It’s finally here. After what felt like an endless amount of months waiting for new episodes of Orphan Black, the season two premiere finally arrived last night on BBC America. Unsurprisingly, the episode didn't disappoint. And, of course, star Tatiana Maslany totally killed it.
While "Nature Under Constraint and Vexed" did take some time to let us catch up with each of the clones (namely, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, and Rachel Duncan), season two's premiere mostly focused on the one character with whom we entered into this whole crazy Orphan Black world: Sarah Manning, and rightfully so. When we left Sarah last season, she had just discovered that the Dyad Institute had patented the biology of every clone they created through binary code in their DNA. As if that wasn’t enough, she also discovered her daughter and adoptive mother both kidnapped, presumably by another clone, Rachel, and the Dyad Institute itself. Oh, and also, she just killed her twin sister clone who herself had just killed their birth mother.
In other words, Sarah’s been through a lot.
Luckily for her (and all of us, as viewers), Sarah is a fighter, and you can be damn sure that she wasn’t about to sit and cry at the prospect of her daughter being kidnapped. She was going to get Kira and Mrs. S back, however possible. That’s the thing about Sarah, you see: She grew up on the streets, so when she switches to survival mode, she’s at her best. Thinking quickly on her feet when her foes are a massive, evil corporation who think owning human beings is cool is basically Sarah’s forte at this point.
There’s a problem, though. As Sarah soon discovers, the insane Proletheans—a.k.a., the radical extremist group who gravely oppose the Dyad Institute’s clone experiment and are attempting to wipe out all of the clones to promote a more natural world—are on her tail. They try to apprehend her at a diner after they kill the owner, but Sarah is able to get away and hide out at Felix’s.
It’s clear that the Proletheans won't give up that easily. Mainly because they’re actually the ones who kidnapped Kira and Mrs. S, as we see when a member of the Proletheans takes a picture of Kira as proof of life to send to Sarah. PLOT TWIST.
Sarah, of course, still believes that the Dyad Institute is behind the kidnapping. She poses as Cosima to get into the building during a cocktail party celebrating Dr. Leekie, the institute’s founder. Cosima, if you remember, is being courted by Dr. Leekie for a job at the Dyad Institute, in addition to dating her monitor who works for them, Delphine Cormier. No one bats an eye when Sarah waltzes into the place wearing Cosima’s coat, looking the spitting image of her. Even Delphine is fooled when she first sees her, and she plants a majorly long kiss on Sarah’s lips just before Dr. Leekie walks over.
After an awkward conversation (for Sarah, anyway), Dr. Leekie leaves and Delphine immediately tells Sarah that she knows she’s not Cosima, and that she’s in danger. Sarah doesn’t care, and she goes off to find Rachel anyway.
It’s not too hard, either. Sarah enters Dr. Leekie’s office and finds Rachel there, not in the least bit surprised to see her. Rachel tells her that they never actually took Kira and Mrs. S, and that she lied to Paul (whom Sarah had been in contact with) just to get Sarah there. Apparently, the place was already ransacked when the Dyad Institute arrived (because, unbeknownst to Sarah, the Proletheans took Kira and Mrs. S).
Rachel still deserves a big ol’ can of ass-whooping anyway, and Sarah does not fail to deliver. She points a gun at Rachel first, but when Rachel seems unfazed, Sarah tackles her, points a gun to her head, and after delivering a verbal warning ("You don't own us."), she pistol-whips her instead. BAM. If you heard people violently cheering around 9:45 PM last night, just know it’s because of this scene.
Paul enters just as Sarah is making a run for it and puts on the whole act of attempting to apprehend her because of the security cameras. Sarah punches him, for show, and then Paul lets her leave, saying he’ll figure out something to tell his boss.
Sarah heads straight for deceased clone Beth Childs old partner, Art’s apartment. Earlier into the episode, Art was seen telling his new partner that Sarah almost trusts him and that they can use any information she gives them to help figure out why all of these women look identical. Sarah, on her end, does trust Art. She shows up at his place and asks him if he really wants to know what’s going on.
He says yes. She begins to tell him the whole story, just as the screen cuts to black. Bad idea, Sarah? Good idea? It’s not clear. Sarah may have bigger problems lying ahead, anyway...
Helena, Sarah’s twin sister clone whom, we all thought, she shot dead at the end of season one is ALIVE, and limping her way into a hospital bleeding profusely from the gunshot wound. Remember, Helena is a psychotic raised by the Proletheans to kill her fellow clones, so this does not bode well for…well, anyone.
Written by Tanya Ghahremani (@tanyaghahremani)
[GIFs via thecloneclub/Tumblr]
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