Castor pursues the Leda clones for original tissue samples. Helena is examined by a mysterious new villain. The Castor boys toy with a frightened young woman in a sexy switcheroo that ultimately sets Sarah and Art on their trial as Sarah gleans they may have a mysterious defect that puts their lives in peril.
Since the very beginning of the show, Kira has been very important - both to the people who want to control and manipulate the Leda clones and to the clones themselves. She is the only child in an experiment that was designed to keep the clones infertile. The infertility amongst the clones has been tragic. And yet, Kira has always been viewed as a very special person. She can sense when her mother is near. She can tell the clones apart even when they are impersonating each other. Plus, her organic material has helped somewhat cure Cosima of the disease that has been effecting the clones. Kira is a very important piece of the show's puzzle. And now, Sarah is sending her out of the country with Cal in order to protect her.The threat presented by Castor is so unknown and lethal to the protagonists. They have no understanding of how they operate or what they want with the various Leda clones. The audience gets a better picture of what they are up to in this episode. But they are still being presented as unstable characters. That's a good thing too. Their presence helps shake up the core dynamics of the show. Siobhan had no idea who the people she sold Helena to actually were. And now, that terrifies her because it has pushed Sarah away - potentially for good. She made that choice and is now dealing with the consequences. Fear of the unknown is keeping her at her house unable to move because of the uncertainty her actions might bring to Sarah, Kira and company. All Sarah wants is to be a good mother to Kira. She couldn't care for her for awhile and when she did return she has been too consumed with the clone drama to focus solely on being a good parent. Because of the truth about her identity, she has put Kira into even more danger. That's a very scary prospect especially when Castor is pulled into the mix.
Sarah has already lost one of her family members to Castor and she doesn't want Kira taken away too. So in order to be a good mother, she and Kira have to be separated. It's for Kira's best protection. Cal is a responsible father who wants to take care of Sarah and Kira. He was ready to give them the stable live in the city that they deserve. And yet, that life simply isn't possible right now because of all the danger surrounding Sarah at the moment. That's the life they will aspire to live one day. But right now, she has to focus on dealing with Castor and eliminating that threat before she can actually be happy with her family. She needs to find Helena and be reunited with everyone. Things could become more tragic in the immediate future. So, it's the smart thing to send Kira out of the country. Both Siobhan and Paul mention that the only way Sarah can be safe is if she runs. Sarah isn't running away from this threat but she is ensuring that the people she cares about aren't hurt because of it. That is a sign of a good mother even though right now it is incredibly painful for her to do so. She has no idea how long it will take to fight Castor and save Helena. She has no idea when she'll talk to or see Kira again. That's painful but will also likely drive her in the next few episodes. She now has the motivation to act in a swift way and deal with this situation as quickly and precisely as possible. Hopefully that will make for an exciting string of episodes.
Even though the Castor clones have all been raised by the military, most of them have been going rogue and disobeying direct orders lately. That makes them even more volatile. Sure, the army has its own agenda and the Castor clones will do whatever it takes because they have the most to lose. The volatility just seems to be more inherent in this line of clones. First, Mark went undercover with the Proletheans - only to fall in love and marry Gracie. He makes his first appearance of the season at the very end of the episode burning off the tattoo that all the Castor clones share. That effectively means he's turning his back to his brothers and choosing to forge ahead with Gracie. That could very much come back to hurt him in the future. And then, Rudy and Seth don't follow the extraction plan Paul delivers to them in order to go after Sarah again - who they believe has the original Castor tissue samples. Much like the Leda clones, the Castor clones have a defect that is killing them. However, their's presents much more violently and suddenly. The Leda deflect is largely with the immune and respiratory systems while Castor's is more mental and neurological. They refer to it as "glitching" which is a very acute way of describing the act when it happens in full force to Seth. Now, Seth hadn't made a huge impression in the start of this season. He was the one who terrorized Siobhan and broke Rudy out of the Topside prison.
However, it's very important in understanding the Castor psychology that Rudy shows almost no remorse in killing his brother in order to spare him this agonizing pain. The Leda sisters will do whatever it takes in order to protect each other. They rely on each other because they are all in this together. Sure, they all have their separate personalities and lives. But they believe in the sisterhood and family between them and will protect it at all costs. That's why Helena doesn't want to believe that Sarah turned on her just to save herself. There's still that connection apparent with the Castor brothers. Yes, it is very creepy that Rudy and Seth enjoy having threesomes with each other. But that is still a very twisted version of a brotherly bond. That's why it is so devastating to them to admit that Seth is glitching. It happens suddenly and there's no way to stop it. Seth was sick for a week and then it basically crippled him during the most important moment possible. Rudy kills him to give him a quick death. Out of all the Castor clones so far Rudy has the most intensity and that is the scariest thing possible to Sarah - especially when he's holding Kira at gunpoint desperate to get the originals to save Seth. He doesn't get it but now there's going to be a desperation on his part to get the originals as quickly as possible to save the rest of his brothers. And that is very exciting tension to have as the season's narrative continues to build.
Some more thoughts:
- "Transitory Sacrifices of Crisis" was written by Aubrey Nealon and directed by John Fawcett.
- Dr. Coady is the Castor's mother and the leader of the base where Helena is being held prisoner. She's the only one who sees that Helena must be treated differently than the various army procedures dictate. She's a mystery who is also trying to turn Helena against her sisters.
- I know some people weren't a huge fan of Helena's imaginary scorpion friend but I thought it was great and just odd enough to make sense as Helena's coping device in yet another hostage situation.
- If Sarah knew about the notes in Professor Duncan's book, would she have given it to Rudy to save Kira's life? Probably, but at least she didn't have the knowledge to actually do that.
- What is the source of Cosima's rebound? It is almost too miraculous but works because she knows that things are almost too good to be true and could turn at any possible moment. And now, she is forced to work with the Dyad doctor who wanted to remove one of Sarah's ovaries.
- Allison realizes that the start of her voting block for school trustee will come from the soccer mom clients of drug dealer Ramone - who's leaving the business to go to college. This story is still just a fun tangent to the intensity of the rest of the show. But it's still a very necessary component of the narrative right now. Plus, there's still that dead body buried underneath their garage that can be unearthed at any possible moment. And now, as drug dealers too, she and Donnie could get in even more trouble.
- Felix, when are you going to get a proper lock on that door?!?!
