Orphan Black: Insolvent Phantom of Tomorrow Recap

Synopsis: The Castor mole is someone we never expected, but we would’ve guessed that correctly over who turns out to be the Castor original! Between a trip to London and Delphine’s indelicate negotiating skills, this episode is packed from beginning to end – and Helena walks a different path! Kind of…

Rating: ★★★★☆

After last week’s revelation, Sarah, Felix, and Mrs. S head back to Mrs. S’ old neighborhood where she meets with an old friend, Terry, who provides her with a gun to kill the Castor original when they track him down. After catching up for some time, Terry excuses himself to make some calls.

This episode is relatively light on Castor Clones, but we do see Rudy starting to glitch with the logic test and Dr. Coady. She promises that they’ll find the original Castor just as soon as they crack the coded Island of Dr. Moreau.

Helena gives a rather graphic lesson in self-defense to one of Alison’s children before Gracie reminds her that things are no longer done that way. A contrite Helena hilariously concedes, “I am mother now, I walk a different path.”

Gracie reminds Alison that she has the day off for a doctor’s appointment when Alison begins delegating tasks to her. Instead she goes looking for Donnie, who is in the store in sorry shape after getting knocked out by Jason Kellerman the night before. What’s worse is that Jage has pulled his endorsement of the Hendrixes and one of Pouchy’s goons comes to re-collect the pills. Instead of the pills, he leaves with Helena’s nitrogen tank.

Cosima succumbs to temptation and begins looking through the file on Shay that Delphine provided her with. It shows an old photo of Shay in the military and she hurries to excuse herself while an upset Shay is left in her wake. She ends up at Scott’s apartment, drinking schnapps, discussing how Shay might have betrayed them.

Back in London, the bartender tipped off Mrs. S’ old band, who showed up to jam with her. At the same time she’s convinced to sing on stage with them, Terry is brutally beaten by Ferdinand and one of his henchmen. He was supposed to tell Ferdinand when Mrs. S came back into town.

Meanwhile, Helena is dancing around the garage and making soap and/or drugs when Gracie says goodbye to her before her doctor’s appointment. Who takes a bag that big to a doctor’s appointment? Helena thinks nothing of it when she notices Donnie wandering around the kitchen and offers to fix him. I love Donnie and Helena bonding over bruises when Helena realizes that the guy took her babies. He tells her that it’s a “dad decision for the family and you’re a part of it now.”

At Dyad, Cosima returns to “eat shit,” as she says and apologize to Delphine. She also tells Delphine about how Sarah is in London after the Castori original. At the same time, Mrs. S and her kids find Terry on the brink of death. He shares some final words with Mrs. S before he dies and she tells them it’s time to go home. She dismisses Sarah and Felix, the former of which snags Terry’s cellphone on the way out.

Donnie and Helena are planning a meeting of their own with Pouchy, as Donnie brings in the pills. When he takes too long, Helena cloneswapping as Alison makes her entrance. They get the tank back, but when Pouchy’s niece threatens Donnie’s kids, Helena has a visceral reaction. She locks Donnie out of the warehouse and proceeds to brutally murder them all – probably, she’s covered in blood anyway.

Delphine shows up at Shay’s apartment and threatens her. She makes some references to the Castor Clones and Shay continues to be confused. Instead of explaining, Delphine runs her a bath and pulls out a razor blade, implying that Shay is going to commit suicide to make things easier for everyone.

Gracie calls Cosima to thank her for being kind and apologizes because, “they told me that I could help save Mark.” Cosima realizes all at once that it was Gracie, who was motivated by her love for Mark, to turn the book over and tell them about Cosima’s illness. She’s happily reunited with him, while Cosima figures out how big of a mistake she made. Calling Delphine, Cosima admits she made a mistake and that it wasn’t Shay, who is left crying in the background and her ultimate fate left unknown.

Sarah calls the number and arranges a meeting to see what Terry found, with Ferdinand close, but the meeting falls apart when the guy knows she’s not Mrs. S. Sarah explains that they’re Mrs. S’ foster kids and the man explains he helped track down Sarah twenty years ago. He gives them an address for Kendall Malone and takes them there. Sarah goes inside to fulfill Mrs. S’ mission while Felix stands watch.

Ferdinand climbs into the cab of their helper and promptly dispatches him while Felix and Sarah are unaware. Inside, Sarah is accosted by Kendall Malone before being interrupted by Mrs. S. Kendall is her mother! Which makes Sarah her… sister? That’s kind of weird, right? In a tense standoff, it’s revealed that her mother killed her husband and was sent to jail, leading to the prison number that led them back to her.

The grouchy old woman admits that she was picked after Duncan came through and tested the inmates, finding that she absorbed a male twin in the womb and has two cell lines – meaning that she’s the Castor original. But before Mrs. S can kill the Castor original like she planned, it’s revealed that not only did she provide the original DNA for Castor, but she provided the original Leda DNA. Ultimately, they need her.