ORPHAN BLACK 4.08 Recap – “The Redesign of Natural Objects”

The sestras faced possible betrayal as Evie Cho’s plans to destroy self-aware Leda clones was revealed in Orphan Black Season 4 Episode 8, “The Redesign of Natural Objects”!

After he was arrested by Neolution detective Marty Duko under dubious circumstances in the last episode, this episode starts by following Donnie in jail. And oh my, Donnie is NOT cut out for it!

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Within a day of his lock-up, a Neolution agent within the jail has found Donnie.

Siobhan is on the hunt for Marty Duko, ready to get her revenge for her mother’s death. But she’s forced to pause when she realizes that Duko is meeting with Alison. In the car, Duko gives Alison in ultimatum: If she doesn’t tell Duko where Sarah is hiding out by the end of the day, his contact in the local jail will kill Donnie.

Alison also hires Felix’s sister Adele to be Donnie’s legal council, which leads to an awkward moment given that she never knew about Sarah having a “sister.”

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Meanwhile, MK’s earlier contact with Kira has lead to another meeting with Sarah and Cosima, who she’s meeting for the first time.

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MK is not there for a casual discussion, despite getting the quick lowdown on Cosima’s currently incurable condition. She’s showing Sarah and Cosima the video feed between Susan Duncan and Evie Cho in which Cho announces her intentions to kill all the self-aware clones. MK has saved them from being hunted down unawares and earned some trust back from Sarah, though things may not be solved between them yet.

In Dr. Duncan’s creepy island, Rachel has finally managed to make a connection with Ira, appealing to their (biological) relationship as brother and sister. The two agree that they can’t simply allow Susan to give up on finding a cure for them.

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Rachel and Ira confront Susan, who is busy tutoring Charlotte at the time. Susan’s casual suggestion that they try to find other distractions to occupy their time doesn’t go over well.

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Thankfully, just then, a lifeline comes via an encrypted video feed.

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The Duncan pseudo-family certainly wasn’t expecting any help from Clone Club, but the two groups need each other. Introduced by Sarah, Cosima takes the main stage with her proposal: She and Susan will share all their remaining work on the Leda/Castor genome with each other in hopes of finding a cure.

She only has one major request: She doesn’t want Rachel or Ira involved. At all.

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This doesn’t go over well with Rachel, though she tries to keep her displeasure secret. She doesn’t want the others know that she’s still have visions of the swan, representing Leda, in her Neolution eye. The visions have become more intense, including a mysterious man and some bad luck for the swan.

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It all seems very foreboding, but we have absolutely no idea WHY this is happening to Rachel. Aaaaand we’re guessing we won’t know until next season!

Meanwhile, Alison has hit rock bottom. She’s trying to play it cool as she practices for the local church’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar (YAAAAAAAAAAAS!) but she’s hopelessly stuck between saving Donnie and protecting Sarah and the others.

She almost turns to an old friend found tucked away in her makeup case…

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Almost.

However, she does agonizingly tell Marty Duko that he can find Sarah at Rabbit Hole Comics later that night. Then she heads back to the stage to continue practicing for the play as Felix watches on. No coincidence here– She’s playing Judas.

There’s a montage of music and Donnie being beaten and Duko watching as Sarah walks into Rabbit Hole Comics. Hope feels lost as he walks through the door.

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The Neolution prisoner attacking Donnie is called off and you’re even more devastated, but Duko must have got what he was looking for: Sarah.

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BUT NO!

After Duko attempts to play tough with Hell Wizard, Sarah, Siobhan, and Art round the corner armed to the teeth. Duko is at their mercy. Donnie is safe. Alison didn’t betray anyone– Sarah was in on it all along. And Sarah Stubbs sings like a bluesy badass the whole time!

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Sarah and Art leave the dirty work to former mobster Siobhan. Duko swears he only followed Neolution’s orders because they threatened his family, but the long trail of brutal murders of men, women, and children, along with the hefty payments he received, leave him unforgiven.

In the end, he suffers the same fate he offered Kendall Malone.

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Given his downright vicious nature, no one is mourning Marty. Even MK catches on to the good news, but the scene also gives the audience some bad news. MK begins to cough violently and when she pulls her hand away, there’s blood on it. MK is also dying, though she isn’t sharing the secret with the group.

With Duko taken care of, the sestras are safe to focus on finding a cure. Cosima thinks she knows how to do it, but it sounds a little twisted to us: She believes that by fertilizing a Leda egg from Sarah with Caster sperm from Ira, she and Susan Duncan can recreate an approximation of Kendall Malone’s chimera DNA.

It doesn’t sound like REAL science to us– not to mention that biologically, it’s incest– but Cosima still manages to get Sarah on board.

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From there, she’s off to the island of Dr. Duncan, where she’ll begin her intensive work with the people Scott refers to as “mad scientists.”

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Will Cosima’s plan work? We’ll find out soon!

By Molly

Molly is a proud Canadian who is currently attending university in Scotland. She loves to read, write, watch films, and talk about Sarah J. Maas books. If not snuggled up with a book, Molly can usually be found tapping at the dance studio, or writing yet another essay.

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