‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Recap – ‘We Will Come Again’

8/26/2024

Written by John Edward Betancourt

James Hiroyuki Liao as Paul Darros in Episode 110 of ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ – ‘We Will Come Again’. (Photo Courtesy of Sophie Giraud/AMC.)

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the Season One Finale of ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.

One particularly powerful lesson that we have gleaned from the phenomenal AMC Networks series, Orphan Black: Echoes, is that grief as a direct result of loss… can drive us to do things we never thought we were capable of, in a negative manner. Since we came to learn that the entire mess that our printed clones are mired within, came as a result of the grief that Doctor Kira Manning suffered by losing her beloved Eleanor Miller. Which is a powerful way to express that message, one that clearly happens to be cautionary in nature for the audience and one… that the show was not done exploring believe it or not. For the season one finale of this magnificent series pondered upon something we’ve never seen tackled in storytelling before.

In that, what would happen, if someone with incredible power and equally as incredible resources… was suffering from the power of grief through loss? Well, it explored that… after some housekeeping came into order. For ‘We Will Come Again’ opened up with unsettling resolution regarding the whole matter with Charlie. Because ol’ Tom made it clear to Lucy that he wanted one thing and one thing alone in exchange for Charlie’s safety while meeting with her. In that, he wanted Jules. He wanted to turn her into the boss to curry favor at last, and well… Lucy was not good with that. For she wanted all versions of herself to be free, and as she expressed that desire to Jack, in earshot of Jules no less… Jules decided to offer herself up to save Charlie.

Which did indeed bring her back into the fold at the Darros compound and allowed for Charlie and Jack to say goodbye and head off to a new future, away from Lucy. Who opted to work with Eleanor, Kira and Xander to find a way to bring Jules home. Which they realized would involve, sneaking into the complex. A feat that would be possible since Darros was about to speak at a conference related to innovation/ego. So, while Darros made every and all preparations to take the stage, Xander returned home, apologized to Darros before he left, and brought Lucy into the complex. Wherein she freed Jules and escaped with her into the bowels of the Darros compound while Xander worked to break the printing machine once and for all, at Kira’s request… and that… is where the core exploration came into play.

Krysten Ritter as Lucy in Episode 110 of ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ – ‘We Will Come Again’. (Photo Courtesy of Sophie Giraud/AMC.)

For while Lucy and Jules worked to be free, Eleanor worked to uncover the identities behind those critical scans, and as Darros spoke, that was revealed. In that, Darros had taken the scans of the twelve most influential minds of the past generation and printed new versions of them and placed them within safe and secure foster homes. Simply because, Darros believed that the greatest minds in this life, went through too much sorrow, too much loss, too much pain before forging their magnificent path, and he wanted them… to be free of those matters and be allowed to just explore their minds and their greatness. So that perhaps they could solve mankind’s biggest woes. All because Darros lost so much and suffered so much to get to where he was at, and while that alone would have been a perfect examination of what grief could become in the hands of someone this powerful… the show had more to showcase.

In that, there is a fair chance that a man like Darros would obsess over their plan to heal themselves through such actions, and become ruthless to have what he wanted. Especially if death had zero consequences. A truth that Jules and Lucy discovered when he returned home and found them. For they stayed longer than expected to find out how best to help the new Clone Club escape their path and forge their own. And well, Darros made it clear it was going to be his way or the highway, since he was quick to kill Jules without giving it a second thought to give rise to Jules 2.0. In other another attempt to push forth brilliance upon the world since Eleanor Miller was no slouch in her field. Hammering home, the lesson, while setting the stage for a powerhouse second season.

One that would potentially explore a grand question we ask often. Who would we become if we lived under vastly different circumstances? Since we often wonder just how much the moment defines us, and we hope this series gets that second season renewal. To explore that powerhouse concept and see these amazing characters grow. But while we wait to see what lie ahead, we can celebrate one brilliant finale. One that showcased the cascading power of grief, and how it does drive us to dark places, in a manner that was stunningly compelling and impactful, and it simply speaks to the wonder of this series. For this one has tapped into some powerful corners of the human condition that we don’t explore enough, and hopefully it starts up some incredible discussions about grief in our everyday lives… so we can fight the ugly instincts it inspires in us when it finds us at last, or again.

Watch ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’

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