Instinct

"*Oh, my God! Ugh! You know I never would've got in if you said we were going to suburbia. Don't stop. Someone might speak to us. God! Christ. You know, my skin just breaks out every time I leave the downtown. Yeah, yeah. Right there. Look acne.*"
—Felix Dawkins while driving with Sarah Manning

**"Instinct"** is the second episode of Season 1 of *Orphan Black*. It was written by Graeme Manson and directed by John Fawcett. It is the second episode of the series overall, and premiered on April 6, 2013.

## Synopsis

With a body in her car and nowhere to turn, Sarah is forced to continue her con and earn "Beth" a second chance on the force. But with a killer on her tail, her only hope of finding answers lies with another apparent 'identical,' Alison.

## Recap

*This section is a detailed recap of this episode. **There are major spoilers.** Click to expand.*

Panicked after witnessing the death of her German doppelganger Katja Obinger, Sarah finally takes the call on Beth Childs's mysterious second phone. When the person on the other line asks about the German, Sarah tells her that she was killed in the back of her car. The person momentarily panics, telling Sarah that Katja's claims were real: someone *is* killing them off, and that they must have followed her from Europe. She then tells "Beth" to get rid of the body, and take blood and hair samples from her along the way, then look for her briefcase later.

Sarah, after buying a shovel, finds a good, secluded spot and buries Katja, robbing her body of her hotel key card and ID. Meanwhile, "Sarah's" wake is being held at Felix's apartment. Her "freak" and "punk" friends mourn her death, and Rockabilly Bob gives his parting words, while Felix, knowing his foster sister is still alive, refuses to participate. Vic, drowning his sorrows with alcohol, is in his denial stage, telling them that he can't believe Sarah would kill herself. When Felix implies that Sarah jumped because of Vic's twisted view of love, he attacks him.

After burying Katja, Sarah spends the night at a car shop, washing the blood off her car, and having her windows fixed. She comes home to Felix the next morning, just in time to see a drunk Vic leaving Felix's apartment, after being kicked out by him. Sarah pulls up her hood and hides as a very drunk Vic stumbles out.

When Sarah finally gets into Felix's apartment, Felix tells her that he spent all the money he got from the cocaine she stole from Vic on her wake, but Sarah has other things on her mind. She demands to know if Kira thinks she's dead, but Felix does not know what Mrs.S told Kira, much to Sarah's frustration. Felix then notices some blood left behind on Sarah's neck, but Sarah doesn't reveal much, only that she met Katja. Sarah tells him to leave it be and Felix is annoyed since she won't tell him what happened. Sarah begs Felix to tell their foster mother, Mrs. S, that she's not dead. Felix is hesitant and thinks Sarah should talk to Mrs.S. Sarah tells him to lie for her, since there is still hope for them to run away with Kira. To convince Felix, Sarah takes out her bag to show to Felix the money she withdrew from Beth's bank account, only to realize that the money is missing. Instead of the money are the Maggie Chen case files and Art's business card. Sarah deduces that Art must have followed her and taken the money from her bag, causing her to make a fit and trash Felix's apartment. After calming down, Sarah decides that she needs to continue playing Beth until she gets the money back from Art. Sarah calls Art, who apparently thinks that Beth was going to skip town to escape the trial. He tells her to meet her at noon and hangs up.

Sarah returns to Beth's apartment and is greeted by a suspicious Paul. Paul wants to know why "Beth" didn't tell him she was going to be out all night, and Sarah makes up an excuse that she was at the station catching up on a case. Paul says that he is worried about her, but when Sarah keeps pushing him away, Paul tells her that he is leaving to stay at Cody's for a while. Sarah almost fails to contain her relief.

Felix goes to Mrs. S to explain things to her, that Sarah faked her death to escape Vic. But Mrs.S thinks Sarah's elaborate plan to apparently get away from Vic is stupid. Luckily, Mrs. S never believed that Sarah was dead, as she knew that she was too tough for suicide. Unfortunately, she doesn't think Sarah should see Kira, but Felix tells her to work things out with Sarah herself instead of making him the messenger. Mrs.S reminisces about how she uprooted her life to bring Felix and Sarah here and start fresh. Felix ries to tell her that Sarah is trying to make up for abandoning Kira, but they are interrupted by an eavesdropping Kira. Kira wants to know when Sarah will be coming and Mrs. S lets Kira repeat what she seems to have been telling her for so long: that Sarah will come "when she's ready", and when Mrs. S confirms this herself.

Meanwhile, left alone at Beth's, Sarah studies Beth's case files on Maggie Chen, practicing her statement. She later meets with Art at Fung's, the diner Art and Beth used to hang out in. Art is suspicious about the money, thinking that Beth got the money for killing Maggie and that it wasn't an accident after all, but Sarah lies and tells him that the money is from her and Paul's joint account. She claims that she *was* planning on leaving but decided against it so that she could clear the shooting. Sarah insists that she, that is, Beth, is not a dirty cop, and she merely freaked out. Art orders Sarah to go over her statement for him, so that he can be sure she won't crack under questioning. Sarah recounts the particulars of the case: Beth was alone and canvassing for witnesses in a jewellery heist case, when she mistook an Asian woman for a wanted criminal and shot her. Sarah learns from Art's reaction Beth was on her medications that day and that after the shooting, Beth actually called Art before she called it in and Art placed the phone in Maggie Chen's hand to make it look like Beth could've mistaken the phone for a gun. Art covered for Beth, which is why he is so nervous about the hearing. Art then tells "Beth" that he is keeping the money until she's cleared of the shooting.

Sarah goes to Felix and is comforted to know that Kira knows she is alive, when Beth's second phone rings again. She picks up and the person at the other end tells her to retrieve the German's briefcase from her hotel room "before they do" and hangs up before Sarah could ask more questions.

Sarah, curious to find out what's in the briefcase, borrows some clothes from Felix, goes to the hotel Katja was staying at, disguised as her. She ignores the receptionist when he calls out for her and goes up to Katja's room. When she gets to Katja's room, she finds the place trashed, the briefcase nowhere in sight. Left in the messy room is a headless doll with red hair strands and cigarette burns, and a Bible, left open on the page with Psalm 139:13-14 marked with a rectangle and the word "TRUTH". There is a knock on the door and the receptionist she had ignoring earlier has come for her. He questions her about the state of her hotel room, which they checked after they received a noise complaint, but Sarah waves it off as a party. They ask her to pay the damages, and Sarah, after doing a quick search of Katja's things, finds that the hotel has her briefcase, and her credit card on file which she lets them use for payment of the damages. She finally retrieves the briefcase and leaves.

Later that night, at an deserted spot, Sarah breaks the briefcase open, hoping to find money. Instead, she finds an X-ray, files and blood samples, all from European women who look exactly like her. She also spots a paper with Beth's address on it, and Alison Hendrix's, when the pink clone phone rings again, and Sarah now believes that the person on the other end is Alison. When the person on the other end starts asking her about the briefcase, wanting answers, Sarah finally comes clean, telling her that Beth is "indisposed". Shocked, the person at the other end of the line gives Sarah the same riddle Katja recited to her. When Sarah does not answer and insists that Beth has entrusted her with the briefcase, the other person hangs up.

Sarah manages to find Alison through the address that Katja had. From her suburban home, Sarah follows her car to her children's soccer practice, realizing to her horror that Alison is a soccer mom version of her. She follows Alison into a small shed at the playground and confronts her, wanting answers. Alison is furious that Sarah had risked approaching her, given that her children are close by. When Sarah informs her that Beth has killed herself, Alison is bothered and frantic, even waving a knife around during their conversation. Nonetheless, Alison sends Sarah away and tells her to wait for a call, insisting that explaining everything to Sarah is not her responsibility.

As Sarah walks back to the car, she gets a call from Art, who is standing outside Beth's house. He tells her that her doctor has ruled her unfit for duty due to the statements she gave at their previous session, which would mean her hearing has been postponed. Sarah can't accept that, since Art will not give her back the money, and so she decided pays Beth's doctor a visit.

The doctor sticks by her decision that "Beth" is not ready for duty, although Sarah tries to convince her otherwise. When the doctor is not ready to change her ruling, as a last resort, Sarah threatens to expose that Beth may have been high on the drugs that Bowers has been prescribing for Beth as a personal favor. This, of course, changes the doctor's decision, and the hearing proceeds the next day as planned.

The next day, after the hearing, Alison calls Sarah and tells her to come to her house quietly later that night, with Katja's briefcase. As Sarah is leaving, she asks Art to give her back the money, making up an excuse that she has to put back the money back before Paul notices that it's gone. But Art makes it clear that he will return the money to her only after she is reinstated.

That night, with Felix, Sarah goes over to Alison's house. Telling Felix to wait in the car, Sarah goes in to meet Alison. She assumes that Alison summoned her to kill her as Alison is holding a gun, until another woman, who looks exactly like Sarah, comes out to greet her, much to her surprise.
## Cast

* Dylan Bruce as Paul Dierden
* Jordan Gavaris as Felix Dawkins
* Kevin Hanchard as Arthur Bell
* Michael Mando as Vic Schmidt
* Maria Doyle Kennedy as Siobhan Sadler

Guest Starring* Inga Cadranel as Detective Angela Deangelis
* Ron Lea as Lieutenant Gavin Hardcastle
* Skyler Wexler as Kira Manning
* Elizabeth Saunders as Dr. Anita Bowers
* Reid Janisse as Desk Clerk
* Dale Samms as Hotel Security
* Ivan Sherry as Internal Affairs Suit
* Joanne Reece as Beth's Lawyer
* Millie Davis as Gemma Hendrix
* Drew Davis as Oscar Hendrix
* Marqus Bobesich as Rockabilly Bob
* Jamila Fleming as Sherry

## Trivia

### Production Notes

* When attempting to open the briefcase, Tatiana Maslany genuinely injured her hand. Her cut knuckles can still be seen healing a couple of episodes later.
	+ This can also be seen at the opening of the episode when she gets out of the car and answers the phone; this is because the briefcase scene was filmed first.

### Cultural References

* When arriving in Alison's neighborhood, Sarah passes a sign that names the suburb: 'Bailey Downs.' This is the same fictional neighborhood where the Fitzgerald sisters reside in the Canadian horror film, Ginger Snaps (2000). Tatiana Maslany, and Orphan Black guest star Eric Johnson both starred in the sequel to Ginger Snaps, entitled Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004).

### Goofs

* While twins (and clones) have identical DNA, they do not have identical finger prints.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/orphan-black/season-1/episode-02-instinct