The many, many pieces of the Orphan Black: Echoes puzzle begin to come together in Season 1 Episode 8, “The Paradox of Joyce,” with the Eleanor (Rya Kihlstedt) printouts drawing on various resources — including Lucy’s (Krysten Ritter) ex, PJ (Dayle McLeod) to discover Darros’s (James Hiroyuki Liao) reason for printing out Jules (Amanda Fix) and Xander (Vinson Tran). Meanwhile, Kira (Keeley Hawes) takes steps to become an active force in shutting down the printout tech and undermining Darros’s power.
In the diner, Emily (Tattiawna Jones) asks Kira what she learned from Josh (Izad Etemadi). Kira tells her she knows Josh built a new printer for Darros who used it to print Xander. She theorizes that Jules was a test print to see if they could print from scans over forty years old. Looking at Emily’s face, she realizes Emily knew this all along.
Orphan Black: Echoes, “The Paradox of Joyce”
Kira asks Emily what’s going on. Emily explains that things have changed, and she has orders to have Kira lure Lucy to an isolated location. Kira refuses, and Emily definitively thunks her gun on the table between them.
Emily escorts Kira to her car. Kira wants to know why she’s changed her mind about helping her. In the car, Emily tells her to call Lucy. Kira stalls, asking Emily what Darros has on her. Emily shares that her brother has a spinal cord injury and her taking the job with Darros meant getting her brother into the advanced rehab program. Kira begins to dial Lucy. Emily lets her guard down and Kira grabs her gun. There’s a struggle and it goes off.
The New Sisterhood
Getting away from the dockyards with Eleanor 2.0 on one side and Lucy driving, Jules crows about taking Tom (Reed Diamond) down. Lucy points out he’s not dead and will keep coming for them. She hands out burner cell phones and insists Jules text Neva (Alex Castillo) and suggests that Eleanor let Kira know Lucy found her. Jules turns the radio up and the three of them sing along to Iggy Pop’s “Search and Destroy.”
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Arriving at Settlement House, Jack (Avan Jogia) calls Lucy to tell her that Tina (Eva Everett Irving) found them some fake passports and he’s on his way to pick them up. Lucy’s a little reluctant to commit to dropping off the grid with so much on the go but agrees they need to be prepared to run.
Jules fills Eleanor and Lucy in on what she saw and learned at Darros’s compound. Pulling the electronic square out of her pocket, she tells them it’s Darros’s prized possession. Lucy takes it and looks at it, puzzled.
Lucas’s Dilemma
At the Quaker Meeting House, Lucas (Jaeden Noel) tells Rhona (Alice Hamid) everything Eleanor 2.0 told him. She’s incredulous that the machine can print people. He explains they’re just copies of people. Rhona tries to comfort him in that he got his mother back. He replies that knowing she’s a copy, he no longer “sees God” in her. Rhona assures him that she’s there for him. He tells her she’s the only thing that’s real in his life.
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At Settlement House, Lucy realizes she knows someone who can help them figure out what the device is. When the others ask, she discloses it’s her ex-girlfriend. Jules asks if Jack will mind. Eleanor’s surprised to hear there’s a boyfriend as well. Lucy’s embarrassed by all the talk about her love life and tells them to stay put while she tracks down her ex.
Kira’s Late
In her car, Kira directs the hands-free to call Lucas. It goes straight to voicemail. As she hangs up, a text comes through from Felix (Jordan Gavaris) asking where she is. His art installation opened an hour ago. He mentions that Lucas is on his way. Kira’s relieved to hear that. Emily’s gun is on her passenger seat.
In Craig’s (Jonathan Whittaker) office, Lucy tries phoning PJ but she’s not picking up. Craig shares that she’s possibly on a bender and hasn’t been at Settlement House since she got fired a few days ago. Craig tries to dissuade her from looking for her. Lucy tells him about the device and how Jack, Charlie (Zariella Langford-Haughton), and her plan to leave once they can be sure Darros won’t follow. Lucy knows where to find PJ if Craig’s willing to come talk to her.
Accepting Reality
Eleanor and Jules talk about how they deal with crises by pretending they’re okay. Eleanor asks her about the bad dream in the bathroom. She explains about their father committing suicide. Jules takes that hard, sharing that she always felt like it was somehow her fault. Eleanor also tells her that they had a good marriage and a beautiful son but died of early-onset Alzheimer’s.
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Jules asks if there’s anything she can do. Having read her file, she knows Eleanor’s area of genius was in neurobiology. Eleanor says the drug she developed can’t help them. Jules can’t believe she’d just give up. Eleanor tells her that being a scientist means accepting certain realities.
Jules asks her when she last saw her mother, Melissa (Kathy Baker). She insists that Eleanor look Melissa in the face and see the future she’s doomed them all to by giving up.
Sketchy Characters
At an Urgent Care center, Jack and Tina meet with the passport dealer, Scoop (Jessica Greco). Jack transfers her the payment and she tells him to return after hours to get the facial scans done. He didn’t realize biometrics were necessary.
At the Cumbia thrift store, Lucy tells Craig this is where she and PJ used to party when they were banned from other venues. Jack calls and tells Lucy about the facial scans. Lucy isn’t sure she can do it that night, but he insists it’s the only time they can. She promises to be there.
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Craig wonders if PJ will be able to help them if they find her. Lucy tells him to go to the vending machine and buy some recovery snacks. She’s spotted PJ’s party tent at the back of the store.
Uncle Felix
Kira enters Felix’s art installation, an immersive display of hand-rolled paper cones. She interrupts Felix as he tries to talk a sale and asks if he’s seen Lucas. Lucas approaches and confronts Kira about printing Eleanor and hiding his mother’s death from him. She tries to warn him about Darros’s people but he’s too angry to hear it. He leaves and Felix demands an explanation.
At the thrift store, PJ comes out of her tent to talk to Lucy and Craig. When Lucy asks her about the device, PJ rehashes the pain of Lucy leaving her after their four-month relationship. Lucy apologizes and looks to Craig for help. PJ identifies the device as a security token used to access secure information. She goes to look for a computer in the thrift store to decode the token. Lucy gets a text from Jack to meet them in an hour.
Accepting Reality
Jules and Eleanor find Melissa at an ice cream parlor where her aide brings her a mint chocolate ice cream. Eleanor greets her but Melissa refuses to recognize her. Eleanor apologizes for not seeing her more often and tells her that she’s sick and is going to start forgetting things. Suddenly, Melissa is lucid and tells Eleanor how it feels to lose your memories in very clear terms, both the good and the terrifying.
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At the exhibit, Kira and Felix discuss everything that’s happened. He tells her that if he’d had the ability to keep his partner Colin in his life for even a week after his death, he might’ve made the same choices as she did. Kira admits she’s tired of all the lies and worrying. He tells her she’s made a mistake, and it’s her responsibility to fix it.
Change of Plans
Outside the ice cream parlor, Eleanor tells Jules that she and Melissa never talked about her father’s suicide. If they had, she would’ve told her mother she needed to hear that it wasn’t her fault. She would’ve told her that she was suffering and wasn’t okay. Eleanor picks up her phone and texts a message to Kira to meet at her office. She tells Jules that she’s not going to give up. She plans to take Jules back to Settlement House so she can talk to Kira alone.
At the thrift store, PJ sets up a device she uses for decrypting security tokens. However, when she activates it, the token identifies her as an unauthorized user and shuts down the store’s entire system by infecting any computers on the network. In an attempt to turn off the alarm, PJ smashes the token and tries to set it on fire. Turns out it’s made of some indestructible material. She’s shocked and tells Lucy that whatever she’s involved in is big-time and dangerous. The store’s staff ask them to leave but PJ turns down a ride to Settlement House, saying she’s not going back.
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Before they leave, PJ asks Lucy if they might’ve had a chance if the circumstances were different. Lucy promises that if they both survive the next few days, she’ll bring coffee to PJ and they can talk out everything.
Darros’s Big Play
Tom arrives at Darros’s office to find Darros and Myung (Georgia Leva) going over the most recent intel. Darros points out he didn’t call Tom in and tells him that Emily is dead. They found her car incinerated and were able to identify her remains from a mandible. Darros informs him that Myung is now in charge. He assures Tom that he will personally take care of Dr. Manning.
At Kira’s office, Eleanor’s looking at her lab when Kira arrives. They discuss where she’s at in terms of transplanting neurons. She explains that she’s tried all sorts of stimulants but has been unable to get the transplanted neurons to activate in the lab rats. She tells Eleanor that the treatment she’s been putting in the tea can delay the onset of symptoms. It was never published because of adverse side effects. Furthermore, it only works with the antibodies from a healthy mitochondrial genetic match. Eleanor deduces that she’s been using Lucas’s antibodies to treat her.
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She tells Kira that she went to visit Melissa with Jules and doesn’t want to condemn Lucy and Jules to a life like their mother’s. Eleanor proposes they work together to find a solution but makes it clear that they no longer have a personal relationship.
As they ride the elevator down together, Kira gets a call from her head of security that the FDA is at the building to shut them down. There’s been a report of biological contaminants. Kira’s ready to return, but Eleanor stops her, pointing out that it sounds like Darros is trying to lure her out. Upstairs, a team of FDA techs takes everything out of Kira’s office and lab.
Choices
Lucy drives fast with Craig in the passenger seat, insisting she can still meet up with Jack. Eleanor calls to tell her that Darros has shut down Kira’s company. She tells her that Jules isn’t answering her phone. Lucy decides to go to her instead. Craig tells her a story about the time he tried to date two women named Joyce at the same time and ended up losing them both. He tells her she’ll have to choose.
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At the clinic, Scoop has nearly finished scanning Charlie and tells Jack she can’t wait much longer for Lucy. Lucy calls him just then and tells him she’s still coming but needs to get to Jules first.
In Kira’s car, she tells Eleanor that Darros ordered the raid because he thinks she killed Emily. In a flashback, we see that the gun didn’t hit either woman. Afterward, Kira offers Emily the option to just disappear. Using her equipment, she prints a copy of Emily’s mandible and places it on the driver’s seat before they set fire to the car.
Time’s Up
At Settlement House, Lucy and Craig find Xander trying to get Jules to give him more of the focus drug. He insists the drug can help him become Darros. It’s his whole purpose. At the clinic, Scoop locks the door of the scanning room, telling Jack time’s up.
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Lucy asks Xander if he knows what the token is for. He pulls a gun out. Lucy pulls her out and his goes off and hits Craig. Xander drops the gun.
New episodes of Orphan Black: Echoes air on Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT on AMC, AMC+ and BBC America.
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