Orphan Black Recap: “Effects of External Conditions”

by Kevin Ranson:

Orphan Black Recap: “Effects of External Conditions
Original Air Date (BBC America): Saturday April 20, 2013
Season 1 Episode 4

Can’t sleep; clones will beat me.

In spite of self-surgery, the rebar wound Sarah inflicted on the clone assassin still looks pretty bad. Meanwhile at Alison’s house, Sarah tells her about the assassin. She then not only returns Alison’s money but confesses that she thought of running off with it; she doesn’t tell Alison about the winged-fish handled blade. When Sarah mentions Kira is her biological daughter, Alison winces; did Alison adopt children because she couldn’t have any of her own? Alison makes arrangements to keep her children safe so she can be of use to Sarah if needed.

Via her double-helix-decorated laptop – cute! – Cosima voice chats with Sarah at Felix’s place; Cosima thinks the assassin’s knife may hold a clue to their identity. The next morning, Art has a lead: the stolen bike and a blood trail has been found. The child who saw the assassin in his bathroom says she was “an angry angel” that looked just like Sarah! The kid was given a paper “fortune teller” – Sarah conveniently tags it with her own fingerprints, just in case… very smart!

While the department breaks down the case, a call arrives for Childs. The Russian-accented assassin calls herself “Helena” and asks Sarah to meet her at the address she has “already provided.” After Art and Sarah leave to chase the address down, Helena – waiting for them to leave while hidden outside – slips into the station to take a turn playing Beth for a while.

Art and Sarah find another of Helena’s hideouts in the basement of an old abbey with stick-figure covered walls. One figure stands larger and above the rest with a bloody question mark over it; does it indicate the original clone the others were made from? Back at the station, Sarah finds evidence of Helena being there, especially a picture of Maggie Chen taped over one of Beth and Paul. Looking over the file pictures of Chen, one reveals a winged-fish brand on the back of the her neck.

With so much new evidence to sift through at the station, Sarah can’t make her promised appointment with Mrs S. It’s another Clone Club perk: being in multiple places at once! Felix convinces Alison to take Sarah’s place and meet with her daughter. Alison fancies herself an actress up to the task while Felix contemplates how to pull off a “reverse Pygmalion.”

Paul shows up at the station claiming that Beth asked him to pick her up – but it was Helena that he was actually talking to. After Paul came off so creepy and observant, there seems to be an awful lot of scenes showing him to be Mr. Concerned… except that last look after Sarah blows him off. Cosima calls in on the clone phone; between the knife and the brand, Maggie may have been shot by Beth on purpose for having some connection to Helena.

The symbolism of the winged fish knife makes Helena seems like not only a zealot but that she might not be working alone. After Art gets up in Sarah’s face about Paul bringing his baggage down to the station, Helena sends Sarah an invitation along with a video made at Beth’s desk… confessing to killing Maggie Chen in cold blood. After Sarah leaves, Art begins to question how his partner couldn’t have known the assassin was a woman and discovers Maggie Chen’s address imprinted on Beth’s notepad.

Mrs. S is revealed to actually be the foster mother for both Felix and Sarah. Still coaching Alison on the way in, Mrs. S is fooled, but Kira is not. Going for broke, Alison decides to reveal her identity and trust Kira to keep the secret for her mom’s sake. Alison smooths it over for Sarah and lays the groundwork for future visits.

At Maggie Chen’s apartment, Helena claims she is dying and allows Sarah the upper hand for the opportunity to talk, revealing that Chen was somehow connected to making the clones. Sarah assumes that Beth killed Chen to protect the others, but Helena goes all Hand of God and mentions Chen changing sides and the clones being abominations. As Art makes his way inside, Helena gives up multiple opportunities to attack Sarah, even holding the gun against her own head to make it easy to simply pull the trigger.

Feeling Helena’s “connection,” Sarah decides to make Helena leave rather than kill her. Back at the station, Sarah is questioned about being at Chen’s address, taking the opportunity to have “Beth” quit the force before she’s caught. Wondering the streets alone and in a bad way, Helena collapses in an alley to be retrieved by a man wearing a winged-fish signet ring – suspiciously identical to Chen’s neck brand. Where is he taking her and is it really the rebar wound she’s dying from?

Okay, can I say here that Tatiana Maslany is flipping amazing? Not only is she playingnine different parts – often two or more on-screen at the same time – but she seamlessly pulls off playing Alison pretending to be Sarah while making it look close but not quite right. Damn.

Kevin A. Ranson is the author of The Spooky Chronicles and the upcoming vampire thriller The Matriarch. He also the creator/critic for MovieCrypt.com and the “ghost writer” for its horror host Grim D. Reaper (often seen skulking around horror conventions). Find him on Facebook, on Twitter @KevinARanson, and his author blog at ThinkingSkull.com.