Orphan Black returns this Saturday with its second season premiere, and if you’ve completely forgot what happened last year then we have a short need-to-know recap of last season.
With Orphan Black coming back in just under a week, we know that not everyone has had time to read gigantic recaps or do a rewatch of season 1 to make sure they’re all caught up. That’s why we’re giving you a totally basic recap to remind you of the important things you need to know, organized via character.
Sarah Manning
At the end of last season, Sarah had one hell of a night. She found out her birth mother was a woman named Amelia, an African-British woman who was the in-vitro surrogate for a couple of scientists, and she had two babies: Sarah and Helena. Helena, not believing that Amelia was her birth mother stabbed Amelia in the stomach, which led to a confrontation between her and Sarah. That confrontation was bad news for Helena, who got shot and we haven’t seen or heard from since.
There’s also the fact that Sarah was on her way to meet with Rachel, the clone that works for the DYAD Institute, before learning from Cosima that any deal Rachel offers is complete crap, so she runs out on Rachel before getting the chance to meet her. Only, when she got home she found it ransacked with Kira and Mrs. S. were nowhere to be found.
Alison Hendrix
Approached by Dr. Leekie with an agreement that she gets to live life as normal as possible while still doing medical tests for the DYAD, her only wish was that her monitor would be removed. Dr. Leekie said that her monitor has already been removed, which coincided with Alison’s neighbor, Ainsley, moving out. At the end of the episode Alison was the only clone to agree and sign the contract given to her by Dr. Leekie.
Already convinced that Ainsley was her monitor from the beginning, Alison went over to say goodbye and during their conversation Ainsley’s scarf got caught in her garbage disposal. But instead of helping her long time friend and thought-to-be monitor, Alison let Ainsley die and fled the scene. Little does she know that her real monitor is her husband, Donnie, who met with Dr. Leekie near the end of the episode.
Cosima Niehaus
Cosima has just started to suffer the early symptoms of the same respiratory disease that Katja Obinger had earlier in the season, when Dr. Leekie approached and offered her sequenced genome as a peace offering, along with a job offer for the DYAD Institute. After arguing and making peace with her girlfriend/partner, Delphine (who also works for the DYAD and was Cosima’s monitor), together they discover that each of the clones have synthetic DNA with a message stating that they are patented and are property of a currently unknown person or organization.
Helena
Shot in the stomach by Sarah after stabbing her mother, Amelia. Presumed to be dead.
Rachel Duncan
Also a clone, Rachel works for the DYAD Institute and in the last couple episodes of season 1 began to reach out to Sarah, Cosima and Alison with deals to offer them what they want in exchange for cooperation with the DYAD.
Art and Angela
You’ll definitely want to remember Art and Angela when the new season starts up this Saturday. Last we left them, Sarah was about to tell Art everything after being arrested when a man named Daniel, who works for the DYAD Institute, came in and claimed he was Sarah’s lawyer and paid her bail to get her out. Art and Angela are definitely aware of the resemblance Sarah has with Beth Childs and Alison Hendrix, but haven’t put together the entire puzzle yet.
Paul Dierden
Don’t forget that Paul has a shady past, and is currently being blackmailed by the DYAD Institute because of it. He used to be a military man, and in Afghanistan he was a private contractor and ended up killing six marines – friendly fire. The company that enlisted his help was the one responsible for covering it up, and they can easily let the truth out should Paul go out of bounds.
And that’s it! A recap of what you absolutely need to remember in under one thousand words! Be sure to check out the Orphan Black season 2 premiere this Saturday on BBC America at 9:00 PM EST/8:00PM CT.