Everything’s a hustle in Orphan Black episode 5.5 – SYFY WIRE (blog)

Spoiler Warning: If you haven't seen "Ease For Idle Millionaires" or don't want to know what happened, turn away now. Or, y'know, go watch and come back so we can talk about it.

First and foremost, let's just acknowledge how much Cophine love there was in this episode. Cosima and Delphine's past is a complicated one and it's a miracle they manage to maintain a relationship at all given the variables involved. There are times I worry Delphine is running the longest con on the show, but this episode was a perfect reminder that the love between these women runs deep. It's real and it's passionate and it seems to surprise even them.

In this case, there's one thing Delphine's known all along that Cosima's never really grokked; how truly dangerous everyone within Neolution is. Of anyone in Clone Club, Delphine has the most information and she's got a better idea of the scope of what's going on and just what the Neo's are willing to do to make it happen. She's willing to do anything to keep Cosima safe, even if it means telling Westmoreland what Cosima's been up to just to earn more of his trust. But you have to admit, it's hard to be Cosima and not feel betrayed and it's hard to see someone being literally manipulated by science and stand idly by.

I love Cosima Niehaus more than I can say, but it's true; she does always push too hard, which is why Cosima's locked up in Westmoreland's basement wearing a very dapper tux. The tux was the small push. The rest...too much.

The other main factor for Cosima being in that basement finally has a name; Janus (sp?). He's also dead now and, as much as I hate to say it, that's partly because Cosima pushed too hard, as well. I say partly because the majority of the responsibilitylies with the grand creator himself. P.T. Westmoreland turned a boy into a monster and then put that monster down when his creation and all the secrets that surround him escaped the close confines of his control. Master manipulator that he is, he's also convinced Cosima it's her fault. Ain't he a peach?

That's the overall picture, but let's get into a few details.

Mud

My heart goes out to Mud. More and more we see how damaged she is and how good of heart. Everything the Neo's touch seems to warp, doesn't it?

Susan and Rachel

P.T. does seem to enjoy pitting women against each other, doesn't he? Cosima and Delphine, Susan and Virginia Coady, and now Rachel and Susan. Westmoreland is offering Rachel a home and a cure, which is more than her mother ever did for her, right? Here he is treating Rachel like a peer (and throwing in some bizarre traces of intimacy) while he's also wooing Susan back with the "science". He's got them both fooled and both of them are willing to fight to be the last woman standing. D'you think they'll end up killing each other? That would be interesting.

Ira

Nooooooooooooooo. I don't want Ira to glitch. I want Ira to live. He needs to survive all of this and become a beautiful butterfly of an individual. He's never been allowed to be that and he deserves it.

Sarah, Kira, S, Scott, and Hell Wizard (btw, how did I NOT know his name until now?)

Sarah and Kira getting some quality alone time was so great. I hope it brings those two back together again. I reallllly dislike Rachel having any sway on Kira. Meanwhile, the whole scene back at the comic shop was a whiteboard nerd dream come true. I'd pay money to be able to read that whole thing up close.

LIN28A

The big find. The LIN28A gene got described in the episode, but I went and researched a bit and found a link to the gene in the National Centerfor Biotechnology Information, which is a division of the National Institute of Health. The full description is admittedly wordy, but this part definitely caught my attention: "This gene encodes a LIN-28 family RNA-binding protein that acts as a posttranscriptional regulator of genes involved in developmental timing and self-renewal in embryonic stem cells".

I have a feeling this all comes down to stem cells, more specifically, embryonic stem cells. We know LIN28A is part of the Leda genome and Cosima mentions the "unexpected" second generation.Brightborn, Kira's cells, Helena's babies, they all have their place in this overall plan. Kira's healing ability is one part of this. Aisha's tumor treatment is another.

What if they introduce embryonic stem cells into the body and then manipulate the LIN28A gene to renew them continually, thereby healing any damage or illness.

Isn't that immortality?

Oh, that dinner party.

What can we even say about that whole thing? Creepy is a good word. Let's go with creepy. We're not going to talk about what Westmoreland did to Cosima because that was totally beyond the pale, so let's just ruminate on what kind of person makes people dress up for dinner while tormenting them.

The plan for Kira's eggs.

1300 subjects ready for implantation with eggs from a child. From a child. How do you even process that? Who does that?

Final thought:

Y'know, I thought about it again and, yes, Cosima pushed too hard, but she's also the one getting answers. She's inside Neolution, she knows the plan. She has Westmoreland off kilter. So much so that he's killed his creation and locked her up. For a moment, she had the means to end this. She could have turned the gun on Westmoreland and killed him, but that's not who Cosima is and it's one of the reasons we all love her, right?

From the look of it, the Westmoreland's descent into madness continues next week, but we also get Crystal. Any episode with Krystal is a winner.

Wanna meet back next week so we can figure out how Big Cosmetics is behind all of this?

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Everything's a hustle in Orphan Black episode 5.5 - SYFY WIRE (blog)