Orphan Black review

Orphan Black is a BBC show filmed in Toronto about a British/Canadian woman who discovers she’s a clone. As Felix puts it, she steps off a train one day and meets herself. It’s a fantastic show and I’m so glad I randomly stumbled into it. The last episode aired last year but it recently popped up on Amazon Prime, and if you’re familiar with how difficult it is to get ahold of BBC shows you know that’s nothing short of a miracle.

Tatiana Maslany is the star of the show. She gets a chance that few actors can claim: playing several characters in one show. And she nails it. It’s so funny to see her nominations (which she should have won every year), because there are so many character names listed for her. And they are very different characters, despite being clones.

While I am fully aware that all these women are played by the same person, I don’t see the actress when I look at each of her characters.

It’s easy to believe they are all different people, not just because of costumes and hair styles but mannerisms and personality. She does such a fantastic job of differentiating each character, it’s amazing. The only similarity I’ve noticed is they all slip out that little half grin that she seems to favor, except Rachel of course. Rachel only does a half smile, like a grin with less commitment. 

Sarah starts off the show when she spots Beth right as Beth dies. When Sarah steps into Beth’s seemingly perfect life, she discovers Alison and Cosima. She’s hunted by Helena, ambushed by Katya and MK, and attacked by Rachel. None of the clones are relaxing sort of people, they are all very driven. As Sarah works with Cosima and Alison, with the occasional help/violence from Helena and Rachel, they discover more and more clones and conspiracies.

This show is packed with action, mystery, and conspiracies. There would have to be major conspiracy, since it’s about human cloning.

They all bring their skills together to take down the company that created them. Sarah provides her grifting habits, as well as her survival/leadership skills, Alison offers her money (whether or not it’s from drugs) and her pure crazy, Helena shows up randomly to attack her sestra’s enemies, Rachel adds her business experience/finesse (though it’s usually with backstabbing intent), and Cosima takes care of the science.

They really wouldn’t get anywhere without Cosima. She uncovers all the crazy biology behind clone DNA while searching for a cure. She’s the one to save herself and her sisters from the mysterious disease that is killing them off, a cure that could also cure the male clones. Oh yes, there are two sets of clones.

It’s very exciting.

While Cosima often gets caught in enemy territory because of her scientific curiosity, Sarah gets thrown every which way because of her sheer force and relentless ability to piss off very powerful people. She’s arrested, kidnapped, and experimented on, not to mention all the many times she’s beaten to a pulp and stabbed.

She’s pretty scrappy. Nothing keeps her down, not even when her crazy dangerous life scoops Kira up.

Her daughter isn’t the only fabulous non clone character. Beth’s partner Art digs and digs until he gets dragged into the clone war. Delphine starts out as a spy for the evil scientist Leekie, but falls in love with Cosima and makes crazy science with her instead. Paul is spying on Beth, but Sarah convinces him to switch sides and he actually becomes a pretty dynamic part of the team.

Sarah’s foster mom and brother, Siobhan and Felix, provide a little gritty Cockney charm. Felix’s sass and naked painting sessions are the perfect comedic relief for the intense dramatic twists. Poor Felix is constantly getting dragged into Sarah and Siobhan’s violent scheming, but he manages.

I love how Alison, the suburban pill popping soccer mom, is Felix’s clone of choice. They become unlikely friends and bond over their love of booze and drama. Alison is often underestimated because she’s a mom with an extensive craft collection, but I’m pretty sure she’s actually the craziest one of the bunch.

Which is why it’s fitting that Helena stays with her.

Helena goes from a religiously violent angel of death to a loyal sestra and mom. She starts out the show by hunting each clone down, but when she finds Sarah she realizes how much of her life is built on lies. She gets a minute of peace before being kidnapped by a cult and adopted as their own little science experiment. After she’s safe home and eating her way through Alison’s fridge, she gets kidnapped again and goes into labor.

Helena needs a break. Now that the show has ended, there will be no more drama in her life, only food and babies and family.

Speaking of dangerous blondes, Krystal crashes on the scene and effectively unravels vital parts of the mystery while not fully knowing what’s going on. It’s pretty impressive. I love how fascinated Tatiana was with Krystal. She’d been working on that set for a few years before Krystal was born, and she was thoroughly amazed by how differently people treated her as Krystal. Krystal cracks me up and people tend to not take her seriously but she’s really smart, just like her clone sisters that she fully does not believe are related to her.

There’s so much character development. It’s not just a matter of Sarah changing and evolving as she drives the plot forward. Each character goes through their own journey, which is a lot of development for one actress.

We leave the clone club in the middle of moving on with their lives.

Cosima is tracking down and healing clones, with Delphine and Scott’s help. Alison is still chilling her way through her mid life crisis. Helena is enjoying motherhood and family. Felix is throwing himself into his art, and Sarah is recovering from her mum dying after they finally started working together instead of trying to kill each other. The only force Sarah has left to fight is motherhood. She finally takes the reigns and starts trying to figure it out, with help from Felix and hopefully Cal.

But most of all, the sisters are all cured and enjoying being together without being hunted down as science experiments. It’s the little things in life.