Warning: This review contains spoilers… Obviously. You have been warned!
In The Mitigation of Competition we get to see badass Leda and the return of two major characters. Cosima is at the island working with Susan to combine the Leda and Caster genetic material to recreate Kendall’s DNA and find a cure. Susan shows Cosima the History of Neolution, shedding some light on the island and Neolution’s history. When Cosima calls the head of Neolution a “racist blowhard that thinks poverty is genetic,” I laughed out loud. This woman is fighting against the clock for her own cure and she still gets those zingers in. Something about the geological makeup of the island seems to pique Cosima’s interest, but I’m not entirely sure what the importance is. This is why you shouldn’t fall asleep in science, kids. Rachel’s eye visions seem to be more than a glitch or hallucination. It seems like she is watching something on the island, and someone is trying to tell her something. Who is trying to contact her, and why?
Meanwhile Allison picks up Donnie from jail and we learn that she is having a crisis of faith. I’ve never had the urge to pray after sex, but I know very little about male-female sex. Is it a straight thing, or just an Allison Hendrix thing? Felix and not-the-singer Adele meet up with the two of them to discuss the case, and Adele is getting confused and suspicious. Which only gets compounded when Helena shows up. Helena is back! I’ve missed her character the past couple of episodes. She is good at getting things done efficiently and brutally. Just like Rachel, but we’ll get to that in a second. Poor Felix sends Adele away before she gets involved in all of the clone mess. I really feel bad for Felix, but I’m glad he’s stepping up for all of the Sisters.
Allison and Donnie decide they are going to Niagara Falls, which I’m pretty sure has to violate Donnie’s bail. They notice that the cops have left and there is only an ambulance outside. I had a feeling that it was one of the Bright Born killers, and I was right. He’s about to put a maggot-bot in Allison’s mouth when Helena appears! With a bow and arrow! She brutally shoots the Bright Born guy threw the neck, saving the day. I’m in love.
Rachel and Ira go to to Sarah and Felix with a plan to bring down Evie. Like Sarah, I don’t believe it’ll work. And like Sarah, I underestimate the power of Rachel. They find out that two of the Bright Born surrogates have escaped and getting to them alive is the key to bringing Evie and Bright Born down. Sarah and Art go to the women’s shelter where the two women were staying and find out that Bright Born got to one of them, and that there is another dirty cop connected to Evie.
Sarah pretends to be Beth to find out where the other woman, Kendra is hiding. Luckily Art and Sarah get to her first before Bright Born. Kendra has a damning of baby euthanasia, but doesn’t want to go forward. Which is totally understandable in her situation. Her baby is blind and she wants to protect her children. Rachel wants Sarah to blackmail Kendra into helping them, but Sarah is not having any of that. And Rachel is not having any of Sarah’s indignation, and has Ira pick up Kendra after blackmailing Kendra herself.
This is when I think that Rachel is going to sell Ira and the Sisters down the river. Rachel shows up at Bright Born to talk to Evie about obtaining a seat at the Neolution table in exchange for Kendra and the video. Evie agrees, obviously underestimating Leda. I too underestimated Rachel, because girlfriend had another copy of the video and was recording Evie talk about euthenising babies for Ira to upload. During the press conference. Evie got slayed and I almost stood up and cheered. Rachel definitely has her own interests, but I love that she almost singlehandedly brought down Evie and Bright Born.
The show ends with an encampment, one that looks a lot like the one in Rachel’s visions. With the sounds of soft French music in the background. Could it be? Yes! In the last moments we see a blonde woman turn around, revealing to us that Delphine is still alive! Another queer character is still alive!
Will Cosima make it through the season finale? Will she and Delphine reunite on the island? Will a cure be found before it’s too late? How far is Rachel going to drag Evie? Is Kira’s vision of Sarah being set on fire come true? Will Adele come back in a big way? Tune in next week to find out!