Orphan Black 3×7 Review: Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate

After the action and despair from last week, this week’s episode of Orphan Black provided a much needed break from the darkness. It ended up being very Hendrix-heavy, and we all know that whenever we see a lot of Alison and Donnie, there are sure to be laughs and misunderstandings. Even though we took a sort of break from the rest of the clone storylines, I didn’t mind the focus on Team Hendrix. And thank goodness that Donnie got to keep his nose.

This episode continued the emphasis on family that is clearly the focus of this entire season. The Hendrix family led the charge with most of the episode taking place at a campaign event for the School Trustee position that Alison is running for. We also got to see a lot of Felix for a change, which was nice, because he is acting as Alison’s campaign manager. After a turn of events, Cosima shows up at the event, and ends up having to pretend to be Alison for a voter photo op. I love it when the clones have to play other clones, and this was a lot of fun, especially since Cosima had to hide her hair under a hat, and accidentally started to let loose that she is a lesbian during the campaign speech. Luckily, they were able to switch out in time for Alison to finish the speech, which was actually quite sweet.

Another interesting element for the Hendrixes was that we got to meet Alison’s mother! And she is a piece of work. She is clearly a narcissist and drama queen, so it makes sense that Alison is the way that she is. She calls Donnie “Mr. Chubbs,” which is terrible, but as it turns out, that is Donnie’s real last name (remember he took Alison’s surname?). By the end of the episode, Mrs. Hendrix Sr. gets introduced to Cosima by Alison. Welcome, Mother, to the Clone Club. Fortunately, for her own safety and sanity, she doesn’t believe that they are clones, so that is that!

Back in Mexico after breaking out of the camp, we met back up with Helena and Sarah. Of course Helena is gambling by playing dominoes with the locals. Mrs. S shows up herself to rescue Sarah and Helena which was a bit of a surprise. Helena and S have a conversation and fight, but they end up hugging it out. Helena admits to Mrs. S that she wants to find Jesse and settle down with him. This whole revelation makes me sad because Helena is so complex and unique and a killer, but she yearns for the normal. S invites Helena into their family, but we will have to wait for the dynamic to play out.

We did briefly see Cosima and Rachel for some snippets of their own stories. Delphine shows up at Shay’s place looking for Cosima. So we now know that Delphine is having Cosima tailed. I continue to enjoy Shay and Cosima together, but I can’t help but think that Shay is someone that we cannot completely trust. She does, however, really seem to care about Cosima, which is really all I need at this point, so I am okay with her sticking around for a while. Meanwhile, Scott subtly let Rachel know that he needs her to help to decode the book, so she asks to play one of his tabletop games with him. Even though he is terrified of Rachel, he agrees. I love their dynamic, and it does seem like she is ready to help out our Clone Club with the secrets in the book.

Overall, a much needed lighter episode. We did not get any news on the camp situation or which, if any, of the Castor clones made it out alive. I hope we do continue to get some movement with that storyline, even if it is just closure. I really do not want it to get lost in the shuffle. I also love Donnie, and am glad that we got to see a lot of him in this episode, but I do miss the bold Donnie of last season. He was still goofy, but he got stuff done. Unfortunately, they seem to be turning him back into the buffoon of Season One. Please make Donnie bold again; Clone Club needs him sharp! Twerking is optional.

Author: Erin

Erin has reviewed many shows over the years including Orphan Black, iZombie, Penny Dreadful, and Killing Eve. She has a keen eye for on-screen chemistry, and loves to tackle the subject of casting. She is also our horror aficionado. She live tweets shows, and loves to share her feelings. Erin has a BA in History, and likes to analyze the lore behind historical fiction. She attends San Diego Comic Con every year and has also attended C2E2 and WonderCon.

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