Orphan Black S3E1 - "The Weight Of This Combination" Recap

Helena has a dream of a BBQ baby shower in which all her sestras (plus Kira and Felix) are present. But it quickly turns to a nightmare in which a scorpion crawls out from her dress up towards her face until she wakes up trapped in the box that is her new home (till she can make her escape, of course). There is an actual scorpion in there that talks to her, and of course she talks back, and it's quite the pep talk to encourage her.

Delphine rolls up her in her fancy new car to meet Sarah, Felix, and Kira. She brings Sarah in to tell her about Rudy, the big-bad Castor Clone with the mohawk and the facial scar. He was caught in cahoots with another Castor clone (that got away) and together, they tried to kidnap a new clone that we don't see apart from some steamy surveillance footage of her hooking up with Rudy in an elevator. Now he'll only speak to Sarah.

This facedown is rather intense. He says Sarah's a legend and makes some not-so-thinly veiled threats, namely that she should count her sisters. A quick few phone calls makes her realise that everyone is fine for now but Helena is missing. Delphine has even more warnings, saying that Top Side will be sending people in to check Dyad and she needs Sarah to play Rachel (who is still in recovery and getting the pencil removed from her eye).

Alison decides to run for school trustee because she doesn't care for the current candidate's plans to redraw district lines, which would mean Alison's children would have to change schools. Oh and Donnie got fired because he finally told his boss off, and he's very excited about it.

Mrs. S comes home only to get attacked by one of the Castor clones. Of course she's no wilting flower, so she gets a few good shots in as well as a stab to the leg. This clone's named Seth and he's got a pornstache. He wants Duncan's research but she's not singing and surprisingly, he leaves her alive. Sarah and Felix find a bloodied Mrs. S and she tells them the truth about handing Helena over, as part of Paul's demand, and Sarah is livid. Mrs. S did what she thought was best for the good of the clones but it'll take more than that to win Sarah's good favour back.

Delphine's getting shadier every minute as she meets with one Dr. Nealon and tells him to put the good of Project Leda as a whole over the originals. Delphine seems like she's not so keen to play favourites anymore. Delphine then pays a visit to tell Cosima about her promotion. She says she'll keep her promise to love all of Cosima's sisters equally, but in order to do that the relationship is going kaput. Cue the box of tissues!

Alison and Donnie need to sort out their finances. They have some struggles to face in that area but now Donnie is adorably supportive of Alison's desires to run for board trustee. We are entirely here for this dream-team duo. Also speaking of duos, Cosima is teaming up with Scott to try to crack the code in Duncan's book. She hasn't even told her sisters about her plans.

Sarah decides to help Delphine fool the Topsider cleaner Ferdinand so she can leverage Delphine's help in getting Helena back. Of course Felix is there to aide in this charade. Ferdinand is played by James Frain so there's an automatic creepiness (that's Frain's specialty). The plan was to have Sarah-playing-Rachel say hello and leave but he wants to speak to Delphine and Rachel together. Once "Rachel" drops the bomb that Helena's been kidnapped, Ferdinand wants to question Sarah, whom he has led to believe is in captivity. But the "Sarah" Ferdinand meets is actually Alison in a strange wig. Ferdinand feels up "Sarah" to "examine" her and "Rachel" manages to deflect it by slapping her for getting mouthy. Sarah was supposed to have her ovaries removed (they don't want the clones breeding). But Ferdinand pulls "Rachel" aside and says he wants to discuss Helsinki, while "Rachel" just wants to discuss Helena, saying that her being out of their hands is also a risk.

Rudy's doing naked pull-ups (the guards have dubbed him "Naked Buddha") and we're not mad about it. We're betting this routine behaviour is part of his military-rooted upbringing.

Delphine pays a visit to the recovering Rachel, who is having difficulty getting her words out. Delphine's grim new demeanour rears its head when she presses on Rachel's wounded eye to make her talk. Delphine wants answers regarding Ferdinand and Helsinki.

Ferdinand has showed up to "Rachel's" and finally the truth comes out. Rachel and Ferdinand had offed six clones in 24 hours in 2006. He's already putting action in place, as armed men are heading out to take out Alison, shortly after which more of the clones will be taken out. Rachel had done this with all because she wanted to be a mother. She was supposed to get Sarah's ovary(s) and make off with Kira. Sarah tries to call Alison and warn her but Ferdinand comes in and interrupts her. He's still getting suspicious but Sarah's able to fend off his curiosity by whipping off his belt and whipping him with it. She then gets on his back as he lies on the bed and begins strangling him with it.

The strangulation is interrupted by Delphine, who has learned all about Helsinki. Ferdinand's higher-ups wouldn't be too pleased if they learned an employee had conspired with one clone to kill the others. Delphine now has leverage on him and makes him text Alison's would-be killer to call the plan off.

As for poor Helena, she's still talking to her new friend, the scorpion. She's finally let out by Miller, the military (well, most obviously military judging by that outfit) clone. By Helena's not the only one getting out of boxes. Seth AKA 'pornstache clone' shows up where Rudy is being kept and kills a guard before letting him free. They also share a hug. Aw, how broclonemantic!

Orphan Black airs on Saturdays on BBC America at 9PM.