Orphan Black - Certain Agony of the Battlefield

As Pat Benatar would say. "Love is a Battlefield."  And in the last episode of Orphan Black we took some casualties.

No I'm not talking about "Pupok" the beloved muse/irritant to Helena, I'm talking about Paul played by Dylan Bruce.

If memory serves, Paul is the first regular character to be killed off in the show.  It was a bit of a stunner as we were given no indication we would lose Paul as a character.  Certainly death is no stranger to Orphan Black.  We've seen recurring characters come and go on the show.  With the death of Paul (he has to be dead, there is no coming back from a stabbing, four gunshots and a grenade) Orphan Black is bound to take a seismic turn.

The other temblor that shook the OB world was the information brought to light concerning the Castor project and the work of Virginia Coady.

It was Paul's deduction of  Coady's true motivation that led directly to his death.  It didn't take long for the military man to put the pieces together.  The protein the clone lines share (as discovered by Delphine and missed by the lovesick Cosima) effects the brain of the male line and the ovaries of the females.

Apparently Coady's research could lead to a cure for the malady but she is more interested in weaponizing her discovery.  She claimed it would end war, or at least a bloody war, and if I am reading this right, Coady's work would sterilize the enemy and threatened it's existence as a people.

How she plans a delivery system is another story.  I don't suppose she plans on inserting Castor clones behind enemy lines to impregnate the enemie's female population unless she is thinking a real long game.  I think rather she'll isolate the protein and find a suitable vector and distribute it as a virus and hit the enemy without them even knowing it.


What could counteract this nefarious plan?

Somewhere in the addled mind of Rachel is the secret to restarting the lost research into successful cloning.

A healthy assist goes to Scott for matching the scrawl left by Rachel on her drawings to the symbols in Duncan's book.

Also, we the viewing audience caught a glimpse of the young girl who is in the care of Dr. Marian Bowles.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put together all the pieces of this information dump to realize Rachel is behind the genesis of this little girl and somehow there is a connection between her and Sarah.

That connection being Sarah's resistance to the harmful effects of the defective protein the two clones lines share and the successful restitution of successful cloning. 

Now I'm sure the race will be on to find a cure for the defective clones and the rebuilding of the clone lines impervious to the genetic defect.

Coady and her ilk will want to stock the Army with healthy Castor clones impervious to the disease while attacking the "enemy" with the defective protein virus.

Dyad, on the other hand, will want to monetize a new healthy clone line thanks to Rachel and her work.  Of course, Dyad doesn't quite realize they hold the key to this since Rachel isn't all together there and Sarah and her group will  seek to "free" Rachel before Dyad comes to this conclusion.

Before I go too far down the rabbit hole of dueling conspiracy theories, let's take a look at Paul's sendoff and the montage it left us with.

The musical score that accompanied this montage was quite moving.   Paul had confessed his love for Sarah and we saw some of the more tender moments the two had shared.

A tearful Beth was glimpsed, she being one of the earliest casualties of the battlefield and the link between Sarah and Paul.

The young girl Marian Bowles is caring for appeared next.  Her reintroduction looms large as she looks to be a new successful clone.   Does she have a defect and will the new research cure it?

Kira appears in the montage.  The stem cells from her teeth proved invaluable and the pairing of her and the other little girl looks to be significant.

What's interesting is, Sarah in her delusional state to start the episode, was seen alone in the courtyard much like Kira.  The connection apart from being mother and daughter is they are also are linked by their genetic makeup.  Kira's healing and other mysterious properties and Sarah's impervious nature to the Castor defect.

Sarah appears lost and alone while Kira, while alone, is carefree and moved to dance.

Interesting.

Sarah no doubt misses Kira but to have them appear in the same setting is mysteriously profound.

The episode closes with Helena returning to rescue Sarah.  I take this to mean the family reuniting to carry on the fight.

We also get one more look at the little girl.   She is seen in a photo with a young man and they seem very close.  New additions to the family?  Astoundingly, Rachel looks to be the key to all of this!

No "Odds and Ends" quite yet.  I'll have to add them later when time permits.  As of now, yard work beckons but I will be back soon!