Orphan Black: Formalized, Complex, and Costly review

This Orphan Black review contains spoilers.

Well, things certainly got a bit more Breaking Bad this week- what with an autopsy in a bathtub and some suburban drug deals taking center stage. Yup, Alison’s drug business hit the ground running while the web of the Castor clones continued to tighten around Clone Club.

But let us start with dear Alison. For a woman who spent all last season in rehab for alcoholism, Alison was certainly playing it fast and loose with the narcotic substances as she and her chubby hubby and (perhaps her new consigliere, Donnie) might not have been sampling their wares but they were selling them hand over fist. And no, Alison did not become a suburban drug lord because she had an incurable illness; she was doing it for the most noble of reasons- to win a position on her local school board.

So, in classic Alison fashion, a little, everyday, mundane storyline has snowballed into a complex arc of greed and lies. But you know what? That Marci really is a phony biznatch and I am fully on board with Team Alison. Alison won’t need Saul Goodman as she has her little operation well in hand; handing out little gifts boxes with soaps and oxycontin to her friends and neighbors while getting rich in the process. One of the things I was anticipating most about season three of Orphan Black is what insane shenanigans Alison and Donnie would get up to. Let’s just say Alison’s new enterprise has not disappointed.

Alison’s hand soap and drug empire has kept her away from the goings on of the rest of Clone Club, and those goings on have some pretty high stakes, namely, saving Helena from Castor. As Helena is held captive, we got to know more about her captors. We still don’t know what Virginia and Paul are planning, but we do know that Clone Club has grown exponentially as this week Cosima discovered that Miller, Mark, the late Rudy and the rest of the boy clones are the female Leda clones’ brothers!

Let’s examine that shocking revelation. If there is one thing our clone sistras have in common, it’s their fierce loyalty to family, extended and otherwise. Think about it, we have seen Sara risk and her life and kill for her stepbrother Felix and her daughter Kira. We have seen Alison transform into quite the lioness to protect her family and we have Helena shed gallons of blood to save her sistras. So now that Sara has found out that the boy clones are her brothers, will she extend her fierce familial loyalty to them as well? After finally confronting Mark this week, Sara seemed to want to embrace Mark as family, but their potential reunion was cut short because the Prometheans are back in the picture.

And the Prometheans returned with a bang as Gracie’s mom took down her hubby Mark. Man, these boy clones are dropping like flies (two in two weeks). It might not really matter because they all seem kind of cookie cutter anyway, but that’s some cold ish right there. One epiosde in, and Gracie’s mom has risen to the top of the Orphan Black villains hall of shame. I guess she had to represent for the Prometheans that were taken out by Helena last season, but damn, shooting your son-in-law in a corn field?

Gracie’s mom found her whereabouts after Art and Sara questioned Helena’s old Promethean midwife and the midwife turned all narc. Since I mention Art, a very sweet revelation took place this week regarding everyone’s favorite sour faced cop. Sara was wondering why Art still worked with her and turned a blind eye towards some of her more, shall we say, antisocial actions. Why, this week alone, Art witnessed Felix and Sara trying to get rid of the body of Rudy, the porn ‘stached boy clone killed last week. Hey, dead body in a tub! Another little Breaking Bad allusion.

Anyway, Art revealed that he did all this in honor of Beth’s memory. Poor art loved Beth and knew that she would want him to help her clone sistras. It seemed that good old Art is compelled to help those with Beth’s face making him perhaps Sara’s staunchest non-blood ally.

So, what else? We had Cosima and Scott removing Rudy’s brain. We had Helena scowling and threatening anyone who got near her while she was captive in the Castor prison and we had Rachel still recovering from her near lobotomy via pencil. I guess my only complaint this week was there just wasn’t enough Helena, but I am greatly looking forward to a little Helena chaos when she gets out of the Castor prison, because no one brings death and chaos quite like our wild-haired Ukrainian goddess of crazy.

But there’s plenty of drama waiting for Helena outside of prison as Gracie, the woman carrying her baby, now seems to be alone and hunted by the returned Prometheans and her own mother. I guess Helena will have a little chaos to sow when she gets out, an event that will be very soon if Sara has her say.

Until then, let’s hope Alison stays out or Pollo Hermanos and continues to be the most adorable drug dealer ever.

The Good

– Does this mean Donnie is Jesse Pinkman?

– Felix’s reaction to the forced medulla extraction in his tub.

– Scott: what a great sidekick for Cosima with Delphine moving up the corporate ladder.

– Art’s loyalty

The Bad

– I would like to see a more differentiated performance for the boy clones.

– More Helena please!

The Ugly

– Forced medulla extraction in a tub.

– Marci’s prospects if she continues to F with Alison.