On the lam, Mark and Gracie pursue new leads to find the samples that might set them free, while Art and Sarah reunite to track them down. Cosima and Scott try to learn more about Castor's biology. Alison's new money-making venture is going gangbusters. A shocking revelation about the Castor-Leda connection leaves the sisters reeling, just before Sarah witnesses a deadly Prolethean-Castor face-off.
So far this season, the Castor clones have been positioned as the enemy to the Leda clones. They kidnapped Helena and pointed a gun at Kira. They are the latest twist in this ever growing conspiracy that Sarah, Helena, Cosima, Alison and company have to deal with. And yet, the reveal that the Castor clones are brothers to Leda will turn all of that on its head. It's information that Sarah receives from Cosima moments before getting into a confrontation with Mark. Sarah spends all of this episode trying to track Mark and Gracie down as they are the most likely Castor connection to find that would lead her to Helena. The lovebirds made their grand return to the show at the end of last week's episode. This one wastes no time in destroying that relationship.The love between Mark and Gracie is genuine despite all the stuff that Mark is obviously keeping from her. Of the Castor clones, Mark is perhaps a little bit more sensitive. That doesn't mean he's not capable of torturing in order to get what he wants. He went undercover with the Proletheans in order to find the original tissue samples which he believed Henrik had stolen. He's still operating under that mission. His love for Gracie is genuine but he's still trying to finish this mission in order to secure a future for him and his new wife. He doesn't want his family to always be pursuing them. He wants to settle down with her - even though the revelation that he too is a clone would absolutely destroy her. All of that doesn't really matter though. Gracie learns the truth during a run-in with Sarah at the local diner while Mark is away torturing Henrik's former associate Mr. Finch for information. Gracie isn't able to look past the truth to see the actual love in their relationship. She now sees him as a clone who shouldn't be allowed to live in this world. That's why she openly embraces her mother, Bonnie, when she returns.
All of that destruction is obviously building towards the episode's final act. Sarah walks into Mr. Finch's barn unarmed. She is not prepared to fight with any of the Castor clones. She was able to take that call with Cosima to learn about the sibling connection. But she was then immediately thrust against the wall by Mark. He doesn't want to believe what she has to say about their biology. To Castor, Leda is the enemy standing in their way of getting the original tissue samples. They simply can't be trusted. The Castor clones have a big and lethal defect which gives all of them a sense of urgency in these early episodes. Because of the mission taking up so much of their focus, they aren't able to see the world for what it truly is. Mark did have that connection with Gracie, but when he's interacting with Sarah he still sees her as the obstacle standing in his way. She's a liability who can't help him or his brothers survive. He may no longer what to be a part of his family. But he still has a commitment to the mission.
Meanwhile, Sarah is more torn than she has been in any previous interaction with a Castor clone. In her two meetings with Rudy, she saw him as the enemy helplessly imprisoned or violently holding her daughter at gun point. With Mark, things are different because of this new information. All she has is her words to get out of this situation. She survives largely because Mark wants to get out as soon as possible. And yet, when Mark is shot going out to his truck, Sarah just stands motionless and watches. The shooter is Bonnie who apparently has information that Mark is a clone just like Helena. And now, she simply sees him as a target that needs to be taken out. Mark loves her daughter but all Bonnie sees is something not human. That means she can shoot him without any remorse. A gun shot is heard in that final confrontation, but the audience doesn't see Mark's dead body either. Sarah does nothing to stop Bonnie either. She stays in the barn hidden so she doesn't meet the same fate. Even though she knows Mark is her brother, she doesn't do anything to protect him from this violent woman who wants him dead. Because the Castor clones have been very violent to her and her sisters, it's easy for Sarah to sit back and do nothing. If she has a reason to hate them, then she too doesn't feel any guilt for letting them die. They still stand in her way of reuniting with Helena. They are still extremely violent to her and the rest of her family. She has a reason to stand by and do nothing. But now, it's a much larger moral issue that she and the rest of her sisters will have to deal with.
It's also interesting that the season so far has shown a strong willingness to actually killing the Castor clones. Rudy and the other military one are still out there. So they still have a presence. But if both Seth and Mark are dead, that's intentional plotting that establishes just how high the stakes are for the Castor clones. It's more difficult to kill the Leda clones though. The previous two seasons ended with the threat of a Leda clone's death - Helena's in Season 1 and Rachel's in Season 2. But then, they were both revealed to be alive in the following premiere. It's a trick that is still exciting. But there also needed to be more follow through. If the show wants to kill a Leda clone now, that clone should stay dead to actually make an impact. That's why Castor has been so refreshing. Seth is dead. There's no escaping that. Cosima and Scott have sawed opened his skull and removed his brain. It's still possible Mark has survived this encounter with Bonnie. But that would also require some quick thinking and action on Sarah's part. That's just simple and well executed tension that helps reaffirm the stakes of this whole conspiracy - and the threat that the Proletheans actually pose to all of the clones.
Some more thoughts:
- "Formalized, Complex, and Costly" was written by Chris Roberts and directed by John Fawcett.
- Alison and Donnie are slowly growing their new drug business and it's going really well for them too. They know that the other suburb moms can't hold some moral superiority over her because they like her product just as much as she used to. Sure, Marci will probably catch on after awhile. But right now, this story is just fun.
- The revelation that Art was in love with Beth largely served simply as an answer as to why he is still helping Sarah and the other clones. That's been a problem with his character even since the beginning of Season 2. Now that he's back on the job, there needed to be a reason why he's still helping them. This answer isn't that great but at least the show is acknowledging that he has motivations for his actions as well.
- Dr. Nealon informs a recovering Rachel that Delphine has staged her death via plane crash for the people at Topside. Yeah, that's probably going to come back and hurt Sarah, Alison and Cosima eventually.
- Helena propositioning Paul by mentioning that he has slept with a few of her sisters (Beth, Sarah, Rachel) was great.
- Rudy calls Mark the pussy of the brothers. And yet, he's the one crying to their mother about having to kill Seth - which just further shows his own emotional instability.
- Cosima has started coughing again. That can't be good.
- Felix, you shouldn't have looked at the brain.
