Orphan Black’s Sarah Manning does the unthinkable this week. She actually stops to take a breath.
Among Tatiana Maslany’s many talents when it comes to playing Sarah has been her ability to endow the character with the restless energy of a woman pursued, while never once squandering an appropriate emotional beat. Now, with her former home and foster mother compromised, Sarah takes to the road alongside Kira and Felix. The trio eventually ends up at an out-of-the-way rural cabin. The inhabitant turns out to be a Justin Vernon-esque bearded man named Cal. Cal was one of Sarah’s former marks from her con-woman days. Oh, and he’s also Kira’s father.
This hiding out time becomes a period of great reflection for Sarah. Inevitably, after a few days spent at her former fling’s cabin, old feelings start to emerge. In a scene that feels a little too teen drama for my tastes (complete with lingering looks and a romantic folk-rock song augmenting the soundtrack), Sarah and Cal kiss. So, yeah, I guess Paul has been promptly forgotten. Believing that he’s now needed more by Alison than his own foster sister, a disheartened Felix takes off back to the city.
Indeed, despite her fugitive status, Sarah appears to be in a fairly stable place compared to the other clones. Back at Dyad headquarters, Delphine struggles to tell Cosima some bad news. When Cosima’s impersonation of Dr. Leekie fails to bring a smile to Delphine’s face (and seriously how could it not—her appropriation of his unique speaking style is gut-busting) Cosima quickly realizes something is majorly amiss. Delphine shows her footage of another clone from the Midwest named Jennifer Fitzsimmons, who began suffering from a respiratory illness similar to Cosima’s. As part of their treatment of her, Dyad had Jennifer record several video journals before the disease eventually ravaged her body and killed her. Here, both Maslany and the writers once again demonstrate their knack for incredible efficiency. As Jennifer, Maslany conveys a great deal of sadness, pain and confusion with only a few brief video entries worth of screen time (helped also, of course, by some great make-up work). By the time Delphine leads Cosima down to Jennifer’s body in an attempt to learn about her illness, you feel like you know so much about the poor, innocent soul laid cold on the slab.