It turns out that the video of Evie Cho confessing to euthanizing deformed infants really was the end of the Brightborn CEO. The Big Bad of Orphan Black Season 4 didn't have a master plan or an ace up her sleeve — in fact, she was quickly dispatched in the finale, "From Dancing Mice To Psychopaths," when her erstwhile doctor Ian Van Lier triggered the bot in her cheek, killing her in front of the entire Neolution board. But it wasn't Susan Duncan who took Evie's place as head of Neolution as planned — rather, her own daughter executed a stunning coup and usurped Susan's position. Yes, Rachel emerged victorious in the Orphan Black finale and we really shouldn't be all that surprised.
Rachel had a chance to betray her sestras last week, but she didn't, choosing to bring down Evie Cho instead. But now we know that was no mere act of altruism; Rachel was only temporarily helping Clone Club until Evie was removed from power. Then she called a meeting with the Neolution board and made her sales pitch.
Evie wasn't the right leader because of her single-minded obsession with the flawed bots. Susan wasn't the right leader because of her slow pace and her insistence on viewing her cloned subjects as human. Only Rachel is capable of leading Neolution: she wants to see tangible progress made in her own lifetime, she plans to merge the bot and the clone technology, and she's willing to treat the clones as dispensable property in order to succeed.
Once she'd made her pitch to the board, Rachel only needed one thing to complete her coup: Cosima's research. So she flew back to the island, stole Sarah's fertilized eggs (which Cosima had just used to finally develop a cure for her own illness), and — when confronted by Susan — brutally stabbed her mother with a kitchen knife.
When Sarah arrived on the island to rescue Cosima and her research, Rachel stabbed her, too. Although Susan got her hands on a gun during the confrontation, she was unable to shoot her own daughter. And so Season 4 ended with the tables turned in the Duncan household: an ailing Susan strapped to a wheelchair locked in Rachel's own cell, and Rachel as the new head of Neolution, ready to shepherd the organization into its new era of progress.
Oh, and Sarah's trapped on the island somewhere slowly bleeding out. When she called Mrs. S for help, she was unpleasantly surprised to hear Ferdinand on the other end of the line: Rachel's lover is holding both Mrs. S and Kira captive… so that's not good, either.
How will Sarah get off the island? Will Susan survive her stab wound? What will happen to Mrs. S and Kira? And what's Rachel's next Machiavellian move? Sadly, we'll have to wait until Season 5 to find out.
Images: Ken Woroner/BBC America (3)
