#obs4e3

Sarah can almost feel the creature - bio… something worm, probe, thing - wriggling in the lining of her cheek. She digs her fists into her pockets to refrain from worrying at the creature and tempting it to burst and kill her. Cheery.

She nods at the door guard, reaching past him to buzz herself into the lab in the basement. Cosima is immediately partially upright, but she can’t move too much without disturbing Kira where she lay against her Auntie Cosima.

Sarah waves her down, taking up a seat just out of Cosima’s line of sight, where she can breathe. This is the only safe place she has right now. And, even though she needs to be alone, this is the best she can do.

Her phone vibrates in her pocket, but she doesn’t check it right away. When it buzzes again, she comes out of her stupor enough to realize that it could be MK. The texts are from Cosima.

Want to talk about it? and then Sarah?

Sarah just puts her phone back into her pocket.

The words are less than a whisper in her mind, more of a feeling, an imprint on the last tattered bits of her soul: I don’t want to leave you alone.

Her throat is thick; she wants to cough, wants to expel the last bits of someone else from her mind. Her head pounds her name back into her muscles, tickling along inside her lungs with every breath. But mostly her scalp itches, making her skull feel heavier as the sweat trickles down between the strands of her real hair like clawed fingers.

The darkness of the townhouse swallows her, and suddenly breathing is easier. The only one watching her here is her future self. She glances furtively at the camera, just the tiniest flick of her eyes. But she sees it.

She digs her nails into the wig, pulling at it, letting the last of this particular falsehood fall away. Leaving behind the raw bones of what might once have been Beth Childs, but now is… something less.

Don’t you recognize him? He’s Rachel. Or at least a reflection of what Rachel might have been.

Ira was raised by Neolution - or, more specifically, by Susan Duncan. If you think about the other Castor clones we’ve met, they have these strong familial ties with each other… Because they were raised together like a litter of puppies (according to Rudy anyway). But Ira, like Rachel, was set apart.

Remember that Castor is about 9 years younger than Leda. Remember that Susan, when Ira came around, had already abandoned Rachel, had already learned from her “mistakes.” Rachel and Ira were bred to be the first step towards her dream of “more perfect humans.”

And, unlike Rachel, Ira hasn’t lost his faith in the cause. Ira, like his Castor brothers, has fully dedicated himself to what he’s been taught. Rachel, Mark, and the other Leda clones have seen the OTHER side of this Neolution dream, and that is why they are different.

OB: *Introduces a new character*

So I couldn’t answer this earlier because I’ve only JUST watched the episode. So, let’s talk about Rachel.

I have to agree with you: Rachel definitely stood out in this episode. Maybe it’s because she’s had so little screentime since the unfortunate pencil incident, maybe it’s because of the intrigue about these other characters (Charlotte, Susan, and our new Castor clone) who we’ve seen very little of before. Not to mention there’s the whole idea of her being in a terrarium, completely cut off from society, with everyone but Charlotte in a wardrobe of almost pure white. It may also be because Sarah and the usual band of merry Ledas are losing their tenacious grip on “doing the right thing.”

Meanwhile, we see Rachel fighting her “destiny” left and right, taking up the mantle of humanity that her previous title of “robot bitch” (though because of her enhancement, it’s technically more true than ever) seems to no longer apply. We’re getting more of her struggle with recovery (the fall, the stutter, the really invasive medical checkup). And we’re getting her interacting with Charlotte and comparing her freedoms to that of the child’s.

My favorite part about Rachel has always been her bite, the disdain with which she cuts down those in her way. And we see it with Susan - but we don’t see it with Charlotte. No, instead we get this budding… alliance of sorts. Because Rachel always, always, always refused to ally herself with the other Ledas in this fight, but now here we are.