We’re baaaaaaack. I don’t know about you, but this is my favorite time of year because the 42 months without Orphan Black in my life are the darkest.
Season 2 quite literally hit the ground running, and Season 3 began like a dream (okay, IN a dream). But Season 4 is already a whole different beast, and, in my opinion, is most similar to the pilot.
We open with someone wearing a sheep mask creeping through the woods, spying on two people in EMT uniforms, making out while they bury a body. Just, so many layers of creeptastic. The sheep leaves a little sticker on the tree and runs away before the EMTs can follow the sound of someone breathing nearby.
A familiar face gets a phone call, waking her from sleep, and calls the little sheep “M.K.” M.K. says she’s sending coordinates, and worriedly breathes a reminder not to trust anyone. The phone call ends, and PAUL SITS UP IN BED. It’s not Sarah who was talking to M.K., IT’S BETH.
Paul asks Beth about the phone call, but she’s evasive in her response as she gets up and turns on the shower. Beth crushes up a pill from her medicine cabinet and does a line while fielding questions from Paul, her tongue sharp from the most recent reminder that he’s not to be trusted. Eventually, the awkward tension gets to be too much, and Beth plays nice and says they’ll have dinner together. But right now she has to go.
She texts M.K. and says she’s on her way, and M.K. pulls her sheep mask off to reveal that she’s a Leda clone, too.
At the crime scene, Beth pockets M.K.’s sticker and waves off Art’s suspicions about her supposed anonymous tip. She focuses instead on the body; buried in an EMT-quality body bag, he has a chunk of his cheek missing, a white contact in one eye, and a bifurcated penis. (Pro tip: DO NOT Google this…if you must, I recommend something slightly less gross like a bifurcated tongue or, even better, staircase.)
The medical examiner says that while it’s clear he was into body modification, the cheek thing was not aesthetic. Beth, I noticed, is more playful with Art, smiling at him and inviting him to meet her at the diner, a marked change from her interactions with Paul. Mostly because she actually trusts Art, probably a little bit because her drugs have kicked in by now.
Beth’s cell phone rings, and when she answers, it’s Cosima. Cosima begs Beth to talk to Alison about putting the money in her account so she can pay the tuition for the school she’s moving to for her sestras. Cosima says she’s technically homeless because she just broke up with her girlfriend, who doesn’t have anything to say, but whose name is Emi (which I know because I read the comics). Cosima makes a U-Haul joke, and Beth wishes her safe travels.
