Kyle’s Review

Normally, Orphan Black waits until the season finale to give us a shocking twist and pull several threads together but they didn’t waste time this year with “Certain Agony of the Battlefield.” Unlike the previous week, this week’s Orphan Black juggled the various clones well and even managed to bring back a couple of forgotten clones: Beth (from season one) appeared in flashbacks, while Rachel made her first show in three weeks.

Rachel may know more than people give her credit. I won’t say what she knows, but it intrigues Cosima and that could tie those two clones together—and that’s a good thing. But it might not be too good of a thing that Cosima’s new girlfriend may not be as much of a secret from Delphine as she’d like. That could, and should, come back to bite Cosima. We saw enough of Alison and Donnie for a nice breath of comic relief, while the two fertile clones, Sarah and Helena, continued their escape from the Castor encampment and that’s where we get the twist.

This next bit is a spoiler, so consider yourself warned: Paul dies. Yes, the some-times love interest for the first two seasons passed away as a result of treachery. Apparently, the military knows about the male clone’s defects and the disease they spread if they have intercourse with women, and they’re okay with it. Paul tries to stop the amoral experiments, frees Sarah, and Momma shots him for his troubles. I don’t know if this cements Momma as the full-fledged villain for the third season (you could say that the military is the true culprit and she’s just a lackey), but her killing Paul puts her in the neighborhood.

We had a couple more good developments: Felix shows some grit, and the male clones had some range. “Certain Agony of the Battlefield” may be the turning point for Orphan Black’s third season. I just hope the show didn’t peak too soon—we still have another four episodes.