Orphan Black Recap: “Variations Under Domestication”

by Kevin Ranson:

Orphan Black Recap: “Variations Under Domestication”
Original Air Date (BBC America): Saturday May 4, 2013
Season 1 Episode 6

What that clone think she’s doing? Put the gun down! Yes, the one with the hot glue…!

Paul and Sarah lay a few cards on the table, both admitting that neither are who they’ve been pretending to be; Paul doesn’t seem to have an issue with Sarah being an opportunistic “twin sister” looking to clean Beth’s account out. At her first opportunity, Sarah gives Paul the slip and catches up Cosima on the details, but Cosima may have a monitoring problem of her own in Delphine. Paul isn’t too worried where Sarah is off to since her car has been Lo-Jacked.

After secretly recording husband-under-suspicion Donnie, Alison discovers that he sneaked off in the middle of the night. She confronts him the next day, knocking him cold with a golf club (fore!) when he blows off her questions. Sending her kids to a neighbor, Alison calls Sarah for help and ties Donnie up inside her “scrap-booking torture room.” Hearing Donnie scream shouldn’t be this entertaining!

Meeting in the University of Minnesota school library, Delphine invites Cosima to listen to a lecture by TED talker Dr. Aldous Leekie (is that Matt Frewer’s picture? It IS!) about “Neolution: The New Science of Self-Directed Evolution.” Okay, while Matt’s awesome, isn’t it a little convenient to introduce a scientist 99.9% likely to be neck-deep in this illegal cloning thing?

Anyone know what the heck Hydronomax is? Paul raids Beth’s medicine cabinet to spike a booze bottle while leaving Sarah a message to “come and talk.” Back at Alison’s, Sarah discovers what Alison has done to Donnie. If that wasn’t enough, the doorbell rings; Alison forgot that she’s hosting the monthly neighborhood potluck that day! If Alison was wound any tighter, she might spontaneously explode.

Alison plays the Clone Card: she asks Sarah to pretend to be her to interrogate Donnie for info. Sarah calls Fee to tend bar and be her backup – and bring some much-needed ice to the party. Donnie admits to Sarah he got up to watch a European Cricket game, but when he starts going off on who he thinks is his wife, Sarah lays down the law and cowers Donnie.

As Fee arrives by cab in suburbia, Vic breaks into Fee’s place and finds Alison’s address. At the symposium, Cosima and Delphine listen to Dr. Leekie talk about self-directed evolution, that determining what upgrades you choose for yourself being a human right. As Fee, Sarah, and Alison sort out the Donnie-Potluck situation, Paul arrives outside Alison’s only just ahead of Vic; the Clone Conspiracy looks dangerously close to being blown wide open.

Alison crashes on the couch downstairs; Sarah fools Fee that she’s Alison… twice. Fee suspects that a neighbor named Aynesley may be Alison’s watcher, judging from the keen interest she takes in her. Paul sneaks in – no one noticed a guy dressed in all black and gloves getting out of his black SUV in a suburban neighborhood – and discovers a passed-out Alison and her tied up husband. He also sees through Alison’s nanny-cam what’s going on upstairs: Sarah is meeting secretly with Vic to keep him from doing something stupid.

Paul busts in on Sarah and Vic and spins it to look like Paul is in charge of some kind of hustle. Vic pulls a gun, prompting Paul to relocate the discussion to a more private location, just before Aynesley arrives but doesn’t see the gun – whew! The boys go off to talk while Aynesley confides in Sarah that her husband, a cad names Chad, has been less than faithful… ugh. Paul disarms Vic and loads a nail gun to talk about Sarah, who walks in right in the middle of it. Sarah offers to come clean about everything if Paul will let Vic go. Aynesley is left to believe that Paul and “Alison” are having a secret affair.

Back at Beth’s flat, Sarah confesses that she, Alison and Beth are all clones, prompting Paul to abort whatever plans he had for the spiked Scotch. Meanwhile, a dressed-to-the-nines Delphine secretly meets Dr. Leekie in a hotel room; are they old lovers or new?

Are you watching? Have a theory? Just love or hate something? Leave a comment!

Kevin A. Ranson is the author of The Spooky Chronicles and the 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.