Series Promo, link instead of embed for a NSFW scene
So, Orphan Black is the latest original series to air on BBCA, a joint production between them and Canada's Space. Season one is just about to finish up next week with 10 episodes under it's belt and, in that short amount of time, I have to say it is probably the best sci-fi series to come out in the past couple years.
So, what is it?
Sarah Manning, a 28-year-old con artist arrives back in town (probably Toronto, but never explicitly identified) to see her daughter Kira, left in the care of her estranged foster mother Siobhan. As she makes her way out of the station, she encounters a woman who is behaving strangely: carefully removing her shoes, setting down her belongings. She goes up to talk to her when the woman turns around, her face a near perfect mirror image of Sarah's own. Before Sarah can say anything however, the woman steps out in front of an oncoming train, dying instantly. In the commotion, Sarah steals her belongings and races off.
Sarah soon discovers that the woman, a police officer by the name of Beth Childs, has been holding onto a large sum of money. In desperate need of cash thanks to some shady dealings with some people she'd rather no longer associate with, Sarah decides to take the cash and run to start over with her foster brother Felix and Kira, but finds complications in the form of Beth's partner, Art, who holds the cash over her head to keep her head together while undergoing a department review of Beth for accidentally shoot a civilian; a shooting which he helped obfuscate the truth of from the department.
Sarah quickly finds out however that a blackmailing partner is the least of the strange things going on in Beth's life: she is soon confronted by a German woman whom Beth had been in contact with... another woman who looks exactly like her. Before The German can explain anything however, she is shot by a Sniper, leaving Sarah to panic. Thanks to the encounter, however, Beth soon makes contact with two other women who look exactly like her: Allison and Cosima, who tell her how they're connected: She, Allison, Cosima, Beth, the German and perhaps countless other women out there are all clones. Now, Sarah finds herself drawn into a world of illicit genetic experimentation and murder, trying to find out who is trying to kill her and her fellow clones all while trying to keep her daughter from being caught up in the chaos.
CharactersSarah ManningPlayed by Tatiana Maslany
The primary protagonist of the series, Sarah is a [former?] con artist who's already turbulent life is rocked by the revelation that she is one of many clones, created for a purpose unknown to any of them so far. She assumes the identity of fellow clone Beth Childs after her death, initially planning to use Beth's life savings to skip town with foster-brother Felix and daughter Kira and start a new life away from an abusive ex-boyfriend, a drug dealer named Vic. But as she is drawn deeper into the mystery surrounding herself and the others, she finds herself bonding with them more than she previously expected.
Cosima NiehausPlayed by Tatiana Maslany
Cosima is a graduate student working on her degree in Experimental Evolutionary Developmental Biology at the University of Minnesota. With her access to a lab and a helpful fellow grad student, Cosima has been digging into the clones genetics to find any information about themselves that she can. Perhaps the calmest of the clones about their newly discovered lot in life, Cosima has been vital to finding answers as to just what they may be.
Allison HendrixPlayed by Tatiana Maslany
Allison has probably been the clone to take the news of her... "clonedom" worst. A suburban soccermom, she would just rather the entire issue go away entirely, insisting that no one use the "c-word" around her. Initially extremely untrusting of Sarah, the two become closer when she learns about Kira and as Sarah proves herself a dependable source of support as her comfortable, middle class world comes apart. As well, she has developed a sibling-like relationship with Sarah's brother Felix.
HelenaPlayed by Tatiana Maslany
Helena's past has, for most of the series, been a distinct mystery. Brought up in a convent, Helena has been raised to believe that she is the original from which all the clones were based and has been subject to physical and mental abuse likely her entire life. Upon meeting Sarah, she becomes convinced that there is a strong bond between them.
Felix DawkinsPlayed by Jordan Gavaris
An artist and hedonist, Felix ("Fee") is Sarah's Foster brother, most trusted confidant and generally her voice of reason, even though he often finds himself brought reluctantly into the chaos and having to cover for her. He is loyal to a fault to Sarah and his family, including the new extensions found in the "Clone Club." Recently, he's taken a rather brotherly role in Allison's life as the stress of being a clone and being hunted causes her to become increasingly paranoid about her superficially peaceful life. He can be somewhat reckless in his love life, having a fling or two with the technician he met at the morgue when he went down to identify Beth's body as Sarah.
"Mrs. S" [Siobhan Sadler]Played by Maria Doyle Kennedy
Mrs. S. is foster mother to Sarah and Felix and is currently caring for Kira. A rather no-nonsense type, she's starkly disapproved of the con artist life that Sarah has chosen for herself and wants Kira to have no part of it, telling Sarah that she needs to provide a stable, safe life for her daughter. She was part of the punk culture during her youth in the UK, an ethos she passed down in part to Sarah. She brought Sarah and Felix to North America when they were young and raised them as her own ever since. Not a particular fan of Margaret Thatcher.
Arthur BellPlayed by Kevin Hanchard
Art is a detective with the metropolitan police department in the city where the story is based and Beth's partner on the force. Fiercely loyal to Beth, he doctored the scene where Beth accidentally shot a civilian by placing a phone in her hand to make it appear that Beth may have thought she'd drawn a weapon. With Sarah disguising herself as Beth, he begins to notice there's something off about his partner. He tries to push it to the back of his mind as they are assigned to investigate a dead body unearthed by construction work, an investigation that may unravel everything that Sarah is trying to hide.
Paul DierdenPlayed by Dylan Bruce
Beth's boyfriend, she and Paul had been having trouble in their relationship recently before her death. However, with Sarah taking on Beth's identity, the two find themselves in a sexually charged relationship from the moment they meet. However, it turns out that Paul is hiding a secret of his own...
Delphine CormierPlayed by Evelyne Brochu
A graduate student from France, Delphine attends the University of Minnesota alongside Cosima, who is instantly smitten with her. The two quickly take to one another and eventually begin a relationship. However, Cosima and the others suspect that Delphine may be interested in Cosima for more sinister reasons...
Dr. Aldous LeekiePlayed by Matt Frewer
Dr. Leekie is a world-reknown scientist, popular author and public speaker. Leekie heads up the Dyad Institute which seeks to push the limits of humanity. He's a leader in a field that has been dubbed "Neolution," a directed form of advancing humanity through various forms of augmentation. Extremely popular, his work is nonetheless controversial among the public, with those who have volunteered for his research being dubbed "Freaky Leekies". However, it seems that his work runs deeper that most of his readers and the media realize...
Okay, so what makes this worth watching?
Orphan Black manages to combine the oft-used sci-fi conceit of cloning with a wonderful cast of characters to create a fantastic thriller. The show plays it's concept completely straight and is helped along by treating it's characters with a depth and care that makes them feel like real people. As an example, at first Sarah and Felix come across rather assholish, but as the series goes along, you see more to them than just the amoral con artist and conceited hedonist that they first seem to be: They're three dimensional people whose motivations make sense, people for whom you can understand where they're coming from. Thanks in no small part to the wonderful cast chosen for the show, who craft memorable performances every episode.
As well, for a show with so many places where it could go
horribly wrong, it manages to completely avoid those pitfalls. I found myself thinking at one point that, if this was a Fox prime-time drama, we'd have probably had a full season of Sarah, as Beth, going out week after week solving mysterious murders vaguely and tangentially related to the overall mystery of the "whole clone thing," probably not even touching on the others until midway through the season. Instead, we have a tightly paced drama that refuses to pull it's punches (and when you think it does, it decides it's going to punch you deeper than you expected it to). For a series whose first season consists of only 10-episodes, it doesn't waste a single moment, moving forward on both plot and characterization on a consistent basis. There's not a scene I can think back to that felt like it was filler.
On top of that, perhaps the most impressive thing about the series is lead actress Tatiana Maslany's acting. Over the course of the series thusfar, she's played six different characters, none of whom blend together. Maslany's skills giving every one of them a life of their own; I easily find myself forgetting that it's Maslany playing each one, even when acting against herself. As well, the effects on the show that allow Maslany's characters to interact with one another in the same scene are impeccable, never giving a hint at the editing tricks required to make them work.
So... when is it on
There's one episode left this season, and will be airing on BBCA this Saturday at 9 Eastern. However, BBCA will be doing a marathon of the entire series leading up to it, so anyone who hasn't been able to see it will be able to catch it all in one go. Additionally, they've put up the first episode (in HD) for free up on iTunes, with the rest of the series up for sale. If you've missed it so far, they're good ways to catch up on the series.
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Oh, and we need more shows where Max Headroom is the villain.
Its on BBC America, so its got a real British feel to it, with action sequences being low key and personal. Funniest part is that its obviously set in Canada, but never specifically mentions it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_wsSgqsGXM
So, uh, does it actually get any better? Because the clones conspiracy thing is about as played out a concept as you can get.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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As far as nothing happening... maybe thats true three episodes in; but i was going to say the exact opposite. Im pleased with the amount of plot progression so far. A lot of other shows would have stagnated and dragged things out that this show has resolved in a few episodes.
I'm going to guess that if you disliked the first three episodes, you probably won't enjoy the rest.
I'm a bit confused on your "nothing happened" complaint though, considering that a good bit does happen across those three. At the very least:
-Sarah assumes Beth's identity to steal her savings
- Sarah meets The German
- The German is killed right behind her by sniper
- Beth meets Allison and Cosima, discovers they're all clones
- reveal that the killer is another clone from the program
Maybe it was partly that I didn't watch any of the ads, which apparently played up the clone thing from the start. In the first episode there's none of that, and nothing grabbed me. I only watched another because I was hoping something interesting would happen, and it didn't, so I moved on. Maybe after it's done if the ending turns out to be not terrible I'll go back.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Also, Grantland had a pretty good article up about the show
http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/78320/orphan-black-the-pre-recap-era-throwback-sci-fi-show-you-should-catch-up-with
The Scene with
It's gonna be a long wait to 2014 isn't it?
Yeah, I was freaking the fuck out that entire time. Like, holy shit craziness.
She's going to have a break down when
Which was confirmed when she won the Television Critics Association award for Individual Achievement in Drama.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Absolutely no surprise though. Pretty much everything was working against her except the critics.
Also, it's worth noting that the TCA Awards are gender neutral, so she beat Cranston.
HOLY SHIT is it April yet?
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
Also, glad this thread was updated, so now I have something to check when S2 starts airing.
Yes of course, in a show about clones, the Canadian governments predilection towards hiring former American soldiers is where believability falters...
edit: Proof
The hotel Katja was staying at is advertised as being in "Downtown Toronto" (you can see it on the screen when they're running her credit card) and Alison, in Scarborough, is "practically local"
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zCNJG07i-g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfUxpTSnq4o
Seriously, I laughed when I first came to the thread this morning after it was added, and it made me chuckle seeing it again after you bumped the thread.
Also for BBCA folks after the season premier they're doing that new science fiction documentary series which looks interesting :O