mrs. S reacts to this news by forgiving her mother. Maria Doyle Kennedy performed this emotional moment of release with perfection.

Siobhan Sadler is actually a blood relation of all the clones. Isn’t that an interesting new fact?

Sarah

Sarah and Felix find Mark (Ari Millen, an army). They bring him to the warehouse where he pretends to be Rudy and calls Dr. Coady (Kyra Harper) with the address about where they are. When she arrives with armed men, Ferdinand kills her driver and takes her captive.

Ferdinand

Ferdinand (James Frain) comes to the warehouse for the blood he was promised by Sarah. At that moment, Delphine calls with the news that the blood will go to Neolution. Delphine tells Sarah not to let him have any blood and to tell him Rachel is still alive. Ferdinand is quite interested in this bit of news about Rachel and in the announcement that they are all just pawns of Neolution.

Ferdinand calls Neolutionists “genetically obsessed zealots” and says he hates them.

Ferdinand kills his helper with Siobhan’s baseball bat. It’s the acid bath for the poor fellow. Ferdinand tells them to hide Kendall away, he doesn’t want to know where. He says he’ll be in touch. I guess Ferdinand is going to be one of the good guys now.

Sarah and Mrs. S take Kendall to Iceland.

Kira and Sarah in the snow

The episode began with Rachel’s dream of ice and love, and it ends with the joyous reunion of Sarah and Kira (Skyler Wexler) on a vast plane of snow.

Helena

Helena spends a lot of time in the Hendrix garage in this episode. First she’s reunited with Jesse (Patrick J. Adams). Jesse seems as happy to see her as she is to see him.

Helena and Jesse kiss

In his tow truck, which is half-in, half-out of the Hendrix garage, Helena climbs on Jesse’s lap and tells him “I have science babies inside me, but you are my first.” Helena’s lust is pure animal instinct, just like the rest of her personality. Before they can actually get it on, she gets summoned to help the sestras. Both of them promise to return to the moment.

Rudy is following Alison around during the election proceedings. Alison lures him to her house and he is met in the garage by Helena in assassin mode. She’s duct taped weapons to her hands and is ready to fight to the death.

Rudy dying with Helena

Rudy dies, partly from a wound from Helena but mostly because he was dying anyway like the other Castor clones. They have a tender moment discussing their childhoods before he dies. Helena can go from assassin to empathetic listener in 1/10 of a second.

Delphine

Ferdinand, Sarah and Delphine at Dyad

Ferdinand  shows up thinking he’s going to take over from Delphine (Evelyne Brochu). Sarah offers him a deal to get some of the genetic material from the original, but only if the perverted Castor military experiment goes away.

Delphine goes to check on Rachel (or what she thinks is Rachel). She realizes it’s Krystal when she sees the good manicure on Rachel’s hand. Krystal wakes up, scared and confused.

Now that she knows about the Krystal deception and that Rachel is in Austria someplace, Delphine has Dr. Nealon (Tom McCamus) put in custody. She questions him and discovers that Neolution has been orchestrating everything from the first moment. He calls Castor and Leda Neolution’s Adam and Eve. He says there’s a place for her at Neolution. She turns down the job.

Dr. Nealon and the worm over Delphine

Nealon squiggles his jaw, leaps up and pins Delphine to a table. He tries to insert a worm from his mouth into Delphine. Luckily she’s packing and she shoots him and takes the worm as a specimen.

Delphine with tears in her eyes

Delphine was invited to the family dinner but didn’t go. She texted Cosima to meet her outside. Cosima says, “I understand why you did what you did. I’m sorry to make you have to make so many hard decisions.” Delphine asks her to keep the blood safe and to make sure Kendall is safe.

Delphine tears up and looks at Cosima with a great deal of love. Delphine gives Cosima what looks like a heartfelt and passionate goodbye kiss, and leaves, saying, “My love to all the sisters.”

Delphine parks in a parking garage. She realizes someone is following her and turns. She says, “What will happen to her?” and is shot. We don’t know who shot her and we don’t know if she dies. Whoever shot her walked loudly, perhaps from wearing high heels?

Rachel

Rachel with a bionic eye

The opening scene is Rachel waking from a dream about playing in the snow with her parents. She gets up and discovers she has a bionic eye and a museum-like display of finches in her room. She has no idea where she is or who is holding her.

Charlotte (Cynthia Galant) enters the room and says Rachel is going to be her new mom. Then Susan Duncan (Rosemary Dunsmore) enters and says, “Hello, dear Rachel. Welcome home.” Rachel answers, “Mother.”

Shay

Ksenia Solo as Shay

Cosima attempts an apology to Shay (Ksenia Solo), who is understandably upset by the death threat from Delphine. Cosima still can’t tell Shay anything about who she really is and Shay angrily sends her away.

Later Delphine shows up at Shay’s apartment. She tells Shay that she’s sorry, that she knows Cosima really cares for Shay, and that Cosima and Shay are a good fit.

card with 324B21 written on it

Delphine says she won’t be around any more. She tells Shay to tell Cosima that she should tell everything to Shay if she wants. She gives Shay a card to show Cosima as proof that she means it.

Some Thoughts

We know how Kendall, Mrs. S and Sarah connect. What about Felix? A bit of history yet to write in season 4?

The count of male clones is down to only Mark. And he’s helping the sestras. All the murder-machine male clones are dead.

We can’t tell from the episode, but I think Delphine is actually dead. Based on this interview with John Fawcett, and this tweet, it seems she won’t be back.

A big bisou to you, Evelyne. Love you.

I’m sure there will be mourning for Delphine and talk about the dead lesbian trope, but I actually feel all right about Delphine. It works with the story better than the dead lesbian story usually does. However, if Delphine really is dead, what’s going to happen with the worm Nealon apparently carried around in his mouth on the regular?

Shay, on the other hand, may be around for season 4. Based on this tweet it looks like she’s here for a while. Maybe she’ll be let in on the secrets like Felix, and become another important member of Clone Club.

It looks like Krystal will be around for season 4, which makes me very happy. I liked her a lot. Who knows, at the end of season 4 we might have a FIVE clone scene as a grand finale!

Ferdinand and Rachel definitely have a thing, but he hates Neolutionists and Rachel’s mother is apparently a Neolutionist. Where will that go in season 4?

What do the Proletheans have to do with all this? If Helena carries her child to birth, or if they do something with the frozen embryos they have, will that be a corruption of the clone genome or a correction? More fodder for season 4.

I love this show! Three cheers for season 3 and much anticipation for season 4.

The Title Quotation

Winding up a season of foresight from Dwight David Eisenhower, we close with this thought.

“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.”

Orange is the New Black Season 3

I just finished all the episodes of season 3 of Orange is the New Black. I’ll be writing about it in more depth, but I wanted to share some quick thoughts.

Themes

Season 3 could be subtitled “I need to be loved.” The sentiment was a theme in many of the episodes and back stories that played out this season. In one episode, Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” (Uzo Aduba) even says those exact words. Loneliness and a need for connection drove so many story lines.

Another theme of season 3 was parenting. Daya (Dascha Polanco) had her baby in season 3, of course, but so many episodes dealt with the difficulties of parenting while incarcerated. Over half of the women in prison have children under the age of 18. The emphasis on how parents and children are torn apart when mothers are in prison gave a very sad feeling to season 3.

The prison is bought by a for-profit corporation in season 3. The private ownership of prisons as sources of profit is an obscene practice and a great shame in the American “justice” system.

Mental health care – or more correctly the lack of mental health care – in the prison system is another theme this season.

Finally, there’s a thread about faith, spirituality and religion running through season 3. Santaria, anyone? Mazel tov!

Characters

Laura Prepon was back as Alex, while other favorites disappeared into SHU or plain disappeared. I missed those people.

There were interesting guest stars. Mary Steenbergen was in several episodes as the mother of Pornstache. Blair Brown was in a few episodes as a celebrity in trouble who surrenders herself to Litchfield in the last episode.

New prisoners included Ruby Rose, Lori Petty and Emily Althaus. All of them had a effect on the prison and the inmates in fascinating ways. Speaking of fascinating, some of the new back stories this season were surprising.

Okay.

More later about all these topics. If you have overall comments about season 3, please share.

Orphan Black: S3 E9 Insolvent Phantom of Tomorrow

“Insolvent Phantom of Tomorrow” is the title of this episode of Orphan Black. Sarah (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude), Felix (Jordan Gavaris) and Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) head for London in search of the original Castor clone. Bodies fall like ninepins and surprise twists hit every plot line.

In London Town

Mrs. S, Sarah and Felix enter a bar where Mrs S has a friend named Terry (Daniel Fathers). They learn from him that the number Rachel transcribed out of “The Island of Dr. Moreau” is a number from the English prison system.

They talk about the old days a bit. Terry reveals that Mrs S was in a band. Her old band mates show up – she calls them geriatric wankers.

Jordan Gavaris as Felix and Tatiana Maslany as Sarah

Sarah and Felix are delighted to discover things about Mrs. S’s past, including where she used to go to shag Carlton.

Maria Doyle Kennedy singing in Orphan Black

Mrs. S gets up and sings a song with the old band. While she’s singing, Terry goes back to his apartment, where he gets beaten to almost dying by Ferdinand (James Frain). When Mrs. S finds him there, he whispers the information about the Castor original in her ear and dies. Mrs. S tells Sarah and Felix that it’s over, they’re going home. She sends Sarah and Felix out.

As Sarah leaves she picks up a phone. She calls a number from the phone as Ferdinand observes them. Sarah and Felix get picked up in a cab. They guy driving knows Mrs. S. He  delivers them to the house of someone named Kendall Malone. The house looks dark. Sarah goes inside looking to “kill an innocent old man.”

The cab drives off. Ferdinand jumps in and kills the driver. Then he calls Delphine and tells her he’s been chasing Sarah Manning around London when she was supposed to be locked up at Dyad. Delphine asks Ferdinand to come to Dyad for a meeting.

In the house, Sarah finds a photo of a younger Mrs. S holding a baby. A woman (Alison Steadman) appears and says she is Kendall Malone. Sarah was expecting a man.

Hello mother

In walks Mrs. S and says, “Hello, mother.” Mrs. S obviously hates her mother, but she asks what Professor Duncan had to do with her. Kendall says Duncan came through testing inmates when she was in prison. He was looking for a donor and he found one in Kendall. She was both the male and the female original because she had absorbed a male twin while in the womb. She laughs, “I got two cell lines, me.”

Mrs. S wants to burn down the house with her mother in it, but Sarah points out that Leda needs the original cell line.

Cosima & Her Girlfriends

Cosima reads the file Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) gave her about Shay (Ksenia Solo). She immediately concludes that Shay is not trustworthy when she sees a photo of Shay in an Army uniform.

Ksenia Solo as Shay

Cosima rejects Shay’s attempts to talk about dinner and blows out of Shay’s apartment like her pants are on fire. Shay is puzzled by her behavior.

Cosima talks it over with Scott (Josh Vokey), who points out that nothing in the file really proves that Shay is the spy. Cosima feels that she’s put everyone in danger by being fooled once again by her attraction to someone.

Evelyne Brochu as Delphine

Cosima goes to Dyad to “eat shit” in front of Delphine. She admits that Sarah is in London looking for the Castor original.

Ksenia Solo as Shay

Delphine goes straight to Shay’s. Shay seems innocent. She claims not to know what Castor is. Delphine threatens to put her in the bathtub and slit her wrists and the arteries in her ankles if she doesn’t talk. Delphine fills the tub and brandishes a razor blade.

The Hendrix Family Business

Zoe De Grand Maison

Gracie (Zoé De Grand Maison) begs off work to Alison, claiming an appointment.

Tatiana Maslany as Helena

Gracie stops by the garage where Helena is gleefully dancing and making soap. She hugs Helena in a lingering goodbye.

Kristian Bruun as Donnie

Donnie (Kristian Bruun) was beaten to raw hamburger. Now the drug dealer Pouchy (Tony Cianchino) want all the pills back because Jason no longer vouches for the Hendrixes. A thug comes to get the pills. He takes Helena’s canister of frozen embryos with him because he can’t find the pills.

Donnie goes home to get the pills and Helena makes some gunk to put on his face to stop the pain. He tells her that the bad guys took the tank. “My babies?” Helena asks. She wants to know where the drug dealers are.

Donnie deals with the gangsters

Donnie takes the pills to Pouchy. They give him the nitrogen tank, but don’t return his money. Helena, who was supposed to wait in the car, comes in. Pouchy refuses the refund and threatens Donnie’s kids. Helena pushes Donnie and the tank out the door.

Bloody Helena

When Helena comes out, she’s carrying a bloody machete, a very large bag of cash, and a pound or two of extra blood. She tells Donnie, “We should go now.”

Gracie and Mark hug

At the same time that Delphine is threatening Shay, Gracie calls Cosima and apologizes for being the rat. She was trying to save Mark (Ari Millen). Gracie runs away with Mark.

Cosima calls Delphine and says that Shay is not the one who stole the book or told Castor that she was sick – it was Gracie. Delphine looks at Shay like she wants to kill her anyway, but she leaves Shay in one piece.

Some Thoughts

You can buy albums of music by Maria Doyle Kennedy from her website. So glad we got to hear her sing a bit in this episode.

This episode changes a lot of things and we have one more episode before the season ends! What can they possibly have left to amaze us with?

Mrs. S’s mother is the original for both Leda and Castor clones. That’s an amazing plot twist, but in looking back on all three seasons, I’ll bet John Fawcett and Graeme Manson had that in mind from the very beginning. It’s so delicious. Even though Mrs. S didn’t know it herself, it explains so much.

Alison Steadman as Kendall Malone

Alison Steadman as Kendall Malone is an excellent casting choice. She looks believably like Tatiana Maslany might age to look, although it’s a stretch to see any of Ari Millen in her face.

Then there’s the plot twist with a whole shit ton of money in the Hendrix deep freeze while a litter of dead drug dealers mean their new business is kaput. Probably a good thing – Alison and Donnie are terrible criminals.

And Shay! Shay is apparently just a girl, standing in front of a beautiful lesbian, wanting to be loved. Hot diggity dog, maybe that means Ksenia Solo will be around in season 4!

The Title Quotation

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Speech to the Nation in 1961 pointed out everything we were going to get wrong in the future and advised us against it. We didn’t listen. Here’s the paragraph with this week’s title.

“Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”

Watch This: Orange is the New Black, season 3 preview

June 12 is almost here, and the Orange is the New Black media machine is gearing up accordingly. Here’s a new preview for season 3.

Last week I was in Texas for my granddaughter’s high school graduation. Afterwards, my family and another family with my granddaughter’s BFF all went out to dinner.

We two families have known each other since the girls were in day care. We’ve been friends ever since. We don’t share the same taste in cars, movies, or anything else. Except for Orange is the New Black. In mid-meal, the other girl’s dad, who is a deputy sheriff, said, “I can hardly wait for season 3 of Orange is the New Black!” Both the 18 year old girls chimed in and said, “Yeah, I love that show.” My own daughter, who doesn’t like any of the same shows I like, even said she liked OITNB.

Really, the earth stopped that day in a Texas Mexican food joint as I took in the momentous occasion of actually knowing real human beings who love a show I love. (Not that people who read this blog aren’t real. But I don’t actually know any of you.)

OMG, people! OITNB is almost here!

Orphan Black: S3 E8 Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method

Orphan Black, season 3 episode 8 is “Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method” or, as it could also be called, “Rachel Outsmarts Everyone.”

Krystal Goderich

I’ll start with the most interesting and important part of this week’s episode, Krystal Goderich (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude).

We saw Krystal briefly making out in a hotel elevator with Rudy, but now we get to meet her in more developed form. When the episode begins, she’s giving Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) a manicure and talking about some strange twins who were suspicious and scary. Delphine leaves with a good manicure, a conviction that Krystal is still naive, and a look on her face that is so hard that it makes you question whether or not Delphine was ever one of the good guys.

Krystal is American pop culture perfect: blonde hair, elaborate makeup, a pushup bra, a chirpy personality, posture worthy of a starlet, and a breezy way of talking. In short, another miracle on the part of Tatiana Maslany.

Rachel promises Cosima to translate “The Island of Dr. Moreau,” but only for Sarah and only if she’s taken out of the Dyad Institute. Further, she insists to Cosima that Sarah must steal the identity of Krystal, so Rachel has papers to get to Taiwan.

Felix and Crystal

Sarah and Felix set off to find Krystal, who lives in some unspecified place 300 kilometers away. After Felix talks with her, he can hardly stand to walk away with her wallet while leaving her naive about her situation. He sees a note book in her purse as he’s grabbing her wallet that makes him think she knows more about what’s going on that she’s revealing.

Later that night, Dr. Nealon (Tom McCamus) snatches Krystal up, takes her to Dyad, and puts her in a medically induced coma. I’ll explain why in a bit.

Everyone wants the “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” Rachel wants it, and Castor wants it. Nobody knows how anyone from Castor knows about it. Early in the episode we see that Dr. Coady (Kyra Harper) escaped from the Castor compound relatively unhurt. Someone from Castor reveals to her that he has an inside person in the Leda camp. There’s a rat somewhere but we don’t know where yet.

Ari Millen as Rudy

Rudy (Ari Millen), who also escaped the explosion, waits for Scott in his apartment and gets the original copy of the book from him by threatening his cat. When Rudy leaves, Scott calls Delphine and Cosima.

Cosima and Scott in Scott's apartment

Now Delphine knows about the book. And everyone knows that someone in Dyad is telling all to someone in the Castor camp.

Cosima and Delphine

There’s a lot of arguing about who the rat could be, why Cosima kept the book secret from Delphine and the possible lines of research ahead. Delpine wants Cosima to get another stem cell treatment from Kira, which Cosima says she won’t do.

Cosima reveals her near death experience to Delphine, saying, “I came back for you.” Delphine kisses Cosima, but Cosima pulls away. Earlier Cosima told Sarah that Shay (Ksenia Solo) was what she needed right now. Delphine says her issues with Shay are not jealousy.

At Mrs. S’s (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Rachel starts to translate the photocopied book. Dr. Nealon comes in and tries to take to book. Rachel gets out of her wheelchair and falls on the floor having some sort of seizure. Nealon takes her back to Dyad.

But not really.

Rachel is behind a number of things that happened in this episode. She knew about Krystal and arranged her identity theft and arranged for her to be brought to Dyad. Now Krystal is in a coma, wearing an eye patch, and Nealon is telling Delphine and Cosima that it’s Rachel in a coma and Rachel may never wake up. Rachel is really off somewhere getting a new artificial eye and planning heaven knows what mayhem for her sisters when she’s back on her feet. And she has the photocopied book.

What a mess for Sarah and Cosima. Both books gone. They think it’s Rachel in a coma. There’s no hope of translating the book now. Cosima quits Dyad and Delphine fires Scott. As they are leaving, Delphine tosses a file folder with Shay’s name on it to Cosima. Ominous.

The one translated book page that Rachel completed mentions London and Castor, so we are off to London in the next episode to search for clues there.

The Hendrix Drug Machine

The Hendrixes hired Gracie (Zoé De Grand Maison) to work in Bubbles. She still living with Mrs. S, but goes to work at Bubbles. Helena has moved into the Hendrix household. (It’s their turn!!!) She brings with her the long missing canister of liquid nitrogen, which she explains to Alison’s daughter contains her babies. She hides the canister at Bubbles. Helena is wearing Alison’s clothes and looks pretty hilarious.

Donnie (Kristian Bruun) teaches Helena how to make soap and makes her laugh really hard by imitating her Russian accent. Helena and Donnie may become friends.

Alison calls Jason (Justin Chatwin) to Bubbles to talk about the kiss. Instead of talking, he kisses her. She kisses him back, before she pushes him away and tells him it can’t happen again.

Donnie doesn’t trust her. He and texts Jason from Alison’s phone to meet at Bubbles.

Jason and Donnie face off

Donnie tries to scare Jason off Alison. Donnie’s idea of a fight is to slap Jason. Jason counters by knocking Donnie out cold.

Some Thoughts

Nothing is clear. We don’t know if Delphine and Shay are good guys or bad guys. We don’t know who is telling the Castor folks everything about the Leda folks. We don’t know what Rachel is up to – no good, probably. We don’t know if Krystal will ever be heard from again. We don’t know if Sarah can learn anything useful in London. They are taking us right up to the final episode with delicious suspense and many potential cliffhangers as the season ends. And, the previews of the next episode show Maria Doyle Kennedy singing!

I appreciate what Tatiana Maslany did with Krystal. She’s a vision of what every 13 year old girl thinks is perfection. I sure hope she isn’t kept in a coma forever, because I think she might be a valuable addition to the Clone Club.

I love the way Helena laughs. I noticed it way back in the episode where she met and danced with Jesse. The most wonderful sounding growl of a laugh. A masterpiece of a laugh.

The Title Quotation

Dwight D. Eisenhower said this in 1961.

“Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle – with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment. “

Orphan Black: S3 E7 Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate

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 in a cowboy hat

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.

Mrs. S looks like Clint Eastwood

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.

Mrs. S hugs Helena

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.

A very tired Sarah

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

Rachel in the lab

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.)

Rachel shows Scott the code

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

Shay and Cosima in bed

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.

Delphine, Shay and Cosima in Shay's apartment

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.

Marci Coates and Felix meet

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.

Donnie and the paper cutter

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 and Alison's mom

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 wows the crowd with her speech.

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.

Cosima and Alison with Alison's mom

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 in the tub

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.”

 

Orphan Black: S3 E5 Scarred by Many Past Frustrations

“Scarred by Many Past Frustrations” is the title of season 3, episode 5 of Orphan Black. Most of the episode deals with Sarah (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude) and Helena in the Castor prison.

To recap this episode, I’ll start with the shorter bits about everyone else including Cosima, Felix (Jordan Gavaris), Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Gracie (Zoé De Grand Maison), Art Bell (Kevin Hanchard) and the arrival of Shay (Ksenia Solo). Alison and Rachel do not appear in this episode.

Everyone Outside of Prison

Everyone is worried about what’s become of Sarah. Art is trying to call her, Mrs. S and Felix are stewing.

Shay comes into the room

Cosima is waiting for her first internet date, Shay. When she comes into the room, she’s stunning. Cosima is reduced to babbling.

Shay and Cosima talk in the bar

Shay is charming, gentle, lovely – she touches Cosima frequently and pretty much wraps her around her little finger. Shay tells her that holistic healing involves nutrition, body work and spiritual counseling. Shay leans close to Cosima and says, “Plus, I can see inside your soul.” As they talk, they are photographed by an unknown watcher.

Cosima suggests they leave. They go to Felix’s apartment. They make sexy eyes at each other and act like they are ready to jump each other’s bones. After a while Shay offers to go, because Cosima seems a bit conflicted about Delphine. Cosima agrees Shay should go, but she doesn’t look like she believes what she’s saying.

Shay and Cosima kiss

Then Shay kisses her instead of going. They end up getting more lesbian germs in Felix’s apartment.

Gracie shows up at Art’s. He learns that she lost the baby. He takes her to Mrs. S and Felix. Mrs. S is healing nicely; she’s not so beat up as she was the last few episodes.

Mrs. S and Felix

There’s a bit of discussion, but eventually they give Gracie a place to stay, shower, eat, and also some of Sarah’s old clothes. Gracie now wants to experience life – the restrictions of her father’s religion need to be cast off.

Gracie dressed like a hooker

Gracie comes downstairs looking like a hooker. She wants to go to a bar. They keep her in the house, but give her alcohol and teach her to dance. She exclaims, “I love alcohol,” and falls on the floor in agony. When the paramedics come, they see her eyes are very bloodshot.

Art meets with Patty (Natalie Krill). We met her in episode 2 after her strange sexual encounter with Rudy and Seth. She’s wearing sunglasses at night because there’s something bloody wrong with her eyes, just like Gracie.

Helena and Sarah in Prison

Helena, who says she once survived 4 months in a broom closet, is back in her cell after killing Parsons (Ari Millen, an army). She has cuffs on her ankles with a bar between them. She examines everything she sees as a potential tool or weapon. Sarah’s in the next cell.

Sarah can talk to Helena in the next cell

Sarah and Helena talk through a grate between their cells. Helena thinks Sarah sent her there and is not friendly. Sarah tries to convince her that Mrs. S did it to protect Kira, but Helena is guarded. She tries to unlock her ankle cuffs with a tiny nail, she talks to her scorpion friend about butter, and she doesn’t trust Sarah. The conversation with her imaginary friend about butter is actually relevant, because Helena is stashing pats of butter from her meals behind a loose block in her cell wall.

Sarah sees where she is

The clone Miller drags Sarah off. As he does, Sarah yells to Helena that the Castor clones are their brothers. While Sarah is gone, Helena notices that one of the bars in the window of her cell door is loose.

Sarah meets Dr. Coady (Kyra Harper), who takes blood from her.

The Castor doctors have the Johanssen baby, which they think will give them genetic material to develop a cure for the male clones. Dr. Coady patches up Mark and tells him to make sure his first ever journal of intimate contacts begins with Gracie. She takes away his wedding ring, which bothers him. Mark may actually care about Gracie.

Paul (Dylan Bruce) shows up at the prison after convincing someone higher up to keep funding the Castor program. He’s not happy to see Sarah there. He wants to be her friend. Sarah tells Helena that Paul is the one who turned her in. He says it was either Helena or Sarah. Helena finally believes Sarah isn’t the one who turned her in.

Paul yells at Dr. Coady about Sarah’s imprisonment. Paul then also goes into the room where Parsons is stored and looks at his journal of intimate contacts. It’s a list of names of women, with a lock of hair from each one.

Sarah in her cell, seated by the grate

Sarah knows Helena must have an escape plan. She wants in on it. Helena says Sarah can be her sandwich. A sandwich is a weak person you take with you because you eat them! Sarah softens Helena up by talking about what a bad mother she is and crying as she explains why she left Kira with Mrs. S so often.

Helena is compassionate and soothing when Sarah cries. The crying apparently works, however, and Helena tells Sarah how she can help with the escape plan.

Sarah starts a fight with Miller and another guard. They knock her out. She is taken to the infirmary, where she steals a pair of tweezers.

Helena unlocks the cuffs on her feet with the tweezers. She uses the bar between the cuffs to pry the loose bar from her cell window. Then she slathers herself with butter and slides out the tiny opening she created. She leaves Sarah behind, saying they are now even.

Helena gets out of her cell

Helena is the master of parkour. She scampers around, jumps from cars to rooftops, climbs straight up a wall and reaches the highest parapet of the razor wire encrusted prison wall. She hesitates there because her heart moves for her seestra. We don’t know if she jumps down to freedom or goes back for Sarah. She is perched there at the end of the episode. The whole camp below her is on high alert, looking for her.

Some Thoughts

The idea that having sex with one of the Castor clones causes sickness is an interesting turn of events. Can’t wait to see where that goes.

Something is going on with Shay. Something mysterious.

The set they are using for the prison looks like an old mission. Adobe walls, vigas, rounded parapets. It’s shot in yellow light and everything outside the walls is dark and invisible. I love that set.

Speaking of sets, what happened to Cosima’s apartment? Why is she always in Felix’s apartment – she even takes dates there.

The way we hear backstory is fascinating. In this episode we heard about Mrs. S’s husband dying in a drunken brawl and we heard about why Sarah ran off with Vic, leaving Kira behind. These tales are revealed in natural ways to enhance character development.

Helena uses the tiny nail she finds to cut her back. She feels a great release from doing it – the scene is framed and shot like sexual ecstasy. I hope at some point Helena’s cutting becomes a bigger topic of conversation.

The Title Quotation

We’re sticking with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation in 1961. If only we had paid this much attention at the time. Here’s the location of this episode’s title. Our moral strength, in particular, seems to have been purchased by the 1%.

“Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.”

Orange is the New Black Season 3 Promos

June 12, people. Orange is the New Black, with the best social media staff IN THE WORLD, has visuals to help you remember that date. June 12 – got it?

There are also a few still shots besides the awesome preview video.
Taryn Manning and Lea DeLaria sit on the grass. Lea is covered with colored balls
What are we doing here? Mourning the demise of the lesbian agenda? Putting a collection of pet crickets to rest? Planning a clown school?
Kate Mulgrew and Selenis Leyva face off
Look at those faces. I love those faces, those stares, those raised eyebrows. Litchfield never lets life get comfortable.
Taylor Schilling and Ruby Rose looking very friendly
A new person in the cast and she appears to make friends quickly. Think she’ll stir up trouble the way Vee did?
A group scene with numerous cast members looking up at something
Don’t they look a lot happier since Miss Rosa did them a great service regarding Vee? Is this not the best cast anywhere on television? Yes, it is.

Orphan Black: S3 E4 Newer Elements of Our Defense

Orphan Black’s “Newer Elements of Our Defense” begins mere seconds after the end of the last episode when Mark (Ari Millen, an army) was shot in the cornfield.

Sarah and Mark

This episode mostly deals with Sarah (Tatiana Maslany, a multitude) and Mark and their race for genetic material, punctuated with bits from the other clones. Of course, they want the genetic material for different reasons: Sarah to save Helena, Mark to complete his mission.

Sarah performs emergency surgery on Mark.

Sarah manages to evade Bonnie Johannsen (Kristen Booth) and some armed men and get Mark out of the cornfield and into an abandoned house. Thanks to a pair of pliers, a bottle of vodka, and a needle and thread that were conveniently left in the house, they remove the bullet in Mark’s leg and halfway sew him back together. His second wound is a through and through.

When Mark passes out, Sarah finds the motel key in his jacket and heads there. She finds the strong box and sends some images of the contents to Cosima. From this, Cosima realizes that Henrik Johanssen managed to create at least one clone with the genetic material they seek.

Mark uses his super stamina to overcome his two bullet wounds and chase Sarah to the motel. She explains about Henrik’s Castor son. They need a bit of DNA from him to provide the original genome.

Sarah digging

Mark tells Sarah he knows where to find Henrik and Bonnie’s cloned son. They drive to a cemetery and Mark shows Sarah which grave to dig up. Just as she finds the casket, Rudy shows up. He chases Sarah into a barn (boy, barns are everywhere the last couple of weeks).

Mark and Rudy face off

In the only multi-clone shot of the week, Mark pulls rank on Rudy and tells him to stand down from running a shovel through Sarah. Rudy has the tiny casket under one arm. He and Mark embrace, then look at Sarah as they think about their directive to leave no loose ends. That’s the cliffhanger scene of the episode and we are left wondering what they are going to do with the loose end leaning against the hay bales.

Gracie lost her baby. Her mother looks at her.

Gracie (Zoé De Grand Maison) goes with her mother to a creepy cult house where everyone still believes in Henrik’s mad religion. When Gracie loses the baby, Bonnie tells her she is no longer welcome there.

Helena in Prison

Helena stars at her pork chop bone

In Helena’s part of the Orphan Black universe, she realizes while eating dinner that she can fashion a key out of her pork chop bone, which she gnaws into shape.

In preparation for an escape, she gets herself taken to the infirmary. From there she can scout around for an escape plan. The only problem is, to get taken to the infirmary, she will be tranquillized. She ties a cord around her arm to slow the movement of the drug through her blood stream.

The scorpion urges Helena to keep moving.

Even so, she’s groggy while scouting around. She must be cheered on by her little clicking friend the scorpion, who urges her to keep moving.

When the drug wears off, she’s back in her cell. She uses the pork chop bone to get out. She finds another clone: Parsons. We’ll just call Parsons Mr. Topless, okay?

Helena sees that Parsons' brain is exposed

Parsons begs Helena to kill him. She is kind and gentle with him, but obliges him by running a scalpel through his brain. Her delay to perform a mercy killing gives Dr. Coady (Kyra Harper) time to find her and stick her back in her cell. Let’s hope she still has the pork chop bone hidden away.

Cosima Pines for No Woman

Cosima reads the Island of Dr. Moreau

Cosima is at last reading “The Island of Dr. Moreau” in Felix’s (Jordan Gavaris) apartment. She’s on the phone with Scott (Josh Vokey) as she reads. They need some sort of key to unlock what they read.

Felix finds Cosima in his apartment. She hides the book. He says her sweater is horrible – she looks like she was mounted by a llama. Such a horrible sweater could only mean she’s pining for Delphine.

Felix and Cosima in the bar

Felix drags Cosima out to a bar. He photographs her and signs her up for a dating service, despite Cosima’s statement that she pines for no woman.

Alison Makes a Deal

Alison and Donnie (Kristian Bruun) decide to hide all their pills in a storage locker like on Breaking Bad because someone has been following Donnie around.

They load up everything and go to the garage only to find a thug waiting for them. He says that the pills Ramon had were on consignment and that Ramon ran off with the $30,000+. He takes the merchandise and says they must meet with the boss that night.

Alison and Donnie at the drug meeting

They show up that night. Alison gets frisked and sent to talk with the drug boss. Donnie has to wait with the thug.

When Alison gets in the car, she finds Jason Kellerman (Justin Chatwin), her old beau from high school. They smile, giggle, get nostalgic, and shake hands on a drug deal in which Alison promises to double Ramon’s rate. Such a sweet reunion.

Alison and Jason shake

Some Thoughts

Chris Grismer directed this episode. It’s his first turn at directing Orphan Black and I loved some of what he did. There were several beautiful long shots: Sarah and Mark backlit under a bridge, Cosima walking down Felix’s street in a red coat, the yellow-washed military compound. I loved the way everything kind of blurred and reverberated when Bonnie walked through the corn after Mark – very ominous.

I missed the information about how Felix disposed of Seth, who was in his bathtub. Maybe it happened while we weren’t looking. Maybe we’ll find out next week. If Felix cleaned up his apartment, shouldn’t he or Cosima notice a big tank of liquid nitrogen?

Ksenia Solo and Tatiana Maslany kiss in a scene from the previews for next week

The previews show the arrival of Ksenia Solo next week. She’s been advertised as a healer who comes to help Cosima. She arrives as one of the online dates Felix set up for Cosima. The first thing she does is kiss Cosima. If she’s a healer, she mistook Cosima for a succubus.

The Title Quotation

The quotation in the title again comes from Dwight D. Eisenhower. That whole 1961 speech is frightening to contemplate, but this quote is especially scary.

“Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in the newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research – these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. “