Unless You Trusted Someone – The episode opens with Kira Manning (Keeley Hawes) questioning Josh Tartakovich (Izad Eetemadi) on the phone about creating Jules Anderson (Amanda Fix). Stumbling around his words, Josh doesn’t provide a direct answer and ultimately ends up hanging up on her. Lucy (Krysten Ritter), who has been eavesdropping the entire time, suggests their next best move is getting to Paul Darros (James Hiroyuki Liao). Kira says that’s why she was reaching out to Josh. When Lucy asks if Josh has a partner or friend that might lead to his location, Kira remembers his sickly cat. She says his vet should have an address on file. Lucy learns from a quick phone search that the clinic is currently closed but opens at 7 a.m. tomorrow. After agreeing to meet there, Lucy updates Jules via text.
Elsewhere, Jules is with Neva Lee (Alexandra Castillo) when she receives the text. Neva says that she believes Jules’s story about being a clone and insists on calling the Darros Company first thing tomorrow. Jules recognizes the name and learns that Paul Darros was the one who arranged her adoption. Neva says she’s going to get Wes (Liam Diaz) and take them someplace safe. After exiting the vehicle, she encounters an unresponsive James (Adam Kenneth Wilson). A team of federal agents under the command of Dr. Pam Teller (Marnie McPhail) show up and take Jules. When asked, Teller tells Neva that James will fill her in on the details.
Kira is surprised to find Eleanor Miller (Rya Kihlstedt) has returned a day early to celebrate her team’s securing of the Alleman Grant. A quick embrace causes Kira to remember the day she decided to destroy the printer, against Josh’s wishes. He attempts to stop her by sharing newer scans with positive results. At her request, he leaves but leaves the scans behind and encourages her to at least look at them. Seconds later, the memory jumps to Kira watching over Eleanor as she sleeps at home. When Eleanor wakes, Kira reveals that she fell by the pool and hit her head. After Kira assures her that they can get through the illness together, she is shown back in the lab where he destroys Eleanor’s DNA sample.
In the present, Kira lies awake in bed watching Eleanor. When she wakes, Eleanor shrugs off Kira’s attempts to get more intimate by claiming she has a crazy morning. Kira claims to be busy as well and realizes she has a text from Lucy, announcing she’s on her way to the vet’s office.
Jules is shown locked inside what appears to be a bedroom on Darros’s property. Darros joins her and apologizes for her confinement before ensuring her she’ll have access to everything from here on out. He adds that he’s going to be completely honest with her and admits to printing her. This only upsets her but he promises to reveal more when the time is right. Upon his departure, he leaves her door open and says all she needs to do is ask the nearest person whatever she needs. She ventures outside and wanders around a bit until she is overcome by a loud sonic ringing in her head. When she wakes, she meets Xander (Vinson Tran) who explains how the entire area is guarded by a force field that emits a loud sonic noise when one gets too close. When asked he says Darros doesn’t allow cell phones for fear that they would destroy their whole “off-the-grid” lifestyle. She reluctantly agrees to accompany him to get her knee patched up.
At the vet’s office, Kira disguises herself as Josh’s wife and claims to need an emergency prescription for the cat’s stomach. Although the receptionist (Parmida Vand) fills the order, it only reveals a Post Office box number. Kira appears defeated, but Lucy says all they need to do is ask the right people the right questions to get the physical address. Kira rushes off when she receives a notification, alerting her it’s time for Eleanor’s medication.
Xander blows Jules’s mind when he takes her to a lab and patches up her knee with a miracle cure that seals the cut in seconds. She’s further impressed and seemingly starts to change her mind about Darros and his home when she learns of the other projects. He offers to show her a project he’s working on.
Eleanor works in the garden while Kira spikes her tea with an unidentified liquid. Kira becomes agitated when Eleanor claims to want something cold instead. Kira tries to entice her by claiming she might need the caffeine for their long night with Lucas Manning (Jaeden Noel) and his lady friend. Eleanor admits to forgetting about the dinner but says she’s excited about getting to spend time with Lucas.
While Xander shares his and Grace Taiwo’s project with Jules, she asks for his help escaping. He says he doesn’t want to lose his job. As she thanks him and attempts to leave, he tells her that even if she makes it past the sound field, there are still 20 miles of treacherous terrain filled with bears and other predators.
Over dinner, Lucy shares everything she’s learned with Jack (Avan Jogia). When he seems to be stuck on the fact that Lucy marries Kira in the future, she attempts to convince him that he and Charlie (Zariella Langford) are all that matter to her. After pointing out that they can’t stay at Tina’s (Eva Everett Irving) place forever, she mentions the possible lead with the PO Box. He offers to help her.
At dinner with Rhona (Alice Hamid) and his parents, Lucas immediately recognizes something is amiss with Kira. When asked she contributes it to a long day. After insulting Rhona, Kira makes the dinner more awkward when she reads Lucy’s text, announcing that Jack has offered his assistance. When she claims the text to be from Derrick, Lucas tells Rhona that Derrick is his biological father.
Xander and Jules sneak into Darros’s office and steal the clicker that will disable the sound field.
While Kira and Eleanor prepare for bed, Kira expresses her regrets about how she acted at dinner. Another text interrupts but this time it’s from Eleanor’s phone and someone named Jess, who claims last night, was amazing. Eleanor admits to sleeping with someone else and claims it’s just sex. An argument ensues, with Eleanor having a hard time understanding why Kira isn’t more upset. Kira claims it’s her that the problem and goes to sleep on the couch. Later that night, she receives a call from Lucy with Josh’s address. Kira offers to meet her there, but Lucy claims to need to check on Jules.
At the edge of Darros’s property, Xander explains to Jules how the clicker works. She thanks him for sticking his neck out, but the clicker fails to work. She becomes upset and demands to be left alone when he suggests that the failure could be a sign.
Kira arrives at Josh’s home and forces her way inside to find that he is in the middle of packing. She chides him for putting this tech in the hands of a maniac millionaire. He reminds her that the tech wouldn’t even exist if she wasn’t so stuck on trying to bring back her dead wife.
Still wandering in the woods, Jules finds herself outside of Darros’s house. When she enters she overhears Xander singing. Following his voice to his room, she watches as he uses computer software to mimic Darros’s dialect. She interrupts and asks if he is a printout of Darros. He admits that Darros is his “prime,” which will allow him to live another generation. Jules asks about her “prime.” He claims that he didn’t know about her until today but he did mislead her into trusting him. As she storms off, he tells her there is no escape and Darros owns her.
As Josh and Kira continue to argue, he admits to rebuilding the printer and cloning Jules for money. He says he thought it would make him happy. He points out how much working with her meant to him before pulling out a gun and shooting himself in the head.
Orphan Black Echoes Review
The episode certainly wasn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. It certainly wasn’t the best, either. I’d give it a 5 out of 10 for the simple fact that I wasn’t expecting the Xander twist. Learning a bit more about the character’s backstories is always appealing as well. The dinner scene with Lucas’s girlfriend was a huge turnoff. I found some of the flashbacks confusing as well.
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