Oneoveralpha's Ramblings: Orphan Black Season 5 recap

“The Few Who Dare”

(Spoilers)

How things ended last season.

Alison and Donnie are in hiding with Helena in the woods.

Cosima and Charlotte have been taken to the village that Rachel had been seeing in her eye “visions.” Cosima was reunited with Delphine.

Sarah – after being clubbed and stabbed by Rachel – is off in the woods. She calls Mrs. S., who – along with Kira – are being held at gunpoint by Ferdinand.

And Rachel – after patching up Susan – is set to meet with Westmoreland, the founder of Neolution.

Now the new stuff.

Sarah calls Felix – who is watching over Ira – to tell him about Mrs. S. and Kira. Sarah asks Ira where the boat is – Susan had told her that’s where she sent Cosima and Charlotte – and Ira tells her. He also mentions a village, but her phone dies before he could further explain.

Sarah starts a fire – burning a photo of Kira to get it going – and mends herself the best she can. She’s sleeping but “dreams” of Kira telling her to wake up. She wakes up and is attacked by, some, man thing, but she hits it with a rock and it runs off.

Sarah makes a spear and finds the boathouse, but there are a couple of guys hunting her. She overhears that they bringing dogs and that they can’t go back until she’s in Revival with the other one.

Cosima wakes up in the village in a locked room and finds a note from Delphine saying to follow her lead. A girl – named Mud – comes in to show her around Revival, the name of the village. The people in Revival come from all around the world. They are part of a decades old experiment on life extension which will be part of the genetic improvement of humanity. Cosima asks if Mud knows Rachel, and she says that Rachel is talking with “the Founder,” and that all in Revival are his “children.” Cosima asks who the Founder is, and Mud tells her it is 170 year old Westmoreland.

Cosima comes across Charlotte at the Revival school. Charlotte asks about Susan, and Mud says that she’ll pull through, and that she and Westmoreland go back a long time.

Felix goes to the safe house, and finds that Mrs. S. must have stabbed Ferdinand with a corkscrew, but nobody is there. He hears someone coming in, but it’s Art. Art says he’s being watched because of Duko, but he’ll do what he can.

At the station, Art gets a new partner, Maddy. She drives him out to the middle of nowhere, and lets him know that she’s a Neolutionist and that they are looking for the Hendrixes to find Helena.

Felix calls Alison and Donnie, and tells them to sit tight. But Alison wants to help, so she and Donnie pack to leave. Before they can leave though, Alison is captured by some guys, and Donnie runs off.

Delphine is in the Revival clinic seeing a girl from Afghanistan. She and her mother are looking for “The Fountain.” Once they leave, Delphine hides Cosima’s cure and some paperwork. The Messenger arrives and tells her that Westmoreland wants to see her.

At the comic shop, they are looking at satellite images of the island, only they’re blurred. They decide to contact MK, so Felix goes back to the safe house to get Kira’s laptop and leaves Ira with Scott and Hell Wizard.

Felix arrives at the safe house, but there is a guy waiting for him, Mr. Frontenac. He explains that there’s “only one faction now.” He also says that Rachel has taken a special interest in his family. Felix leaves with him.

The guys who took Alison show up to where Art and Maddy are. Art tells her that they want everyone to come in for a truce. Maddy says that she’s not allowed to hurt any clones, so she punches Art and puts a gun to his head. She wants to know where Helena is, but Alison doesn’t know. Maddy agrees and says she’ll take Alison home.

Delphine returns to Cosima, only to tell her that Westmoreland is sending her, immediately, to Sardinia. But she asks for a few minutes where she tells Cosima where the cure is and gives her a key to the clinic. She also tells her to “follow the crazy science.”

Sarah is going through the woods and comes across furs hung up on a weather tower, or something. She then hears dogs barking and runs. She slips and falls right next to a wolf that was killed with a spear. She hides and the men find the wolf. The one with the dogs asks who did that, and the original men hunting her say, “a bear.” But the guy with the dogs doesn’t buy a bear hanging furs and spearing a wolf, but the first guys repeat that it’s a bear. They then head back to Revival.

Cosima is eating dinner and Mud comes to talk. Then there’s music over the loudspeakers, and everyone gathers at the bottom of the steps leading up to Westmoreland’s house. Rachel has come to tell them what Westmoreland has said.

Rachel seems rather happy on learning how Westmoreland has shaped her entire life. She says that they are near the end of nearly two hundred years of Neolution science, and that they would drink from the Fountain first. Sarah followed the hunters and sees Rachel.

Donnie goes to a camouflaged car, only one of the guys after them is there. But Helena shows up and knocks the guy out, but during the fight she’s stabbed in the stomach by a branch. So Donnie is going to take her to the hospital.

That night, Cosima sneaks out of her room – past a sleeping Mud – and goes to the clinic where she finds her cure. Sarah then comes in and tells her about the boat and that something attacked her in the woods. She wants Cosima to come with her to the boat, but Cosima says she is staying to figure out what is going on. She also wants Sarah to inject her with the cure.

The Messenger finds Mud sleeping, and the alarm is raised for Cosima. Sarah takes a flashlight and leaves. Cosima is about to inject herself, when the Messenger and Rachel come in. Rachel sends him out, and talks to Cosima saying Westmoreland wants her to be part of this. She then injects Cosima with the cure.

Sarah goes back to the boat and is set to leave when one of the hunters comes in and shoots her with a tranquilizer. Then Rachel comes in. Then there’s another “dream” where Kira tells her to wake up.

So, what flavor of Kool-Aid does Westmoreland make? In the previous episode – two days ago – Rachel is ranting about treating clones as lab rats to experiment on as they please, but now she’s being gentle and caring for Cosima. Is it an act? It’s hard to say.

Did Cosima tell Rachel where Sarah was going? I doubt it, but it does kind of seem that way.

The second time I watched this, I was struck by the seeming importance they gave to Sardinia. And then I thought, Didn’t Marion say something about Sardinia once? If we don’t see what’s on Sardinia, it may be something I’ll look out for when I rewatch the series.

I’m buying the 170 year old guy a bit more than the psychic Kira. We’ll have to see how that plays out.

Is Westmoreland really 170 years old, or have there been a couple Westmorelands?

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