Do I Know You? is the fifth episode of the first season of Orphan Black: Echoes and the fifth episode of this series overall. It first aired in Australia on November 3, 2023 on Stan[2]. It premiered on July 21, 2024 in the United States on AMC, BBC America and AMC+ respectively.
Summary[]
30 years in the past, Kira’s groundbreaking research captures the attention of Paul Darros as well as the affection of Professor Eleanor Miller.
Plot[]
Twenty years earlier, in 2030, a much younger Kira is taking notes on their professor’s lecture. One of Kira’s classmates bets some money that she can get their professor to come out to have drinks with them. But Kira remains focused in her lecture, and her classmate remarks that their professor is quite attractive, so Kira must have even noticed. Yet, Kira states that to her, Professor Miller is quite brilliant.
Later, Kira and another classmate are jotting down the results of some tests on Alzheimer patients who have been given some medication to aid with muscle spasms as a result of the disease. It turns out that while one of the patients can’t name the object, they seem to be at least remembering the object, even if they can’t name it. Eleanor tells Kira, that is certainly promising. So Kira asks if it is okay with her mentor if she calls back some of the past participants, and establishes a baseline for the study.
Afterwards, Kira goes on to inform Eleanor that a spot for her to work in bioengineering opened up at a lab. Since she has been trying to get experience in this, she is at Eleanor’s office to formally quit, as she will be accepting the position. Eleanor then tells her she will miss Kira.
Six months later, Kira and Eleanor reunite, and with little prodding, Kira is convinced to leave the party early and instead spend some time with Eleanor. Before she leaves with her, Kira asks Eleanor if it was really all in her head the chemistry and attraction she was feeling between the two of them. Eleanor admits that it was not all in her head, and that at the time, she was just being an asshole because Kira was leaving. The two women talk about their childhoods, and Kira eventually mentions how she is the daughter of a clone. She admits to Eleanor that it is not something she likes to bring up, as it makes it weird to get to know other people. Eleanor then admits that just when she got enough courage to talk to her mother about her rough childhood, in a cruel twist of fate, her mother was diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s. Then, Kira goes on to tell Eleanor how over the years, she has gotten really good at hiding things from the people in her life. But with Eleanor, this urge to hide is not there; instead she wants to be her most raw and authentic self. Eventually the two women kiss.
Another six months later, Kira is now giving a speech on the current developments in 3D Bioprinting. After her time as keynote speaker, Eleanor tells Kira how proud she was of her. Their moment is interrupted by a man who tells Kira that Mr. Darros was very impressed by Kira’s research, and should she ever need outside funding, he would be interested in being a sponsor of such remarkable research.
Some time passes, and Kira and Eleanor are eating Chinese takeout on the floor after just moving in together. Kira remarks that she moved around so much as a kid, that having this kind of stability as an adult is really nice. Eleanor not subtly then asks Kira if she has made up her mind about kids. To which Kira says she has not. Eleanor relents and says that it’s okay, and she will just paint the nursery herself.
Two years later, Kira comes home and proudly tells Eleanor how the heart she 3D printed actually worked, and started beating. Eleanor once again tells Kira she is really proud of her.
Afterwards, Kira and Eleanor find themselves at fertility clinic, with the doctor telling Eleanor that even though her eggs are in good shape, there is some risk in getting pregnant due to the presence of some polyps in her uterus. Which would make it very difficult to carry a baby to full term. The doctor suggests Eleanor look for someone else to carry the baby. Seeing Eleanor so heartbroken at the news, Kira ultimately decides to be the one that carries their baby to full term. Eleanor is apprehensive in accepting this, but eventually relents. Some more time passes, and this time the two women are playing with their child.
In 2050, an older Eleanor emerges from the pool after having gone for a swim. She then joins her son in the audience where Kira is talking about the great things the Additive Foundation has done. Eventually, Paul pulls Kira aside, and asks her where the technology she has helped to perfect is going next. Paul bluntly asks Kira if the bio 3D printer can print out a whole organism. Kira is appalled at the question, and she reminds Paul that human cloning is illegal for reasons she is much too familiar with. Kira goes onto tell Paul that doing such a thing is not something she wants to take her research into.
Some time after that, Lucas is all packed up and ready to move into the dorms for the college he has selected to attend. Kira can’t help but be a helicopter parent, and tells Lucas that his new pair of underwear did not arrive in time, so she ordered it, and it was sent to his dorm. Embarrassed, Lucas reminds Kira that he is going to college now, and thus is finally at an age where Kira can stop discussing embarrassing topics such as his choices in underwear. Eleanor for her part also says goodbye to her son, and hands him a plant; warning him to take care of it, and to try not to kill it. Once Lucas is out the door, Eleanor breaks down at seeing their son leave. Kira tries to comfort her by saying how out of the two, Eleanor is such a softie.
Later, Eleanor is walking back from work and going for a swim, when she ends up getting disoriented and walks around in circles. Eventually, she gets back home, but tells Kira that she couldn’t find the pool. She then tells Kira, that the signs seem to be pointing to her also starting to develop early, on-set Alzheimer’s. Kira tries to comfort her by saying that it could be many things, but Eleanor reminds her wife that she is the same age as her mom when she started to show symptoms. Eleanor then pleads with Kira to not tell Lucas about this. She doesn't want it to affect him the same way it affected her, when her mom started showing symptoms.
Afterwards, Eleanor informs Kira that she told the Dean that she is taking a leave of absence to focus on her family. Kira asks Eleanor if she took her medication today, but Eleanor reveals that it is not working, and Alzheimer's continues to progress. Kira tries to be positive trying to tell her wife that it is the early days. Eleanor reminds Kira that she was the one who developed the drug, and thus knows how it works. Sadly, it never was as effective with early onset cases. Eleanor tells Kira that she should have seen improvements by now, and in three months from now, she may not remember her name. She does not want to live like that, so she tells Kira to prepare herself for it. But Kira states that she does not in fact want to accept this card life has dealt them.
At her lab, Eleanor tells her coworker Josh that they will be working on something new today. She wants to work on seeing if she can print out neurons for a transplant. Josh states that their printing process is not set up that way, and neurons are far too delicate to try and print out. But Kira goes on to say that they will just have to change how they work on it for this new venture.
At home, Kira tells Eleanor that she and Josh finally got the neurons to respond but admits that surgery would be a big risk, and she is admittedly scared of losing Eleanor. She is on the fence about whether to get her on the operating table, but makes up her mind after Eleanor cannot recall who Lucas is.
After the surgery, Eleanor wakes up, and initially makes it seem like she does not remember Kira. But it is promising that she is able to recall her birthday and who Lucas is to her. Eleanor eventually confesses to Kira that after she left to work with Gideon, it was hard for her to focus and she couldn’t stop thinking about Kira.
The next day, Kira’s alarm goes off bright and early. She calls Eleanor multiple times, but it seems that overnight, she had passed away. She sobs as she cradles Eleanor’s body.
Afterwards, she ends up deciding to take Paul’s suggestion from all those years ago, and move onto printing clones. Paul agrees to Kira’s conditions, and she eventually gets started. She at first tests out the new and improved machine on a bird, but it seemingly looks to be dead. However, just as she steps away from its body after placing a towel over it, Kira and Josh hear a chirp and see movement. As it turns out, they were able to create life!
Later, Kira is setting up the place for when Lucy wakes up in order to acclimate her to the new surroundings. Josh reminds her that this won’t stop this clone of Eleanor from developing early onset Alzheimer. Kira agrees but says that it might buy her 20 more years while she works on a way to slow it or cure it. Josh wonders if Lucy will really be her. But when Lucy wakes up, she cannot recall who she is and eventually escapes.
In the present, Kira admits that she couldn’t live in a world without Eleanor, and so she lost her way. But she wants to make it right to her now. Lucy tells Kira that she didn’t ask for any of this, and that she should try to imagine what it feels like to wake up, and not have any memory of where she came from, or knowing her own name. She then asks Kira when she made Jules, if it was before she made her, or after. But Kira is confused, and tells her that she disabled the printer, and doesn’t know who created Jules.
Credits[]
Starring[]
- Krysten Ritter as Lucy/Young Dr. Eleanor Miller
- Keeley Hawes as Dr. Kira Manning
- James Hiroyuki Liao as Paul Darros
- Rya Kihlstedt as Dr. Eleanor Miller[3]
Guest Starring[]
- Jaeden Noel as Lucas Miller-Manning
- August Winter as Young Adult Kira Manning[4]
- Izad Etemadi as Josh Tartakovich
- Edward De Juan as Young Paul Darros
Co Starring[]
- Riley Klassen as Baby Lucas
- Paul Bates as Gideon Frankfurt
- Dana Abraham as Gabe
- Oksana Sirju as Female TA
- Subhash Santosh as Assistant
- Michael Ayoub as Study Participant
- Tedd Dillon as Older Colleague
- Tara Bastikar as IVF Doctor
- Shuyi Jia as Anesthesiologist
Continuity[]
- Kira talks to Dr. Eleanor Miller about having Sarah Manning as a mom and it is stated how what she and the rest of the clones came to be is common knowledge years later.
Music[]
Coming Soon
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Promotional Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Orphan Black: Echoes Writing Team - WGA
- ↑ Orphan Black: Echoes kicks off with promising start - Perth Now
- ↑ ‘Orphan Black: Echoes’ Gay Flashback Episode Approached ‘San Junipero’ Levels of Gay Sadness - Autostraddle
- ↑ Krysten Ritter Toasts to a Complicated Family in 'Orphan Black: Echoes' Sneak Peek - Collider