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Orphan Black Recap: “Manacled Slim Wrists”

By Kelly Shanaphy

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Like almost every episode of Orphan Black, “Manacled Slim Wrists,” feels like it rushes through storylines breathlessly.

With only four episodes left in the season, it makes sense that the show is trying to move into position for the finale but it’s a bit grating that Orphan Black hasn’t been able to give all of its characters equal screen time before the end.

Felix and Alison have been with the group from the very beginning but have been shuffled off-screen to handle important issues that would have made fun side stories for the audience to actually see. While it’s a shame to see so many missed opportunities in the show’s final run, it does bring back a fan favorite who easily saves the episode.

That’s right, Krystal is back with her wild conspiracies in “Manacled Slim Wrists,” making up the most entertaining scenes in the episode. She approaches Scott and Art with her friend who believes she’s been poisoned by one of the big corporations in the makeup industry because of their whistleblower beauty blog.

Since it’s Krystal, it becomes immediately clear that no one has been poisoned but as per usual, she has stumbled onto a major lead for the Clone Club without trying. While Sarah laughs off her sister’s ridiculous claims, Mrs. S realizes that the company Krystal is talking about has recently been acquired by Dyad as part of Rachel’s plan.

Despite making a plan for Sarah to once again impersonate Krystal but unfortunately, the latter clone has plans of her own and hijacks a meeting with her informant within “Big Cosmetic”. Leonard Sipp (played by Tatiana Maslany’s real-life boyfriend, Tom Cullen) turns out to be an egotistical pawn in Dyad and Krystal happily takes care of him as well as smothering his face with his experimental lotion which turned out to be what caused the hair loss. Like every episode with Krystal, her scenes are hilarious but nothing is funnier than her beating up Sipp while Sarah happily watches from the car.

Unfortunately for Sarah, things are going to get a lot worse next week. The beginning of “Manacled Slim Wrists,” has Kira pretending to have the stomach flu to stay away from Dyad that day due to a hot tip from Delphine. It fools the lackey sent to retrieve her enough to have Sarah comfortable enough to also leave her and go take care of the whole Krystal situation.

Sadly, Rachel is reprimanded by an increasingly unhinged Westmoreland and retrieves poor Kira from her home late at night. Mrs. S knows that something is off but is afraid to make an aggressive move while Kira’s safety hangs in the balance.

However, she does make a thinly veiled threat where she tells Rachel that there will come a time when the latter will need the Clone Club. It’s an interesting comment because for so long it seemed like Rachel and Sarah would inevitable face off but perhaps her Neolution sister might switch sides in a redemptive arc before the finale.

What is bound to be a big turning point is the recent demise of Susan Duncan. Rachel has never been subtle with her distaste for her biological parents (considering she murdered her father), it may be a different story when she learns that she isn’t as forgiving when someone else is to blame for her mother’s death.

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Susan goes down swinging in “Manacled Slim Wrists”, trying to take out Westmoreland and Coady in order to save the children on the island along with Kira. While she isn’t successful, she does manage to get Cosima a picture to prove that the good doctor is a liar and bring the island crumbling down. Hopefully Mud will lead the angry mob to take down the hubris-fueled doctors but for now, Cosima is finally off the island with Charlotte in tow.

Once Rachel learns of Westmoreland’s lies it will be interesting to see how she reacts and with Coady’s hand in Susan’s death it seems likely that Ira will go down trying to avenge his surrogate family.

Orphan Black is racing to the finish line as they usually do but it’s a letdown that the show won’t be able to give everyone their due. As someone who loves all of the clones, it would have been a much more fulfilling season to see the Clone Club united rather than so disjointed.

Next week looks like it will be all hands on deck as the sisters attempt to break Kira out of Dyad before they can harvest her eggs. Considering Westmoreland’s weird love of experimenting on kids, it’s a bit surprising that people didn’t hate him before Cosima finally revealed him for his true self.

Next: What We Want To See Before Orphan Black Ends

Hit the comments below with your thoughts on “Manacled Slim Wrists,” and tune in next week!

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