Orphan Black: Scarred by Many Past Frustrations Recap

Synopsis: Sarah and Helena work together to escape the Castor compound, but when Helena breaks free, she leaves Sarah behind. Gracie comes to Felix and Mrs. S to recover, but collapses from what appears to be a weird, Castor STI. Cosima starts dating!!

Rating: ★★★★☆

Okay, my notes for this episode were fairly sparse, but I think that’s because I was distracted by how much I’m rooting for Cosima and her first date to go well. BECAUSE COSIMA DESERVES EVERY GODDAMN HAPPINESS THIS LIFE HAS TO OFFER.

Anyway, this episode picks up where the last one left off: at the Castor compound. Helena has just killed Parsons, and now she’s handcuffed and thrown face-first back into her cell. She starts talking to her scorpion hallucination before she finds a pin buried in the dust. Helena uses the pin to start picking at the locks on her handcuffs, but not before she adds to the self-mutilation mosaic on her back.

Our girl Sarah was also captured by the Castor boys last week (some thank you for saving Mark’s life…). She’s in the cell next to Helena’s. Which makes me question whether the compound only has two prison cells, because I feel like it is not a wise decision to put the two sisters next to each other.

Helena refuses to reconcile with Sarah, believing that Sarah sold her out to Project Castor in exchange for her and Kira’s freedom. Sarah tells Helena that she never made that deal – it was all Mrs. S’s doing. Paul visits Sarah in her cell and corroborates Sarah’s story.

It appears as though Helena forgives Sarah, and the two work together to free themselves. Sarah lands herself in the infirmary and steals a pair of tweezers. With the help of a shoelace, she gets the tweezers to Helena, who finishes picking the locks on her manacles, breaks one of the bars on her cell window, and butters her body up to slip out the door.

But wait! What about Sarah?

Helena leaves her – says they’re finally even. She then escapes to the rooftop edge of the compound and has one last conversation with her scorpion hallucination where she admits she feels guilty for leaving Sarah. Then, the alarm sounds. Castor knows Helena has escaped.

In the second storyline this week, Gracie comes to Detective Art for help after her miscarriage. Since her mother kicked her out, she has nowhere else to go. Art quickly pawns her off on Mrs. S and Felix. We learn a little bit more about S’s backstory – her husband was killed in a barfight with a pair of garden shears (fitting with the trend that nothing on this show is non-graphic).

Gracie has a tough time convincing Felix that she’s not a Prolethian, and decides to cut loose by drinking, dancing, and dressing in Sarah’s fishnet/leather wardrobe. In the middle of blowing off steam dance-party style, she collapses. The sclera of her eyes are red and bloodshot. Art talks to the woman who slept with Rudy a few weeks back, and her eyes are red as well. Back at the Castor compound, Paul flips through one of the Castor boys’ black notebooks filled with women’s names and hair samples. Looks like there’s a Castor-specific STI going around… fantastic. #NoGloveNoLove

In my favorite storyline this week, Cosima goes on a first date!! Poor lamb is super nervous and still reeking from her past relationship with Delphine, but she goes out with a blonde bombshell holistic healer. I love it. The two girls hit it off and Cosima takes her back to her apartment, and the two kiss. Hopefully she isn’t part of an elaborate conspiracy, because COSIMA DESERVES BLISS.