Orphan Black Review: The Scandal of Altruism (Season 4 Episode 6)

Everything is coming to a head on the latest episode of Orphan Black. “The Scandal of Altruism” is a solemn defeat in the fight to save the Leda Clones but finally amps up the threat that is Neolution.

Using flashbacks of Beth, Orphan Black once again weaves an intricate plot that proves that this show isn’t losing steam anytime soon.

Let’s start with Kendall Malone. Earlier this season Kendall revealed that she was diagnosed with Leukemia. This week, Scott and Cosima find a way to make Kendall’s illness work for them.

It sounds simple: the Leda clones will give Susan Duncan a reproducible sample of Kendall’s genetic material and Sarah will get the bot removed from her cheek.

This is also the perfect time to reveal what the bots do. Those pesky little cheek worms are meant to do different things for different subjects. In Sarah, it’s attempting to make her sick so that they can isolate the gene in the Leda clones.

Obviously, it’s not working.

Things go sideways during the exchange when a Neolutionist hijacks Kendall’s transport back to the safe house. But this is just the start of a coup.

Scott and Cosima’s computers are wiped of all their research. Kendall is killed and her body burned. The Leda clones are left to wither on the vine.

All the while Evie Cho gets to enjoy her spoils.

What are those spoils? As Evie puts it, clones are obsolete. She no longer needs the beautiful baseline that Leda provides for their experiments. They’ll be able to create a perfect human being without them.

The implications of this episode are enormous. Unless they have some store of blood samples from Kendall, any chance of saving Project Leda has gone up in flames—literally.

Cosima makes a good point when she is talking to Evie. Neolution wants to create the perfect human. What is a perfect human? There is no way for humanity to know what a perfect human is.

If anything, Evie is creating a subjective perception of perfect because her ceation needs to be perfect in her eyes. Something the Leda clones aren’t.

Without a baseline or control for a very subjective experiment, Neolution seems doomed to fail. This is a very Atwoodian plot that seems like something you would find in the Madaddam Trilogy.

Watching Evie try to attempt this creation of a perfect human is going to be interesting, if not a little insane.

The episode also paints Beth’s actions in the pilot in a different light. Beth has a choice in this episode to kill Susan Duncan. When she couldn’t, she came after Evie who warned her that her life would be cauterized.

Evie even goes as far as to say that if she really loves her sisters, then she should us her gun on herself.

The editing of the final sequence is brilliant. After bringing viewers to a precipace, this episode intercuts between Cosima on her knees in front of the burning van, Beth’s conversation with MK, and Sarah answering the phone. It’s hard to leave this episode not feeling a little down.

How can we be anything else given the downtrodden state our favorite clones are in, when death seems to have come knocking at their door?

Ira attempted to commit suicide. Cosima was left to say a tearful goodbye to Kendall. Evie told Cosima that Delphine was shot dead. Siobhan now has to face the fact that her mother is gone, after just getting her back.

Speaking of Siobhan, Maria Doyle Kennedy’s performance was amazing tonight. There is always a feeling of maternal affection mixed with protective mama bear instinct when Siobhan is on screen, but this episode let her be more vulnerable.

There is no doubt that the events of this episode are going to have a lasting effect on Siobhan. After all, he Leda clones are genetically her maternal aunts and they all carry a piece of Kendall. How that will play out is anyone’s guess.

Does anyone else really want to just dive into Siobhan’s world? Maybe actually see a flashback episode after she moves Sarah and Felix out of England? Just so that we can see her in her salad days?

I mean, Siobhan hid people! Who else may be lurking from that part of her life?

While the episode is upsetting and really dark, there are still four episodes in the season. I don’t think Orphan Black is done with us yet and there should be much more to explore.

Stray Thoughts:

• Felix not telling Krystal about the Clones and Neolution, at least not in the most direct sense, may be the best thing that could happen to her after the way this episode played out. Her scenes are  a much-needed dose of comedy in an episode that would have been heavy otherwise.
• Art needs to take a geography lesson! That’s really all there is to it. Epic fail on playing along Art.
• Why isn’t anyone worried about Helena?
• Evie, you are a devil in a pair of heels and a designer dress. Where exactly were you going at the end of the episode? Why did they feel the last shot had to be a sign that said “No Trains,” are they mocking Beth’s death?

What did you think of this episode of Orphan Black? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Orphan Black airs Thursdays at 10/9c  on BBC.

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