If Orphan Black season 4, episode 7 had a different title other than “The Antisocialism of Sex,” and it was based off song titles, it would be, “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.”
Orphan Black is getting darker than ever, and this episode proves it. Despite the show having opened with a suicide, we never really focused on those darker aspects, but within the past few episodes they’ve really dug deep into Beth’s storyline. And now that storyline is even affecting Sarah.
I’m not quite sure what’s up with Sarah, to be honest. She wanted to leave, for some reason that I don’t comprehend, and when she left she was back at her old habits; she was doing drugs and having sex with strangers and she appeared to have no concern for anyone but herself. It was actually really weird and almost out of character for her, which makes me think that maybe the bot in her face was preventing her from being all psycho like she was in the past.
Maybe that’s just a crazy crack theory that won’t ever be proven, but think about it: Sarah was doing all sorts of shite when the show started. When she started impersonating Beth, her attitude changed, her behaviors changed and she was no longer interested in doing a ton of drugs (or so it seemed). Around that same time she found herself being poked and prodded in her sleep and maybe that’s when they put the bug in her cheek, so it would make sense that now it’s out she’s being reckless and doesn’t care again. Or maybe it’s just her dealing with all the stress that was brought on from trying to stop Neolution.
Either way, I’m just very happy that Felix was able to find her before she committed suicide and jumped off the bridge into the train tracks. I’m hoping that because he saved her and he stopped her from doing the unthinkable she will realize that her relationship with him is always going to be stronger than his relationship with Adele, and hopefully next week we’ll start to see them bond again and see Sarah feel better. It won’t be a complete 180 degree change, of course, but maybe it’ll start improving enough to make me not want to punch Sarah in the face when I see her.
But Sarah isn’t the only clone who was contemplating doing terrible things in this episode. Cosima’s arc tonight really surprised me, not necessarily because it wasn’t expected but because of just how stupid she was being. She wanted to implant Sarah’s bot into her own cheek without having any idea how to go about the process correctly and knowing that it could definitely kill her if she did it incorrectly. Being a scientist, I’d expect Cosima to know the risks, and the worst part about it all is I think she did know and that’s why she wanted to do it. It was be-all, end-all for her, where if it worked, then yay, she could start getting better, and if it didn’t work, then oh well, she’s dead and she can see Delphine again.
And then Felix came to save the day. God bless that man. After informing Cosima that Krystal actually saw someone pick up Delphine alive after she got shot, Cosima immediately gave up on trying to install the bot in her face and decided to continue to beat this damn disease she has. I know she had a brief fling with Shay last season, but Cosima’s dedication to Delphine this season is incredible and I think out of all the ships on the show, Cophine is going to beat all of them. Now they just have to work on finding a solution to her respiratory disease, and with the hard drive data gone and Kendall dead, that’s definitely going to prove more difficult than ever.
At least one good thing came from this, and that was Rachel’s relationship with her mother. She was finally let out of her bedroom and able to have a civil conversation with Susan, which I found endearing. Susan had just about given up on Neolution and trying to build atop the work of the founder, both literally and figuratively. And then Susan got the news that Neolution was officially phasing her out, giving full control to Evie Cho instead.
Afterwards, at the end of the episode, Rachel got a weird vision of a swan. I’m of the opinion that Rachel is going to help her mother gain back control of Neolution, but also help her start it up as a new organization, one that will help her and Charlotte heal instead of letting them die. After looking up the meaning of swans in dreams, it appears that they can symbolize a plethora of things, but most notably rising glory of a new day, and union, bonds and partnership. Coincidence? I think not.