Orphan Black #CloneClub Recap: “Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate”

“You’re going DOWN, Marci Coates!”

Welcome to this week’s Orphan Black #CloneClub Recap! Episode 7 of the season, “Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate” pretty much turned Alison’s life into one huge clusterf#@k. Let’s dive in!

Before we get into whose story this really was (P.S. – It was Alison’s), Sarah and Helena are dealing with the aftermath of their imprisonment in Mexico (ah, so that’s what Fake Middle East was) in a cantina. As they plan their next steps (or in Sarah’s case, as they deflect questions about painful topics like Paul dying), Mrs. S. shows up, right on cue after Helena tells Sarah that she’s going to kill Mrs. S. for selling her out.

At first, Helena is true to her word, and is ready to lunge for S the second she shows up. However, after intervention by the super-cool cantina owner, a hostile conversation with S, and a brief punching match, Mrs. S. wins Helena over with a hug, reminding her she is family, which is exactly what Helena wants to be. Oh, and Sarah took a shower. (Good, ’cause that girl deserves a freakin’ break!)

“Promise me you won’t kill my foster mom, yeah?”

Cosima-land started of with hot sexy-times between her and Shay, until the increasingly creepy and stalker-tastic Delphine showed up demanding a urine sample from Cosima (and she totes wanted to catch an in-person glimpse of Shay, who was not gonna catch any of the shade Delphine was throwing, thankyouverymuch. But as Cosima and Delphine were at the door talking about Delphine being “worried about [her] numbers” and needing that sample of pee, Shay was totally eavesdropping from the bathroom! (I KNEW something was up with that girl – I just don’t know what yet!)

Cosima decides she wants to give Delphine Alison’s urine (our Cosima is more sick than she’s letting on, and she doesn’t trust Delphine or Dyad), so she contacts Alison and goes to retrieve some from her. She’s unsuccessful – but she does get to play Alison at a school trustee candidate event, kiss Jason the Drug Dealer, and meet Alison’s mom! So, hooray? Not hooray. When she gets home and is in the bath talking to Shay, she starts bleeding from the vagina in the tub. Poor Cosima!

Meanwhile, Scott’s been left at the lab at Dyad covering for Cosima, who is off in search for urine. In a lucky turn of events, Delphine brings Rachel into the lab for her regular testing, and Rachel catches a glimpse of her father’s symbols on Scott’s desk. Scott catches a glimpse of Rachel’s glimpse and makes Significant Eye Contact, then shows her the copy of Dr. Moreau when Delphine isn’t looking. Rachel points to a copy of the board game, Agricola, which is sitting in the lab. She says she wants to learn how to play, because she’s “so bored.” Delphine allows Scott to teach her and play with her, allowing them plenty of alone-time for deciphering ciphers. Rachel starts to…but then she says she’ll only give her findings to Sarah. *sigh* I hope Sarah enjoyed her brief rest.

Vote Alison Hendrix, fuckers!

And now, for the bulk of the episode. Alison. Oh, Alison. She starts out preparing for a Meet the Candidate event in the run for School Trustee. “All she has to do” is get her mother to sign Bubbles over to her, then head over to the event to give a speech and hand in her nomination signatures as Donnie goes with Jason to their drug supplier, Ponchy, with the money he’s owed. Simple, right? Except that Donny accidentally takes the envelope with the signatures in it, and Alison takes the one with the money. Oh, and her mother decides to not sign Bubbles over to them, because Alison would have “Chubbs” in charge (don’t get offended! If you’ve been reading the awesome Orphan Black comic, you’ll know that it was already revealed in the Alison issue that Donnie’s last name is Chubbs, and that he took Alison’s last name when they got married!).

“Drug deal, photo op, drug front, speech. Got it!”

Alison blows up at her mother and storms out – however, since she’s late for her photo op, Cosima – made-over by Felix, natch – is playing Alison to stall. Just when Alison arrives, she’s alerted to the mistake over the envelopes. She gets the money envelope back (and in switching envelopes, arises the suspicion of the snooping Marci Coates), and gets it to Ponchy’s daughter.  But not before Cosima has to take the stage as Alison and attempt to give a speech! Without her glasses! Knowing nothing about the race and saying things like “as a lesbian!” Oh, and then there’s the part where Jason is waiting for Alison to give him the money envelope so he can go back for Donnie (who’s being held as collateral by Ponchy – who is the same drug dealer who cut off Vic’s finger! Remember Vic?), and he ends up both convincing Cosima’s mom to sign Bubbles over to Alison AND kissing Cosima/Alison! Donnie won’t be happy.

Meanwhile, Alison’s mom lets slip that when she and Alison’s father (whom she thought was beneath her) got IVF, she sought out “better stock,” meaning she put one over on her husband! Argh! She is THE. WORST. In any case, Alison manages to get back on stage, give a great speech promoting inclusion, and make her mom proud. Sort of. Did I mention her mom’s horrible? Because she is. After finding Alison in the bathroom after the speech, her mom lets her know that she’s changed her mind about Bubbles, and before Alison can get happy about it, her mom basically says it’s because she knows Alison will “really” be in charge, and that eventually she’ll see that Donnie is a waste of time. This infuriates Alison so much that she pulls Cosima out of the bathroom stall (remember, she was in there waiting for Alison’s pee), and flat-out TELLS HER MOTHER that she’s a clone. And her mom DOESN’T BELIEVE HER OR EVEN LISTEN TO HER BECAUSE SHE’S HORRIBLE. (and also racist. See her comment about Cosima’s hair) Oh, and P.S. – Alison’s totally wondering what Jason’s lips were like.

“Are you my Mummy?”

The Awesome: 

• Alison was EVERYTHING this week. I loved seeing the insight into Alison this episode, especially having met her mother and knowing both “where she gets it” and the personality she’s been trying to outrun her whole life. And her speech really put her into focus for me – for all that she’s a “prissy soccer mom” in manner, she really is one of the clones that is most accepting of diversity. She adopted children of color, she’s Felix’s BFF, and despite being in this situation with the Clone Club, she ended up bankrolling their efforts and caring for all of them pretty quickly, even though she arguably has the most to lose. Oh, and SHE’S A DRUG DEALER NOW. Alison’s a pretty rad character.

• I love that we finally got Cosima impersonating one of the other clones! She was the only one who hadn’t until now. I also thought that Maslany’s performance as Cosima was particularly on-point this episode, both physically (Cosima has such a definitive walk) and emotionally, bringing the pain that Cosima is in.

• Felix is always. Holding. Everything. Together. I love that man.

• Mrs. S. and Helena’s “conversation.” It was the most pure expression of those two characters on the show thus far.

• Scott and Rachel play Agricola. This is becoming an interesting dynamic! I love that we get to see vulnerable Rachel, but that she still has enough self-worth to make demands.

Uh, dude, you’re putting a serious crimp in my drug dealing game.

The Not-So-Awesome: 

• This isn’t a negative, so much as something I have mixed feelings about. The entire Jason subplot grates on my nerves. I mean, I get that they were high school sweethearts, but I kind of wish his respect for Alison as a drug dealer wasn’t muddled with romantic feelings. Especially now that Alison and Donnie seem to have arrived at such a great place in their marriage. I loved how Jason was able to parlay their history into being able to talk Alison’s mom into signing over Bubbles, but I wish that weren’t accompanied by actual stuff.

• Shay is another subplot I have mixed-feelings about. I can’t shake the feeling that she’s up to something, and I kind of want there to be someone on this show other than the Leda Clones who isn’t two-faced. Please!

That’s it for this week! Orphan Black airs Saturdays at 9PM EST on BBC America. If you missed last week’s recap, CHECK IT OUT HERE. Also, make sure you’re reading our Orphan Black Science Recaps, which walk you through the plausibility of the science of each episode! See you next Monday, when we’ll be talking about a new Leda clone! ‘Til then, I’ll be your mother hen, and I’ll keep our chicks together.

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