Orphan Black “Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis” 

Orphan Black has always excelled at pulling back the layers of story a shred at a time and “Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis” is no exception. The latest episode tangled some interesting tidbits about the Castor clones and we learned exactly how different the two strands of clones really are.

Before we dive into the Castors, I’d be remiss without applauding Alison and Donnie on their stones. Ample stones, damn straight. In an effort to raise some much-needed income and ensure Alison’s voting base in the upcoming school election, Alison and Donnie bought the local high school pill pusher’s entire business. There are no bounds to what Team Hendrix will do to get something they want. Their tactics are reminiscent to one of my favorite episodes of season one, “Variations Under Domestication,” when Alison mercilessly tortured Donnie with a hot glue gun. As long as they appear like the perfect couple on the outside, there are no bounds to how far these two will go.

In other news, Cosima’s health is still improving and she and Scott have teamed up with Dyad’s Dr. Nealon to continue research. Felix is nursing Mrs. S after the Castor clone attack. Cal has set up house for Kira and Sarah, much to Sarah’s surprise and reluctant pleasure. However, by the end of the episode and another attack from a Castor clone, Cal and Kira are on the move again to keep Kira out of harm’s way. Sarah is renewed in her mission to find Helena and remove herself fully from Dyad’s and the military’s radar.

Helena, in the meantime, has met Dr. Virigina Coady, who appears to be at the helm of the military’s operation of the Castor clones, and honestly, who knows what else. Upon learning Helena is pregnant, Coady takes a new approach with Helena than the torture stress tests and computerized reasoning quizzes. Coady assures Helena they find her valuable. Now, will they find her valuable the way Rachel found Sarah’s ovaries valuable or will Coady become an actual ally?

Coady claims the Castors as her “children.” We’ve met four of these children: Rudy, aka Scarface or Naked Buddha, Seth aka Moustache Clone, Mark the Prolethean and Military Clone. Here’s what we know so far. The Castors have been raised self-aware and are well-entrenched in the military. They’re elite ghost soldiers and have an extremely high opinion of themselves, to the point that when a one night stand dares to refuses to have sex with Rudy and Seth together, it’s grounds for attack and terrorizing. However, this isn’t just your typical ego trip. These Castor clones view themselves as a race above others. So when Seth starts to “glitch” and have head trips, he is almost damaged to his brother Rudy.

While on a rampage to track down the original Castor source material, seemingly to fix Seth’s on-going glitch problem, Seth spins out of control. Rudy puts him down like a dog, shooting him multiple times and then comforting his dying brother as he fades away. Where the Leda clones did all they could to save a dying Cosima, Rudy’s resolute and unwavering murder of his brother shows us the Castor clones are of a different breed. Seth was weak and damaged as his head tripped over past memories and therefore needed to die. Whatever this glitch is, Sarah astutely calls out that it may be a mirror problem to what the Leda clones face. Where as in the Leda clones have an auto-immune sickness that kills them like cancer, the Castor clones appear to have a mental issue that trips up their reasoning and psyche caused by design. The military Castor clones are on a mission for their original source material in order to fix this “glitch.”

Mark, on the other hand, appears to be trying to distance himself as far away from the Castor clones as possible. Newly married to the pregnant Gracie, we see him performing guerilla tattoo removal with a blowtorch in a dirty motel bathroom. The two-headed horse black ops tattoo is a tie to his brothers and seemingly a clue into their story. Sorry, Mark, I somehow doubt burning a hole in your arm is going to keep you hidden in any way with both your brothers and Sarah Manning hunting you down.

Hot Paul is back on the scene, although now we have to call him Major Hot Paul. He’s well familiar with the Castor clones and the overall mission. He takes time out of his busy schedule of issuing orders to the Castors to send a warning to Sarah through Cal. While it may have saved a step to just track down Sarah herself, Paul decides the message would hit home harder through Cal. Paul issues a warning: stop pulling on the Castor thread. Concerned for Sarah, Paul? Or just trying to cover your ass?

Watch Orphan Black Saturdays at 9pm on BBCAmerica.