Orphan Black S3E5 - “Scarred by Many Past Frustrations” Recap

Helena may be back in her cell following her mercy-killing of Castor's lab rat but what she doesn't know just yet is that Sarah is now in the cell right next to hers. Meanwhile, Cody and her science team will get to work on the baby remains to try to isolate the genome so they can resolve the defect in the Castor clones.

Sarah tries to figure out a way out but her yelling alerts Helena to her presence but Helena is holding a grudge, believing that Sarah is to blame for the captivity she has faced for all this time. Sarah tells her it was Mrs. S's doing and that the decision had been made from a place of trying to protect Kira, though Sarah admits it was a bad call.

Gracie arrives at Art's apartment to turn herself in and ask for help, as Sarah had given her Art's card to go to him for help if ever she needed anything. Gracie shares some of what she has been through regarding her mother but she doesn't want to talk about Mark. She admits she lost the baby and this is the reason she was cast out.

Cosima calls Felix for a pep talk before her first found-via-Internet date. Her date comes in the form of a hot holistic dealer named Shay. Despite Cosima's nerves, the two hit it off quite well. Cosima opens up a bit about Delphine and by the end of the night, Cosima's getting a massage and smooches.

Sarah gets taken out for questioning and on her way out she calls out to Helena to tell her that the Castor clones are their brothers. Helena also discovers that the bars on her cell door's window are a bit loose and it turns out she's been stashing butter from her meals behind a loose stone in her cell wall. Dr. Cody forcibly takes some samples from Sarah, declaring that her biology is too special to ignore. Cody is also a complete creep, as she tells Mark that his marriage wasn't real and he gets his first "log book" in which all intimate contacts are to go into.

Gracie is brought by Mark to Mrs. S and Felix so they can look after her as she is not about to essentially be deprogrammed. She just wants to experience all the norms of being an 18-year-old girl. Art and Mrs. S are also starting to get concerned about Sarah's disappearance.

Sarah's trying to pump Helena for information, knowing that she's bound to have counted the number of people on the base and have scoped out the layout. But their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Paul, who tells Sarah all she had to do was stay away. He is so obviously still carrying a torch for her. Paul claims that all he is doing for the Castor clones is the same thing Sarah does for the Dyad clones. Sarah pleads with him to let them go but he says it's out of his hands. He claims that all they're doing is to try to save the Castor clones and that Helena is no saint either. Helena seems to now believe what Sarah says, as Paul admitted during the conversation that he was the one that Mrs. S sold Helena out to, saying it was either her or Sarah.

Sarah's still trying to mend things with Helena so she opens up about being an irresponsible mother when Kira was first born. She had a drug problem and one day, she finally left town with Vic to prove Mrs. S wrong because one day Mrs. S refused to let her see Kira. Sarah is wracked with guilt and now is determined to make for it to Kira and has a mama-bear complex about saving all the clones. Now Helena is finally willing to let Sarah in on her plan!

We learn a bit more about Mrs. S, whose past love had a drinking problem and he died because of a drunken row. But the conversation with Felix is interrupted as Gracie arrives in some of Sarah's punk-rocker clothes and declaring she wants to go out. Felix is able to reel Gracie in so they can do the drinking in the safety of their own home. The first order of events is to give her a cocktail, introduce her to some rock music and teach her to dance. But the fun is short-lived, as Gracie collapses to the floor, feeling sick and suffering from abdominal pains.

Sarah tries to fight some of the male guards when they come in due to her refusal to hand over her lunch tray. She takes a few hits and ends up in the medical centre where she swipes a tool off the tray when the physician's back is turned. Turns out it was a pair of tweezers, which Sarah must swing over to Helena through the front of her bars, tied to the end of her belt, but time it so as not to be seen by the moving surveillance cameras. Next, Helena picks the lock on her cuffs and breaks out the bar. She's also lubed herself up with her stash of butter so she can squeeze through the bars. She then messes up the camera so no one can look in. When the guard comes in to check on it, Helena impales his head through a spike on the wall and spits on his corpse for good measure. In the most shocking turn of events yet, Helena leaves Sarah behind and declares that they are now even.

Paul is looking through the base and appears to be having doubts, as he examines Parsons' body and the place where he had been strapped up beforehand. He also finds Parsons' log books with the hair samples and detailed descriptions of all the different womyn he had hooked up with. While Helena continues to scale the walls of the base to make her escape, it's then that we learn that whatever defect the Castor clones are suffering from can be spread as a sexually transmitted disease. The Rudy/Seth hook-up girl is sick and now so is Gracie. Helena's having guilt over leaving Sarah behind but since the base has been put on high alert, we won't know just yet if Helena will escape into the night or come storming back in with some grand, elaborate rescue plan. Perhaps both!

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