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S04.E02: Transgressive Border Crossing

ElectricBoogaloo

By ElectricBoogaloo
in Orphan Black [V]

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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

After evading a Neolution attack in Iceland, Sarah returns home to track down an elusive new ally. She follows breadcrumbs and uncovers the next facet of Neolution's agenda – implanting dangerous technological devices in humans. However, those she left behind are wary about her return, not wanting to relinquish their semblance of normalcy. As Cosima struggles with Delphine's disappearance, Alison and Donnie host a pregnant and ever-hungry Helena. Meanwhile Felix, feeling like an outsider, embarks on his own journey of self-discovery.

 

Promo:

Valny

Valny

(edited)

Uh oh... worm bot!(or whatever we're calling that thing) I didn't expect Mrs S to find one in Sarah's cheek, but I loved the way TM played that scene after S asked what that was...."I don't know... I don't know." I liked her inflections... she sounded like a little kid so frightened. 

Random thoughts:

All I kept thinking when Sarah had her finger in Kira's mouth was eeeew...yuck! her finger has tons of germs on there and it's swirling around on the kid's cheek!  :)

 

I liked seeing Beth keeping popping in and out of the ep. There was one shot I really liked when Sarah when I think bending down under Beth's sink then she stands up really fast and we see it changes to Beth.

 

We had the return of Felix's ass while painting.I may be wrong, but that might have been the most ass-time he's gotten.  So his secret is he wants to find his birth family? Hmmm.... wonder how they will make that be interesting/relevant?

 

Aw poor MK at the end with Beth. I felt bad for her when Beth left her.

 

Sarah and co should have had  go bags ready for situations like that in Iceland.

Edited by Valny
  • Love 3
shapeshifter

shapeshifter

(edited)

Did anyone think Felix's secret was a trans operation when he was being so shy in the shower? Anyway, would he feel better if, IDK, it turned out he and Kyra shared a paternal grandparent?

Sarah and family return to their old stomping grounds, but they may not be the ones doing the stomping.

http://previously.tv/orphan-black/the-worm-turns-on-orphan-black/

[sarah] gets right back into her freelance investigating groove as though she never left.

And does anyone else thing they should've had Sarah die and Beth live because it would make more sense having a real detective doing the detecting?

So Allison has fertility envy. Makes sense. Is a jelly roll fruit cake a real thing?

Cosima using marijuana for nausea makes sense, but I would think lollipops would make more sense than smoke--but the hookah does give the audience an obvious clue as to what's going on.

Edited by shapeshifter
  • Love 1
Kaboom 2.0

Kaboom 2.0

(edited)

Beth is killing me and I so want to know more about her, I like how we're getting flashbacks. I'm slowly warming up to MK but the look on her face when Beth told her that Beth was done with the clone stuff, to leave, to hide, broke my heart. I was trying to think of where Beth went in that blonde wig, with that hair and the business suit, maybe sneak in somewhere as Delphine?

 

I really like Sarah and Art as partners, glad they're back together in those roles. I ship their friendship and hope it stays that way. I cannot stand those two paramedics so I really wanted Sarah to punch them both. I guess they've screwed up because now she knows that they know about the sestras.

 

Felix's search for his birth family makes me feel like he's gonna get his heart broken. Hell I'm feeling that way already because of how isolated he feels now that it's confirmed Sarah and Mrs. S are blood related. Always good to see JG's awesome ass though. :-)

 

Not liking Kira's attitude (but then again I can rarely stand any child character's attitude when they reach tween and teen years) but understandable since she seems to have bonded with Cal and he's over on GoT, er I mean, out of the country. Sarah jamming her finger in Kira's mouth made me cringe since one of my cousins and her kids recently ended up with hand, foot, mouth disease thanks to one child sticking a dirty finger in her sister's mouth. Yuck!

 

Donnie is my ep MVP. Love how he's accepted Helena into his family and home, how supportive of her he is, how he understands why Alison feels how she does about Helena's fertility.

Edited by Kaboom 2.0
  • Love 2
apollonia666

apollonia666

(edited)

Did anyone think Felix's secret was a trans operation when he was being so shy in the shower? 

I wouldn't be surprised by that sort of plot twist in any other show, but given how much care Orphan Black took trying to get it right with Tony, the trans clone back in season 2 (edited to add: how successful that attempt was has been vigorously debated, but they clearly did try), that wouldn't ever have occurred to me as a possibility.  Getting any sort of genital or breast surgery while still presenting as male otherwise is not how being a transgender woman works.

 

Edited again:  Now that I've reflected further on this, I'm so annoyed at myself.  That last statement I made above is true for many trans people, especially for those who identify in a very binary sort of way, and surgeons who perform gender confirmation surgery generally only do so for people who do identify in a very binary sort of way, but there are all kinds of ways to be trans, and all kinds of ways to be gender fluid or gender nonconforming.  What I said above is really not okay and I apologize.  All of that said, it still seems really unlikely to me that the show would go there with Felix.

Edited by apollonia666
  • Love 3
beedub

beedub

Christ on the cross!

 

I think I would have put Kira at the bottom of the rankings this week. Poor kid has to share a cramped subterranean (and presumably poorly-ventilated) lair with two irresponsible blood relatives, one huffing weed from a hookah and the other chain-smoking fags while mom Sarah is out doing whatever she does. Way to go, auntie and great-grandma! You know what they say, it takes a village full of second-hand smoke to raise a child...

 

Speaking of up in smoke, I felt bad for that lovely cabin in Iceland. Whoever loaned it to the fugitives is going to be pissed!

 

Nonetheless, I'm enjoying this new season and this episode was another good one, even if it seems like OB is taking a page from The Strain with the worms. But interesting that Neolution has bio-engineered these worms for some nefarious purpose, and unfortunate that they've seen fit to infest Sarah (and God knows who else) with them. Hopefully it wasn't delivered using the Dr. Nealon method, as surgical implantation would be horrific enough (though either way I take it that Sarah was out during the procedure). I had assumed that when Nealon tried to transfer it to Delphine that the result might be some kind of mind control, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Sarah, as far as we know. Also not sure why they've been cutting them out of certain hosts.

 

And in other news, good to see Helena (and Donnie) still supplying the comic relief. Loved Alison's line about how she eats frozen bread. The Beth scenes were indeed sad, but who was she impersonating with that blonde wig? Lots to speculate about!

  • Love 1
Loandbehold

Loandbehold

 

I didn't hear the frozen bread line. Is that a real thing for nausea/morning sickness? Or is it just a Helena thing?

Never having been pregnant (or a female for that matter), I can't say, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's a Helena thing. I think Alison should be happy that Helena hasn't eaten a table or some of the paste in the craft room.

 

I'm really enjoying the look back at Beth, but I must admit to being confused. I didn't realize Beth killed herself only 6 months ago, and very soon after she shot Maggie Chen. Beth had been seeing the psychiatrist for some time who was prescribing all the meds, but, when Sarah went there, the psychiatrist made it sound like it was a good report from her that Beth needed in order to be returned to the job. So, was this a police psychiatrist that Beth had been seeing all along? Also, in last week's episode, Beth is telling Alison not to use the gun unless Beth is there, and Alison is waving the gun around like she's never held one before. Yet, after Sarah takes over Beth's life, Alison is a crack shot who is completely aware of the proper keeping and handling of a gun.

 

I guess I assumed (with all that implies about myself) that some time passed between the shooting of Maggie Chen and Beth's suicide. During that time, she was self-medicating even more, and now seeing a police psychiatrist specifically as a result of the shooting.

 

I can't wait to find out why Beth had on the blond wig and what happened that night before she returned home.

  • Love 9
beedub

beedub

(edited)

Yes, the six months thing was a bit of a surprise. That would make it a very eventful six months indeed – let's see, Sarah impersonating Beth, Katya getting killed, meeting the other sestras, discovering Neolution, rescuing Helena from the Prolethean cage, Cosima gets involved with Delphine, shooting Helena, Kira getting abducted, entertaining contracts with Leekie, discovering Rachel, killing and burying Leekie, rehabilitating Helena, infiltrating Dyad, Helena getting abducted, infiltrating the Proletheans, discovering Castor exists, Cosima breaks up with Delphine, burning down the Proletheans, Helena getting abducted again, traveling to Mexico, infiltrating Castor, Kira getting abducted again, infiltrating Dyad some more, finding out about Topside, Cosima gets involved with Shay, busting Helena (and Pupok) out of Castor, Alison running for Council, blowing Castor the hell up, Helena taking down the Portuguese Mafia, Cosima breaks up with Shay, traveling to London, seeing Mrs. S rock out, finding the original of Leda and Castor and bringing her back home, discovering Crystal, relieving Rachel of an eye, traveling to Iceland, hanging out in Iceland for awhile, discovering MK, traveling home from Iceland. More or less (probably less) in that order.

 

How busy has your life been since last Halloween?

Edited by beedub
  • Love 18
Cyranetta

Cyranetta

What's fascinating to me about this episode is how it reveals the methods the clones use to cope with pain/loss. Sarah runs at the problem head-on; Allison overschedules and frantically exercises; Cosima takes a toke; Helena eats and tries to copy Allison; Beth slides further into depression; MK conceals herself.

 

Was it being fostered by Mrs. S and growing up with Felix that gave Sarah the confidence to be confrontational as a default?

 

Giving Beth a more extended presence for the audience really underlines Tatiana's skill for me, since she manages to make Sarah and Beth clearly delineated characters without the benefit of accent. She was able to establish a delicate rapport between Beth and MK, so that I've come to feel for MK and want her more directly folded in the Clone Club for both her safety and her comfort.

 

Love the comic-book shop location.

  • Love 2
shapeshifter

shapeshifter

Yes, the six months thing was a bit of a surprise. That would make it a very eventful six months indeed – let's see, Sarah impersonating Beth, Katya getting killed, meeting the other sestras, discovering Neolution, rescuing Helena from the Prolethean cage, Cosima gets involved with Delphine, shooting Helena, Kira getting abducted, entertaining contracts with Leekie, discovering Rachel, killing and burying Leekie, rehabilitating Helena, infiltrating Dyad, Helena getting abducted, infiltrating the Proletheans, discovering Castor exists, Cosima breaks up with Delphine, burning down the Proletheans, Helena getting abducted again, traveling to Mexico, infiltrating Castor, Kira getting abducted again, infiltrating Dyad some more, finding out about Topside, Cosima gets involved with Shay, busting Helena (and Pupok) out of Castor, Alison running for Council, blowing Castor the hell up, Helena taking down the Portuguese Mafia, Cosima breaks up with Shay, traveling to London, seeing Mrs. S rock out, finding the original of Leda and Castor and bringing her back home, discovering Crystal, relieving Rachel of an eye, traveling to Iceland, hanging out in Iceland for awhile, discovering MK, traveling home from Iceland. More or less (probably less) in that order.

 

How busy has your life been since last Halloween?

Heh. Well, not so colorful, but equally as life changing.

Giving Beth a more extended presence for the audience really underlines Tatiana's skill for me, since she manages to make Sarah and Beth clearly delineated characters without the benefit of accent.

I thought Sarah is Cockney and Beth is Canadian. No?
  • Love 1
thuganomics85

thuganomics85

Yay!  As much as I enjoyed the premiere, it was nice to see pretty much everyone back and get to see all the interactions.  I'm glad they made sure to include two of my favorites: Alison/Felix (complete with Alison freaking out over naked Felix), and Helena/Donnie!  The latter especially cracks me up.  I love that Donnie is unnerved and even afraid of Helena at times, but he also truly seems to care about her and wants to be supportive; especially since Alison clearly isn't.  Donnie is still one of the most pleasant surprises of this show, and probably my favorite non-Clone character, besides Felix (and Scott's probably in the running too.)

 

Interesting seeing Sarah and Felix at odds again.  I wonder if there will be more to this, or if Felix really does simply just want to find his birth family.  Either way, I hope they can patch things up, because I have a feeling them being separated for too long, could end up hurting both of them.  Granted, Sarah really didn't approach him the best way possible, but she's clearly not completely thinking straight since she's also pissing off Mrs. S. and even Kira.  She needs to take a breather.  I get this shit is crazy, but it won't help if no one wants to be near you.

 

Helena not only having a baby, but twins is clearly being set up to be important.

 

Cosima really isn't looking so well.  Then again, she's been sick for a while, but manages to keep surviving each season, but I still wonder if she is a likely candidate if/when the day comes they decided to kill one of the main clones. 

 

Even after four seasons, I still have lapses in judgement and sure enough, when Sarah and Cosima meet again, I thought "Glad to see the actresses interact again!", quickly followed by "Dammit!  Remember, they're both Tatiana Maslany!"

 

Continue to enjoy the flashbacks and see more of Beth and M.K.  Seeing Beth put on the outfit that she was wearing in the pilot was sad to watch.

 

Only two episodes, but I'm enjoying this season more then last season so far.  The Neolution stuff is still a bit out there, but I'm more interested in the group finding out what really happened to Beth, compared to the whole Castor/male clone thing.

 

A lot of great lines, but I think Alison wins this one for me:  "Helena's trained to kill people.  We're manslaughters."

  • Love 10
ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

  • Author
(edited)

Donnie is the best. I love how happy is he about Helena's pregnancy but he's also aware of Alison's jealousy that she is unable to get pregnant. But what happened to Jesse? The last time we saw him, he was having family dinner with everyone in the season finale, so where did he go? As for Helena eating frozen bread, that girl will eat anything. I can imagine her just opening the freezer, finding bread, and eating it without thawing it because she wants it now.

 

I also loved that as soon as Helena found out she was having twins, her first reaction was that she had to tell her own twin sestra. Hee, and I loved that Cosima said, "Welcome home, sestra," to Sarah.

 

I'm surprised that Alison specifically told Donnie not to tell Helena that Sarah and the others were back. You'd think she would be eager to hand her off to someone else, even if only for a few hours.

 

I like that first Alison asked if Sarah had spoken to Felix and when she said that he hadn't returned any of her phone calls, Alison went to his place and told him he needed to get in touch with Sarah and tell everyone what he'd been up to. I love that she was insistent that he come clean with them but she also kept his secret instead of telling them herself.

 

I like MK. She is the very embodiment of that saying "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you." She is secretive and cautious for a reason - she knows that the clones are still being tracked. To me, she's the equivalent of someone like Edward Snowden in that if you don't realize the extent to which you are being tracked, he sounds like a paranoid nut. But once you know, he seems like a perfectly reasonable person who is understandably trying to avoid being tracked and found.

 

So is Kendall's leukemia just another countdown clock while they search for a cure for Clone Disease? Or is her illness going to become a miraculous cure? I'm thinking it's more likely that it will be the opposite - having another disease will prevent them from finding the cure with her DNA/blood.

 

I liked seeing Sarah and Art investigating together again. I'm glad she told him that it wasn't his fault that Beth killed herself. I think that he knows that but part of him still feels guilty, so it was good for someone to actually say it to him.

 

You know what they say, it takes a village full of second-hand smoke to raise a child...

Ha! No kidding.

 

 

 

I'm confused by something Scott said. Is Dyad shut down completely? Or just the location we've seen or the research into the cure? Who's monitoring all the unaware clones?

Scott said, "Everyone else we know got fired or relocated. As far as we know, Dyad's out of the clone game." Siobhan asked who was running the experiment now and Scott said, "I guess we are."

Edited by ElectricBoogaloo
  • Love 1
Captanne

Captanne

I'm not going to say that the cheek bugs are an indication of shark jumpage (although I just sort of did), but this show needs to catch up to itself pretty quickly to keep me around.  To say all this happened in 6 months is bordering on the very reason I stopped watching "24" within the first season.  All that activity taking place in less than a 24 hour period insulted my intelligence.  To which I responded with the "Off" button on my television.  (Same thing with "Lost" but I made it to the comic book smoke polar bear on the Pacific deserted island....)

 

I love Tatiana Maslany and the rest of the cast (although the Mothers get on my last nerve -- I've never liked Mrs. S and the great grandmother wins my "Worst Actress of 20-ever Award".)  I'm especially fond of Delphine, Donny, Fee, and Scott as supporting cast members.  

 

But this show is stumbling over its own maze of plotlines and needs to choose one and stick with it.  

 

Was it just me or was the Comic Book Store clerk one of the male clones? 

  • Love 2
godonlyknows

godonlyknows

 

Scott said, "Everyone else we know got fired or relocated. As far as we know, Dyad's out of the clone game." Siobhan asked who was running the experiment now and Scott said, "I guess we are."

 

Thanks. That's what I thought he said but I can't believe Dyad is giving up on 30 years of research and all the clones are now unmonitored.

  • Love 2
crabbypants

crabbypants

Also, in last week's episode, Beth is telling Alison not to use the gun unless Beth is there, and Alison is waving the gun around like she's never held one before. Yet, after Sarah takes over Beth's life, Alison is a crack shot who is completely aware of the proper keeping and handling of a gun.

 

That seemed realistic to me. My septagenerian mother, who had never handled a handgun before, became competent after 2 days of instruction. In that time she went from committing the cardinal sin of holding the gun with her finger on the trigger to being a safe and accurate shooter.

 

Was it just me or was the Comic Book Store clerk one of the male clones?

I thought the same thing but he's actually one of the writers, not Ari.
  • Love 1
slf

slf

The worm thing got my eyebrows up but I've otherwise loved this season so far. It's a great improvement over last season and yes that's because there are no male clones. Sorry, show, they just weren't as interesting.

 

Everything to do with Beth has broken my heart; I was interested in her backstory before but she never meant as much to me as she did to other fans. Now I wish Sarah had watched some other clone kill herself. Tatiana killed it as Beth.

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ottoDbusdriver

ottoDbusdriver

(edited)

Uh oh... worm bot!(or whatever we're calling that thing) I didn't expect Mrs S to find one in Sarah's cheek, but I loved the way TM played that scene after S asked what that was...."I don't know... I don't know." I liked her inflections... she sounded like a little kid so frightened.

 

I think MK called it a maggotbot .... which is even creepier because it suggests that it is just a stage before it turns into something else.

 

I can't wait to find out why Beth had on the blond wig and what happened that night before she returned home.

 

Or who's blood was on her hands, since it wasn't hers.

 

I'm not going to say that the cheek bugs are an indication of shark jumpage (although I just sort of did), but this show needs to catch up to itself pretty quickly to keep me around.  To say all this happened in 6 months is bordering on the very reason I stopped watching "24" within the first season.  All that activity taking place in less than a 24 hour period insulted my intelligence.  To which I responded with the "Off" button on my television.  (Same thing with "Lost" but I made it to the comic book smoke polar bear on the Pacific deserted island....)

But it most certainly does add to the creepiness of the Neos -- I think the parasite shows that the Neos really are playing the long game with stuff going on at multiple levels. 

 

Thanks. That's what I thought he said but I can't believe Dyad is giving up on 30 years of research and all the clones are now unmonitored.

I'm sure that's what Dyad "told him", but I suspect they didn't give up at all.

 

ETA: because why and what -- not the same.

Edited by ottoDbusdriver
  • Love 1
vesperholly

vesperholly

I'm not going to say that the cheek bugs are an indication of shark jumpage (although I just sort of did), but this show needs to catch up to itself pretty quickly to keep me around.  To say all this happened in 6 months is bordering on the very reason I stopped watching "24" within the first season.  All that activity taking place in less than a 24 hour period insulted my intelligence.  To which I responded with the "Off" button on my television.

 

Yeah ... 6 months is completely unbelievable. Really show? A year or two is more like it. Especially since Kira has gone from kindergartener to pre-teen PDQ.

  • Love 2
godonlyknows

godonlyknows

 

Yeah ... 6 months is completely unbelievable. Really show? A year or two is more like it. Especially since Kira has gone from kindergartener to pre-teen PDQ.

 

I think that's why we haven't seen Alison's son Oscar for a while - the actor's 12 and must be about as tall as Tatiana now.

 

Even the show isn't consistent with the timeline. Beth died November 23, 2012 and Aynsley's tombstone says "1982-2014" (yet Orphan Black wiki lists her date of death as December 16, 2012.

 

However, season 2 only took place over a few weeks. Alison was only in rehab for a week and that lasted 2x03 - 2x07.

Not Beth

Not Beth

Loved the episode and it felt like ages since I'd seen so many of those characters, despite the fact that it's the second episode of the series and despite the fact I was watching a few season one episodes only the day before (which did include the Neolution club episodes).

I'm glad that the show has now actually established how long it's been since the show started, but six months? Really? So much has happened in such a little amount of time. I'd say three years worth of stuff. At least it makes sense as to how Helena has spent the whole of season three pregnant without even beginning to show since becoming pregnant in the second season.

Poor Alison is missing what could have been for her and Donnie by watching Helena go through it all. And poor Felix feeling so separated from the family he grew up with now that it turns out they're all related. I do want to see where they go with his story arc this season. Hopefully what he finds about his birth family doesn't turn out as convoluted as the whole "Sarah is related to Mrs S. because Mrs. S's mother is the original" revelation of last season.

Lastly, Cosima partially mentioned Delphine and how they're not sure what has happened to her. I do hope they delve more into this, because for the characters to skirt over "oh I wondered what happened to her" and not actually find out she was killed (or her murder was attempted, if she is still alive somehow, maybe?) would be annoying consider she's been a presence in the show since the first season.

maddie965

maddie965

(edited)

The show managed to get me completely obsessed with Beth. So much that, right now, I'm more interested in the flash backs than in the current story. One thing that's bugging me A LOT about Beth's final night. When she's getting ready to leave the apartment, she has this plastic card with letters on it - I would assume they are D and B letters. And then, after she comes back, she makes a point of cutting the card into little pieces and flushing it down the toilet. Why??? What is that card? Have we seen it before? Is it for a hotel room, maybe? Or maybe it gives access to some secret office we don't know about? What do you think?

Also, now I really wonder why Beth Childs killed herself. Before last episode, I assumed it was just clone angst + boyfriend angst. Now? I think it's so much more than that. Maybe the maggotbot is something so dangerous, she wanted to kill herself just to kill it too? Or maybe she was afraid she was going to hurt someone? Or maybe she was afraid someone would get to the other clones through her, so she'd better kill herself to protect the others? So many possibilities...

And oh, please, don't keep Felix away from the sestras! Come on, he is a sestra too! He's as much part of the family as Sarah, Alison and Cosima. I hope the family investigation doesn't hurt him, and I hope he realizes he'll always have a family, as long as the sestras are out there...

Edited by maddie965
ganesh

ganesh

I didn't think Beth was going to be revisited, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the plot and flashbacks. And clever editing. I assume this is going to continue. It's interesting that she's the only clone that killed herself. All the others that were drawn into all of this are fighting on. 

I can suspend my disbelief that there's a secret government agency cloning people for several generations and a bunch of crazy, though well organized people who like to grow tails. So a six month timeline isn't going to really phaze me. There's no timestamp for every episode, and we could have been seeing simultaneous events for the most part. Putting in a tracking/failsafe in the clones isn't that much of a stretch. I agree that piling on conspiracy on top of conspiracy isn't smart, but I'm ok so far.

Totally missed the "dolly sheep" mask joke. Nice work show.

Helena and Donnie were great. "There's plenty of positions for you." "oh boy!"

I can buy Felix feeling left out too. I feel bad for him and hope he's not going to be on the outside looking in all season. I tend to think that Sarah kind of owes him to help him find his bio family, and I hope she does. It was nice of her to say, it's you, me, and S, always. I actually hope this plot isn't anything clone related. He's shouldered such an enormous responsibility.

  • Love 1
Hanahope

Hanahope

And not just six months, but actually less than that because didn't the show description say Sarah was in Iceland for 2 months.  So doesn't that mean that the show we watched really happened within only 4 months and now we've jumped another 2?  I do agree that so much happening in such a short time seems incredible.  Not to mention that the cheek worms tech apparently developed quickly, from having to cut it out of people (for some reason), to the one doctor able to "release" it from his check and try and feed it to Delphine.

So where did Beth go in disguise and what happened there?  How did she find out about the place?  The pregnant Neo-girl, I'm assuming.  BTW, i have to wonder how having those magnets implanted affected her fetus.

 

I felt for Felix.  First Sarah gets all these sisters, and he could handle that since it was a science experiment, and Sarah didn't grow up with them.  but then finding out she's also related to Mrs. S, and has her "mother" (or sortof sister - i'm not sure what you'd call your clone who's 2 generations older than yourself), I can see where Fee is feeling left out and would like to find someone that he's biologically related to.  Sarah should have understood that.

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