Having never heard of Tatiana Maslany prior to her star making turn as the lead (actually 7 leads) of the new BBC American sci-fi show Orphan Black, I’m amazed that this talented woman hasn’t had a higher profile previously. The show features Maslany as several clones and surrounds her with a mystery about what happened to create the clones and then track them as well. It’s an interesting show that features some fun plot twists and several wonderful performances by Maslany. Let’s check it out.
Sarah is a small time thief who has some problems that she’s trying to run away from. While standing at a train station late one night, a woman (who looks exactly like Sarah) puts down her purse and jumps in front of a train. Sarah grabs the purse and starts a new life as Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a boyfriend that Sarah’s trying to hide from (so she doesn’t get found out) and $75K in cash. Sarah also has a work problem. Elizabeth is a police officer who’s under investigation for shooting an innocent person. Her partner helped her cover it up and takes her $75K until she’s cleared (as to not implicate him). Working with her(Sarah’s) brother to try to clear Elizabeth’s name, so they can take the $75K and leave with Sarah’s daughter (who is being cared for by Sarah’s adoptive mom), they start running into some more mysteries. The mysteries start with Alison, another clone who has a soccer mom suburban life (with 2 adopted kids) and it goes on from there. We are also introduced to other clones including Cosima (a biology doctorate student) and Helena (an insane Germanic assassin).
The clones start realizing that people close to them might be “handlers” who are reporting on their activities to…someone. Helena believes she is the original and is intent on killing all the “fake” clones. Elizabeth’s partner, fooled initially by Sarah’s take over of Elizabeth’s life, soon realizes that something is not right. Sarah’s boyfriend is a drug dealer that’s not happy that Sarah stole some drugs from him and is heartbroken that Sarah is dead. But when he sees some of the clones, he starts wondering if he’s going crazy or if something is going on. And Alison is having a hard time. She’s not sure who her handler is and who in her life she can trust. Alison starts the season as the most organized and put together of the clones and ends it with interventions, affairs and a kitchen appliance event. Meanwhile, Cosima is using her knowledge to try to figure out what’s going on with the clones.
Orphan Black is a fun journey with Tatiana Maslany making a career-making turn as several clones. And she does so not only with various costume and accent (and hair) changes, but with wonderful acting that really draws the distinctions between the different characters. The ongoing mystery is decent enough to pull you through and wonder what is going to happen next. I wouldn’t say that Orphan Black is great TV, it’s just a fun little adventure with some great acting. Recommended.