The Paradox of Joyce is the eighth episode of the first season of Orphan Black: Echoes and the eighth episode of this series overall. It first aired in Australia on November 3, 2023 on Stan[2]. It subsequently premiered on August 11, 2024 in the United States on AMC, BBC America and AMC+ respectively.
Summary[]
Kira meets with a conflicted ally while Lucy, Jules, Eleanor and Craig continue to search for answers.
Plot[]
Late at night at some diner, Kira informs Emily how Josh made a whole new printer for Darros to make print outs of himself. She then brings up Jules to Emily, and realizes the other woman already knew. To make matters worse, Emily tells Kira that she may have initially given Kira the wrong idea that they were aligned, but things have changed. So now she wants Kira to follow her to the car, and call Lucy. When Kira refuses to get Lucy to come, Emily shows her the gun she has on her. Eventually, Emily admits that Darros is using her brother to keep her in line. Moreover, Emily warns Kira that Darros now knows she has been helping her, and that Darros is willing to hurt people to get what he wants. Kira pretends to make the call to Lucy, but ends up grabbing the gun. The two women fight over the gun, and then it goes off inside the car.
Elsewhere, the three prints out of the original Eleanor Miller are laughing and basking in how they hurt Tom who was after Jules. Lucy warns that Tom is not dead and will still be coming after them, but Jules points out that he will at least still be disfigured. Afterwards, Lucy gives Jules and Eleanor some phones so that the three of them stay in contact. She then instructs Jules to call her mom to let her know she is okay. Later, Jules tells Lucy to relax and to belt out “Search and Destroy” by Peaches with her, and soon Eleanor joins in as well.
Meanwhile, Jack eventually is able to get a hold of Lucy, and informs her that Tina was able to get a hold of some fake passports for them, and he is on his way to get them now, so they can move away from the chaos and danger plaguing them.
After her call with Jack, she overhears Jules catching Eleanor up on everything. Including the fact that Darros lied to Kira and actually built a new printer where he has created new print outs. Jules then shows Darros’ prized possession she stole when she escaped.
Elsewhere, Lucas confides in Rhona about the truth he just learned, and even she is having a hard time wrapping her head around it. Rhona does think the whole thing doesn't sound so bad, as he lost his mom, and got her back. But Lucas admits that it’s not so easy because even if she looks and sounds the same, he admits that he doesn’t see God in her anymore. Lucas goes on to say how creation is something God does, and he can’t see this other Eleanor the same way after knowing the truth. Tearfully, he tells Rhona, that right now, she is the only real thing in his life right, and the only person he feels like he can trust at the moment.
At the safehouse, Lucy begrudgingly admits that she knows someone who can help find out what Darros is keeping in the item Jules stole.
Elsewhere, Kira is driving and calls Lucas, but he does not answer. She leaves him a voicemail saying to call her, and that they should probably be getting out of town. She then receives a text message from Felix asking where she is, as his opening started an hour ago. As she realizes she can talk to her uncle Felix about this, the gun she took from Emily is sitting in the passenger seat.
At Settlement House, Lucy is trying to locate PJ but is not having much luck. Eventually she confesses to Craig how Jack thinks it would be best if they start somewhere new away from this mess. Which Craig is shocked by. Meanwhile, Eleanor and Jules continue getting to know each other, and the older woman tells Jules that the bad dreams she and Lucy have had are connected to the day her father committed suicide. When Jules asks if there are any other life highlights she should know, Eleanor tells her about how their original version died from early on-set complications from Alzheimer’s. When Jules asks Eleanor if she is giving up on trying to find a cure for Alzheimer’s; even early on-set ones like theirs. Eleanor points out how as a scientist, part of the harsh truth is accepting the reality that there are things even science can’t fix. Jules goes on to ask Eleanor when the last time she saw her mother was.
At Felix’s art exhibition, Felix finds out all the secrets Kira has been keeping like the fact that the Eleanor they once knew is dead, and Kira made a clone of her deceased wife. Lucas then lashes out at Kira telling his mom that she is just some sad, lonely woman who can’t accept loss.
Lucy eventually tracks down PJ, who after some goading, tells her the item Lucy has is a security token that some people use to keep things secure.
Elsewhere, even if it is futile, Eleanor and Jules are trying to see if Melissa can provide them with some answers, but in a moment of lucidity, Melissa tells Eleanor that on one hand, forgetting the things you don’t want to remember is not too bad, and the things you may want to remember, the blessing is that you don’t know what they are. But Melissa tearfully admits that what is truly terrifying, and keeps her up at night is that there comes a point when you don’t know who you are.
After being all caught up, Felix admits to Kira that when Colin got sick, he found himself begging, praying even, for something to make him better. He also tells her that if he was in Kira’s shoes, he would have also probably done anything to save him, and if he had the opportunity to have another weird, nerdy, but wonderful Colin in his life, even for a week, he would have.
After her talk with her mom, Eleanor admits to Jules that she wishes her mom would have told her that it was not her fault when her dad committed suicide. This makes her realize that for all her faults, she still needs to talk with Kira. So she texts her wife, asking to meet her at her office.
Meanwhile, PJ is excited at being able to decrypt the security token Lucy had; thinking it might have information to offshore accounts in the Cayman Island, or something along those lines. Instead, the security program’s beats PJ, and causes the entire system at the store she is at to shut down. She lights it on fire, but when Craig uses the fire extinguisher on it, PJ shows Lucy that the token is made of some material that isn’t combustible. So her best guess is that whatever secrets the token has, is some truly terrifying stuff.
At Darros’ compound, a banged up Tom (who has lost an ear) arrives, and is surprised to find out Darros has no use for him anymore. Moreover, Darros reveals that Emily is dead. Tom is then shown Emily's vehicle incinerated, along with an image of her mandible that they manage to recover. Apparently, it was the only thing they were able to retrieve after the explosion, and they matched it to Emily’s dental records. Tom is shocked Kira was able to do something like this, but Darros places all the blame on Tom. As things stand, Darros has now put Myung in charge of getting Lucy and Jules back.
At the Additive Foundation, Eleanor admits that she doesn’t know if there is even an “us” between her and Kira, and can’t think about that right now. But she wants to put that aside, and work with her in these two good years she has before she develops early on-set Alzheimer’s in finding a cure for early on-set cases too, so that Jules and Lucy don’t have to experience that. Shortly after, Darros calls the FDA on Kira, but Eleanor makes her realize that if Kira tries to talk to those agents, she will likely be arrested, and a criminal investigation will be launched. So instead, the two older women make a run for it.
On her way to meet Jack, Lucy gets a call from Eleanor, who tells her that Jules is not with her, and that Darros just had Additive shut down. At that moment, Lucy chooses to go to Jules instead of meeting up with Jack and Charlie. Craig tells Lucy that one of these days she is going to be forced to choose between Jules and Jack & Charlie or risk losing them all.
Meanwhile, Kira reveals to Eleanor that the raid happened in large part because Darros thinks she crossed him by killing Emily, one of his employees. In reality, Emily did not die after the gun went off. With Kira’s help, she faked her death, and the mandible that Darros and Myung recovered turned out to have been 3D printed by Kira. Eleanor tells Kira that she really didn’t need to have helped Emily out, but Kira counters that notion. She tells Eleanor that Darros can come after her if he chooses, but that he is done letting him hurt other people.
Time runs out, and Lucy is not able to meet up with Jack to get the biometrics done and have the fake passport work for her.
Back at Settlement House, Craig and Lucy arrive, and ask Jules if she is okay. She says that she is, but that when she arrived, Darros’ beta was waiting for her like some creep. Lucy asks Jules how he found her, and the teenage girl admits she messaged her brother online. Lucy asks Xander if Darros sent him, but the young man says he is there on his own, and asks Jules to give him the drugs from last time again. He mentions how those drugs made him see something in Darros’ past. Which has him yearning to know who he was, and what he will become. Lucy then shows Xander the security key, and eventually he yells out to them to back off, as he pulls out a gun. He trips and the gun goes off. Lucy takes her own out as well, but the bullet from Xander’s gun turns out to have hit Craig, who is bleeding out on the floor.
Credits[]
Starring[]
- Krysten Ritter as Lucy/Young Dr. Eleanor Miller
- Amanda Fix as Jules Lee/16 year old Eleanor Miller
- Avan Jogia as Jack
- Keeley Hawes as Kira Manning
- James Hiroyuki Liao as Paul Darros
- Rya Kihlstedt as printed-out Eleanor
Special Guest Star[]
Guest Starring[]
- Reed Diamond as Tom
- Jaeden Noel as Lucas Miller-Manning
- Tattiawna Jones as Emily
- Vinson Tran as Xander Darros
- Kathy Baker as Melissa Miller
- Zariella Langford-Haughton as Charlie
- Jonathan Whittaker as Craig
- Eva Everett Irving as Tina
- Alice Hamid as Rhona
- Georgia Leva as Myung
- Dayle McLeod as PJ
Co Starring[]
- Jessica Greco as Scoop
- Yusuf Zine as Peter
- Wayne Sujo as Cashier
- Jennifer McEwen as Waitress
Continuity[]
- Felix talks to Kira, and reveals that at some point after Orphan Black: The Next Chapter in the future, Colin got sick and died.
- Another song by Peaches is used for this episode; the last time one was used was "Boys Wanna Be Her" during The Antisocialism of Sex, the seventh episode of the fourth season of Orphan Black.
Music[]
- "Search and Destroy" by Peaches
Gallery[]
Promotional Images[]
Promotional Videos[]
