So, we've finally found out what this whole neolution business is all about: a gene called "Lin28A." P.T. Westmoreland and his crew have been experimenting with the gene their entire careers, trying to find the secret to extending human life and curing all diseases. How's that going? Not well, since Cosima revealed last episode that Westmoreland is a fraud — he's not over a hundred years old, but rather is dying of old age, just like a regular person. It's this reveal that got Cosima locked in the basement, but when we return this week, we're not back with Cosima — we're with Krystal. Talk about a throwback.
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Krystal and her BFF Brie are hard at work on their YouTube channel, dedicated to natural beauty and bringing down big cosmetics. In the middle of the video, however, Brie's hair begins falling out, so the duo turns to Scott and Art to find out what's going on.
When we return to Cosima, she's still trapped in the basement. When Mud comes to feed her — wearing a bell as her self-imposed punishment for the death of Yannis — Cosima tries to break the weird Neolution spell that she's under. Cosima wants to get to the bottom of Mud's real personality, of where she's from and why she's here, but Mud won't budge.
"I'm just a girl from Seattle, okay?" she says. "Nobody cares about me."
Over with Sarah, Mr. Frontinac comes to pick up Kira who is not doing so hot. She's been vomming all morning — including onto Mr. Frontinac's shoes. Once he leaves, we discover it was all an act. They gave Kira syrup of ipecac to induce all the barfing. Mrs. S pulled this stunt to keep Kira away from Dyad, heading Delphine's warning.
As Mrs. S and Sarah are in the kitchen looking over paperwork about Dyad's recent acquisitions, they get a video call from Art, Scott, Krystal, and Brie.
Krystal tells Sarah about Brie's hair loss, explaining that it's retaliation from big cosmetics after their vlog exposed their secrets. Somehow, they poisoned Brie. Sarah isn't buying it, until the two women mention a company — BlueZone cosmetics. Krystal just so happens to be flirty with the CEO, and the CEO just so happens to have recently sold BlueZone to Dyad.
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Back at Revival, Westmoreland reveals to Susan that he brought Virginia Coady back from the facility, and the rivalry between the two women remains as strong as ever.
"She is not a neolutionist, she is a maniac," Susan says. "We do not need to cull segments of the population to advance the human race."
That's something Susan and I agree on, but Westmoreland brought Coady back for the purpose of equilibrium — the balance of opposing forces. Hands up if you know this will end badly.
Now that Sarah and Mrs. S know that BlueZone is a part of all this, they decide to dress Sarah up as Krystal to get the CEO, Lenzip, to reveal what's really going on. However, Krystal is smarter than they think and intercepts them. She's going to interrogate Lenzip herself.
Coady approaches Cosima in the basement to attempt to convince her to "shift her thinking" and work with her. Cosima refuses. Upstairs, Ira questions Susan about Coady. Since she created him, and all the Castor clones, he wants to know more about himself, but Susan won't allow him. She gets frustrated and slaps him, causing him to glitch. Susan insists she's not a murderer...but that might have to change.
Over in the camp of Revival, the citizens are beginning to turn against one another. As Ira observes it all unfold, he spots Coady in the crowd and follows her into the medical trailer. He asks if there are any of his brothers left, but Coady doesn't answer. He asks why she's collecting blood from children, she also doesn't answer. Instead, she retorts with a riddle and asks if he's been showing symptoms or glitching. She tells him something Susan never did: She's is close to a cure.
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Krystal, after revealing that she's usurped Sarah and Art, sets up her phone as a security camera and puts in an earpiece. Now Sarah and Art can hear and see everything she's doing and give their own (unsolicited) input. Len arrives, and Krystal briefly is wooed by his charm. Upon Sarah's urging, she blurts out the news about Dyad. Len isn't suspicious until he notices a cream on Krystal's nightstand — the same cream Scott discovers caused Brie's hair to fall out. Len confronts Krystal, but she confronts him right back, kicking him in the crotch until he reveals that the cream is a dermal delivery system, the next big thing in regenerative therapy. They can put anything in it, and it works on a cellular level. That's what Dyad's after.
Ira tells Susan that he spotted Coady drawing healthy human children's blood, and Susan says that must mean they're doing parabiosis — "young blood for old veins." He's trying to extend his life with children's blood. Ira says they should leave all this behind and go, but Susan clearly has other plans. She wants to take down Coady and Westmoreland and says Coady is lying about having Ira's cure. The only person who can figure out a cure, Susan says, is Cosima.
Down at camp, Aisha has died. Westmoreland's "cure" was a lie. Mud, witnessing this development, comes to Cosima. She reveals she was a drug addict who overdosed and woke up at Revival. Ira comes to the basement and says that he and Susan have a plan, but they need Cosima and Mud to pull it off. Ira releases Cosima and hands her an envelope with a mysterious picture, which Cosima later reveals to be a picture of Westmoreland in 1967. He looks young — too young — proving that everything he's said about himself is a lie. She shows this picture to the villagers, which to inspires them revolt. Cosima finds Charlotte and takes her to the boathouse.
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We cut to upstairs in the house at Revival, where Susan confronts Westmoreland about the parabiosis. Mud, who's also there, realizes that Susan has arrived to carry out her and Ira's plan to kill Westmoreland. She leaves, and comes back with Coady, who stops Susan and kills her herself.
At the end of the episode, Rachel arrives to take Kira, saying they need her for a sleep study. Cosima and Charlotte jet off on the boat. Mud heads out to camp and watches the world she believed in crumble. She stumbles upon the photo of Westmoreland and sees the truth. Everything she believed was a lie. She just needs to learn, like we have so many times, that when it comes to Orphan Black, never. Believe. Anything.