Orphan Black, S4 Ep2, Transgressive Border Crossing

You’d think that tiny worms embedded in people’s cheeks couldn’t get any grosser, but somehow this week, they do. We get a few small answers in the latest Orphan Black, but as per usual, also a lot more questions.

Thanks to MK’s warning to Sarah about the Neos being on her trail in Iceland, Sarah and the others are able to safely make it back home. While Kira and Kendall are sent to a safe house, Sarah and Mrs. S meet up with Cosima and Scott in the basement of a comic book store for some updates. (Considering that back in January, a teaser for season four was themed “Down the Rabbit Hole,” I thought it was interesting that the shop was Rabbit Hole Comics. Just a fun Easter egg? Or are there more connections with Alice in Wonderland to come this season?) Pretty much, Dyad’s out of the clone game, they’re still working on the gene therapy cure, and there’s still no word on Delphine.

Sarah’s then off to meet Art, as they look into the last case Beth worked (the one we saw last week, with the missing cheek), and go back to her apartment to look for clues. They find Leekie’s book and the hidden camera, and interspersed with their scenes are brief flashbacks of Beth. For some reason I had assumed that this second episode would be much more flashback heavy, so I was happy it kept mostly in the present, as that’s where I’m still more interested right now.

I’ve been somewhat dreading the Felix/Sarah reunion since Jordan Gavaris talked about them “not doing so well” at WonderCon, and it did hurt to see the strain between them. Especially since Sarah didn’t even seem to notice anything was wrong until Felix finally laid it out for her. (I cringed a little when Felix relented to drinks after Sarah’s “I missed your face,” only for Sarah to be using him to help her sneak into Club Neolution.) I was also surprised by Sarah’s reaction that Felix is looking for his birth family – hopefully she comes around soon, because really, it makes complete sense that Felix would be curious.

While Sarah doesn’t find out anything more about the pregnant Neo girl they’d spotted in Beth’s surveillance footage, she does run into a guy who mistakes her for MK. He shows her a video of people trying to remove the creepy worm from a guy’s cheek, and it turns out it has a defense mechanism, and kills the “host” in response. When the guy realizes Sarah’s not MK, she bolts, stealing his phone and using it to attempt to meet up with MK herself.

Instead of a face-to-face, Sarah gets a phone call in a laundromat, with MK watching her via a security camera. MK’s still reluctant to talk much, telling Sarah, “It will kill you like it killed Beth,” and then we get another flashback showing Beth’s last night before jumping in front of the train. Wherever Beth had gone off to with the blonde wig, ID badge, and gun, apparently it didn’t go well. She came back shaken with bloody hands, and harshly yelled at MK that she (Beth) had screwed it up, and they couldn’t fight it anymore. Beth’s last words to MK were quiet instructions to stay hidden and watch the others, before Beth walked out, leaving MK alone. The shot of MK standing there with tears in her eyes definitely got to me, and I was glad to not get as many Helena-vibes from her this week.

MK doesn’t know why Beth killed herself, but it does have something to go with the “maggot bots,” as she called them. But the conversation comes to an abrupt end when Sarah spots MK in a car across the street, and MK promptly drives away. Sarah’s then ambushed in the laundromat by the same two “paramedics” we saw at the beginning of last week’s episode. They say they’ve been looking for her for a long time, but when the guy notices she doesn’t have a scar, they realize she’s not who they thought. When she refuses to give her name, the guy sticks his finger into her mouth to feel around, then says (according to google translate, which tells me they’re speaking Dutch), “This should be Sarah.” With that, they promptly exit the laundromat, leaving Sarah on the floor.

Sarah’s freaked out, obviously, and with some help from Mrs. S and a flashlight, confirms she does have a cheek worm. I’m still wondering, though, how the guy knew it was Sarah? Did he just feel for the worm, and by confirming it was there, and knowing which of the clone(s) have it implanted, deduce it was Sarah? Do any of the other clones we know have it too? Questions that will hopefully be answered!

Helena and Donnie brought all the levity this week, as they pretended to be husband and wife for Helena’s ultrasound appointment. That’s actually a really smart way to get around Helena not having any healthcare coverage. Meanwhile, Alison was frustrated at the added burden from having Helena continue to live with them, and Donnie’s defense of “She just wants to be like you” kind of really, really makes me want to see some Helena/Alison bonding. Oh yeah, and Helena is having twins! As if one Helena baby wouldn’t have been enough of a handful. Finally, though Cosima didn’t have much to do this week, Mrs. S calling her “chicken” was all kinds of adorable.

Favorite lines!

• “She’s changed her hair, obviously.” “Because it was too ugly.” (I might have laughed really hard at this one.)
• “She eats frozen bread and she’s murdered people.” “Well, so did we.” “That’s different. Helena’s trained to kill people, we’re man slaughterers.”
• “Oh god, please don’t call me chicken, I love that.”

Let us know what you thought of this week’s episode by leaving a comment below!