Tag Archives: Orphan Black

Clone dance party: ‘Orphan Black’ closes season on a high note

If you’re like me, you couldn’t fully enjoy the clone dance party that broke out near the end of the second season finale of “Orphan Black.”

I was on edge during the otherwise sweet, joyous outpouring of sisterly togetherness by Sarah, Allison, Cosima and even “seestra Helena” because I thought something horrible would happen.

And – spoilers here – no mistake, there were some dramatic twists here that followed even the dance party. Helena left Felix’s apartment and got kidnapped. And Sarah met with a new potential ally (played by Michelle Forbes) who revealed that while female clones were the goal of Dyad, the shadowy corporation that’s been dogging the Clone Club, male clones – specifically for soldiering – were the product of an offshoot organization.

Sarah even met one of the male clones, an appropriately looney-looking variation on Mark, the young man from the creepy religious sect that had earlier kidnapped Helena.

Before those twists – which we’ll have to wait until next year to see elaborated upon – there was plenty to like. With help from her friends and clones, Sarah managed to escape from Dyad and take her daughter, Kira, with her. In the process, the clones left proto-clone Rachel with a grievous injury.

If you don’t watch the show, all this must seem horribly complicated. And I guess the story is pretty twisty. But if you’re thinking about catching up before the third season starts next year – and I can’t recommend this too highly, because it’s a really good show – you only need to know a few things to prompt you to seek out those episodes:

There are more clones every few episodes, and this is a good thing. The story is fun and full of twists. And it gives star Tatiana Maslany a chance to act with – and dance with – herself, several times over, seamlessly integrated into the same scene.

Maslany is wonderful but the whole cast is great, especially Jordan Gavaris as Felix, Sarah’s non-clone brother.

But the show never feels bogged down in its over-arching mystery. Little revelations are seeded along the way, but the episodes have an urgency and immediacy like the best episodic TV.

The producers of the BBC America show aren’t afraid to be dramatic but also have fun, wowing us with surprises like the transgender clone, also played by Maslany, who showed up a few episodes ago.

Most of all, “Orphan Black” is fun. There’s action and suspense and out-there science fiction and great performances. And, best of all, real heartfelt human character drama.

‘Orphan Black’ throws a switch and makes it work

If you’re not watching “Orphan Black” … why not?

The BBC America show, in the middle of its second season, is consistently satisfying and, in most episodes, surprising.

Really surprising.

The premise: A tough young woman on the wrong of the law, Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) is shocked to see a woman step in front of a train and kill herself. Sarah is even more shocked that the woman, who she later learns is Beth, a cop, looked exactly like her.

Sarah, aided by her foster brother, Felix (Jordan Gavaris), discovers that she and Beth were clones, part of a decades-long experiment to create human life. They quickly meet other members of the Clone Club, including Alison, a high-strung soccer mom, Helena, a Russian assassin, and Cosima, a geek-girl scientist.

And all the clones – are we up to a dozen by now, several episodes into the second season? – are played by Maslany.

The show could be seen as a stunt, and does have great special effects that finds Maslany playing against herself as another clone in almost every episode.

But the stunt falls away quickly as you discover that Maslany is an amazing actress, capably of bringing each of these characters to life, and not just through accents and wigs. She inhabits these diverse personas.

In last night’s episode, the show introduced another close: Tony, a transgender, testosterone-injecting tough guy, and yes, Maslany played him with scraggly beard and mullet.

Maslany is wonderful but there’s not a false note in the cast. Gavaris is amazing as Felix and the producers have long since discovered that Felix plus any other character is magic. His scenes with Beth’s partner on the force, Art (Kevin Hanchard), or Alison are some of the best on TV right now.

There’s a sense of urgency and dread in current episodes, as Cosima works to discover a cure for the genetic defect that’s killing her and the other clones. There’s intrigue at the corporation that created the clones and don’t forget the horrible religious cult that covets the clones.

It might seem like a lot to catch up on, but it’s still possible. And “Orphan Black” is more than worth the effort.

‘Orphan Black’ a fine thriller

In this day of online spoilers and instant reviews via Twitter or other social media, it’s rare that the world – and the geek world in particular – catches on to a new TV show only gradually. But that’s what happened with “Orphan Black.”

The U.S.-Canadian series aired the first of its 10-episode season on BBC America at the end of March. I’d heard good things about it, but with so many high quality cable series going on right now – “Mad Men” was still airing, as was “Justified” I believe – I thought I would have to catch up on it later. Only so many hours in the day and all that.

The buzz on the drama was consistent, however, and I’ve been working through the series since early spring.

And I’m happy to say the buzz was right on the money. The show is good and the star, Tatiana Maslany, is great.

If you haven’t heard – or been watching – by now, the series by Graeme Manson and John Fawcett focuses on Sarah Manning (Maslany), a woman living on the ragged edge of legality with her foster brother, Felix (wonderful Jordan Gavaris). Sarah’s young daughter. Kira, lives with Mrs. S (Maria Doyle Kennedy), Sarah and Felix’s foster mom.

Sarah’s disreputable side of life existence goes down the rabbit hole one day in the subway when she is horrified to see a woman commit suicide by walking off the platform in front of a train. What’s possibly more horrifying: The woman, a police detective named Beth, was a dead ringer for Sarah.

Sarah takes the dead woman’s purse and begins investigating her lookalike with an eye toward impersonating her long enough to clean out her bank account. This necessitates some hot kitchen counter sex with Beth’s boyfriend, Paul (Dylan Bruce) and encounters with Beth’s cop partner, dogged Art Bell (Kevin Hanchard).

Before long, though, Sarah (posing as Beth) discovers she had more than one lookalike. She meets Alison, a tightly wound suburban mom, Cosima, a free-spirited grad student, and – most terrifyingly – Helena, who seems to be an assassin.

As Sarah, aided by Alison and Cosima – and snarky Felix – investigate the mystery of their existence, they discover they’re clones, created and sent out into society with “monitors” – sometimes referred as “watchers,” which made me think of “Buffy” – who keep track of this twisted laboratory experiment.

As they try to avoid exposure by the police, assaults by Helena and the manipulations of the monitors, the “orphan” clones try to get to the central mystery of their lives: Why are they here?

Maslany has received a lot of entirely justified praise for her performance as the clones. Often acting opposite herself – composited later via special effects – Maslany brings ample personality to each: Tough and streetwise Beth, refined soccer mom Alison, smart and vulnerable Cosima, menacing Helena and others with smaller roles.

Like Maslany, the supporting cast – which includes Matt Frewer as a doctor and author with a role in the mystery – is really topnotch. Like “Lost Girl” – which I really enjoyed but found kind of repetitive – and “The Fades,” “Orphan Black is a next-generation version of “Buffy” with its core character – characters, in this case – of a strong young woman fighting to find answers to her own questions.

A second season of “Orphan Black” is coming in April 2014, but you’ve got time to catch up online, on demand or on disc. It’s a fun, often funny, often poignant thriller.