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Orphan Black - Ipsa Scientia Potestas - Review : "Swan Man"

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   Last week, Orphan Black offered us its fifth episode in its second season, reaching its middle, with "Ipsa Sciencia Potestas". I can not express how much this episode was great. Orphan Black never stops surprising me and it's always so entertaining and addictive. It's so hard to wait a week for new episodes.
   "Ipsa Sciencia Potestas" was an excellent episode, balancing all its parts wonderfully. Allison was missing, but the rhythm was actually so crazy I only noticed after the episode ended. I love how Sarah and Helena are connecting and how their stories tied up together. Cosima is always more separated from the main action, she is back at the DYAD Institute but the storyline about the genome sequence and Ethan Duncan keeps getting interesting, it's one the main focus of the show... And soon, it will be tied up to Sarah and Helena' stories.

   But "Ipsa Sciencia Potestas" started off with Rachel discovering her monitor's body. She acted so cold during the whole scene but still we could see it affected her. It made her more evil, cold and manipulative. She clearly sees herself higher and better than the other clones. The attack made her angrier and so she decided to waste no time and to fight back right away. She told Professor Leekie to stop his research for the cure for Cosima' sickness and she made Paul her new monitor.... And what a great idea that was. I absolutely loved that scene between Rachel and Paul with the chair and the hand in the mouth. It was so freaking sexy. It really showed how directive Rachel is and how she treats people. I love that she is the big villain of the show for now, it's such a pleasure to watch Tatiana Maslany being so distant and sadistic.

 I noticed Paul said he had no choice and had to accept that promotion. It made wonder about Paul's involvement in all this. He doesn't seem that bad. Of course, what he did to Felix was unforgivable. But he had no choice, as he said. It was an amazing scene between Felix and Paul. I love Jordan Gavaris' work on Orphan Black. He brings so much light, fun and joy to the show. I loved how Felix was getting ready for his date... And I liked that they used Felix and put him in harm ways. After Kira, he's the one person that maters to Sarah. He's her brother. Rachel knew exactly where to hurt and she wants everything from Sarah. All three of them : Helena, Kira and Sarah.


 Before receiving Rachel's threat, Sarah welcomed Helena at Felix's, and left to video call her daughter.... So Felix dropped Helena at Art's. Helena is so good, she's one of my favorite (they're kinda all my favorites actually).
   Art wanted to investigate Maggie Chen's relationship to Helena, but she was more interested in food (as usual). She ate sardines with mustard... Helena, you are so weird. But, eating sardines helped her get her handcuffs off and attacked Art. Helena has strong reactions, she judges quickly and acts on her impulses. I love that from her. Rachel is a problem and she wants to fix it, by killing her.


   Helena was ready to shoot Rachel, while she was having a sweet time with Paul. But Sarah and Art came and Sarah really connected to Helena. It was such a beautiful scene, I still can't believe Tatiana Maslany pulled it off by herself... She is the perfect actress or what ?
   Anyway, it was so touching how Sarah opened up to Helena about Felix and how Helena changed her mind for Sarah. They really share a special bond, Sarah is the only one who can get to Helena. She listens to her. So, Rachel survived the attack, ignoring she just did. But, they will find another way to get Felix back from prison (You bastard Paul !).

   Back at the DYAD Institute, Cosima and Evelyn made a surprising discovery. Evelyn was sent by mistake some results about a research they never even heard of, directed by Professor Leekie, and that could cure Cosima. To know more, they sneak into his office and got caught by him. But, he was forthcoming. The Professor isn't that bad after all. He's just a scientist trying to pursue his work. He revealed the genome was lsot during the lab explosion that killed Rachel's parents. They implanted synthetic sequences in the clones DNA but now it's very hard to find them, not knowing where they are.
   And then Professor Leekie made an even more surprising decision. We learnt from Rachel, Leekie became her guardian after her parents' death but now she is the boss and she sees him as too fragile sometimes, too emotional (compared to her cold stoned heart). Leekie proved it actually when he said he would continue his research despite Rachel's orders. She will not be pelased when she finds out ! But that way, Cosima gets a possible treatment (Yay !)  and Leekie was offered a beer... But it's was from Sarah.
 
   Sarah and Leekie met at the pub and Sarah told him what she discovered from Maggie Chen's locker : a picture of Swan Man, aka Ethan Duncan, still alive. So, he didn't die on the explosion. Why did he stay away from his project ? His daughter ? Does he has the genome sequence ? Sarah and Helena will track him to get all those answers and in exchange, Leekie will make Felix go free. That sounds like a good plan, but we all know what happens with plan, they often doesn't occur as we wish. We will see in the next episode !

   Did you enjoy "Ipsa Sciencia Potestas" ? What was your favorite part ? Are you excited about tonight' episode ? Hit the comments !

Clones notes :

- The psychos at the farm are really crazy ! They sewed Gracie's lips. That was disgusting. And it had no effect, Gracie is still hating Helena with all her guts. But her parents made a terible decision : if they can't find Helena, they will put her baby inside Gracie... They're insane. And why do they want with that baby ? A new Kira ?

- Is Kira special ? The crazy farmers wants to have their own Kira and the real Kira is becoming more and more weird. She has the ability to tell the clones apart, I get she can recozigne when it's not her mom but can she really tell Cosima apart from Alison for example ? And how did she know someone was coming at Cal's door ? Finally, she even made the suspicious cop leave (probable inherited her mother's gene to get out of problems). That kid is special : she was a monkey and now a leopard !

- Hot Paul was hotter than ever ! And Rachel was very sexy too. Definitely the sexiestand kinkiest  heterosexual scene on Orphan Black

- Felix and his morguy boyfriend.... They are doomed :(

- Sarah didn't know about Cosima' sickness... Oops

- I'm really starting to like Art more and more. He is way more interesting this season. I want to see more of him interacting with the clones.

- How much did you miss Allison ?


About the Author - Romain Ossust
I'm a 28 TV addict. Here is a non exhaustive list of my favorite shows : Orphan Black, True Blood, Dexter, Weeds, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, 24, Ab Fab, Carnivale, Lost, The Americans, Hannibal, American Horror Story, Once Upon A Time, Bates Motel, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Ugly Betty, Scandal, Looking, Sleepy Hollow, Fargo, The Walking Dead, Raising Hope, Orange is the New Black, Grey’s Anatomy, HIMYM, Girls, Game of Thrones, The Fall, Black Sails, True Detective, ...
For SpoilerTV, I'm reviewing The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Looking, Sleepy Hollow, The Americans, True Blood & Orphan Black

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