Orphan Black 5×4 & 5×5 Review: Let the Children and the Childbearers Toil & Ease for Idle Millionaires

I hate to say it, but I am finding the final season of Orphan Black to be a bit slow and a little disappointing. Although the acting continues to be amazing, the dizzying storylines and brand new plots are leaving a lot to be desired. I enjoy getting snippets of the entire backstory of Neolution, Leda, Castor, and Dyad, but do I care about a completely new plot involving a separate project that we have never encountered before? The short answer is no.

With bad comes good, and there were plenty of good things in “Let the Children and Childbearers Toil” and “Ease for Idle Millionaires”. I absolutely loved that we got some quality Delphine and Cosima time, and were even given the chance to relive some of their amazing scenes from back in season one. I also loved that Delphine is working with S, and that the tips helped to get some much-needed information from Virginia Coady. Some of that Neolution backstory is completely fascinating, including the fact that Susan Duncan took on the Leda project while Coady got the Castor boys. Even though it seems pretty obvious in hindsight, it was still nice to get that confirmation.

Another thing that I loved was the quality time that we got with Sarah and Kira. Their relationship had been a bit tumultuous over the past handful of episodes, but when Sarah actually took the time to hear out Kira and her feelings, it felt a lot more real. Seeing them snuggled up together in bed and also just actually talking was really nice. After all, it was protecting Kira that brought Sarah into the Clone Club in the first place, and I think that we were heading down the path of dismissing that relationship.

I really enjoyed seeing more Cosima in “Ease for Idle Millionaires” especially, but all I could think about, particularly toward the end with Westmoreland, is how horrible she has had it compared to some of the other clones. I have to give it to Tatiana Maslany–she even portrays pain and mourning in different ways for each clone. Being so close to Yannis as he was murdered by Westmoreland clearly affected Cosima, and it will be interesting to see how her relationship with him and the entire Neolution movement changes going forward.

That brings me to the bad. And let’s start with Yannis. Does anyone care about this storyline? It feels like the writers stuck it in to make Neolution seem even more experimental, and as a plot device to make Westmoreland seem like more of a villain. But frankly, the reveal doesn’t really make sense in the entire series narrative. I didn’t really care for the reveal of Castor, and Yannis just feels…inauthentic to the story.

Basically, I am frustrated. Orphan Black has always been bananas and convoluted, but I feel that since there are only five total episodes left, this season would be more quality and provide a lot more answers instead of inventing new stories that no one cares about. I still love Tatiana, and I am still hopeful that we will get a ton more fan service stories involving our favorite cast members rather than completely new characters and stories that we have no investment in. Luckily, it looks like Krystal is back next week!

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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