Orphan Black: Season 3/ Episode 7 “Community of Dreadful Fear and Hate” – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

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Overview

As Allison is finally brought back into the issues of Clone Club, Helena meets the woman who betrayed her and we learn that while Cosima has been getting better, her good health may only be temporary.

Review (with Spoilers) – Below

Characters & Story

Topic: Allison

It’s time for elections and Allison’s day is quite packed. First off, she needs to make sure she gets Bubbles from her mother Connie (Sheila McCarthy), who is a piece of work [1]; quickly swap the signatures for her campaign with 30 thousand dollars or else Donnie will be missing his nose; and she has to try to convince everyone to pick her and not Marci, or the other candidates we know nothing about.

Luckily though, her favorite supporter, Felix, as well as Jason, end up becoming a massive bit of help. Cosima too, to a certain degree, but mostly Felix and Jason. For, as always, Felix keeps her pepped up and helps her, even with her control freak ways, be able to rely on someone else to keep her sane and organized while in the clutch. This becomes especially true as Allison and Cosima have to swap places for varying reasons. As for Jason’s part? Well, being that Connie doesn’t have a lot of faith in Allison, and certainly not Donnie, she isn’t quite sold in giving over her life’s work.

However, Jason talks up Allison in such a way which brings Connie to neutral, and then Allison’s speech for school trustee is what seals the deal. With such a win though comes a lot of elevated feelings. For Donnie, he feels quite well because now he gets to keep his nose and doesn’t have to end up like Vic and become maimed [2]; for Allison, she not only won her mother’s respect, to a certain degree, but becomes confidant enough to reveal Cosima to her mother, which doesn’t necessarily go well; then when it comes to Jason, walking down memory lane leads him to kissing Cosima, who he thought was Allison, and making it seem all his talk to Donnie about perhaps respecting his “territory” might now become BS. Oh, and now Felix knows Allison is a drug dealer which of course is a surprise to him, and will definitely affect his relationship with her.

Topic: Cosima

With Allison perhaps being the only clone who properly logs information about her health, and with Cosima’s health arguably being the only one worth worrying, this naturally leads Delphine to disrespecting boundaries. Something which Shay doesn’t appreciate as Delphine comes for a urine sample. Something she needs for with this new Castor protein discovery, it seems Delphine wants to move especially fast. Thing is, Cosima doesn’t like Delphine so she wants to be difficult and try to get pee from Allison instead. Thus leading Cosima to invade Allison’s life, swap places with her on occasion, and ultimately not end up getting Allison’s pee.

However, like Allison, she does reveal a bit of herself to a significant other. In her case though it is Shay. Though what she reveals isn’t clone club, but more so the fact she is sick and with the confession we see Cosima bleeding, from her vaginal area, in the tub she was sitting in showing things are more serious than Cosima gives them credit for.

Topic: Rachel

Not much happens for Rachel in this episode besides spending time with Scott and her revealing that she and her father made a secret language which she can still translate. Issue is, she will only translate the language to Sarah.

Topic: Sarah and Helena

Somewhere in Mexico the sestras wait for Mrs. S’ contact Benjamin, but what they ultimately receive is Mrs. S herself who wishes to make peace with Helena. Something not easily done and what seems required is a few punches to Mrs. S’ face, one accidently to Helena, and a tight gripping hug. With that done, and Helena taking a breather, Mrs. S reveals she is to be Helena’s child’s grandmother. Also, Sarah and Mrs. S begin updating each other on the other’s life such as Paul’s death and Gracie now living with Mrs. S.

Praise

Finally Allison rejoins the clone club drama and the build up to the election seemingly has paid off. She has an interesting side piece in Jason, her mother’s introduction was made noteworthy, and now arguably she brings something to the table besides providing some false sense of stability, and comic relief through her nervous breakdowns. Alongside that storyline though, I must admit I’m quite happy that it seems Helena and Sarah’s return home is being expedited and we weren’t forced to watch them struggle to find a town, contact Mrs. S and deal with all their issues. For while there still are things which need to be addressed with Helena, as always, it seems watching that unfold while she stays with the Hendrix family maybe the best option.

Criticism

Thus leaving Cosima. Now, at this point she is similar to Felix in a way. Her storyline usually is heavily involved with another one of the clones, and very little is done with her as a standalone character. Which, admittedly, isn’t completely true, since she does present the science side to all of what is happening, but storyline wise she hasn’t had much more than Shay, who increasingly seems like someone who maybe a spy. Which perhaps could be one of the few things which could take Cosima from having the weakest storyline to maybe producing something which at least makes you wish to ponder what may come next for her. Since, as of now, her dying seems unlikely, and with Rachel wanting to talk with Sarah, it cuts her out of maybe becoming the middle man and Rachel beefing up her storyline. Thus leaving her just with her disease, Shay, and Delphine being a bit overbearing. None of which really tantalizes the senses.

Things To Note

[1] Connie is perhaps not only the mother-in-law from hell, who reminds us of Donnie’s unfortunate original last name, which she played a part in him changing, but also seems like the type of mother who would raise a Rachel. Though while Rachel had loving parents, it seems Connie was mostly about herself and saw Allison as an extension of her. Not in a necessarily glowing way either, but more so like something that could easily embarrass her. From the start though it seems that having a child, and perhaps life, has been about Connie. I mean, she even got a sperm donor because she found her husband unworthy of having a child with her, among being unworthy of being with her.

[2]: The man, Mr. Pouzihno (Tony Cianchino), or Pouchy, is the same drug dealer Vic was dealing with who cut off his finger.