Orphan Black Season 3 Premiere Recap: “The Weight of This Combination”

***SPOILERS AHOY***

‘Sup, Clone Club?! Orphan Black is back! And I have the honor of satisfying your recapping/reviewing needs. Season 3 starts off with Helena in captivity, Delphine breaking up with Cosima so she can be the baddest bitch at Dyad, Sarah pretending to be Rachel while Alison pretends to be Sarah, and poor Mrs. S getting the crap beat out of her by a douchebag male clone. Oh, and there’s some really uncomfortable Faux Rachel foreplay. But when is sex with or around Rachel ever not really uncomfortable? WELCOME TO SEASON THREE!

I love that Dream Cosima wears traditional Eastern European garb in Helena’s head.

S3, Episode 1 – The Basics:

• Helena dreams of The Perfect Baby Shower, complete with her favorite foods, her sestras and brother-sestra Felix, and a Ukranian rendition of The Beach Boys’ Wouldn’t It Be Nice? All that is crapped on when we realize that she’s dreaming, and she’s actually locked in a box being held prisoner and talking to an imaginary (but awesomely snarky) scorpion. She’s eventually let out of the box by a soldier – and another one of the Project Castor clones (Ari Millen) – Miller.
• EEEEW! Remember how Sarah jammed a pencil into Rachel’s eyeball last season? Well, THEY PULL IT OUT. Eew. Rachel’s still alive, but no one’s allowed to know that she’s incapacitated. Certainly not the “cleaner” that Topside is sending to check out the security risk the Project Leda clones might pose. Also, Delphine (Evelyne Brochu) kinda enjoys being the new Rachel, and getting information out of her by jabbing her finger into Rachel’s injured eye. (Did I mention EEEEW?)

It’s like, once you get to a certain level at Dyad, your promotion comes with a stick to put up your butt.

• Still alive after last season, Sarah just wants to sit and chill a bit, but Felix (Jordan Gavaris) is right about “the other penny dropping.” Delphine approaches Sarah with the news that Project Castor clones  have been killing Project Leda clones for unknown reasons. Sarah interrogates one of the Castor clones, Rudy, who warns her not to trust the wrong people, and to “count her sisters.” Oh, and by the way, Sarah needs to play Rachel to fool the Topside investigator, Ferdinand (played by James Frain, who seems to be in everything these days).
• After Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy) is beaten to a pulp by another Castor clone, Seth, in search of Professor Duncan’s research, she reveals to Sarah and Felix that she handed Helena over to Paul. Sarah is not happy. Sarah to Mrs. S, “You’re not my people!”

Mrs. S, having the worst day ever.

• Meanwhile, Alison is inspired to run against the heinous Marci Coates for School Trustee, because that witch wants to tinker with electoral boundaries. Oh, and Alison also plays Sarah while Sarah is playing Rachel and gets creepily felt up by Ferdinand. Oh, and Donnie lost his job – but Alison is NOT gonna work at her mom’s store!
• Cosima is getting better, and is now living with Felix. While with Kira, she tries to explain having had a weird near-death experience. Delphine breaks up with her, putting work before their relationship, which makes both of them cry. Cosima discovers that the copy of The Island of Dr. Moreau that Kira has is actually Professor Duncan’s cypher to unlock the Project Leda clones’ genetic sequences! She and fellow-nerd assistant, Scott (Josh Vokey) are on the case!
• As it turns out, Ferdinand had been secretly working with Rachel on a plan called Helsinki – code for killing all the Project Leda clones – all to get her hands on Kira, so that she could have a child. But as Sarah, dressed as Rachel, turns BDSM play into almost killing Ferdinand, Delphine shows up, having been given the info by Rachel via eye-poking (eew), and forces Ferdinand to call off Helsinki, which they do just as someone was about to show up and kill Alison. Whew!

“I kicked one of your brothers in the face!”

The Awesome:

• I was already in love with Helena, but the opening dream sequence killed me and broke my heart. Helena is fascinating, because of all the Leda clones, she’s the one who’s grown and changed the most. I want her to have the upbeat, colorful family life she dreams of!
• Ari Millen is an awesome actor, and an amazing counterpoint to Tatiana Maslany – particularly as Rudy. He manages to be creepy, funny, insane, and insightful all at once. There was something in the way he warned Sarah off trusting Dyad that leads me to believe that the Castor clones might not be the enemy. At least, not entirely. We’ll see. Also, naked Ari Millen = Totally OK.
• I was literally on the edge of my seat as Sarah navigated playing Rachel. From the stuff at Dyad, where Alison ended up playing her (and I died when Alison says “Oi, oi!”), to the stuff at Rachel’s apartment, I was constantly thinking, How is she gonna get out of THIS. Maslany’s nuanced performance continues to be brilliant.

This is how amazing Maslany’s peformance is. She’s supposed to be Sarah, but by the way she’s holding her eyes and mouth, you know something’s off. Because it’s Alison playing Sarah. Brilliant!

The Not-So-Awesome:

• I didn’t really buy Delphine in this episode. I have trouble believing that the Delphine we’ve come to know would have it in her to be quite this cold. Obviously, we know she’s capable of lying and being cryptic – but there was something about how she seemed to enjoy it in this episode that rang false to me.
• Ferdinand. Ugh. Normally I love James Frain as an actor, but Ferdinand was all over the damn place. And super-creepy, and weird, and gross. Ugh.
• I know that they’re supposed to be a mystery, and we’re only starting to get to know them, but I wish we could’ve spent a bit more time with the Project Castor clones, either on their own, or together. Though, now that Seth has gotten Rudy out of captivity, I’m sure there’ll be loads of that starting with the next episode.

Well, that’s it for this week! Orphan Black airs Saturdays at 9PM EST on BBC America. Orphan Black #CloneClub recaps will be up every Monday from now on, and the one for Episode 2 – “Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis” – will be up on Monday, April 27th.

‘Til then….count your sisters.

(Images courtesy of BBC America)

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