"Beneath Her Heart" is the third episode of Season 5 of Orphan Black that first aired on June 24, 2017. It also the 43rd episode overall.
Synopsis[]
Stuck on the sidelines with Neolutionists crawling all over her home, Alison seeks to return to her community center, but Bailey Downs has moved on from her. As she flounders to take back some semblance of control, the ghost of friendships’ past rears its handsome head. Art and his new partner show up at the Hendrix residence to continue their search for Helena, forcing Art to make a difficult moral judgement.
Summary[]
A flashback to happier times: Donnie and Alison are having a dinner with very good friends, Aynsley and Chad. At the end of the dinner, Chad and Aynsley bring out a bag of "magic mushrooms", and all enjoy them (except for Donnie, who had bad experiences with them in college). Throughout the episode, there are occasional bits of flashback to this night, showing the three enjoying the psychedelic experience.
Now: Mr. Frontenac presses on Alison and Donnie for Helena's location, neither has an idea, but he pushes the "worth" button: Cosima is a great scientist, Sarah and Helena are fertile, but what worth does Alison have as a clone? She needs to do something to make her existence worthwhile for Neolution.
The Hendrix's are preparing for the church Fall Fair, although Alison is still miffed that Nona Walker is coordinating instead of her. They are still on tap for Donnie's dance, and for a duet from both of them. She notices a bottle of pills in her craft room, that she hid behind some fabric, and she pockets it. With sufficient encouragement, Alison gets in gear to go to the fair.
They get to the fair at church, and inside Alison runs into Nona Walker, giving directions to people as they set up. Alison immediately starts giving counter-directions, and Nona says "they" said Alison would do this, try to undermine Nona, and Nona insisted that Alison wouldn't do that.
Alison settles down, goes into church and tries to pray. Then she gets out the pill bottle, takes some, and pours the rest into a bottle of ice tea she has. She goes out to the church lobby and offers the bottle to Nona.... then she takes it back, saying it's been in her car forever, it's probably rotten, Alison will get another.
Rachel meets with Mr. Frontenac, and they have images from Helena's twins, surely from the hospital she went to; they discuss the twins' unexpected healing, which may make them even more valuable than Kira. Rachel tells him to have "the detectives" lean on Donnie some more.
Donnie answers the door, and there are Art, Maddy Enger, and more investigators: they have a search warrant, related to the Pouchy killings. The search starts, with Maddy trying to prod Donnie into revealing where Helena is. Donnie whispers to Art: keep them out of the garage.
Kira is getting her checkup at Dyad, Rachel asks her about how well she healed from the car accident, Rachel and Cosima both think it's something in her genes. Rachel gives her a gift: a "spiny mouse", which has the (real-world) ability to grow back its own skin and fur.
At the church fair, Alison notices Ramon unloading supplies from a truck, and rips into him for taking their money for his drugs, when they was on consignment and not his to sell. Ramon replies, no, he bought it in cash, it must be that Jason Kellerman took the Hendrix's for rookies and took advantage of them for some extra money. Alison laments, she's a failure at everything. They relax and do some drinking, and toking, in his truck.
A bit later, Donnie finds Alison, joyously jumping in the wind bouncer; she's high enough her troubles have evaporated. He tells her the police are searching the house, they have no evidence related to Pouchy, but they do have bodies in the garage.
Art sees Maddy go into the garage, and finds she is planting Pouchy-related evidence there to find, even though they remark, they both know that Helena killed Pouchy and his people. Maddy notices the repaired garage floor, and thinks it's suspicious. She is then shown jackhammering it up.
Donnie calls Sarah for advice: Alison is drugged, and the police are searching our house, but Leekie and Rudy are buried there. Felix pipes in that if Alison's relapsed, she needs an intervention. After he hangs up, Donnie pokes in Alison's bag, and drinks all of the ice tea in the bottle.
Kira has gotten home from Dyad, and has finished her homework. She glances at her mouse, thinks a while, then gets a knife out of her drawer.
At the church fair, Donnie starts his dance show, to the accompaniment of bagpipe, and he starts fine, then starts to wobble, then he groans, then collapses. The ice tea bottle rolls out of Alison's bag to her feet, and she sees it's empty. Donnie gets up and tries to continue, before he drunkenly collapses.
With Donnie and Alison on stage, under the spotlight, some in the audience remark on how they both are "alkies". This sets off Alison, who rants to the audience that she's not just a boozer, she's a pill popper too, and half of the audience bought drugs from her, so they shouldn't pretend they are so innocent.... At that point, Felix closes the curtain.
Outside the Hendrix's garage, Art sees Sarah sneaking around. He comes out so she can tell him that it's Dr. Leekie's body in there, he has to stall.
Back in the church, Donnie is recovering, but Sarah and Alison are worried about Rachel's reaction if Leekie's body is found. Donnie is even willing to reveal where Helena is, it's a secret but he knows it. Alison has an idea: to make herself "useful for once."
Alison goes to the Dyad building, and meets Rachel in her office. Alison knows, compared to her sisters, she hasn't been important in this story, but she's been in "this fight" even before Sarah. She gives Rachel a bag.
With Art watching, Maddy Enger digs below the concrete, and finds something squishy. It might be a body, but it's missing...
Rachel opens the bag, and it's Leekie's decomposed head. Alison explains, it was an accident, Dr. Leekie pushed Donnie over the edge, and Donnie didn't have basic firearm safety. Rachel collects herself, for a long time Leekie was her effective parent, but then he was her enemy, so she has no real animosity about it. Alison says this is Rachel's problem, if she gets the police to file charges it will all go back to Rachel's office, and she's sure Neolution doesn't want that attention. Rachel consents, and calls Maddy Enger; she orders Enger to dispose of the bodies, and put the garage back in order.
Alison is back home with Donnie, and feeling both satisfied with what she's done, and uncertain of who she is. She wants to go away for a little while to see who she is. Donnie is not entirely happy with this, but supportive.
Helena is sitting on a bed, with a nun next to her; Helena is writing in a journal, in Ukrainian.
Credits[]
Main Cast[]
- Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning/Beth Childs/Cosima Niehaus/Alison Hendrix/Helena/Rachel Duncan
- Jordan Gavaris as Felix Dawkins
- Kevin Hanchard as Arthur Bell
- Kristian Bruun as Donnie Hendrix
- Ari Millen as Ira (credit only)
- Josh Vokey as Scott Smith (credit only)
- Maria Doyle Kennedy as Siobhan Sadler
Guest Starring[]
- Skyler Wexler as Kira
- Kathryn Alexandre as Tatiana Maslany's Acting Double
- Elyse Elvesque as Detective Engler
- Jayne Eastwood as Nona Walker
- Andrew Moodie as Mr. Frontenac
- Natalie Lisinska as Aynsley
- Eric Johnson as Chad
Cast[]
- Ryan Blakely as Reverend Mike
- Alex Ozerov as Ramone
- Illarion Michaels as Jake
- Lily Gail Reid as Esmee
- Marco Timpano as Forensics #1
- Eileen Sword as Sister Irina
- Calvin Desautels as Neo Agent #1
- Christina Ferrel as Eileen
- John Nelles as Dialogue Coach
Uncredited[]
- Carrie Beale as Fundraiser Sale Attendee
- Regis Lemke as Fundraiser Sale Attendee
Gallery[]
Sneak Peaks and Promos[]
Music[]
TBA