Orphan Black 2×09 Review: Things Which Have Never Yet Been Done

This was the penultimate episode of Orphan Black season 2, and we were given some pretty satisfying advancement for several ongoing stories.  Not everything has been wrapped up in a nice neat little bow, though, and we were even thrown a couple of curveballs, which means that next week is probably going to be a pretty wild ride. One thing is for sure: if Cosima dies we riot. Who’s with me?

Helena’s story has officially veered into the zone I’ve been hoping they would avoid.  They initially took her embryos out of her, but this week they put them right back in. But Helena wasn’t the only one to get her embryos – the rebel Prolethean Gracie got some of them too.  I’ve been rooting for Gracie all along, so the justice served on her behalf this episode felt damn good, and the fact that Helena got some vengeance at the same time is a lovely cherry on top.

I very much hope that’s the last we see of the Proletheans for a while, as their facilities are burned down and a couple of key members fled.  The only thing that interested me about that story was Gracie and Helena, both of which are now free.  There’s a possibility of the cult resurfacing later since we know that Gracie’s mother was away from the compound at the time of the fire, but I’m pretty much over it.  DYAD is a far more formidable opponent and a smidge less creepy (though let’s not forget that DYAD has it’s fair share of creepy genetic experiments).

Alison and Donnie have sort of turned into the comedy relief of the show at this point – Alison is a soccer mom who is able to dispose of a body with her pink duct tape and polka dot shower curtain while Donnie is the secret agent who gets queasy looking at a corpse. What a pair they make! Donnie learned from his mistakes, though.  He’s still rather goofy, but he grew a backbone halfway through the episode and may prove to be quite a valuable ally. Their shared body-hiding experience  also seemed to be a huge turn on for the both of them, and they ended up having sex on the freezer that they kept the body in. I do fear that the body is going to start to smell under their house, though.  They may have poured cement over it, but it was a pretty shallow grave, and I foresee their house party guests noting an odd smell in season three.

Rachel is starting to destroy me emotionally. The fact that she’s barren while Sarah is accidentally fertile has obviously affected her deeply. Despite the fact that she’s kidnapped Kira and is clearly capable of murder, I still have a huge amount of sympathy for her. Rachel’s life experience is far beyond anything we can possibly imagine – she grew up self aware as a clone, but still has an intense feeling of betrayal towards both her creator and Doctor Leekie.  To say that she’s emotionally damaged is a bit of an understatement. While she’s technically an antagonist, part of me is still hoping that she gets some sort of happy ending. She’s making pretty antagonistic decisions, but she was basically raised to make these decisions while simultaneously lashing out because of her own intense emotional pain.

Kira’s kidnapping feels like a rehash of the end of season one, though, and I’m a tad disappointed to see us arrive at this juncture yet again. I understand that she’s important, but pulling the same dramatic move twice in less than one season lessens the impact. That said, at least her digs are a bit more comfortable this time around. Unfortunately Kira is actually in the hands of the enemy now, instead of her kidnapping just being a ruse conjured by Mrs S.  I don’t think that Rachel would ever actually hurt Kira, so I don’t think we really need to worry about her life being at stake – she seems to want to raise Kira in the same lifestyle that she was raised in and claim her as a daughter. While this was emotionally isolating, it was still comfortable, so Kira’s situation could be much worse..  But the fact of the matter is that Rachel has stolen Kira away from her mother, and because of that her actions will never be ‘right’ no matter how safe or comfortable it is. As much as Rachel wants a child of her own, this isn’t her happy ending….this is Sarah’s happy ending.

Next week is the finale and I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen. I hope that Cal makes a reappearance somehow, perhaps to help Sarah rescue Kira. I also hope that Rachel survives even if her plan to keep Kira as her own daughter fails miserably. As for Cosima, she needs to survive – if she dies, Clone Club will not be a pretty place during the hiatus. Helena, Gracie, Alison, and Donnie all seem to be in pretty decent spots for the conclusions of their stories this season, but it’s possible we may get more from them before the season is through.

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They’ve also written for Friends of Comic Con and is a 2019 Hugo Award winner for contributing fanfic on AO3. They identify as queer.

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