TV Review: Orphan Black 2×04, “Governed as It Were by Chance”

So much has happened and we’re not even halfway into the season. Each clone is facing an escalatingly worse situation, and if you’re expecting a break or relief in this episode, you will be disappointed. Not only do things go from bad to worse, but the results will be shocking. Sarah survives the car crash (as if there were any doubts) and is helped out by Cal, who was the one that crashed into her in an attempt to save her. After hiding the car (with Daniel’s assumed dead body inside), Cal tries to question Sarah on what really is going on, but she remains shut-lipped about him, only really telling him that the Dyad Institute is involved. Cal decides to trust her for the moment, and they pick up Kira and head together in a camper using the back roads so they don’t get caught.

They need answers, and the only person who has shown they know anything about their origins is Mrs. S/Siobhan. Sarah enlists the help of Felix and Cosima to dig into Siobhan’s past and the photograph she claimed to know nothing about. As to why they didn’t do this earlier is beyond me, but after a little cyber sleuthing, Cosima finds the scientists in the picture, who turn out to be Rachel’s parents. They died in a mysterious accident, only after going off the grid to work on a secret project that we can only assume is Project Leda. With Siobhan gone underground, their only lead is Rachel.

Meanwhile, Cosima is still watching Jennifer’s video diaries and watching how quickly she is deteriorating. It obviously resonates with her own health problems, and is taking a great emotional toll on her, probably leading to an emotional breakdown in the near future. Speaking of breakdowns, we join Alison as she wakes up in an unfamiliar, plain room she confuses as a holding cell ordered by Dr. Leekie. After her smashing (into the floor) performance, she is then told that she is in much needed rehab and can be signed out at any time. Felix gives her a pep talk, reassuring her that getting clean is in her best interest. Then her monitor/husband gives her a better reason to stay. If she doesn’t complete the program there, he will take sole custody of the kids and take them away from her. Time to suck it up and learn to pee in a cup in front of a stranger.

Strangers aren’t the problem, but it’s the people you think you know, like Siobhan. She is on a mission to take care of the spiraling situation Sarah started by digging too deep. She finds her old friend (and apparently old lover) Carlton, who was the one that originally brought Sarah to Mrs. S. They talk about the past (very cryptically) and how bad shit will get if Sarah digs any further. There’s another piece of the puzzle yet to be revealed here, and it seems like Siobhan is the only one close to Sarah that really knows. Despite her deception, she has always been a caring maternal figure to Sarah, so is the information she is keeping from Sarah in her best interest? Probably, but since when does Sarah actually do things that are good for her.

Back at camp crazy, we see Art still stalking and photographing everything that happens outside. If only Art knew what was happening indoors. As for Hank, he knows Art is outside and isn’t worried. Like Art, he should be worried about what is going on indoors. Gracie still hasn’t accepted that Helena is one of them, let alone even consider her a human. She attempts to smother Helena in her sleep, but as Sarah can attest to, Helena is one tough person to kill. She takes down Gracie and tries to escape, but not without passing through the room where she vaguely remembers they took some of her eggs. She finally rushes out, passing past Art on the way.

Sarah uses the phone she took off of Daniel’s body to plan her entry into Rachel’s place. Texting Rachel to pretend Daniel has Sarah in custody, she goes over, but encounters a surprise. Through old home videos, she sees Rachel had a normal, happy childhood and wasn’t really raised as the self-aware clone groomed for corporate domination that Clone Club has previously thought she was. If that wasn’t enough, she find men’s clothes also in Rachel’s closet, meaning Daniel and her share much more than a professional relationship. As if finding Daniel’s clothes there wasn’t bad enough, Daniel comes home, alive and right away reports to his higher up, Dr. Leekie, and tells him Sarah escaped. As a surprise to some, Daniel is Rachel’s monitor. We’re not quite done with the surprises because Daniel finds Sarah before she leaves and starts to torture, but surprise, he gets interrupted by a visitor. SURPRISE! It’s Helena, who has been following Sarah. She takes care of Daniel, killing him (we think, but you never know). Sorry, Daniel, I don’t think there’s any coming back from that. Sarah is tied up in the bathroom screaming at the fact that Helena isn’t as dead as she thought, but Helena is happy to be back with her family, and not her pretend religious family that only wanted her for her eggs. One of which we see Hank has successfully impregnated. After this bloodbath there might be a baby shower!

This evenly paced, action-packed episode is verging on the horror. Helena has a knack for darkening every episode with her feral nature and all the awful things that happen to her. We also get our chain of command updated, introducing Rachel as just another one of the clones, with Dr. Leekie at the very top now, but that definitely won’t last for long once we find out what who Mrs. S is trying to protect Sarah from.

RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)