Orphan Black 5×03 Review: “Beneath Her Heart”

There has finally been justice for Alison. It took long enough to get here. I wasn’t sure if we would ever see the day, but it finally came in the third episode of the last season. After everything that has happened to her throughout Orphan Black’s run (addiction, murder, drug dealing, etc.) and the backlash from the fandom, it’s nice to see her story end off on a somewhat high-note. I’ve always liked Alison, so I’m happy that things went her way for once.

Alison is taking a well-deserved break from the drama of Neolution and the clones. And if we’re being honest with ourselves here, Clone Club, she should’ve left a few seasons ago. Don’t get me wrong, Alison is a good character and I’ve always liked her. However, her storyline has stopped fitting with the main plot for a long time now. She’s been forced into the drama and left to suffer as everything around her threatens to ruin her life.

With exception to being the comic relief, has there been an Alison-centric storyline lately that served her character well? She could’ve departed a while back for a life away from the drama. In fact, there were a few moments in Orphan Black seasons 3 and 4 where she and Donnie could’ve left with their children. I’m happy that she’s taking the sabbatical. The real fight is going on between Sarah, Rachel, Cosima and Helena from the main clones – Alison is only being brought deeper into their battle.

“Beneath Her Heart” was Alison’s “hero edit” episode. (In other words, this was her goodbye episode.) Mostly all of the storylines were focused on her, it introduced new backstory to her character, and showed her progression overcoming an evil that was weighing her down. She got the chance to be a hero before she signed out. The hero edit is a classic trope used in TV and movies to write off a character, but usually through death.

For most of the episode, I was worried Alison was going to die because of this. When she had her scene confronting Rachel, a few friends of mine were sure Rachel would kill her. It had all the makings of a dramatic elimination – luckily it didn’t happen! I’m happy the Orphan Black writers gave Alison a chance to stand up to her tormentor and do something for her Sestras. Hopefully during this break, she’ll be able to refresh and be guaranteed a happy life once the series finale happens. I’m still on the fence if I want a happy ending with her and Donnie together, but the ending scene with them singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” broke my heart. It shattered into many pieces – you did this to me, Orphan Black writers.

We got a special treat with the return of Aynsley and Chad. I wasn’t expecting this flashback episode, but it was nice to see these Orphan Black season 1 characters again. It feels like forever ago when we were introduced to the clones and their lives before all the drama really took off. Aynsley is someone I miss; she was nosy, troublesome and caused a lot of problems for Alison – she was a fun villain. I had an “awww” moment seeing her vision in the crowd when Alison delivered her hero’s speech to the town of Bailey Downs. Chad, on the other hand, was looking a bit rough…and rugged (I’m not complaining about that). You can tell his character has gone through a lot off-camera when he was written off the show. It’s great to see this storyline get a resolution after Aynsley’s death seasons ago.

Another treat from the flashbacks was the moment when Alison and Cosima met. Someone PLEASE create GIFs of this flashback. It was everything! The quotable moments will no doubt live forever on Tumblr. Like I said above, Alison is the comic relief of Orphan Black.

I can’t wait until Art’s new partner is gone. Her entire interaction with Art, Donnie and Alison was frustrating. She has “obvious death scene” written all over her – my gut is telling me that Helena will be the one to kill her. After she was planting evidence in Alison’s house and found Leekie’s burial site, I realized that there is nothing redeemable about this character. She isn’t a love-to-hate villain like Rachel; this is someone who is despicable, cruel and full of herself. In fact, if this is all the criteria for her role, she’s pulling off the persona really well and doing a great job. She is the thorn in Art’s side.

We got a few more tidbits in the mystery surrounding Kira and Helena’s babies. There definitely is something special about the children from clones. It seems Helena’s babies may be stronger as they healed themselves in the womb. My theory (so far) is that they’re more powerful because they’re still fetuses and haven’t fully developed yet whereas Kira, while still special, has aged and grown into her abilities. We might need to be worried if Rachel makes it her new mission to go after the babies because of this – and especially from what she learns from the Kira testing.

“Beneath Her Heart” said goodbye to another clone that we hold near and dear to our hearts. While this wasn’t a death scene like what happened to M.K., this was still a sad moment. Alison has been with us since the very beginning. We’ve seen her journey from the post-Beth death reveal to now during her empowered speech after Donnie collapsed at the church meet up. She’s had an interesting journey and I’ll be sad to see her go. However, if her leaving increases her odds of surviving the drama this season, I welcome it.