Sunday, July 3, 2016

What I’m Watching: Orphan Black (Season Finale)

Orphan Black: Season 4, Episode 10 “From Dancing Mice to Psychopaths” (B+)

This was a great finale, so entrenched in the plot and ensuring a strong setup for what has recently been announced as this show’s fifth and final season. Cosima finding a cure at the start was a wonderful, joyous development, but that glee didn’t last long. It was hard to tell, even in this last hour, who was good and who was bad. The only real conclusion I can come to is that Ira doesn’t pose a threat, since he’s so concerned all the time with not being lumped in with his brothers. Susan seizing the cure so that they could restart cloning seemed villainous enough, but then Rachel stabbed her mother because she wouldn’t let a clone be in charge. Evie, who used to be this season’s big bad, got taken out, seemingly for good, by the doctor who saved Delphine and is now the new Brightborn CEO. I loved Crystal’s role in this episode, first as a woman trying to be empowered to stand up to Felix and then as a pawn who was being distracted at the comic book store while Sarah smartly posed as her to get to Dr. Van Lier. It’s great to see Delphine again, and hopefully there’s still time to save Cosima. I loved the brief scene with Donnie living in the wilderness with Helena, who casually offered to kill on speaker phone. On a much more serious note, this news that Dr. Westmoreland is still alive and that Rachel is about to have an audience with him is intriguing and worrisome, especially since she has allied herself with Ferdinand, who is currently holding Mrs. S and Kira at gunpoint. While this show ending next season is a shame, I think five seasons is a pretty worthwhile run, and I’m glad that we still have ten episodes to look forward to.

Season grade: A-
Season MVP: Tatiana Maslany as everyone

No comments: