User Reviews

**May Contain Spoilers**

I'll be upfront: If you don't geek out at the science at play in Orphan Black, this review might not be for you. Anyone who has watched every season of Orphan Black so far knows that the show does a fantastic job of dealing with themes related to identity, bodily autonomy, and so forth, but nothing is more chilling than the exploration of scientific ethics that, based on this episode, appears to be developing before our eyes. The nerd in me loves to explore the true science behind the show. While the creators and writers do stretch it a bit, putting themselves a step ahead of current science in instances, the show is based in so much real science that it makes it all the more fascinating--and terrifying.

Despite the struggles occurring between Sarah and Felix, the highly entertaining scenes with Krystal, and Donnie's usual comedy, the best and most important part of this episode involved Cosima taking center stage as our undercover clone. She practically jumps at the chance to attend a Bright Born information session for parents, tagging along with Donnie as his and Felix's surrogate. As luck would have it, Susan Duncan is also visiting Bright Born behind the scenes. When she gets word that a clone is in the building (that mishap is a whole different story), she decides to have a chat that leads to a couple of revealing hints at the science behind Bright Born babies.

Sly little clone that she is, Cosima steals Duncan's key card and gains access to the restricted floors. After a change into scrubs, she explores a unit full of pregnant women: carriers. Suddenly, she's pulled right into the fray and exposed to the dark inner workings behind the "perfect baby" persona Bright Born portrays. It's dark. It immediately creates more questions and casts Bright Born in a possibly sinister, or at least highly ethically questionable, light.

Everything leads to a confrontation that feels like the pieces are finally falling together. In an emotional scene, Susan reveals that a generalized, but perfect, reason for why the clones were created (though I think it's a bit more complicated than that), and Cosima then makes a statement that begins to put the whole purpose of the clones in a new light: "We're your oncomouse." (Go ahead, Google it. Read some science recaps of the show. Follow the science. Go down the rabbit hole.) Susan responds that project LEDA was the gold standard for genetic alteration. But the clones are sick, right? How is that ideal? When you start connecting the dots in the scientific aspects of the show, this is where everything turns gray, bodily autonomy rears its head in a huge way, and scientific ethics takes a wider frame. The scientific possibilities of where they're going are absolutely thrilling for the show.

In my humble opinion, there's a reason we went back to Beth this season. It's a season of beginnings. However, it's not just about how the clones got to be self-aware or Mr. Duncan's Rachel-coded science of their origin; it's about the beginning of the clones' lives and not how, but why they were created, and how this is related to the potential beginning of their cure. Scientifically speaking, "Raw Human Material" set the stage for some possibly interesting revelations. For this season, Orphan Black went from zero to 60 in this episode, and this nerd can't wait to see where the science goes.

This is one of the most cohesive episodes of Orphan Black in a while; most of the plots in the episode are all happening in the same place at the same time. This season in particular has juggled the show's wide variety of characters in a manner similar to Game of Thrones. That's why it was nice to see an episode like this, where everything that's happening connects in a very tactile way to everything else that's happening (except the Sarah plot).

Sarah wants to spend a simple day with Kira, but she keeps getting interrupted by her complex life. Sarah's struggle as a mother is very well conveyed here. As a result of this stressful situation, she begins to lash out. She fights with Alison and attacks Felix' alleged sister. Sarah's arc this episode was quite good overall.

We check in with Krystal for the first time since last season. She has toughened up, but she's still got more than enough of the wacky character I loved last season in her, leading to some great hi-jinks. We also learn that she is applying for the Brightborn baby treatment.

Donnie goes undercover once again, this time with Cosima. They investigate the Brightborn facility, where they converge with Krystal and someone unexpected yet unsurprising. The episode's central set piece begins.

One thing that Orphan Black does perhaps better than any other show is juxtapose silly comically poor espionage with genuine tense pulse-pounding spy stuff within the same sequence. They are tonal opposites, but this show often does a great job blending them seamlessly. In this episode, for example, Donnie gives Krystal an hilariously awkward back massage to avoid giving away his cover while Cosima is on a knife's edge, about to be exposed and possibly murdered any moment. The comedy of the former does not detract from the tension of the latter, and vice-versa. It's a wonderful technique that could be easy to screw up. When done right, like this episode, it creates a nice sense of tonal variance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. It had some nice reveals, some good laughs and tense moments, and a surprisingly unified plot for an episode of this show. It didn't blow me away, but it was good.

This and the last couple of episodes have done an excellent job of showing how crisis management can become a way of life, an addiction in some ways, and how hard it can get to look up from the immediate crisis you're in, and remember that you're not the only who is having problems. Or to just remember to live and look around from time to time; to try to find some balance in your life. Sarah's automatic dismissive response to Felix dealing with a personal crisis of his own is an excellent example of it. Sarah's perspective that her problems are the most important thing, and anything anyone else is dealing with is of much less a secondary thing is refected here nicely. Though I think that her reaction is also an element of how that character has been dealing with life to begin with anyway (hey, you don't have to be perfect in order to be a heroine). Her inability to show support for what her foster brother is going through, and how she has been just expecting him to provide unconditional support for her situation, without any consideration of his needs is nicely demonstrated. Yes, her and her sestras situation is pretty drastic, but her character's single mindedness about what's most important is also why maybe some people suffer from PTSD moreso than others. You can see even with Kiara that she's getting tired of the whole drama, and has less patience as to why her mother is always so obsessed with fixing everything else instead of just living her life with her daughter. At the beginning, everyone just jumped in without question to do what was needed, but as time passes, and you're still plugging the same holes in the same wall, people are getting tired. Though you can also see how it perhaps takes someone with such single-mindedness to actually get anywhere in such a situation.

It's also an excellent reference to the quality of writing and acting being delivered in this series.

This episode begins with Krystal, she is boxing in the gym. Cosima and Donnie are at a Brightborn meeting. Krystal is also at the Brightborn meeting, will she discover that she has clone sisters? Sarah discovered that Alison dealed drugs, and that Helena dissapeared. Donnie gives Krystal a massage. Krystal knocks down Donnie. Krystal got locked up in a room by Roxie. It is official: Adele is Felix his sister. Nicola gives birth to her child, but it didn't get well. Cosima discovered that Susan her surname is Duncan, Ethan his wife. Ira kisses Susan. Nice Episode of Orphan Black Season 4, Such a great episode again. Excited for the next episode!