Kristian Bruun

Orphan Black has been on a roll in the back half of the third season, focusing back in on character—rather than plot—with tremendous results. Unfortunately that forward momentum stalls in this episode, as Sarah, Felix, and Mrs. S head to London to find the Castor original. While their trip across the pond allows for one of the episode’s best moments, Mrs. S rocking out with her former band, it also leads to the latest development in what has been a disappointingly plot-heavy season. It’s fun to watch Maria Doyle Kennedy perform one of her own songs (“Stuck”), but that’s not why it’s such an effective moment. The jam session gives much-needed nuance and background to the woefully underserved Mrs. S, humanizing her and letting the audience, and Sarah and Felix, see a bit of what she was like before Projects Leda and Castor took over her life.

It’s been a strong, if scattered sophomore season for Orphan Black thus far, with the series doubling down on character while it addresses some of its lingering problems, chief among them the lack of a compelling antagonist. Despite the introduction of Michelle Forbes as the vaguely ominous Marion Bowles, this still remains an issue for the show two episodes after Leekie’s death. Donnie’s accidental homicide was a step in the right direction (Leekie was never a particularly successful villain), but the series seems unwilling to commit to Rachel as their Big Bad and it hasn’t put in enough time to make any other character a legitimate threat.