Now that Orphan Black season 3 is officially over it’s time to go through the season to see what we found out about Project Leda, Project Castor, and the newly returned Neolutionists.

There was a lot that happened this season on Orphan Black. Like, a whole lot. But the best thing about the season being over is that now we get to really chew on all the new facts we learned and figure out what it might mean for next season.

You’re probably confused about how the clones don’t look anything like Kendall Malone, or about what exactly Neolution has to do with everything. The good thing is we’ve got the gist of the whole concept, so let’s try to explain everything to you piece by piece. Just remember: This is all of our assumed knowledge and we definitely don’t consider ourselves to be science pros.

Who exactly is Kendall Malone and how is she the ‘Original’?

That’s a great question, clone club! Let’s start off with the most basic fact about Malone: She’s Siobhan Sadler’s mother. Siobhan, of course, being Mrs. S.. Malone has had a rocky relationship with her daughter and it’s believed that she murdered Siobhan’s husband, John.

Malone was imprisoned in the 1970s and the prison that she was held at was the very same one Ethan Duncan went to search for viable donors. He found a viable donor in Malone, but got more than he bargained for when he learned that Malone had consumed a twin in the womb.

For those of you confused by the concept of “consuming a twin,” otherwise known as vanishing twin syndrome, it’s not as morbid as it sounds. Occasionally when twins are in development in the womb one twin dies in the fetal stage, and instead of the dead tissue being cast aside the second twin absorbs it. Don’t ask us how because we’re no medical experts, but this is what happened to Kendall Malone when she was in the womb – she was the living twin.

Because Kendall absorbed her twin she has two cell lines meaning she has two completely different sets of structured cells within her DNA, as most people have just one. At least, that’s our understanding of it. But according to Scott in episode 10, when you isolate particular strands of Kendall’s genome and separate lines you get what results in Project Castor, and Project Leda.

So that is why Mrs. S. never saw a resemblance between her mother and Sarah – it’s not because she’s incompetent it’s because, well, because science. And yes, this means that because Sarah came from Kendall’s DNA and Kendall is Siobhan’s mother, Sarah and Mrs. S. are indeed blood related.

How are Sarah and Helena immune to the respiratory problem?

This one was actually pretty simple for us to figure out once we learned that Neolution had corrupted Duncan’s experiments. Duncan returned to the prison a few years later and told Kendall that Neolution corrupted his wife and poisoned the experiments once they successfully cloned Kendall’s DNA, but there was one clone that made it out unscathed.

Essentially what we figure is this: Before Neolution got in and created the artificially infertile clones from Kendall’s DNA they first succeeded with creating Sarah and Helena, untouched by Neolution’s attempt to change evolution. Because these clones were so pure, Duncan had requested Kendall’s help to find a good place for them, and Kendall put Sarah with the only person she thought deserved her: Mrs. S.

Again, this isn’t the exact science here – you’d want to talk to Cosima Herter, the show’s science partner. But it’s pretty straight-forward if you try to think of it in layman’s terms. Then again, show creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson might be reading this thinking “Oh you’re so wrong,” in which case we look forward to being completely corrected next year!

So, how exactly does Neolution fit into this?

Do you remember Doctor Leekie from season 1 and most of season 2? And how he was into this thing called Neolution? Well, Neolution is the concept of fast-forwarding mankind’s evolution with better versions of ourselves. Bionic eyes, the regrowing of tails, stuff like that. Neolution wants to expand humankind’s potential with science.

Well, it seems like Neolution is at the forefront of the entire clone drama – which makes sense, actually. Once Duncan had started his experiments he found out that people from Neolution had infiltrated every aspect of it: From the male version of the clones on Project Castor in the military to the female side with the DYAD. Neolution is everywhere. Basically, think of Neolution as Orphan Black‘s Hydra.

What we assume is that once Neolution got the gist of what Ethan Duncan was trying to do and the fact that he was actually succeeding in his human clone trials, they went out to make sure they were not only a part of this ground-breaking experiment but that they controlled where it went — because human cloning means huge things for Neolution and what they want to do.

Now Sarah and her family are going to have to figure out who exactly they can trust. They don’t only have to worry about Castor (because let’s be honest, Virginia Coady isn’t dead so she isn’t finished yet) but they also have to worry about DYAD and who in those two groups work for Neolution. It’s going to be one heck of a ride, clone club.

Read page 2 to find out more, like why Ferdinand flip flopped and what all of this ‘Topside/Director’ business might mean

Why did Ferdinand jump ship?

One of the craziest moments in the season 3 finale was when Sarah told Ferdinand that Neolution has Rachel Duncan, and that they’ve been controlling both Leda and Castor since the very beginning. In that moment Ferdinand made it absolutely crystal clear that he hates Neolution, though we don’t know 100% why yet, other than he thinks they’re zealots. But after learning that the people he hates most have planted a spy right next to him (that spy being Bulldog, his body guard) he takes a bat to the spy and kills him.

We know that Ferdinand has this infatuation with Rachel and that she means a lot more to him than anyone might’ve thought. So when you put together the facts that Neolution has her, that they put a spy right next to him, and that he totally despises them it makes sense when he decides to flip flop.

It looks like Ferdinand will do anything to make sure Neolution doesn’t win and that he gets his girl, so we’re excited to see how he decides to partner with Sarah and her family next season.

Speculation: Who is Topside? / Who is the Director?

This isn’t so much us telling you exactly what’s up but more like us theorizing since we don’t have any solid information on these questions yet. The question of who Topside is will probably be the bigger mystery of the series, and we’re fine with that, but with all of the information we learned on the season 3 finale we are starting to get a clearer picture.

If Neolution is truly controlling both Project Leda and Project Castor then it’s evidently clear that they need some sort of leader at the top of both projects that isn’t immediately associated with them. If people at the DYAD or in the military knew that they were reporting to Neolution we have a feeling that they wouldn’t be 100% up for it, so of course there are these mysterious leaders at the top of each.

On the Leda side, of course, we have “Topside.” From the very beginning we knew that they were at the top of this lady clone business but we didn’t (and still don’t) know anything about them. What we imagine is that Topside is really a representative for Neolution, or at least a partner with them. We don’t immediately think that it’s Susan Duncan (who seems to be the head of Neolution) because she probably has a lot better things to deal with than try to organize all of Project Leda on her own, so it’s probably a partner of hers.

And on the Castor side we have the “Director.” This is a man or woman that’s the equivalent of Topside for the military, because neither Rudy nor Mark know exactly who this director is. Not even Paul knew who the Director was, since the man he was reporting to reported to him. Once again we don’t think the Director is Susan Duncan, but rather a partner. Together, Topside and the Director are likely the Neolution spies leading both projects.

Again, this is just all of our speculation and less fact based than the rest of the stuff we’ve tried explaining to you. Topside and the Director are both still huge mysteries, ones that we imagine we will get to see in season 4. But it’s exciting to take information from the finale and try to piece it together, isn’t it?

What are your theories for ‘Orphan Black’

Now that we have a better understanding of Neolution, the original, and the whole Leda vs Castor thing we can start theorizing about what all of this means for season 4. Next on our agenda? Attending the Orphan Black Comic-Con panel to see what the cast has to say about all of this craziness!

What do you think all of this means for the rest of Orphan Black? If you have any theories or think something is not the way that we tried to explain feel free to mention it in the comments below!