Previously on Orphan Black, Leekie died so we kind of forgot Neolutionism existed, Delphine tortured Shay only to find out she wasn’t the Castor mole, Gracie confessed that SHE was the Castor mole because she wanted to save Mark, Rudy started to glitch, and Sarah found the Castor original, who turned out to be also the Leda original and also Mrs. S’s biological mother. Making Mrs. S Sarah’s foster mother and biological niece all at the same time.
After a series of memories about her childhood, about her parents and the fun they had when she was small, about her father killing himself right in front of her, etc, Rachel wakes up in a fancy-ass room in silk pajamas.
There’s an hourglass on the table, symbols on the glass walls, and she has no idea where she is. Like one of those escape-the-room games. She gets herself into her wheelchair and zooms over to an envelope on the table and whatever is inside makes her pick up a mirror on the table and check in on her promised prosthetic eye, only to find not only not a perfect match, but a freaking robot eye.
Back home, Art leads Sarah and Felix to a warehouse and promises they’ll be safe there. Scott is already there, building a lab to keep Kendall safe while they get her DNA so they can start working on a cure for Cosima (and the rest of the Leda clones). They thank Art, but he’s happy to help anyone with Beth’s face.
They bring in the kidnapped Mama Clone and put her in a tent. She’s wearing a giant condom suit and is furious about being treated like she has a communicable disease. Sarah asks Scott why she doesn’t look exactly like her, and he explains that since Kendall is a chimera, her two lines of DNA express themselves differently when they work together.
They know Topside and Castor are both coming for them, so they have to get everything they need for science and get the hell out of dodge.
Somewhere not-far-away-enough-for-comfort, Rudy is playing with his balls. You know, those little silvery ones you’re supposed to rub together to keep calm or something? Anyway, he glitches and drops one, and he knows his end is near. The director tells him and Coady to find the original. When he leaves, Coady tells Rudy that she knows Sarah has the original, but she’s gone off the grid. Only one of the Leda clones is visible right now. The one who has been living in her own world all season.
The soccer mom.
It’s election day, and Alison is rounding up people in her bedazzled school bus for one final round of campaigning. Marci can’t believe a lesbian…supporter is garnering this much support, but Alison won’t let her arch nemesis get her down today.
Donnie is on his way to get on said bus, but first he has a surprise for Helena (who is decidedly not invited on Sestra Alison’s picture-perfect bubblegum pink campaign). Donnie leads her out to the garage and opens the door…and there is Jesse in his tow truck. Helena is so thrilled that Donnie found her boyfriend that she gives him a slightly awkward hug before going to reunite with her man.
In her apartment, Shay is holding the biggest bread knife she can find, and probably doesn’t go very far without it these days. Cosima knocks on the door and promises she’s alone when Shay inquires about her “psycho girlfriend”. Cosima tries to explain that the nature of their top-secret work is what makes Delphine paranoid, but Shay tells Cosima exactly the kind of threats Delphine used and Cosima is sorry (and surprised…Delphine maybe glassed over that part). But Shay lied about being in the military and Cosima wants to know why.
Shay says she lied about her life because they met on a dating app. Everyone fluffs up their profile, and by the time they U-Hauled it was too late to spill the beans. She’s not even working as a holistic healer right now-she’s a massage therapist. (At least, that’s what I assume RMT stands for?) And while they’re on the subject, Shay has no idea who Cosima is either. Cosima says she can’t tell her, even when Shay begs.
Cosima considers it, but it’s not only her secret to tell, so she can’t. Shay tells her to leave. Cosima’s baggage is heavy, and it’s not worth carrying around if she’s not allowed to even know what’s inside.
Ferdinand pays Delphine a visit at DYAD, saying he’s impressed with what she’s done so far, and that even though he likes S&M, he doesn’t like having a Hair Straightener of Badassery shoved up his ass, so he’s going to need to take her down a peg. He wants the original for Topside so he can get ahead of her, but Delphine has a better plan. On cue, Sarah steps out from the shadows and says she’ll give Ferdinand one chance for a deal.
Ferdinand is surprised to see her, because the last time he was in town, she was chained up in the basement. In one of the most beautiful power plays I’ve ever seen, Sarah says, “Was I?” then repeats a line she used when she spent time with him as Rachel. Ferdinand is fascinated that he was duped by a cloneswap, and is stunned enough to hear Sarah out.
Sarah tells Ferdinand that she’ll give him the genome, but in return she wants Castor dead; otherwise, she’ll get rid of every trace of the original DNA. Ferdinand tries to call her bluff, saying she wouldn’t kill Leda’s chance for a cure, but Sarah shrugs and says, “I’m immune.” A threat that he’s inclined to believe, because the only clone he knows up close and personal is Rachel, who is very Every Clone for Herself. He hasn’t experienced the Sestras and the lengths they would go for each other.
In the warehouse, Cosima is excited and nervous to meet Kendall; for science and personal reasons. But Kendall is less excited to see her, because the last time a scientist came poking around her it was Duncan, who stole her genes for a widespread illegal cloning experiment that has put her life in danger. She calls Cosima a “pikey,” which I thought was maybe a beautiful mythical creature but apparently is slang for vagabond or gypsy-types. Cosima is cut from a gentler cloth than Sarah though, and responds to the sharp words with softness, helping Kendall out of her goofy science suit.
Cosima tells Kendall that her and the other clones call themselves sisters, but Kendall isn’t interested in the sappy stuff. Kendall snaps at her and threatens to gut her, which makes Mrs. S step forward, ready to cut in, but Cosima says she can handle her big sister. She tells Kendall that she’s the closest thing they’ll ever get to a cure. All she needs is a little blood. Taken by Cosima’s kindness, and the fact that she let it be a choice, Kendall holds out her arm for some needling.
Felix and Sarah head off to do some more Scooby Doo-ing, and Felix decides to take the lead on this mission. He surprises even himself by kicking in a door, where they find Gracie and Mark cuddled up in bed. Mark explains that they just wanted to ride out what he has left of his life in some semblance of freedom, but Sarah needs to know what Coady’s next move is so she can save her sestras. Gracie, feeling guilty for betraying the women who helped her, implores Mark to tell Sarah what he knows.
In the warehouse, Mrs. S prepares a sulfuric acid bath for her mother, and Kendall figures it’s her revenge for killing her daughter’s husband. And as much as Mrs. S would love that, the bath is just a safety measure, to be used if Castor comes sniffing around. .
At DYAD, Delphine tells Neelan that Ferdinand is poking around and thinks Rachel is dead, so she needs to be moved to a private facility. Neelan leaves to make preparations, and Delphine tries to wake “Rachel” up.
Delphine looks at the clone’s nails and wonders how she gets them to naturally grow like claws when suddenly “Rachel” wakes up and smacks her right in the face. Krystal recognizes her as the woman from the nail salon and Delphine realizes Rachel has been cloneswapped.
Krystal realizes one of her eyes is covered and starts to panic, and Delphine gently and tentatively peels back the gauze, afraid of what she’ll find…but thankfully finds both of Krystal’s eyeballs perfectly in tact.
Krystal is distraught because weird things just keep happening to her. First a trunk, then a man with two accents, now a mysterious hospital. What next?? Delphine is not pleased with this turn of events.
The real Rachel tests out her new robot eye and inspects the weird room she’s in, which has a bunch of stuffed finches in it. She shouts into the abyss, asking her where she is and who is keeping her prisoner. Well, captive. I don’t think you can be considered a prisoner when you have silk pajamas.
Back in suburbia, Helena and Jesse catch up. Helena gives him the brief overview of prison break, soap making, teaching kids karate, but “Can’t Fight This Feeling” is on the radio and the two are overcome with emotion so Helena leaps on him and they start kissing. Helena’s ready to ravage him, warning him that even though she has a science baby inside her, he will be her first, but before she can tear all his clothes off like a lion ripping into a gazelle, her clone phone rings. She tells Jesse her family needs her, but that she can wait a little longer. Jesse says he can wait, too.
Alison and Donnie spot Rudy scouting them, but they hop on the bus like nothing’s wrong. Donnie texts Sarah, who isn’t surprised; as far as Castor can tell, Alison is their “weak flank.” Because they don’t know how well the Hendrix’s can disappear a body, and they’ve never seen Alison’s Craft Room of Torture.
The bus takes a short detour, Rudy on their tail, which leads him into the Hendrix’s garage, where Helena is duct-taping weapons to her hands. Helena knows he’s glitching, and offers him tape for their prison-style fight, but he declines. So she kicks the roll in his face and her music screeches to life. After a bit of a scuffle, Helena stabs Rudy in the arm with a screwdriver, forcing him to drop his weapon and regret not taking up her offer of tape. He falls to the floor and she sees that Rudy is “winding down like a toy” and that fighting him further is not necessary.
“Rudy” calls Mother and tells her where to meet him, but it’s actually Mark who so graciously let himself get punched in the face by Sarah for this occasion. And when Mother and her men get to the location, Ferdinand is there to meet them, killing Coady’s guards and introducing himself.
Helena lies down next to the real Rudy on the floor of the garage, and he asks her if she remembers her childhood, which of course she does. Rudy says he remembers sleeping in a room full of his brothers and listening to them all breathing in unison. And then how they’d all sleepwalk into the corner like puppies. Which, quite frankly, sounds terrifying. Though not more terrifying than Helena saying she was nine the first time she had to kill a puppy.
Rudy says they had a purpose, because he truly believes it, but Helena tells him he’s wrong. He’s just a rapist. She strokes her brother’s head until he dies, lying on the ground with him, an imperfect yin and yang.
At the Warehouse, Mrs. S adorably thinks that all their problems will be over once they give Ferdinand the original’s DNA. It’s like she’s never seen Pretty Little Liars. While they wait, Mrs. S asks her mother to help her daughter understand who she is, where she came from. So Kendall tells the story of how five years after Duncan first came to do his tests, Duncan found her again, worried about Neolution taking over his experiment, telling her that he was in danger and that he lost one of his clones in the foster system, and was worried about her, too. So Kendall sent Duncan to Siobhan, because she knew her daughter could help, and told Duncan to have her daughter find and protect the orphan black; it was Kendall’s way of reconnecting with her daughter, of giving her a part of herself, since she couldn’t be there for her the way she wanted to be.
Meanwhile, Delphine struts into the viewing room (the one with the screens for walls), where Neelan waits for her. She demands to know where Rachel is, and he just tells her to turn on the TV. She does, and she sees the security footage of Rachel in the room she can’t escape.
Neelan says that Neolution had been part of DYAD all along, more than just Leekie’s theories. Castor and Leda were Neolution’s Adam and Eve. Their attempt at playing God. Delphine isn’t sure if she believes him, but he offers her a job. One chance to choose: Is she for or against them? Delphine refuses his offer so he attacks her and tries to spit a worm in her mouth.
That’s right. At first I thought he had one of those suicide-teeth in. Then I thought maybe it was a poison thing he was trying to spit at her. But then a creepy crawly bug that looks like the metal-eating shrill from Defiance. But Delphine came to this meeting with more than just her attitude, so she shoots him.
As he lay dying, he warns her that she won’t live until morning.
Delphine calls Sarah, who is with Ferdinand and his guard, getting the genome from Kendall so they can all go their separate ways. Delphine warns Sarah that they’re all being played by Neolution, and while she talks to the rebel clone, she pulls the little bug out of Neelan to inspect it.
When Sarah tells Ferdinand that Neolution has Rachel, that she isn’t dead, Ferdinand gets furious. He hates Neolutionists. He grabs Mrs. S’s trusty bat and swings at his guard, who gets out a, “We’re everywhere” like some kind of Hydra agent before getting his brains bashed in.
Ferdinand tells Mrs. S and Sarah to hide Kendall and hide her well, and to not tell anyone where they’re going, not even him. The enemy of his enemy is worth changing his sadistic tune.
Before they say goodbye to Kendall forever, Clone Club has a lovely dinner at Bubbles.
It’s just like Helena’s dream; everyone is smiling and eating and drinking together. But there are even more people to love here at the table than she could have imagined being part of her family.
Alison gets a call during dinner and finds out that she beat Marci by 56 votes, making her officially School Trustee. So all her sideline work this season truly paid off. Despite some small hiccups in the form of mobsters and cloneswaps gone wrong, Alison’s dream came true.
While Clone Club gets their nom on, Delphine goes to Shay’s apartment again. Though Shay isn’t exactly thrilled to see her.
Delphine says she knows what she did was unforgivable, but she also knows that Cosima really cares about Shay. She thinks that in a way, they’re a good fit. Shay literally could not care less about what Delphine thinks. Delphine promises she won’t get between Shay and Cosima ever again, but that she thinks they deserve a fresh start, a foundation built on truth and trust. She gives Shay a DYAD business card and says that Shay can give this card to Cosima and say Delphine gave her permission to tell Shay everything, even the top-secret stuff. If that’s what Cosima wants. (It’s her biology, her decision.)
She then looks at Shay sadly and says, “Be good to her.”
Shay locks the door behind her and looks at the card, on which is written, “324B21”.
At Bubbles, Donnie is pouring everyone wine, and almost pours Helena some until he is reminded that she’s prego. He then says, “Sorry, monster” because they have the most adorable twisted friendship ever. Everyone talks about science and not-science, chattering happily, until Sarah offers a toast, to Beth, who gave them her strength, who started them on this journey. Helena gives a toast, too, to her sestras and to Kira’s leetle face.
Alison also thanks her sestras (and literally says sestras which I love) because she knows that no matter what happens, whatever comes next, they’ll face it together. As a family.
(Side note: I love that Mrs. S and Alison are the heads of the table. Donnie isn’t even mad about it.)
Cosima’s phone goes off so she goes outside to see Delphine. Cosima invites her in, but Delphine can’t stay. Delphine tells her to keep the genome safe, and Cosima says she will. Cosima says she understands why Delphine did everything she did, even the things she didn’t react to so great in the moment. She apologizes for the way things have been going, and Delphine tears up.
Delphine kisses Cosima, and it feels like goodbye.
She tells Cosima to give her sisters all her love and leaves.
Delphine goes into a parking garage alone at night while there is evil afoot because she has never watched a scary movie or a crime drama or television at all, apparently. She hears someone approaching, so she puts her bag down (not unlike Beth before the train) and turns around to face the footsteps. With a look that says she accepts her fate, she asks the off-screen figure one question: “What will happen to her?” But instead of a response, Delphine gets shot.
And hold on, because I have a lot of feelings on this, but there are only two scenes left in the episode, so let’s get that out of the way before I begin my processing-out-loud.
Rachel, still trapped in her room, is surprised to see a tiny version of herself limp in, and recognizes her as Charlotte. Charlotte tells Rachel she’s going to be her new mum, and when Rachel asks who told her that, she responds, “Professor Duncan.” Before Rachel can process this information, Susan Duncan walks in, very much alive.
In Iceland, little Kira watches as snowmobiles approach her house in the middle of nowhere. Sarah jumps off one and the little monkey runs to hug her mum. Mrs. S and Kendall are there, too, because Cal did such a good job disappearing for most of the season, they figured it would be a safe enough place for Kendall, too. Sarah tells Kira there’s someone she wants her to meet, but first she just wants to look at her daughter’s leetle face.
The end.
Now back to Delphine. To analyze the scene, we know a few things: She knows the person who shot her. She didn’t even seem all that surprised to see whoever she saw, to be honest. The way things are going, it could have been pretty much anyone. Also, that person is a Neolutionist, which means that the Delphine we know and love could be gone, but it’s possible she’ll be back post-directed-evolutionized and be like half woman half machine. Or she could be just regular old dead and Cosima and her sestras will spend Season 4 avenging her death like Nyssa al Ghul in Arrow.
I’ll get this part out of the way: Another queer female character has been murdered. Our numbers are not high enough for any to be taken away. However, unlike some other shows (like Skins or Arrow or Chicago Fire) this didn’t feel like a slap in the face, or a vehicle for a man’s storyline, or a case of crap-I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-this-queer-woman-so-let’s-just-get-rid-of-her. This felt more like Tara McClay. Like this is a show where you grow to love characters, but this is a show where the stakes are high and people die. If Paul hadn’t died this season, I would be more apt to be shouting. But this show sacrifices good actors and good characters for heartbreaking stories, for stories that make you cry and shout and ache.
The reason I’m choosing not to throw a red flag on this play (though they do get a warning flag-what color is that? Sports!) is because when Delphine got shot, I wasn’t just sad because I wasn’t going to see Evelyne Brochu on my screen anymore. I wasn’t just upset we lost another complex, rich, wonderful queer woman on television. I was also heartbroken because all Delphine has done all season is go out of her way to protect the Leda clones. Her actions, right up until her last, were to make sure Cosima would be safe and happy, even without her. If her death was a vehicle for anyone’s storyline, it’s Cosima’s. She won’t have to worry about saving herself and her sisters anymore, now that she has the genome. And if Delphine had just slipped off into the night, Cosima could have washed her hands of everything and gone into her happy bubble, like Alison did (though likely not as literally as owning a shop named Bubbles). Now Cosima will have motivation to stop Neolutionism in its tracks. She did everything she could to protect the woman she loved, and she died anyway. It’s dark, it’s gritty, but it’s raw and real.
Plus, another bonus this show has over other shows that have killed off queer characters, is that killing off Delphine wouldn’t effectively end their LGBT representation. They were four for four in the acronym, but even with Tony being MIA and now bisexual Delphine gone, they’re left with two lesbians and a gay man. Which is still better than most shows on network television.
Now, normally I wouldn’t even think Delphine is dead. Helena, Kira, and Rachel have all survived worse. But I’ve read two interviews with Graeme Manson that confirm it. Though neither of them imply that she’s permanently dead? Which is why the Robot!Delphine thing is still on the table. But this is the end of Cophine, this tragic romance, that burned hot and bright until it consumed us all.
In conclusion, I think this was a great finale. It was dramatic and emotional and heartfelt and hilarious and devastating. Maybe I’m biased because of how much I love this show, and how much of myself I’ve put into it over the past three years. But I wholeheartedly trust the writers and creatives on this show. I believe in this story, and I look forward to seeing where it takes us.
What did you think of “History Yet to be Written”?
Thank you all for joining me on round three of this journey, for #clonesbians tweeting all week long, not just during the episode, for reading my recaps and leaving long and thoughtful comments on them. I love talking about this show with you guys, you make a great show even better by theorizing and joking and gif-ing and being in awe of Tatiana together. I’ll be on Twitter (@PunkyStarshines) tweeting #clonesbians things all year long, as well as whatever other shows I’m using to kill the time between now and Season 4.
Here’s one last roundup of your amazing tweets:
Let’s start with one from our fearless leader:
.#CloneClub #clonesbians sestras & brother-sestras, thank u 4 watching this season! Everyone at @OrphanBlack loves you! X
– Tatiana Maslany (@tatianamaslany) June 21, 2015
Real reason why Delphine can’t die? She already ripped her own heart out when she broke up with Cosima 2 save her.#OrphanBlack #Clonesbians
– Lucy Burton (@swirlOsquirrel) June 21, 2015
Mother sestra! Helena is a fucking genius. #OrphanBlack #clonesbians
– Chen Drachman (@shokoshik) June 21, 2015
Delphine shoulda stayed with Krystal in whatever safe house she stashed her in! #clonesbians #DelphineCormier #OrphanBlackFinale
– FemmeFatale (@femmef8ale) June 21, 2015
“How is @tatianamaslany real?” is a question I ask myself on an almost daily basis. #OrphanBlack #CloneClub #clonesbians
– TheOtherNic (@CloneNic) June 22, 2015
DAMMIT DELPHINE MAKIN ME FEEL SHIT #OrphanBlackFinale #OrphanBlack #clonesbians #latewatch
– Lane Marchant (@LaneStreet) June 22, 2015
Seestras before Jessetras…? Yeah idk. #OrphanBlack #clonesbians
– Nic (@njnic23) June 21, 2015
Hallmark doesn’t make apology cards that say “sorry my ex said she was going to let you bleed out in the tub” #OrphanBlack #clonesbians
– Elizabeth D-V (@324_B21) June 21, 2015
This is emotional abuse #OrphanBlackFinale I’ll be writing a very stern letter, delivered by Helena. Duct taped to her hands. #Clonesbians
– Jerzey (@jerzeyredhead) June 22, 2015
