This episode was heartbreaking on so many different levels and for so many different characters. The line between good and evil is more blurred than ever before. It has always been a bit murky where the loyalties of some characters rest, but this one took it to a whole new level. The writing on this show is so well done that it’s nearly impossible to make an even semi-accurate guess as to how things are going to play out. This episode was a prime example of that because there is no way anyone could have predicted anything that happened.
Before anything else, just a moment of silence for the loss of M.K., may she finally be at peace. It’s been a long time since a clone was actually killed and that was a brutal one. Ferdinand has always been a sick bastard, but that took it to a whole new level as he smashed in her chest with not an ounce of mercy or regret. It was so brave of M.K. to sacrifice herself to save Sarah and it’s likely that her sacrifice will fuel the others for the rest of the season. Her loss is also going to be a hard blow in terms of their resistance because she had become a very important member of their family.
There were a lot of other hard situations to deal with which left almost every sestra seemingly backed into some impossible corner. Perhaps none more so than Sarah who had her entire world shattered around her. At every corner, she was being one-upped by Rachel and the one time she was about to get free her own daughter stopped her. That scene at the getaway van was the most heartbreaking. Skyler Wexler, Tatiana Maslany, Jordan Gavaris, and Maria Doyle Kennedy delivered such powerful performances that it was impossible to not be impacted by that moment. Wexler, in particular, was a little powerhouse in the way she portrayed Kira’s rebellious moment. The poor girl was scared and the frantic way her mom was acting only agitated her already heightened senses to the point that she didn’t want to leave. In Sarah’s defense, she was just desperately trying to protect her daughter in the only way she knew. Rachel has given her every reason in the world to not trust her. Unfortunately, for an impressionable little kid, the ideal world she’s offering likely seems a lot more pleasant than being on the run for the rest of her life. It literally put Sarah in the ultimate rock meets hard place situation. The anguished look of fear and defeat that flashed across her face was utterly heartbreaking. Then to see the way Kira clung to Felix and poor Siobhan was standing there stuck smack down between the people that mean the most to her. She once ran with young Sarah, so she knew what fate would befall Kira had they gone through with the original plan, there was just no good outcome for any of them. A terrific moment story wise, but almost hard to watch.
It wasn’t the only hard to watch scene. The moment when Helena put the needle through the doctor’s face was cringe worthy and visceral. It was a very Helena thing to do and in the name of protecting her babies and her sestras it was exactly what would be expected of her. Given that she had just found out her babies are special like Kira, she did have reason to be extra protective. Given that one of her babies survive and miraculously healed after being impaled is quite the feat, so she did have good reason to be concerned by the doctors around her. Though, perhaps, the needle things was going a teeny tiny bit to far, but that's just her thing.
She is the most unpredictable of the family, but she can always be counted on to go all in to protect those she cares about. That’s why it was odd that she left Donnie behind to fend for himself and to inevitably get himself picked up by Rachel’s forces. It’s obvious her plan was to get him back to the rest of the group since she entrusted him with the message to get to Sarah. It will be interesting to see how he explains himself to Alison when he is reunited with his wife. He’s likely to never live down hiding while she was grabbed.
For the moment Alison has her hands full trying to stay safe along with Art. They are both stuck under the thumb of Art’s new partner who has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Art needs to find some opening and take her down and expose her for the corrupt cop she is. At least, for the moment, Alison and Art are together and not totally alone on their side of this whole mess. But, oh boy, Donnie is going to get a serious chewing out when they finally grab him and toss him back to his wife.
While all of this was going on in the outside world, Cosima was busy trying to do her own work to help the family. It landed her with a one-on-one meeting with P.T. Westmoreland (Stephen McHattie) himself. Supposedly her trial with the theoretical cure is actually already producing results. As M.K. pointed out during her and Sarah’s desperate switch, things don’t add up when it comes to P.T. and solving that mystery seems to be the key to finally finding a way for the family to be free. Truly free, not Rachel’s version of controlled freedom, but actual freedom. They can do it, with Cosima on the island following the crazy science per Delphine’s parting words, they could find the missing pieces they need to put the full picture together and finally bring Neolution to its knees. Though P.T. did make a rather compelling argument by using his old friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s poem as a reference, but Cosima seems like she will stick to her gut and go no further than doing what is necessary for her family.
Though, given how things are going, there is the distinct possibility that she won’t have much choice at some point. They are holding her family under their thumbs while her niece is spending time in the heart of evil at Dyad. Her hands may become tied to the point where she will be forced to do the science that P.T. seems to be trying to steer her towards. It is curious though, why Rachel suddenly had such a change of heart after meeting with him. She seems more impressionable that Cosima and more prone to act on impulse, so there is a real possibility she bought into the story he was selling her. At least for the moment, it helped to produce a mellower Rachel. That did help during Sarah’s botched escape with Kira. The old Rachel would have had no mercy on Sarah, instead, she just settled for a sly smirk as she walked away with Kira. There is, however, an argument to be made that Rachel swaying Kira to her side is worse than any other fate she could have bestowed upon Sarah. While Sarah is hard to break that seems to have come very close. She’s going to need Siobhan and Felix more now than ever to handle this twist.
By the end of the episode, it seems like there may be another twist brewing. Delphine made a very surprising appearance at Siobhan’s door sans any sort of guard detail. That’s curious since the last we saw of her she was being carted off to do research on a remote island. So, how did she arrive back at Siobhan’s and why is she being even more secretive than usual? Why is she trying so hard to avoid Sarah? Is she there on some sort of covert mission bestowed upon her by P.T. during her meeting with him? Or did she escape in the name of getting some urgent message back? Also, interesting is that Siobhan and Delphine have never had a close relationship, so to run to her raises a whole other set of questions. How will these two work together going forward? Will Siobhan take a leap of faith and trust Delphine? She knows how much Cosima loves Delphine and knows all that Delphine has risked for the family, so hopefully, she can be convinced to help. That was a brilliant and surprising way to end this episode because it opens up so many questions to keep fans interested and excited for what comes next.
This was an exceptional episode and really geared things up to the next level. Tatiana Maslany was absolutely perfect as always. The way she portrays each character is always fascinating because it never ever feels like the same actress playing all these characters. Her acting prowess and immeasurable talent will be discussed and analyzed for a very long time to come. In this episode alone she played opposite herself twice. And then, just to further complicate things she played Sarah playing Rachel being chased by Rachel and then later she’d play M.K. pretending to be Sarah. The transitions between these characters is always flawless and every time she’s on screen she’s setting some sort of new acting precedent and putting into place an acting bar that no performer is likely to reach anytime soon. She’s a force to be reckoned with and this episode highlighted all that makes her one of the most talented actresses of this generation.
Given all that went on in this episode, it’s almost a full on guarantee that what comes next is going to be absolutely crazy intense. As long as the rest of the clone sestras survive the series it’ll make M.K.’s sacrifice seem more worth it. The mystery and intrigue are at an all time high, so hang on, because this final season looks like it’s going all in and doing so brilliantly.
Be sure to watch the next episode when it airs on
Saturday, June 24th at 10/9c on BBCA.
Hit the comments with your thoughts about this episode. Were you shocked by M.K.’s death? What do you think P.T.’s ultimate final endgame plan is? Can Sarah get Kira to stop trusting Rachel? Can Rachel be redeemed at all?
